Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1.
o
An ecosystem is a term first used by a Tansley, an ecologist from Britain, to mean all of the organisms in a particular environment and how they interact. Examples of ecosystems are forests, lakes, or deserts. But an ecosystem is not truly complete without considering the non-biological, or abiotic, components as well. The structure and function of an ecosystem depends on all of these factors incorporated together.
Structure-Natural ecosystems
o
The natural characteristics of ecosystems include the natural ecosystem. This is an ecosystem that is found in nature, where there is no interaction with humans. It is a system where everything is in balance and if one component is removed, the system will fall apart. Natural ecosystems are defined by their habitat. The two major categories are terrestrial and aquatic. Deserts, forests, meadows, prairies and jungles are terrestrial ecosystems, while aquatic ecosystems include all marine and freshwater systems.
Structure-Artificial ecosystems
o
Another structural type of ecosystem is an artificial system. These ecosystems are constructed in some fashion by humans. For example, a constructed wetland is where the ponds are built, wetland and land plants are physically placed and fish are released into the ponds. To keep the constructed wetland in balance, human intervention is needed to maintain the ecosystem. Ponds must be kept filled so plants and fish will thrive, invading weeds must be controlled and predators need to be controlled. Left to its own devices, a constructed wetland would eventually revert to a wild state, since it was not a natural ecosystem. Other artificial ecosystems are orchards, large or small gardens and farms.
Function
o
The functional characteristics of an ecosystem are dependent on how all of the organisms interact and influence one another, how the energy of the ecosystem operates. The energy is simply the way the predator-prey relationship and the plants transfer energy; calories are burned consuming prey, thereby transferring the energy of
the prey to the predator and as plants die and decompose, their energy is transferred to the soil where it is taken up again by other plants. The function of an ecosystem can only be considered as a whole, not piecemeal, as every part of the ecosystem has a functional effect on another.
function.
1. composition of biological community including species, numbers, biomass, life history and distribution in space, etc.
2.
quantity
and
distribution
of
non-living
materials,
such
as
nutrients,
water,
etc.
3. range, or gradient of conditions of existence, such as temperature, light, etc. Functions of an ecosystem involves: 1. rates of biological energy flow, i.e. the production and respiration rates of the community. Quality Microbiology Lab Equipments from India 2. rates of materials or nutrient cycles.
All Kinds of Laboratory Equipments, Laboratory Plasticwares, Laboratory Glasswares, Cleanroom Equipments, Dehydrated Culture Medias, Bio Chemcials, Microscopes, Electrophoresis Equipments, pH Meters, TDS Meters, Precision and Analytical Balances, Biovisual Charts & Models, School and College Physics & Chemistry Equipments and etc..
www.multilab.biz www.multilab.in
3. biological or ecological regulation including both regulation of organisms by environment and regulation of environment by the organisms. Thus in any ecosystem, structure and function are studied together. Odum (1959) classified the abiotic components of an ecosystem into three parts: i. inorganic nutrients like C, N, H, etc.
The term abiotic means without life or nonliving. Many substances such as water, oxygen, sodium chloride, nitrogen and carbon dioxide are abiotic when they are physically outside living organisms, such as in air or water, but once within living organisms they become part of the biotic world. Many elements may be tightly bound in inorganic compounds as silicon in sandstone or aluminum in feldspar, and are unavailable to living organisms, Elements such as oxygen which are normally very active in biological processes may be in an abiotic form readily available to living organisms such as free O2, CO2, etc., or they may be in an inaccessible form as silicon dioxide in quartz, a major component of granite. One of the most important aspects of an ecosystem is the rate of release of nutrients from solids, as this regulates the rate of function of the entire system. The abiotic components can be 1. Climatic regime-includes temperature, light directly influence the organisms classified into three groups: and other physical factors which in a given area.
2. Nutrients (material cycling)-includes inorganic substances (C, CO2, H2O, H2, P, etc.) and organic substances 3. Energy circuits-includes grazing circuits and organic detritus circuits.
The amount of abiotic materials present in any ecosystem is called standing state. Types of Ecosystems
Natural Ecosystems These operate by themselves under natural conditions without any major interference by man. Based upon the particular kind of habitat, these are further divided as: 1. 2. Terrestrial, Aquatic which e.g. is forest, further grassland, distinguished desert as:
a. freshwater which may be Iotic (spring, stream or river) or lentic (lake, pond, pools, ditch, swamp, etc.) b. Marine, e.g. sea or ocean (deep bodies) and estuary (shallow bodies). Artificial Ecosystems They are also called man-made or man-engineered ecosystems. They are maintained artificially by man where, by addition of energy and planned manipulation, natural balance is distrurbed regularly, e.g. croplands such as sugarcane, maize, wheat, rice-fields; orchards, gardens, villages, cities, dams, aquarium and manned spaceship.