Ecosystem | CBSE Biology Class XII Notes

Introduction
 An ecosystem can be visualised as a functional unit of nature, where living organisms
interact among themselves and also with the surrounding physical environment.
 Ecosystem is the interaction of living things among themselves and with their
surrounding environment.
 There are two basic ecosystems
o Terrestrial
 Forest, grassland and desert ecosystem
o Aquatic
 Pond, lake, wetland, river and estuary ecosystem

Ecosystem- Structure and Function

 The interactions between the various biotic and abiotic factors of an ecosystem lead to
the maintenance of the ecosystem.
 Stratification : Vertical distribution of different species occupying different levels.
o trees occupy top vertical strata or layer of a forest,
o shrubs the second and
o herbs and grasses occupy the bottom layers.
 The components of the ecosystem
o Productivity;
o Decomposition;
o Energy flow; and
o Nutrient cycling
 Example of pond ecosystem:
o Abiotic component: the water with all the dissolved inorganic and organic
substances and the rich soil deposit at the bottom of the pond.
o Producers : autotrophic components that include the phytoplankton, some
algae and the floating, submerged and marginal plants found at the edges.
o Decomposers: the fungi, bacteria and flagellates especially abundant in the
bottom of the pond.
o The pond performs all the functions of any ecosystem and of the biosphere as
a whole,i.e.,
 Conversion of inorganic into organic material with the help of the
radiant energy of the sun by the autotrophs;
 Consumption of the autotrophs by heterotrophs;
 decomposition and mineralisation of the dead matter to release them
back for reuse by the autotrophs.
o There is unidirectional movement of energy towards the higher trophic levels
and its dissipation and loss as heat to the environment.

Productivity
  A constant input of solar energy is the basic requirement for any ecosystem to
function and sustain.
 Primary production: The amount of biomass or organic matter produced per unit
area over a time period by plants during photosynthesis. [Unit: weight (g – 2 ) or
energy (kcal m – 2 )].
 Productivity: The rate of biomass production. [Unit: g –2 yr –1 or (kcal m – 2 ) yr –
1]
 Gross primary productivity (GPP): The rate of production of organic matter during
photosynthesis.
 Net primary productivity (NPP): Gross primary productivity minus respiration
losses (R). GPP – R = NPP
 Secondary productivity: The rate of formation of new organic matter by consumers.
 Primary productivity depends upon-
o type of plant species inhabiting a particular area
o photosynthetic capacity of plants
o nutrient availability

Decomposition
 Decomposition: Break down complex organic matter into inorganic substances like
carbon dioxide, water and nutrients by the decomposers.
 Detritus: Dead plant remains such as leaves, bark, flowers and dead remains of
animals, including fecal matter.
 Detritus acts as the raw materials for the decomposition.
 The important steps in the process of decomposition are fragmentation, leaching,
catabolism, humification and mineralisation.
o Fragmentation: Break down of detritus into smaller particles by detrivores
(earthworm)
o Leaching: Water- soluble inorganic nutrients go down into the soil horizon
and get precipitated as unavailable salts.
o Catabolism: Bacterial and fungal enzymes degrade detritus into simpler
inorganic substances.
o Humification: Accumulation of humus (a dark coloured amorphous
substance).
 Humus is highly resistant to microbial action.
 It undergoes decomposition at an extremely slow rate.
 It serves as a reservoir of nutrients.
o Mineralisation: Degradation of humus to release inorganic nutrients.
 Decomposition is largely an oxygen-requiring process.
 Rate of decomposition is controlled by:
o chemical composition of detritus
 decomposition rate is slower if detritus is rich in lignin and chitin.
 quicker, if detritus is rich in nitrogen and water-soluble substances like
sugars.
o climatic factors
 Warm and moist environment favour decomposition.
 Low temperature and anaerobiosis inhibit decomposition.

Energy Flow
  Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) : Of the incident solar radiation less than
50 % of solar radiation; that can be used by autotrophs to make food from simple
inorganic materials.
 Plants capture only 2-10 per cent of the PAR.
 Producers: The green plant in the ecosystem that produces the food.
o In terrestrial ecosystem: herbaceous and woody plants
o In aquatic ecosystem: various species like phytoplankton, algae and higher
plants.
 Consumers: All animals depend on plants (directly or indirectly) for their food needs.
 Food Chain:
 Grazing food chain (GFC): A food chain that begins with producers.
 Detritus food chain (DFC): A food chain that starts with dead organic matter.
o It is made up of decomposers which are heterotrophic organisms, mainly fungi
and bacteria.
o They meet their energy and nutrient requirements by degrading dead organic
matter or detritus.
o Secrete digestive enzymes that breakdown dead and waste materials into
simple, inorganic materials, which are subsequently absorbed by them.
(saprophytes)
 Food Web:
 Trophic level: Every organism occupies a specific level in their food chain known as
the trophic level.
o Producers – first trophic level
o Herbivores (primary consumer) – second trophic level
o Carnivores (secondary consumer) – third trophic level
 Standing crop: The mass of living material (biomass) that is present in a trophic level
at a particular time.
 10% law: Only 10 per cent of the energy is transferred to each trophic level from the
lower trophic level;
o as a result of which the number of trophic levels in the grazing food chain is
restricted.

Ecological pyramids:
 An ecological pyramid is a graphical representation of the food or energy relationship
between organisms at different trophic level.
 The relationship is expressed in terms of number, biomass or energy.
 The base of each pyramid represents the producers or the first trophic level while the
apex represents tertiary or top level consumer.

Pyramid of numbers in a grassland ecosystem:

  Only three top-carnivores are supported in an ecosystem based on production of
nearly 6 millions plants.

Pyramid of biomass:

 Sharp decrease in biomass at higher trophic levels.

Inverted pyramid of biomass:

 Small standing crop of phytoplankton supports large standing crop of zooplankton.

 e.g.- Number of insects feeding on a big tree.
o Pyramid of biomass in sea – biomass of fishes far exceeds that of

phytoplankton.

An ideal pyramid of energy:

  Only 1% of the energy in the sunlight available to them into NPP.

 Pyramid of energy is always upright, can never be inverted-

o Because when energy flows from a particular trophic level to the next trophic
level, some energy is always lost as heat at each step.
 A trophic level represents a functional level and not a single species as such. Also, a
single species may become a part of more than one trophic level in the same
ecosystem at the same time depending upon the role it plays in the ecosystem.

Limitations of ecological pyramids:

 The ecological pyramids do not take into account the same species belonging to more
than one trophic level.
 It assumes a simple food chain that almost never exists in nature. It does not explain
food webs.
 Saprophytes are not given a place in ecological pyramids even though they play a
vital role in ecosystem.

Ecological Succession
 The gradual and fairly predictable change in the species composition of a given area.
 The composition and structure of a community constantly change in response to the
changing environmental conditions.
 These changes lead finally to a climax community.
 Climax community: The community that is in near equilibrium with the
environment.
 Sere: The entire sequence of communities that successively change in a given area.
 Seral stages / seral communities : The individual transitional communities.
 Primary succession: The succession that happens in areas where no life forms ever
existed as in bare rocks, cool lava, etc.
o It takes hundreds to thousands of years as developing soil on bare rocks is a
slow process.
 Secondary succession: The succession that happens in areas which have lost all life
forms due to destructions and floods, etc.
o Since some soil or sediment is present, succession is faster than primary
succession.

Successions of plants
  Hydrarch succession: It takes place in wetter areas and the successional series
progress from hydric to the mesic conditions.
 Xerarch succession: It takes place in dry areas and the series progress from xeric to
mesic conditions.
 Both hydrarch and xerarch successions lead to medium water conditions (mesic) –
neither too dry (xeric) nor too wet (hydric).
 Pioneer species: The first species that invade a bare area.

Primary succession on rocks:

 Lichens are the pioneer species.

 They secrete acids to dissolve rock, helping in weathering and soil formation.
 This later helps the plants like bryophytes to grow there.
 The bryophytes with time gets succeeded by bigger plants.
 After several more stages, ultimately a stable climax forest community is formed.
 The xerophytic habitat gets converted into a mesophytic one.

 The climax community remains stable as long as the environment remains unchanged.

Primary succession in water :

 Pioneer species are the small phytoplanktons.

 They are replaced with time by rooted-submerged plants.
 Rooted-floating angiosperms are replaced by free-floating plants
 The free-floating plants are replace by reed-swamp, marsh-meadow, scrub and finally
the trees.
 The climax community here is forest.
 With time the water body is converted into land.

Secondary Succession:

 The pioneer species depends on the following factors:

o Condition of the soil
o Availability of water
o The environment
o The seeds or other propagules present
 As the soil is present at the beginning the climax community is reached much quickly.

Nutrient Cycling
 The amount of nutrients present in the soil at a given time is known as the standing
state.
 Nutrients are never lost from the ecosystem. They are only recycled from one state to
another.
 The movement of nutrients through the various components of the ecosystem is called
nutrient cycling or biogeochemical cycles. They are of two types:
o Gaseous − Reservoir for these types of cycles exist in the atmosphere.
o Sedimentary − Reservoir for these types of cycles exist in the earth’s crust.
Ecosystem-Carbon Cycle

 About 49% of the dry weight of living organisms is made up of carbon.

 The ocean reserves and fossil fuels regulate the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
 Plants absorb CO2 from the atmosphere for photosynthesis, of which a certain amount
is released back through respiratory activities.
 A major amount of CO2 is contributed by the decomposers who contribute to the CO2
pool by processing dead and decaying matter.
 The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has been increased considerably by human
activities such as burning of fossil fuels, deforestation.

Ecosystem-Phosphorous Cycle

 Phosphorus is a major constituent of biological membranes, nucleic acids and cellular

energy transfer systems.
 Many animals also need large quantities of this element to make shells, bones and
teeth.
 The natural reservoir of phosphorus is rock, which contains phosphorus in the form of
phosphates.
 When rocks are weathered, some of the phosphate gets dissolved in the soil solution
and is absorbed by plants.
 The consumers get their phosphorus from the plants.
 Phosphorus returns back to the soil by the action of phosphate- solubilising bacteria
on dead organisms.

Ecosystem Services
 The products of ecosystem processes are named as ecosystem services:
o healthy forest ecosystems purify air and water, mitigate droughts and floods,
cycle nutrients, generate fertile soils, provide wildlife habitat, maintain
biodiversity, pollinate crops, etc.
 Robert Constanza and his colleagues tried to put price tags on nature’s life-support
services.
 The Average price tag was calculated to be of US $ 33 trillion a year on these
fundamental ecosystems services.