OUR ENVIONMENT - KEYNOTES

SUBJECT: BIOLOGY GRADE 10

Chapter: 15

Environment include everything around the organism both non-living (abiotic) and living (biotic)
Abiotic components: e.g.: Light, wind, temperature, water, soil etc
Biotic components: e.g. All kinds of living organisms
•Human beings are the only organism who try to change the environment to fulfill their need.
•Increase in human population and great advancement in technology have damaged the balanced
and healthy environment.
• This environmental imbalance created by uncontrolled human activities has given rise to various
environmental issues.
• The prominent environmental problems are :
• Waste accumulation
• Depletion of ozone layer
• Global warming etc
• Bio-degradable and Non-Bio-degradable substances
• Substance that are broken down by biological process are called bio-degradable substances
• Substance that are not broken down by biological process are called non bio-degradable
substances
ECOSYSTEM
• An ecosystem can be defined as the structural and functional unit of the biosphere which consists
of all living organisms and nonliving things interacting together by means of biogeochemical
cycles to maintain balance in nature
• An ecosystem can be both natural or man-made. Some examples of natural ecosystems are grass land,
forest, sea, river, desert, mountain, pond, lake etc. The desert, grass land and mountains represent the
terrestrial ecosystem (land-based ecosystem). The ponds, rivers, lakes and sea represent the aquatic
ecosystem (water-based ecosystem). Man-made artificial ecosystems are garden, crop fields, park,
aquarium, etc.
 • Biotic components can be classified into
a) Producers
b) Consumers
c) Decomposers
• Producers: are organisms which can take inorganic substances and convert into sugar
and starch with the help of sunlight.
eg: all green plants and blue green algae
• Consumers: are organisms which depend on producers for food directly or indirectly.
Consumers can be classified into
a) herbivores - cow
b) carnivores - tiger
c) omnivores - man
d) parasites – tapeworm
• Decomposers: are organisms that obtain food from dead remains of plant and animals,
and its waste products
eg: microorganisms which include bacteria, fungi
Important Questions
1. What are decomposers? Write the role of decomposers in the environment.
Decomposers are microorganisms which break up the dead complex organic matter into
recycled simpler compounds.
Role of decomposers are – They return the nutrients to the nutrient pool.
a) They help in completing the different biogeochemical cycles, thus they maintain the
balance in the ecosystem.
2. What will be the impact on ecosystems if bacteria, fungi /microorganisms are removed
from the environment?
Complex organic molecules will not breakdown into simple inorganic substances, preventing
replenishment of soil.
3. We often observe domestic waste decomposing in the by lanes of residential colonies.
Suggest ways to make people realize that improper disposal of waste is harmful to the
environment.
a) Banners and signboards educating people about the ill effects of improper disposal of
wastes can be erected / hanged in residential colonies.
b) Street plays highlighting the ill effect of improper disposal of wastes can be organized.
Food chains and Food Web
• Food Chain: The sequential interlinking of organisms which feed on one another at
various biotic levels form a food chain
• Trophic level: Each level of food chain is known as trophic level.
1. first trophic level is formed of producers or autotrophs
 2. second trophic level is formed of herbivores (primary consumers)
3. Third trophic level is formed of small carnivores (secondary consumers)
4. Fourth trophic level is formed of large carnivores (tertiary consumers)

Trophic Levels

Food Web
Food web is a network of food chains which become interconnected at various trophic levels so as to
form a number of feeding connections among different organisms of a biotic community.
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS
1. “All the flesh of a carnivore is grass.” Justify the statement.
Carnivores depend on the flesh of herbivores. Herbivores build up their tissues with the help of
food for which they depend upon the plants. This justifies the statement “All the flesh of a
carnivore is grass.
2. How do food chains get shortened? How does the shortening of food chain affect biosphere?
a) Shortening of food chains: Undesirable activities of man eliminate the organisms belonging
to one or more trophic levels in a food chain. Thus the chains get shortened , eg: Hunting of
lions in large scale.
b) Effects of shortening of food chain: It causes imbalance in the functioning of the ecosystem
and biosphere. Eg: Increase in hunting of lions led to increase in herbivores which led to the
elimination of grasses and thereby formation of desert.
3. How does study of food chain in an area or habitat help us? Give an example of four –step
food chain operating in a large lake.
The study of food chain in area helps in –
a) Understanding the energy transfer through organism
b) Ecological balance in a habitat or ecosystem
c) Understanding harmful human activities that disrupt ecological balance.
Example of four step food chain is –
Algae -> Protozoa -> Small fish -> Big fish
4. Write the aquatic organisms in order of who eats whom starting from producer and form
a chain of at least three steps. What name is given to such a chain in an ecosystem and what
name is given to each stage?
Food chain in aquatic ecosystem –
Phytoplankton -> Zooplankton -> Crustacean -> Fish -> Crane
(Producer) (Herbivore) (Carnivore 1) (Carnivore 2
) (Top Carnivore)
Flow of energy in an ecosystem
• Each organism needs energy to carry on vital activities in a body.
• The ultimate source of entire energy used by any living organism is the sun.
• In a community each food chain represents stepwise transfer of energy / food.
• Of the total solar radiation falling on the earth only about 1 % is captured by green plants
in an ecosystem and converted into food energy by photosynthesis. This energy is stored
as chemical energy of food. The plants utilize part of the stored energy for their metabolic
activities. Some of the energy is not utilized and is released to the environment as unusable
heat energy.
• When green plants are eaten by herbivores a great deal of energy is lost as heat to the
environment. This is in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics. Some amount
of energy is utilized for metabolic activities.
• On an average 10% of the food /energy is turned into the body of herbivores.
Energy Flow Diagram

• In the same way 10% of the total energy available to the herbivores is made available to
the next level of consumers.
• Therefore 10% of the organic matter that is present in each step reaches the next consumer
level.
10% Law
• According to this law, put forth by Lindeman (1942), transfer of energy from one trophic
level to the next level is never 100%. It is so because most of the energy get lost as heat
into the environment during each transfer and only 10% of energy is transferred to the next
tropic level.
• In every food chain transfer of energy is unidirectional.
eg: 2000 joules of solar energy falls on a vegetative land. Plants absorb about 1% of solar radiation.
Thus about 20 joules of energy is trapped by plants and converted into chemical energy, the
remaining energy is lost to the environment.
• 2 joules of energy is stored in the flesh of herbivores from 20 joules of energy absorbed
from the plants. The remaining 18 joules of energy get lost to the environment during
metabolic activities.
• In the same way carnivores would store only 0.2 joules of energy in their flesh by
consuming herbivores

Important Questions:
1. The number of trophic levels in a food chain is limited. Why?
The number of trophic levels in a food chain is limited because –
a) At every trophic level 90% of energy is lost to the environment.
 b) Only 10% of energy is passed on from one trophic level to another trophic level.
c) There is a progressive decline in the energy level and the amount of energy available is not
enough to sustain more than few trophic levels in a food chain.
2. What is ten percent law? Explain giving examples.
Energy available at each successive trophic level of food chain is 10 percent of the previous level,This is
called 10 percent law. This is due to the fact that 90 percent energy is lost to the
environment at each trophic level.

3. A food chain consists of the following members. If the last member recieves 30J of energy
, make a diagrammatic representation to show the flow of energy.
Snake, Vulture, Plants and Rat.
Food chain is
Plant -> Rat -> Snake -> Vulture
If the last member receives 30J of energy the flow of energy will be
Plant --------- Rats------------ Snake ------------ Vulture
30000J 3000J 300J 30J
4. What are trophic levels? Give an example of a food chain and state the different trophic
levels in it.
Trophic levels are the various steps or levels in the food chain where transfer of food or energy
takes place. So, a step in a food chain is called trophic level.
For example, in a food chain compromising green plants, deer and lion the food chain is as
follows:
Thus, green plants are producer, so they are at first trophic level and the herbivores consume
producers so they form second trophic level. The carnivores consume the herbivores, so they
form the third trophic level. The large carnivore consumes the small carnivores, so large
carnivores are at fourth trophic level. In nature, very few food chains with more than four or five
trophic levels are present.
5. Why do we say that energy flow in the biosphere is unidirectional?
The energy flow through different steps in the food chain is unidirectional. This means that
energy captured by autotrophs does not revert back to the sun and it passes to the herbivores, ie
it moves forward through various trophic levels. Thus energy flow from the Sun through
producers to consumers is in single direction only.
6. In the following food chain, 5J of energy is available to man. How much energy was
available at producer level?
Plant -- Sheep Man
500J 50J 5J
500 J of energy was available at producer level.
7. In a food chain, 10,000 J of energy is available to the producer. How much energy will be
available to the secondary consumer to transfer it to the tertiary consumer?
10J will be available to the secondary consumer to transfer to the tertiary consumer.
 Biological Magnification
• The chemicals present in the pesticides are washed down into the soil or water bodies.
• From the soil these are absorbed by plants along with water and minerals.
• Thus these chemicals enter the food chain.
• These chemicals are not degradable and hence get accumulated in each trophic level and
the maximum accumulation will be in the top level of food chain.
• Since human being occupy the top level in any food chain, maximum chemicals get
accumulated in human bodies.
This phenomenon is known as biological magnification
Important Questions:
1. The use of pesticide DDT is discouraged since this chemical is found in human body. How
does this chemical enter our body?
DDT enters through the food chain into the human body by the process called
biomagnification. DDT is a non-biodegradable chemical that remains toxic in the soil for a long
time, absorbed by the plants and thus, enters into the food chain. It gets accumulated at every
successive trophic level reaching maximum quantity in the top most trophic level.
2. If a harmful chemical enters a food chain comprising snakes, hawks, mice and plants ,
which of these organisms is likely to have maximum concentration of the harmful
chemicals in its body?
Hawks
3. How does harmful chemicals enter the food chain? Name the process.
Harmful chemicals enter our bodies through the food chain. Several pesticides and other
chemicals are used to protect our crops from disease and pests. These chemicals are either washed
down into the soil or into the water bodies. From the soil, these are absorbed by the plants along
with water and minerals and from the water bodies these are taken up by aquatic
plants and animals. This is one of the ways in which they enter the food chain. These chemicals
are nor degradable so they get accumulated at each trophic level. And as human beings occupy
the top level in any food chain, the maximum concentration of these chemicals get
accumulated in our bodies.
Human activities that affect Environment
There exists a great interrelationship between man and environment where both influence each other.
When the environment is polluted beyond the capacity of cleaning agents of nature ecological balance
is lost and the environment become polluted. Our activities pollute the environment in various ways and
some of the environmental problems are -
1. Depletion of Ozone Layer
2. Waste disposal

Ozone Layer:
Is the earth’s atmosphere in which most of the atmosphere’s ozone is concentrated. Ozone layerprotects
the earth from harmful radiations like UV radiations from sun.
Ozone : Is produced at higher levels of atmosphere when UV radiation acts on oxygen molecule (O2).
The high energy radiations split molecular Oxygen into free oxygen atoms.
Ozone layer depletion
• The ozone layer can be depleted by carbon compounds like CFC which contain chlorine,
fluorine etc.
• Once these compounds reach the ozone layer, they react with ozone molecules
• Chlorine initiates the breakdown of ozone and split ozone(O3) into O and O2.

• After each reaction, chlorine begins the destructive cycle again with another ozone
molecule. One chlorine atom can thereby destroy thousands of ozone molecules.
• Because ozone molecules are being broken down, they are unable to absorb any
ultraviolet light so we experience more intense UV radiation at the earth’s surface.
• This resulted in a reduction of the ozone layer and discovered a hole in the ozone layer
above Antarctica
• ozone hole is an area of the Antarctic stratosphere in which the recent ozone levels have
dropped
•
Waste disposal
• Two types of waste that accumulate n the environment due to human activities are
Biodegradable waste
Non -Biodegradable waste
Biodegradable waste
• Include household garbage, human waste, cattle dung, wood, hay, leaves etc.
• These can be easily degraded or digested by the action of decomposers present in the
environment.

Harmful effects of biodegradable waste

• Act as pollutants when present in large quantities
• Production of foul smell
• Flies carrying germs breed at huge heaps of waste
Block drains, create pools of water which will become breeding site of mosquitoes
Non-Biodegradable waste
• Cannot be degraded by decomposers.

eg: plastic objects

glass objects
chemicals & heavy metals
radioactive waste etc
Harmful effect of non -biodegradable waste
• Chemicals, radioactive waste etc enter the food chain result in biological magnification,
which causes harmful effect in human beings and animals
• Excessive use of fertilisers and pesticides reduces quality of soil thereby reducing crop
yield
Important Questions
1. How is ozone formed in the upper part of the atmosphere of the Earth?
Ozone at higher levels of atmosphere is a product of UV radiation acting on oxygen (O2)
molecule.
2. Explain how carbon dioxide and ozone layer of the atmosphere are important to life.
Importance of Carbon dioxide gas: CO2 gas shows greenhouse effect and maintains the
atmospheric temperature suitable for life on earth. It keeps the air hot.
Importance of ozone layer: O3 layer in the atmosphere absorbs the harmful radiations. Ultra-
violet radiations, coming from Sun prevents the life on earth from their harmful radiations of
sunlight. Ultraviolet radiations cause skin cancer, damage the new cells and create chromosomal
disorder in the living beings.
3. What is O3 Hole? Where is it located? How is it formed?
Thinning of ozone layer through which, ultraviolet rays coming from the Sun could enter the
lower atmosphere of earth is called ozone hole. One such hole over the Antarctica region was
detected in 1980.
It is caused by the destruction of ozone over a particular area, due to the presence of large amount
of chlorofluorocarbon in the atmosphere.

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