Chapter-3

ecosystems
 Concept of ecosystem
• The word ecosystem was proposed by A.G. Tansley in
1935.
• He defined ecosystem as the system resulting from the
integration of all the living and non-living factors of the
environment.
• E.P. Odum: it is the basic fundamental unit of ecology
which includes both the living organisms and non-living
environment each influencing the properties of the other
and each is necessary for the maintenance of life.
• An ecosystem is a sum total of living organisms and their
non-living environment which interact with each other to
form a natural unit.
• Thus the ecosystem represents the highest level of
ecological integration which is energy based and this
functional unit is capable of energy transformation,
accumulation and circulation.
• Ecosystem = A community and its physical
environment treated together as a functional system.
• This set of ecosystems is called “BIOME”
Biomes Comparison
World Biomes
 Types of ecosystem
Natural ecosystems and Artificial ecosystems.
1.Natural ecosystems:
The system which operates by themselves under natural
conditions without any interference by man are called
natural ecosystems. These are further classified as,
a.Aquatic ecosystem (Biome): It includes all the water
bodies existing on earth. It is further divided into,
i. Freshwater ecosystem may be:
• Lotic (Running water) Ex: Streams, Rivers, Springs
• Lentic (Standing water) Ex: Lakes, Ponds, Swamps
ii. Marine ecosystem includes saline water
ecosystems such as, Deep sea and Oceans.
b. Terrestrial Ecosystems (Biomes): They are
often defined by the vegetation types that
dominate the community. Terrestrial vegetation
has a rapid exchange of oxygen, water & carbon
dioxide.
Ex: Forest ecosystem, Grassland ecosystem,
Desert ecosystem.
2. Artificial ecosystems: These are manmade
ecosystems, maintained artificially by man,
whereby addition of energy and planned
manipulation, natural balance is disturbed
regularly.
Ex: Cities, villages, croplands etc…
 Structure of ecosystem
There are two components in ecosystem they
are;
I. Abiotic components (non-living):
• It includes the radiant energy of sun, inorganic
substances such as P, S, C, N, H, involved in
the biogeochemical cycles and compounds like
atmospheric gases (Co2 ,O2, N2), soil, minerals,
wind, water etc…
• The amount and distribution of inorganic
chemicals like chlorophylls and organic
substances like proteins, carbohydrates, lipids
etc… present in the biomass or in the envt is
designated as biochemical structure.
II. Biotic components (living): It includes all
the living organisms, in fact it is the trophic
structure of any ecosystem.
on this basis the ecosystem has components
such as,
1. Autotrophic components (producers)
2. Heterotrophic components (consumers)
1. Producers/Autotrophic components:
• Autotrophs (auto = self & trophe = nutrition) get
energy from the environment in the form of
sunlight or inorganic chemicals and use it to create
energy-rich molecules such as Carbohydrates.
• Autotrophs produce organic food for themselves
and all members of their community.
• The green plants (with chlorophyll) & certain
bacteria produce food.
 Since these organisms produce food for
all the other organisms, they are known as
“Producers”.Examples of producers:

Photosynthetic Bacteria Grass

Shrubs Trees
2. Consumers/Heterotrophic components:
• Heterotrophs (heteros = another & trophe =
nutrition) are organisms that
uses organic substrates to get its chemical
energy for its life cycle.
• They are dependant upon autotrophic
organisms.
• The members (organisms) of heterotrophic
component are called “Consumers”.
• The heterotrophs are further categorized as:
a. Macro- Consumers
b. Micro-consumers
a. Macro consumers: they may be divided
into primary, secondary and tertiary.
i. Primary consumers also Herbivores
feed directly on living plants or plant
residues. They have vegetarian diet.
Ex: cow, goat, deer, elephant, rabbit etc…
ii. Carnivores also secondary/Tertiary
consumers: which feed on consumers, i.e.
they have non- vegetarian diet.
• They are also called “Predators”
Ex: Tiger, lion, fox, wolves, cat, dog,
snake, birds like sparrow, crow etc…
iii.Omnivores/Tertiary Consumers:
which feed on producers as well as on
primary consumers, i.e. they have
vegetarian as well as non- vegetarian
diet.
b. Micro consumers/Saprotrophs:/Detrivors
• They are popularly known as decomposers, such
as bacteria, fungi etc…
• They feed on organic compounds of dead or living
protoplasm of plants and animals for their food and
energy
• They absorb some of the decomposition or
breakdown products & release inorganic
compounds (nutrients) in the ecosystem, making
them available again to producers.
 Functions of an ecosystem
• Both living and non living components are very
complex and their separation is very much difficult, as
they are connected by energy, nutrients and minerals.
• The nutrients and minerals circulate and recirculate
between the abiotic and biotic factors of the
ecosystem several times.
• The producers, trap the solar energy and with the help
of minerals such as C, H, O, N, P, Ca, Mg, Zn, Fe etc.,
taken from soil and aerial environment, they build up
complex organic matter (carbohydrates proteins, fat
etc)
• The flow of energy on the other hand is one way, once
used the ecosystem it is lost. The survival of the
ecosystem depends on the flow of energy and the
circulation of nutrients and mineral in the ecosystem.
Functions of the ecosystem includes following aspects:
1.Energy: The behavior of energy is described by the
1st law of thermodynamics, “Energy neither can be
created nor can be destroyed but it transforms from
one form to another form”.
• Light energy is converted into chemical energy in the
form of sugar by photosynthesis.
6 H2O + 6 CO2 + Light  6 C6H12O6 + 6 O2
• This sugar is converted into starch and stored as food
material, it combines with other sugars to form
cellulose, by combining with inorganic substances it
forms amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids, pigments,
hormones etc…
• During respiration sugar oxidizes to release the energy.
C6H12O6 + 6 O2  6 CO2 + 6 H2O + Energy
2. Primary production: It is defined as the rate
at which radiant energy is stored by photosynthetic
and chemosynthetic activity of producers (plants,
algae etc…).
• The amount of sugar and other organic material
produced in plants per unit area at per unit time is
called gross primary production (GPP).
• Both photosynthesis and respiration occurs
simultaneously, during respiration some amount of
sugar is oxidised, hence it is not easy to measure
the GPP.
• The total organic material (biomass) present in
plant is called net primary production (NPP).
• Thus NPP = GPP – respiration.
i.e., Pn = Pg – R
. . . Pg = Pn + R
• The productivity is expressed in terms of grams or kilo
calories/sq.mtr/year.
• If Pg=R no storage of energy occurs, when Pg<R
productivity decreases, when Pg>R productivity increases.
Methods of Measurement of Primary
Production:
a.Harvest method: In this method plants grown in a
particular area are harvested at ground level and their net
weight is taken. They are dried and weighed again, this is
done again at regular intervals, the PP is expressed in
terms of biomass/ mass per unit area per unit time.
b.Co2 Assimilation Method: During photosynthesis plants
utilize Co2, hence the rate of photosynthesis can be
calculated by calculating the amount of Co2 utilized by
plants per unit of time, with the help of infrared gas
analyzer.
c. Oxygen Production Method: In this
method the amount of O2 produced per unit
time is taken as an index to measure the rate
of photosynthesis.
• Light and dark bottles are used in this
method. Water sample containing autotrophs
are collected both in a transparent and in
dark bottle. The transparent vessel permits
the light and dark bottle prevents the light to
enter.
• In dark bottle Photosynthesis does not occur
but respiration occurs, in light bottle both
respiration and photosynthesis occurs.
• After a fixed period of time, the oxygen
concentration in both vessels is measured by
titration with sodium thiosulphate.
• By calculating the amount of O2 present in the two
bottles we can calculate the rate of photosynthesis.
d. Isotope Method: In this method a known quantity
of radio labelled C14 is introduced into the light and
dark bottles along with the sample and the bottles
are suspended for six hours, during this period C 14 is
incorporated into the protoplasm of the autotrophs.
• The autotrophs are filtered dried and measured the
radioactivity, the amount of radioactivity is
proportionate to the amount of Co2 produced.
3. Secondary Productivity: This is the rate of
energy storage at consumers level. The energy
trapped by producers is utilized by consumers or
heterotrophs.
• Producers  Herbivores  Primary Consumers 
Secondary Consumers.
• Secondary productivity actually remains mobile.
4. Net Productivity: It is the rate of storage of
organic matter which is not used by the
heterotrophs. This is equivalent to net primary
production minus consumption by heterotrophs
during unit period as a season or year etc…
• Generally the net productivity is expressed as
production of cal or gms/m2/day.
 Food chain
• It can be defined as“ The transfer of energy
and nutrients through a series of organisms
with repeated process of eating and being
eaten”.
• The steps of transfer of energy in a food
chain are called trophic levels.
• Plants form first trophic level of food chain
followed by herbivores, primary
carnivores/omnivores and secondary
carnivores/omnivores.
• The primary producers utilize solar energy
which is transformed to chemical form, ATP
during photosynthesis.
1. Grazing food chain: this food chain starts from
green plants and goes through grazing herbivores
and ends with predator carnivores.
Ex: Grass  Grasshopper  Lizard  Hawk
The grazing food chain has predator chain &
parasitic chain,
a. Predator chain: In this type one animal
captures and devours another animal, the
animal which eats other animals is called
predator and the animal which is being
b. eaten is called
Parasitic prey. This chain starts from
chain:
plants then goes to herbivores which may
be the host of a very large number of small
animals. These parasites derive their energy
from their hosts, plants and animals of the
2. Detritus food chain: In this food chain the
trophic level starts from dead and decayed
organic matter into micro organisms and ends
in inorganic compounds.
• There are certain organisms which feed
exclusively on dead bodies of animals and
plants, these organisms are called deteriorative
or detritus consumers.
• The detrivorous organisms include crabs, insect
larvae, mollusks, nematodes, algae, bacteria,
fungi, millipedes, centipedes etc…

Dead animals and plants Detrivores  Co2 + H2o

Inter linkage of food chains: In nature the food chains
never operate independently but are inter connected
with each other at various levels forming a sort of
interlocking pattern, which is known as Food web.
• Bossert (1971) explained that the stability of the
ecosystem is directly proportional to the number of such
links.
Food web
The network of food chain in an ecosystem is called as
food web.
• The linear arrangement of food chain is very rare in
nature, because they remain interconnected with each
other with different types of organisms at different
trophic levels.
• Food webs are very important in maintaining the stability
of an ecosystem by increasing or decreasing the various
trophic levels.
F
O
O
D

W
E
B
 Ecological pyramids
• It can be defined as the graphic representation
of number, biomass and energy of the
successive trophic levels of an ecosystem.
• Charles Elton (1927) has described the use of
ecological pyramid.
• In the ecological pyramid the producer forms the
base and the final consumer occupies the apex.

Types of Ecological pyramids

There are 3 types of pyramids they
are,
I. Pyramid of Numbers
II.Pyramid of Biomass
 I. The Pyramid of Numbers
• It represents the numerical relationship between
producers, herbivores and carnivores at each
successive trophic levels.
• In this type of ecosystem usually the number of
producers is far high, the number of herbivores is
lesser and the number of carnivores is still lesser.
• Starting from the producers and moving towards
the apex we can observe the gradual decrease in
number of organisms and increase in the body
size.
• This often produces an upright pyramid - but not
always.
Ex : Grass land ecosystem, pond ecosystem, crop
land ecosystem etc…
Pyramid
of
Numbers
a. Grass land ecosystem: In this ecosystem grasses
which are producers are high in number and the number
decreases towards the apex, thus the pyramid is upright.
b. Pond ecosystem: In this ecosystem, the producers are
photo planktons, such as diatoms and algae,
zooplanktons occupy secondary trophic level followed by
small, medium and large fishes.
 II. The pyramid of biomass
• It represents the total weight of living matter per unit
area present at each trophic level of the food chain.
– Bio=life Mass=weight
– Bio + Mass = Weight of living things within an ecosystem.
• The biomass of the producers is maximum and the
biomass of the consumers moving to the top will be
decreasing and very less at the apex.
• A biomass pyramid can be measured in calories per
meter square or grams per meter square.
• The dry weight of an individual is the mass of organic
material contained within that individual, the
organism is dried in an oven to remove the water
then weighed. This is done because the water content
of an organism varies considerably
 One problem with biomass pyramids is
that they can make a trophic level look like it
contains more energy than it actually does.
 III. The Pyramid of energy
• It represents the flow of energy at each trophic
level of the food chain starting from the base of
the pyramid to apex of the pyramid.
• In general only 10% of the energy consumed at a
particular trophic level is available to the next
trophic level.
• The units for a pyramid of energy are: kJ or kcal/
sq.mtr/year.
 Inverted pyramids
• Here the number and biomass of the producers are less
and those of consumers are more, this type of ecosystem
has the pyramid where the apex is directed downwards.
• The pyramid of energy is always upright, whereas the
pyramid of number and biomass may be inverted or up
righted.

Inverted
Inverted Pyramid of
Pyramid of
 Ecological succession
• It is defined as, “A change in the community in
which new populations of organisms gradually
replace existing ones”.
or
• It is an orderly process of community
development which involves changes in the
composition or species structure of an
ecological community”.
• The term succession was coined by Hutt (1885).
• Frederic Clements (1916) defined succession as
orderly process of ecosystem development
rather than the more known ecological
succession.
• A community has simple beginning, this simple
community is succeeded by a more complex
community till a highly climax (stable) community
is formed.
• The whole sequence of communities that replaces
one another in a given area is called sere.
• The first community is called a pioneer
community, the transitory communities are called
seral stages or pioneer stages and the final
community is the stable or climax community.
• The climax community has rich soil due to the
death and decay of organisms of older
communities, longer lived plants, diverse species
and maximum biomass.
 Causes of Ecological Succession
There are 3 main causes for succession:
1.Initial causes : It initiates both by climatic
factors as well as biotic factors. These
causes produce either bare area or destroy
the existing population in the area.
2.Ecesis/Continuing causes : This includes
the processes such as migration,
aggregation, competition, reaction, slope
exposure, fire, animal activity etc…
3.Stabilising causes : Clements suggested
that the climate of the area is the chief
cause of stabilisation, other factors are of
secondary value.
 Characteristics of ecological
succession

1. There is a continuous change in the

kinds of plants and animals.
2. There is increase in the species along
with succession.
3. There is an increase in the organic
matter and biomass supported by the
available energy flow.
4. There is a decrease in the net
community production or annual yield.
 types of ecological succession
There are two types of ecological successions:
1. Primary succession: Primary succession
takes place on an area that is originally
completely empty of life or which has not
been previously occupied by a community.
The first group of organisms establishing on
newly formed area are known as the pioneer
or primary community.
2. Secondary Succession: It occurs in an area
where life once existed but has then been
destroyed. Occurs after a disturbance. E.g.,
loss of trees after disease, Fire or wind,
deforestation etc. Conditions are favorable for
as soil and nutrients are already present. More
rapid than primary succession.
 Special types of succession:
Based on the dominating species in the habitat,
succession is classified into 2 types,
1. Autotropic succession: It begins
predominantly in inorganic environment and
characterized by early and continued
dominance of autotrophs like green plants.
There is gradual increase in the organic matter
content supported by energy flow, which is
maintained indefinitely.
2. Heterotrophic succession: It begins in a
predominantly organic environment and there
is a progressive decline in the energy content.
It consists of heterotrophs such as bacteria,
fungi and animals.
 Based on the factors which modify the
environment, the ecological succession is
further divided into 2 types as autogenic and
allogenic.
• Autogenic succession: : The replacement of
one type of community by another due to the
modification of environment by the communities
themselves is called as autogenic succession.
• Allogenic succession: The succession of
community due to modification of environment
by for as other than the communities is called as
allogenic succession for example the
modification of a stream or a pond community
due to entry of pollutants and nutrients.
 Patterns of ecological succession
1. Xerosere: If the succession begins on a dry
place like bare rocks, it is called as xerosere
or xerarch. First pioneer community can be
seen are Lichens. The predominant
community formed on sand are mosses then
the sand is converted into soil, on this the
herbs and shrubs are formed followed by
stable forest communities.
2. Hydrosere: the succession community that
starts in water is known as Hydrosere or hydrarch,
this succession occurs in freshwater lakes. The
pioneer organism in the habitat are planktons.
The succession from open water to climax
woodland is likely to take at least two hundred
years.
3. Mesosere: When the succession seems to be
intermediate between Xerarch and Hydrarch is
called mesarch or mesosere.
 Ecotone and Edge Effect
• A transition zone or junction zone or a tension belt
between two or more diverse communities is called as
ecotone.
• For example the border between forest and grass land.
• The ecotone containing more species and often a denser
population than either of the neighbouring communities
is called edge effect.
• When the ecotone contains some species which are
restricted to only this region they are called edge species.
Ecological Niche: The functional status of an organism
in its community or the role of an organism/its species
in the ecosystem is called ecological niche.
• According to E.P. Odum, a niche is the profession of an
organism in the community, he compared the habitat to
the address and the niche to the profession.
• Niche includes nutrition, its behavior, response with
environment and its interaction with other organisms.
 Energy flow in an ecosystem
• The transfer of energy from sun to producers and
then to consumers from one trophic level to
another trophic level is called energy flow.
• Flow is unidirectional and a large amount of energy
about 80% - 90% is lost when it is transferred from
one trophic level to another trophic level.
• Therefore in ecosystem the energy is used at once,
but minerals circulate and recirculate many times.
• The flow of energy can be explained by following
models:
1. Single channel energy model.
2. Universal model of energy flow.
 Single channel energy model

Solar
radiation Decomposi
Decomposi
tion Decomposi
tion
3.0 tion
0.5
(Trace)
Autotro Herbiv Carnivo
ores Not
phs res
G.P utilized
G.P G.P 1.2
3.0
111.0 15.0
Not
Not Respirat
utilized
utilized ion
7.0
Respirat
70.0
Respirat 1.8
ion
ion
4.5
23.0
Energy flow diagram for a lake in cal/cm2/yr
Single channel energy flow model
 Universal model of energy flow

Where I= input energy, NU= not used, A= assimilated energy, P= production,

R= respiration, B= biomass, G= growth, S= stored energy, E= excreted energy.
 Forest Ecosystem
• A forest is an area with a high density of trees.
• World’s total land area is 13,076 million hectares,
of which total forests account for about 40% of the
world’s land area.
• In India, forest cover is roughly 10-11% of the total
land area.
• The forest ecosystems are of great concern from
the environmental point of view.
• It provides numerous environmental services like;
– Nutrient cycling
– Providing wildlife habitat
– Affecting rainfall patterns
– Reducing flooding
– Preventing soil erosion
– Fire Wood, Fruits, Gums, Drugs etc…
 Structure and functions
The 4 major components of a Forest Ecosystem are:
1.Abiotic components: These include basic inorganic
& organic compounds present in the soil &
atmosphere.
2.Producers: In a forest, the producers are mainly
trees, climbers, shrubs and ground vegetation.
3.Consumers: In a forest, consumers are of three
main types;
a. Primary Consumers
b. Secondary Consumers
c. Tertiary Consumers
4.Decomposers: It includes bacteria and fungi which
are found in soil.
Components of Forest Ecosystem:

Producers: Different tree

species

Consumers in a Forest Ecosystem

Decomposers in a Forest
ecosystem
 Grassland Ecosystem:
• Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is
dominated by grasses and
other herbaceous (non-woody) plants.
• Grasslands occupy about 19% of the earth’s
surface and occur both in the tropical and
temperate regions.
• Grasslands occur in regions too dry for forests
and too moist for deserts.
• The dominant animal species include,
– Wild horses
– Herds of Bison of America
– Other large herbivores of Africa etc…
 The major components of a Grassland Ecosystem
are:
1.Abiotic components: These include basic inorganic
& organic compounds present in the soil &
atmosphere.
2.Producers: In a grassland, the producers are
mainly grasses, but a few herbs & shrubs also
contribute to primary production of biomass.
3.Consumers: In a grassland, consumers are divided
into three main types;
a. Primary Consumers
b. Secondary Consumers
c. Tertiary Consumers
4.Decomposers: It includes bacteria and fungi which
are found in soil.
Components of Grassland Ecosystem:

Producers: Different grass specie

Consumers of Grassland ecosystem

Decomposers in a Grassland ecosystem

 Desert Ecosystem
• Desert is a treeless, waterless, sandy
covered, waste land that occurs in the
regions of very low rainfall or no rainfall,
where the temperatures are very high.
• It occupy about 17% of the earth’s surface.
• Deserts are characterized by hot days & cold
nights.
• Deserts are of two types, namely.
– Hot deserts, temperature is high.
Ex: Sahara
– Cold deserts, situated at high altitudes.
Ex: Ladakh, alps
 The major components of a Desert Ecosystem are:
1.Abiotic components: Due to high temperature &
very low rainfall, the organic substances are poorly
present in the soil.
2.Producers: In a Desert, the producers are mainly
xerophytic shrubs/bushes, some grasses & a few trees.
3.Consumers: In a Desert, consumers include animals
such as insects, reptiles some nocturnal rodents, birds
& some mammalians like camel etc are also found
which are capable of living in xeric conditions.
4.Decomposers: Due to poor vegetation with very low
amount of dead organic matter, decomposers are poor
in desert ecosystem. The common decomposers are
some bacteria & fungi, most of which are
thermophillic.
Components of Desert Ecosystem:

Producers of Desert Ecosystem

Consumers of Desert Ecosystem

 Aquatic Ecosystems
• Aquatic ecosystems deal with biotic
community present in water bodies.
• In terrestrial ecosystem, carbon dioxide
& oxygen are present in gaseous form
whereas in aquatic ecosystem, these
are available in dissolved state.
• Depending upon the quality and nature
of water, the aquatic ecosystem are
categorized into:
• Freshwater Ecosystem
• Marine Ecosystem.
 Freshwater ecosystems
• Freshwater ecosystems cover 0.8% of the
Earth's surface and contain 0.009% of its
total water.
• Freshwater ecosystems contain 41% of the
world's known fish species.
• They recycle nutrients, attenuate floods,
recharge ground water and provide habitats
for wildlife.
• Aquatic ecosystems are also used for human
recreation, and are very important to
the tourism industry, especially in coastal
region.
• There are three basic types of freshwater
 Fresh water ecosystem has the following
components,
1. Abiotic components: like water, O2, Co2, N, P
etc…
2. Producers: it comprises of phytoplanktons, algae,
submerged, free floating and amphibious plants
(Hydrilla, Utricularia, Wolfia, Azolla, Typha etc.).
3. Consumers: it includes zooplanktons (ciliates,
flagellates, protozoans, small crustaceans) and
benthos, carnivores like insects and fishes feeding
on herbivores and the large fishes feeding on
small fishes.
4. Decomposers: Micro – organisms like bacteria
and fungi.
 Marine or Ocean Ecosystem
• Marine ecosystems are the Earth's largest
and most stable ecosystems. These are the
gigantic reservoirs of water covering
approximately 71% of the Earth's surface (an
area of some 362mn sq. kms).
• These ecosystem is different from freshwater
ecosystem mainly because of its salty water.
• Abiotic components: High Na, Ca, Mg and K
salt concentration, variable O2 content, light
& temperature
• Producers: phytoplanktons, diatoms, brown
and red algae etc…
• Consumers: consists of herbivores like
 Estuarine habitat
• It is a place where river water is mixed
with and dilutes the sea water.
• Pritchard (1976) defined the estuary as a
semi-enclosed coastal body of water
which has a free connection with the
open sea within this the sea water is
mixed with the fresh water from land
drainage.
• Salinity is intermediate in this region.
Inside Marine or Ocean Ecosystem