Ecosystem

Unit 2

DR VIMLA SINGH
Concept of an Ecosystem:
⚫ The term ecosystem was coined in 1935 by the Oxford
ecologist Arthur Tansley to encompass the interactions
among biotic and abiotic components of the environment
at a given site. The living and non-living components of an
ecosystem are known as biotic and abiotic components,
respectively.
⚫ Ecosystem was defined in its presently accepted form by
Eugene Odum as, “an unit that includes all the organisms,
i.e., the community in a given area interacting with the
physical environment so that a flow of energy leads to
clearly defined trophic structure, biotic diversity and
material cycles, i.e., exchange of materials between living
and non-living, within the system”
 characteristics of the ecosystems as follows:
⚫ 1. The ecosystem is a major structural and functional unit of
ecology.
⚫ 2. The structure of an ecosystem is related to its species diversity
in the sense that complex ecosystem have high species diversity.
⚫ 3. The function of ecosystem is related to energy flow and
material cycles within and outside the system.
⚫ 4. The relative amount of energy needed to maintain an
ecosystem depends on its structure. Complex ecosystems needed
less energy to maintain themselves.
⚫ 5. Young ecosystems develop and change from less complex to
more complex ecosystems, through the process called succession.
⚫ 6. Each ecosystem has its own energy budget, which cannot be
exceeded.
⚫ 7. Adaptation to local environmental conditions is the important
feature of the biotic components of an ecosystem, failing which
they might perish.
⚫ . The function of every ecosystem involves a series of
cycles, e.g., water cycle, nitrogen cycle, oxygen cycle,
etc. these cycles are driven by energy.
⚫ A continuation or existence of ecosystem demands
exchange of materials/nutrients to and from the
different components.
 Phototroph+
Chemotroph

Chemical
Component
P, K, S, O, N
Functions of Ecosystem
Fundamentally, ecosystem functions are exchange of energy and nutrients in the food
chain. These exchanges sustain plant and animal life on the planet as well as the

decomposition of organic matter and the production of biomass .

 Food chain
⚫ in ecology, the sequence of transfers of matter and energy in the
form of food from organism to organism. Food chains intertwine
locally into a food web because most organisms consume more
than one type of animal or plant. Plants, which convert solar
energy to food by photosynthesis, are the primary food source. In
a predator chain, a plant-eating animal is eaten by a flesh-eating
animal. In a parasite chain, a smaller organism consumes part of a
larger host and may itself be parasitized by even smaller
organisms. In a saprophytic chain, microorganisms live on dead
organic matter.
⚫ There are two types of food chains: the grazing food chain, beginning with autotrophs,

and the detrital food chain, beginning with dead organic matter (Smith & Smith 2009).

In a grazing food chain, energy and nutrients move from plants to the herbivores

consuming them, and to the carnivores or omnivores preying upon the herbivores. In a

detrital food chain, dead organic matter of plants and animals is broken down by

decomposers, e.g., bacteria and fungi, and moves to detritivores and then carnivores.

⚫ Food web offers an important tool for investigating the ecological interactions that

define energy flows and predator-prey relationship . Figure 1 shows a simplified food

web in a desert ecosystem. In this food web, grasshoppers feed on plants; scorpions prey

on grasshoppers; kit foxes prey on scorpions. While the food web showed here is a

simple one, most feed webs are complex and involve many species with both strong and

weak interactions among them (Pimm et al. 1991). For example, the predators of a

scorpion in a desert ecosystem might be a golden eagle, an owl, a roadrunner, or a fox

 Food Web
⚫ Food web is an important conceptual tool for illustrating the feeding
relationships among species within a community, revealing species
interactions and community structure, and understanding the dynamics
of energy transfer in an ecosystem.
⚫ food web represents feeding relationships within a community.
⚫ It also implies the transfer of food energy from its source in plants
through herbivores to carnivores.
⚫ Normally, food webs consist of a number of food chains meshed together.
Each food chain is a descriptive diagram including a series of arrows, each
pointing from one species to another, representing the flow of food
energy from one feeding group of organisms to another.
The four characteristics of a food web are as follows:

1.They are formed by interlinking of food chains.

2. They help in the development of the ecosystem.

3. Food webs are never straight.

4. Food web provides alternative Pathways of food availability. For example if a

particular species of producer is destroyed by a disease in an ecosystem the herbivores
of that area can feed on other species of producers.

A simple six-member food web for a representative desert grassland

⚫ Food webs describe the relationships — links or connections — among species in an
ecosystem, but the relationships vary in their importance to energy flow and
dynamics of species populations. Some trophic relationships are more important
than others in dictating how energy flows through ecosystems. Some connections
are more influential on species population change.
 Applications of Food Webs
⚫ Food webs are constructed to describe species interactions (direct relationships).
⚫ Food webs can be used to illustrate indirect interactions among species.
⚫ can be used to study bottom-up or top-down control of community structure.
⚫ can be used to reveal different patterns of energy transfer in terrestrial and
aquatic ecosystems.
⚫ Difference
⚫ Food chain is a linear sequence of organisms which starts from producer
organisms and ends with decomposer species. Food web is a connection of
multiple food chains. Food chain follows a single path whereas food
web follows multiple paths. From the food chain, we get to know how
organisms are connected with each other.
 Trophic Structure
⚫ Tropic structure is a tiered structure of the organism in
an ecosystem, with each level representing those organisms that
share a similar function and food source. Trophic
structure diagrams also depict the energy transfer from
on trophic level to the next.
⚫ Trophic structure is defined as the partitioning of biomass
between trophic levels (subsets of an ecological community that
gather energy and nutrients in similar ways, that is, producers,
carnivores).
Trophic level
The producers and consumers in the ecosystem can be arranged into
different feeding groups and are known as trophic level or the
feeding level.
⚫ The producers (plants) represent the first trophic level.
⚫ Herbivores (primary consumers) present the second trophic level.
⚫ Primary carnivores (secondary consumers) represent the third
trophic level
⚫ Top carnivores (tertiary consumers) represent the last level
Significance of food chain and food web
 Ecological Pyramid

⚫ An ecological pyramid is a graphical representation of

the relationship between the different living organisms at
different trophic levels. It was given by G.Evylen
Hutchinson and Raymond Lindeman.
⚫ It can be observed that these pyramids are in the shape of
actual pyramids with the base being the broadest, which
is covered by the lowest trophic level, i.e., producers. The
next level is occupied by the next trophic level, i.e., the
primary consumers and so on.
⚫ All the calculations for construction of these types of
ecological pyramids must take into account all the
organisms in a particular trophic level because a sample
space of a few numbers or a few species will end up giving
a huge level of errors
Types of Ecological Pyramid
⚫ Three types of ecological pyramid exist. They are as
follows:
⚫ Pyramid of Numbers

(Pyramid of numbers for forest

Ecosystem is inverted)

For pond
In this type of ecological pyramid, the number of organisms in
each trophic level is considered as a level in the pyramid. The
pyramid of numbers is usually upright except for some
situations like that of the detritus food chain, where many
organisms feed on one dead plant or animal.
 Pyramid of Biomass
⚫ In this particular type of ecological pyramid, each level takes into account
the amount of biomass produced by each trophic level. The pyramid of
biomass is also upright except for that observed in oceans where large
numbers of zooplanktons depend on a relatively smaller number of
phytoplanktons.

Ecological pyramids begin

with producers on the bottom (such as
plants) and proceed through the various
trophic levels (such as herbivores that
eat plants, then carnivores that eat
flesh, then omnivores that eat both
plants and flesh, and so on).

Biomass can be measured by a bomb

calorimeter. Pyramid of biomass for
forest is upright
 Pyramid of Energy
⚫ Pyramid of energy is the only type of ecological pyramid,
which is always upright as the energy flow in a food chain is
always unidirectional. Also, with every increasing trophic
level, some energy is lost into the environment.
pyramid of energy shows how much
energy is retained in the form of new
biomass at each trophic level, while
a pyramid of biomass shows how much
biomass (the amount of living or organic
matter present in an organism) is present
in the organisms. There is also a pyramid
of numbers representing the number of
individual organisms at each trophic
level. Pyramids of energy are normally
upright, but other pyramids can be
inverted or take other shapes.
A pyramid of energy represents how much energy, initially from the sun, is
retained or stored in the form of new biomass at each trophic level in an
ecosystem. Typically, about 10% of the energy is transferred from one trophic
level to the next, thus preventing a large number of trophic levels. Energy
pyramids are necessarily upright in healthy ecosystems, that is, there must
always be more energy available at a given level of the pyramid to support the
energy and biomass requirement of the next trophic level
Importance of Ecological Pyramid
⚫ The importance of ecological pyramid can be explained in
the following points:
⚫ They show the feeding of different organisms in different
ecosystems.
⚫ It shows the efficiency of energy transfer.
⚫ The condition of the ecosystem can be monitored, and
any further damage can be prevented.
Note:
The 10% law was given by Raymond Lindeman. This law
states that when energy is transferred from one trophic
level to the other, only 10% energy from the organic
matter is passed on
 Energy flow
⚫ The energy flow takes place via the food chain and food web. During the process of energy
flow in the ecosystem, plants being the producers absorb sunlight with the help of the
chloroplasts and a part of it is transformed into chemical energy in the process of
photosynthesis.
⚫ The energy flow in the ecosystem is important to maintain an ecological balance. The
producers synthesise food by the process of photosynthesis. A part of the energy is stored
within the plants. The remaining energy is utilised by the plants in their growth and
development. This stored energy is transferred to the primary consumers when they feed on
the producers. This energy is further passed on to the secondary consumers when they feed on
the primary consumers, and so on.

⚫ The energy flow is the amount of energy that moves along the food chain. This energy flow is
also known as calorific flow.

⚫ The 10 percent law of energy flow states that when the energy is passed on from one trophic
level to another, only 10 percent of the energy is passed on to the next trophic level.
⚫
The chemical energy of food is the main source of energy required by all living
organisms. This energy is transmitted to different trophic levels along the food
chain. This energy flow is based on two different laws of thermodynamics:
⚫ First law of thermodynamics, that states that energy can neither be created nor
destroyed, it can only change from one form to another.
⚫ Second law of thermodynamics, that states that as energy is transferred more
and more of it is waste (it gets converted from a more concentrated to dispersed
form).
Energy Flow in Ecosystem
⚫ The energy flow in the ecosystem is one of the major factors that support the
survival of such a great number of organisms. For almost all organisms on earth,
the primary source of energy is solar energy. It is amusing to find that we receive
less than 50 per cent of the sun’s effective radiation on earth. (means the radiation,
which can be used by plants to carry out photosynthesis)
Why is the energy flow in ecosystem important?

⚫ The energy flow in the ecosystem is important to maintain an

ecological balance. The producers synthesise food by the
process of photosynthesis. A part of the energy is stored
within the plants. The remaining energy is utilised by the
plants in their growth and development. This stored energy
is transferred to the primary consumers when they feed on
the producers. This energy is further passed on to the
secondary consumers when they feed on the primary
consumers, and so on.
Primary productivity

⚫ In ecology, productivity is the rate at which energy is added to the bodies of organisms in the

form of biomass. Biomass is simply the amount of matter that's stored in the bodies of a group of

organisms. Productivity can be defined for any trophic level or other group, and it may take units

of either energy or biomass.

⚫ Primary productivity of an ecosystem is defined as the rate at which radiant energy is

converted in to organic substances by photosysnthesis or chemo –synthesis by the

primary producers . (the productivity of the primary producers of an ecosystem).

There are two basic types of productivity: gross and net.

⚫ Gross primary productivity, or GPP, is the rate at which solar energy is captured in sugar

molecules during photosynthesis (energy captured per unit area per unit time). Producers such as

plants use some of this energy for metabolism/cellular respiration and some for growth (building

tissues).
⚫ Net primary productivity, or NPP, is gross primary productivity
minus the rate of energy loss to metabolism and maintenance. In
other words, it's the rate at which energy is stored as biomass by
plants or other primary producers and made available to the
consumers in the ecosystem
NPP= GPP-R

⚫ Net primary productivity varies among ecosystems and depends on

many factors. These include solar energy input, temperature and
moisture levels, carbon dioxide levels, nutrient availability, and
community interactions (e.g., grazing by herbivores).
⚫ These factors affect how many photosynthesizers are present to capture
light energy and how efficiently they can perform their role.
⚫ Secondary Production/ Secondary Productivity

The energy stored at consumer level for use by next trophic level is thus defined as
secondary production.

⚫ Primary producers, which are usually plants and other photosynthesizers, are the

gateway through which energy enters food webs.

⚫ Productivity is the rate at which energy is added to the bodies of a group of organisms,

such as primary producers, in the form of biomass.

⚫ Gross productivity is the overall rate of energy capture.

⚫ Net productivity is lower: it's gross productivity adjusted for the energy used by the

organisms in respiration/metabolism, so it reflects the amount of energy stored as

biomass.

⚫ Energy transfer between trophic levels is not very efficient. Only 10, percent of the net

productivity of one level ends up as net productivity at the next level.

⚫ Ecological pyramids are visual representations of energy flow, biomass accumulation,

and number of individuals at different trophic levels.

 How do Nutrients (Matter) move in an
Ecosystem
⚫ Nutrients move in a cyclic manner within an ecosystem.
Nutrient cycle:
Algal Bloom- Over
nourishment of
water body
Carbon Sink
⚫ A good proportion of phosphate moving with surface run
Free floating plant/phytoplanktons/algeae- pioneer community
Intermediary – seral stages/ community/
Climax community
Type of Ecosystem
Type of Ecosystem
 Ecosystem Services
⚫ An ecosystem is a group or community composed of living
and non-living things and their interactions with each
other. It is a dynamic complex of biotic components and
abiotic components. These biotic and abiotic interactions
maintain equilibrium in the ecosystem. We as humans are
an integral part of it. The numerous benefits we obtain
from the ecosystem are known by the term ecosystem
services.
⚫ Ecosystem services are the many and varied benefits to
humans provided by the natural environment and from
healthy ecosystems. Such ecosystems include, for
example, agroecosystems, forest ecosystems,
grassland ecosystems and aquatic ecosystems.
Ecosystem services are classified into four types:
Provisioning Services
This includes the products/raw materials or energy outputs like food, water,
medicines and other resources from ecosystems. Ecosystems are a source of food,
water, medicines, wood, biofuels, etc. Also, they provide conditions for these
resources to grow.
⚫ Regulating Services
This includes the services which regulate the ecological balance. For example,
terrestrial environs like forest purify and regulates air quality, prevent soil erosion,
and control greenhouse gases. Biotic components such as birds, rats, frogs, act as
natural controllers and thus help in pest and disease control. Hence, ecosystems
act as regulators.
Supporting services
⚫ Supporting services form the basis for other services. They provide habitat for
different life forms, retain biodiversity, nutrient cycling, and other services for
supporting life on the earth.
Cultural services
⚫ It includes tourism; provides recreational, aesthetic, cultural and spiritual services,
etc. Most natural elements such as landscapes, mountains, caves, are used as a
place for cultural and artistic purposes. Even a few of them are considered sacred.
Moreover, ecosystems provide enormous economic benefits in the name of
tourism.
⚫ The price tagging of the ecosystems and their services is quite unfeasible. Among
all the ecosystem services, supporting services alone contribute about 50% and the
Ecosystem Services
Preservation and conservation of ecosystem
⚫ Conservation is the sustainable use and management of natural resources including wildlife, water,
air, and earth deposits.
⚫ Natural resources may be renewable or non-renewable. The conservation of renewable resources
like trees involves ensuring that they are not consumed faster than they can be replaced.
⚫ The conservation of non-renewable resources like fossil fuels involves ensuring that sufficient
quantities are maintained for future generations to utilise. Conservation of natural resources usually
focuses on the needs and interests of human beings, for example the biological, economic, cultural and
recreational values such resources have. The rain forest for example, contains a wide range
of biodiversity, providing food stocks for local populations and a source of timber and medicines for
other countries. Conservationists accept that development is necessary for a better future, but only
when the changes take place in ways that are not wasteful. What the conservationist opposes is not the
harnessing of nature for mankind's progression, but the fact that all too often the environment comes
off the worse for wear.
Preservation, in contrast to conservation, attempts to maintain in their present condition areas of the
Earth that are so far untouched by humans.
⚫ This is due to the concern that mankind is encroaching onto the
environment at such a rate that many untamed landscapes are
being given over to farming, industry, housing, tourism and other
human developments, and that we our losing too much of what is
'natural'. Like conservationists, some preservationists support the
protection of nature for purely human-centred reasons.
⚫ Ecosystems and individual species should be preserved whatever
the cost, regardless of their usefulness to humans, and even if their
continued existence would prove harmful to us. This follows from
the belief that every living thing has a right to exist and should be
preserved.
⚫ Conservation protects the environment through the
responsible use of natural resources.
⚫ Preservation protects the environment from harmful
human activities. For example, conserving a forest
typically involves sustainable logging practices to
minimize deforestation.
⚫ Preservation and conservation are both processes that
protect the environment, but their approaches are
somewhat different. The goal of preservation is to protect
the environment from the harmful effects of human
activity.
⚫ Ecosystem Restoration is the “process of assisting the
recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded,
damaged or destroyed”
⚫ Ecological restoration is the process of assisting the
recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged or
destroyed.
⚫ Ecological restoration focuses on the recovery of an
ecosystem
⚫ Health: Functional processes such as water filtration,
sequestration of carbon dioxide, etc.,
⚫ Integrity: Species composition and community structure,
⚫ Sustainability: Resistance and resilience to disturbance.
Key Ecological Concepts for Restoration
Disturbance is a change of environmental conditions.
Although disturbance is a natural and even essential factor in
many ecosystems, the increasingly severe disturbance of
ecosystems by humans has, at times, degraded, damaged, and
even, destroyed ecosystems.
⚫ Succession is the process of change in an ecological community over time. After a

disturbance, an ecological community generally changes from a simple level of

organization to a more complex level. Many ecological communities recover from
mild disturbances on their own but with severe, or sustained disturbance,
restoration may be needed to assist with restoring ecological successional processes.

⚫ Fragmentation occurs when ecosystems are divided into small, unconnected

fragments and can only support small populations. These small populations are
much more vulnerable to extinction. Sometimes, restoration projects can overcome
this by simply adding area or developing habitat corridors that link isolated
fragments. Increasing habitat connectivity is an important goal in ecological
restoration.

⚫ Ecosystem functions are the basic processes of natural systems such as nutrient

cycles and energy fluxes. Two of the critical ecosystem functions of our wetland
systems include recharging groundwater and reducing the overall impact of storms.
⚫ In all cases ecological restoration will improve the biological
diversity on degraded landscapes, increase the populations and
distribution of rare and threatened species, enhance landscape
connectivity, increase the availability of environmental goods and
services, and contribute to the improvement of human well-being .
⚫ Ecological restoration, the process of repairing sites in nature
whose biological communities (that is, interacting groups of
various species in a common location) and ecosystems have been
degraded or destroyed.
⚫ In many ecosystems, humans have altered local native populations
of plants and animals, introduced invasive species, converted
natural communities to extractive use (such as agriculture or mining),
fouled waters, and degraded soil resources.
⚫ Ecological restoration focuses on repairing the damage human
activities have caused to natural ecosystems and seeks to return them
to an earlier state or to another state that is closely related to one
unaltered by human activities. Ecological restoration is distinguished
from the practice of conservation, which is primarily concerned with
preventing further losses to ecosystems.
Questions