You are on page 1of 158

Ecosystem is defined as a structural and functional unit of biosphere or segment of nature consisting of community of living beings and the

physical environment both interacting and exchanging materials between them.


Definition : Ecosystem is the basic functional unit in ecology. Ecology is the study of the relationship of plants and animals to their physical and biological environment.

The physical environment includes light and heat or solar radiation, moisture, wind, oxygen, carbondioxide, nutrients in soil, water, and atmosphere.
The biological environment includes organisms of the same kind as well as other plants and animals. The term 'ecosystem' was coined by A.G. Tansley

Odum (1971) defined Ecosystem as a unit that includes all of the organisms in a given area interacting with the physical environment, so that a flow of energy leads to clearly defined trophic structure (Trophe = nourishment) .

Structure of Ecosystem: Each ecosystem has two main components: 1. Abiotic components : The nonliving factors or the physical environment prevailing in an ecosystem form the abiotic components. They are mainly of two types:
(a) Climatic factors: Rain, temperature, light, wind, humidity.etc (b) Edaphic Topography. factors: Soil, pH, Minerals,

2. Biotic components: The living organisms including plants, animals, and micro-organisms (Bacteria and fungi) that are present in an ecosystem.
On the basis of their role in ecosystem they

are classified into three main groups:

1) Producers

2) consumers 3 ) Decomposers.

Definitions Habitat - The physical and biological surroundings needed for survival, which include food, shelter, water, and space

Producer

Any

organism

that

can

photosynthesize.

Consumer - An organism that cannot make its own energy but must acquire it by eating green plants or other consumers. Decomposer - An organism that helps to breakdown and decay dead organisms and animal waste products, thereby returning nutrients into the soil.

The producers are plants and some bacteria capable of producing their own food photosynthetically or by chemical synthesis. Autotrophs nourishing) : (autotrophic = self-

Green plants fix radiant energy in the presence of the green pigment, chlorophyll, and with the help of minerals (C, H, O, N, P, Ca, Mg, Zn, Fe etc.) taken from their soil and aerial environment ,they build up complex organic matter (carbohydrates, fats, amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids etc). So green plants are also called as converters (or) transducers Therefore, producers. autotrophs are called

The consumers are animals that obtain their energy and protein directly by grazing , feeding on other animals, or both.

Heterotrophs: (heterotrophic = other - nourishing)


The radiant energy is transferred to various other trophic levels like consumers. Heterotrophic organisms, chiefly animals, which ingest other organisms (or) particulate organic matter are included in this category,

Macroconsumers: eg: They are of three types : viz., primary consumers eg: herbivores, secondary consumers eg: carnivores tertiary consumers eg: Carnivores and Omnivores (Phagotrophs).
Microconsumers It includes parasites, decomposers.

detritivores

and

Detritivores are scavengers which feed on dead plants and animals or their waste. They are essential for recycling of nutrients: without them dead plant material would not be returned to the soil for new growth.

Herbivore

Carnivore

omnivore

1. Parasites: They obtain food directly from other organism of all trophic levels. Parasites cause disease and depend on the host for food.

2. Detrivores and Scavengers: Detrivores (e.g., termites, earth worms, wood lice, millipede etc) feed on organic fragments whereas, scavengers (e.g., vulture, carrion beetle) feed on dead bodies.
Scavengers and detrivores seem to be essential for quick breakdown of dead bodies of organisms. 3. Decomposers: They are mostly parasitic and saprophytic bacteria, actinomycetes and fungi.

The dead organic matter comprising plant and

animal material is then broken down by decomposers (bacteria and fungi) into simple inorganic substances. They are cycled back to the soil and the atmosphere and are available to primary producers.
consumer decomposer cycle indefinitely with the sun as the energy source. its trophic level.

Nature is capable of sustaining the producer

An organism feeding position in an ecosystem is

Thus,

an ecosystem may be very extensive covering millions of km2 .

(I) The composition of biological community including species (plants, animals and microbes), biomass, life cycles and distribution in space, trophic standpoint. (ii) The quantity, distribution and cycling of the non-living materials such as major and micronutrients, trace elements and water
(iii) The range (or) gradient of conditions

like temperature, light, rainfall, relative humidity, wind and topography

Scavenger -Vulture

Detrivore- Termite

Bacteria

Fungi

Parasites

Herbivores
Some animals do not eat other animals. They survive on plants and are known as herbivores.

Carnivores
Some animals, like the kingfisher, eat only other animals. These animals are called carnivores.

Omnivores
Some animals, like us, eat both plants

and animals. These animals are called omnivores.

Consumers
Consume means eat.
Animals are consumers because they

eat (consume) food provided by plants or other animals.

Predator
A predator eats other animals.

Cats eat fish.

So do bears!

Predator
The cat is a predator, because it eats

other animals. The bear is a predator, because it eats other animals. People are predators too!

Prey
Any animal which is hunted and killed by another animal for food is prey.
Predator

Prey

Predators and Prey

Some animals are predators, some are prey - some are both.
The predator eats the prey, and the prey gets eaten by the predator.

Function of Ecosystem:
i) Flow of Energy: The rate of biological community varies. energy flow

(ii) Nutrient Cycling: Rate of materials (or) nutrient cycles (iii) Biological (or) Ecological regulation which includes regulation of organisms by environment (eg: Photoperiodism) and regulation of environment by organisms (nitrogen fixation by organisms).

Energy Flow in an Ecosystem


Energy flow is the movement of energy through an

ecosystem from the external environment through a series of organism and back to the external environment.

Ecosystem is maintained by the flow of energy. With the exception of chemosynthetic bacteria all other

autotrophs obtain energy from the sun. They trap the light energy and convert it into chemical energy of organic compounds during the process of photosynthesis. ecosystem.

The amount of energy trapped varies from ecosystem to

Energy flow

Producers Hea Hea t t Consumers Decomposer

heat

Energy transfers among trophic levels


How much energy is passed from

one trophic level to the next?

Energy loss between trophic levels

Primary productivity
Primary productivity is the rate of

energy capture by producers. = the amount of new biomass of producers, per unit time and space

Flow of Energy

Aquatic ecosystem = 0. 2% Terrestrial ecosystem, = 1. 0% Grassland = 1. 15% Mixed forest = 0. 8% Crops = 5. 0% C4 plants (sugarcane ) = 10 - 12% The autotrophs consume a part of the trapped energy, during their growth and metabolism. The remaining is used in their body building. The heterotrophs depend upon the autotrophs for obtaining organic compounds and energy contained in them.

The energy is used for their growth and maintenance.

There is always loss of energy at each step of its transfer. energy is dissipated(wasted) unidirectional. degraded into heat and

Some

Thus, the flow of energy in the ecosystem is always The

flow of energy Thermodynamics:

follows

the

two

laws

of

1st law of Thermodynamics states that energy can

neither be created nor be destroyed but it can be transformed from one form to another. .

Approximately 10% of the energy at each trophic level is transferred to the next trophic level; 90% loss due to... energy used by the organisms at lower level; lost as heat some biomass at lower levels not consumed -> decomposers undigested material -> decomposers

Nutrient Cycling
(2) Nutrient Cycling: Rate of materials (or) nutrient cycles
Bio-Geo-Chemical Cycles: There are about 40 chemical elements considered to be

essential for living organisms. They are of two varieties:


(i)

Sedimentary cycles : In sedimentary cycles the main reservoir is the soil; The sedimentary and other types of rocks of earth's crust.
(ii) Gaseous cycles: They have their main reservoir of

nutrients in the atmosphere and oceans. Examples are the oxygen cycle, carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle etc. Both cycles involve the biotic and abiotic systems

Nutrient cycle

Biogeochemical cycles are the circulation pathways

of elements (e.g., carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen or mineral elements) through the biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem. a storehouse for the element.

A reservoir is that portion of the earth that acts as


An

exchange pool is the portion of the environment from which producers take chemicals, such as the atmosphere or soil. chains) through which chemicals move.

The biotic community is the pathway (i.e., food Some cycles are primarily gaseous cycles (carbon

and nitrogen); others are sedimentary cycles, (phosphorus).

In

an Ecosystem biological cycling of materials is maintained by three groups viz. Producers, consumers, and decomposers/recyclers. and mineral cycling involving interaction between the physico -chemical environment and the biotic communities is considered as the 'heart' of ecosystem. (unidirectional) from sun to the decomposers via producers and macro consumers. manner

The two ecological processes of energy flow

Energy flow is always in non-cyclic manner

But minerals keep on moving in a cyclic

OXYGEN CYCLE

The water cycle The water cycle involves the movement of water from the sea, through the atmosphere, over and through the land, and back to the sea. On the way water passes through industry, houses, animals and people. Humans and animals are made of 70% water.

The carbon cycle The carbon cycle involves the movement of carbon from the air, into plants, animals, people, the earth, and back into the air. It also includes the mining and release of carbon that was trapped in the bodies of ancient plants and animals.

WATER CYCLE

CARBON CYCLE

NITROGEN CYCLE

PHOSPHORUS CYCLE

PHOSPHORUS CYCLE

Ecosystem Regulation
All

ecosystems regulate and maintain themselves under a set of environmental conditions. stress tries to disturb the normal ecosystem functions , the ecosystem, by itself, tries to resist the change and maintain itself in equilibrium with the environment due to a property known as homeostasis. maintains a functional balance between various components. This phenomenon is called homoeostasis.

Any

Ecosystem

It

is achieved by a number of limitations, which is called cybernetics.

For example generally no species

increases its number beyond the limit thus it controls own growth in response to scarcity of resources and overcrowding.

Food chains
The transfer of food energy from the source in

plants (producers) through a series of organism (herbivores) to carnivores to decomposers) with repeated stages of eating and being eaten is known as food chain.
food for some other organism and thus, there is essentially no waste in the functioning of a natural ecosystem. are:

All organisms, living or dead, are potential

Some common examples of simple food chains

Grass > grasshopper > Frog >

Snake > Hawk (Grassland ecosystem)

Phytoplanktons

> water fleas > small fish > Tuna (Pond ecosystem) organism in the ecosystem is assigned a feeding level or trophic level depending on its nutritional status.

Each

Types of food chains


1. Grazing food chain: It starts with green plants (primary producers) and culminates in carnivores. Example : Grass > Rabbit > Fox Phytoplankton > Zooplantkton > Fish > Man Grass > Grasshopper >frog > snake > Hawk Ecosystems of such type of food chains are directly dependent on an influx of solar energy.
2. Detritus food chain: It starts with dead organic

matter which the detritivores and decomposers consume. Partially decomposed dead organic matter and even the decomposers are consumed by detrivores and their predators.
Example - Mangrove and estuarine areas. Dead organic matter > Detrivores >predators. Fallen leaves and dead plants >soil mites > Insects

> Fish.

Grazing Food Chain

Detritus Food Chain

Food web is a network of food chains

where different types of organisms are connected at different trophic levels, so that there are a number of options of eating and being eaten at each trophic level. on a single species, but most consumers have multiple food sources. interconnect to form a food web.

In ecosystems, some consumers feed

In this way, linear individual food chains

FOOD WEB

ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS
Graphic representation of trophic

structure and function of an ecosystem, starting with producers at the base and successive trophic levels forming the apex is knows as an ecological pyramid.

Ecological pyramids are of

three types:

Pyramid of Numbers: Pyramid of Biomass:

Pyramid of Energy:

Pyramid of Numbers
It represents the number of individual

organisms at each trophic level. It may be upright or inverted pyramid of numbers, depending upon the type of ecosystem and food chain A grassland ecosystem and a pond ecosystem show an upright pyramid of numbers

Pyramid of Numbers a)

Grassland b) forest c) parasitic food chain

Pyramid of biomass
It is based upon the total biomass (dry

matter) at each trophic level in a food chain. The pyramid of biomass can also be upright or inverted. The pyramid of biomass in a forest is upright. The pond ecosystem shows an inverted pyramid of biomass. a) Grassland ecosystem b) pond ecosystem

Pyramid of Biomass

Pyramid of Energy
The amount of energy present at each trophic

level is considered for this type of pyramid. Pyramid of energy is always upright.

At every successive trophic level, there is a

huge loss of energy (about 90%) in the form of heat, respiration etc.

Thus, at each next higher level only 10% of

the energy passes on. Hence, there is a sharp decline in energy level of each successive trophic level as we move from Producers to top carnivores

Types of Ecosystem:
The world's major different habitat types. 1. Terrestrial ecosystems: Include Arctic

and alpine ecosystems, dominated by cold areas and lacking trees; forest ecosystems, which can be subdivided into a whole range of types including tropical rainforests, Mediterranean evergreen forests, temperate and boreal forests, and temperate deciduous forests; grasslands and savannahs; and deserts and semi-arid ecosystems.

2.

Freshwater ecosystems: Include lakes, rivers, and marshland. "Hybrid" terrestrial and freshwater systems include swamp forests and seasonal floodplains.

3. Marine ecosystems: Include an enormous range, from coral

reefs, mangroves, sea-grass beds, and other coastal and shallow water ecosystems to open-water ecosystems and the mysterious, little-known systems of the abyssal plains and trenches of the world's oceans.

Arctic ecosystem

Fresh water Ecosystem

Fresh water - Lake

Coral reefs

Seagrass beds

Seagrass beds

Major Terrestrial biomes

30 N

Equator

30 S

Tropical forest Savanna Desert

Polar and high-mountain ice Chaparral Temperate grassland

Temperate deciduous forest Coniferous forest Figure 34.9 Tundra (arctic and alpine)

TYPES OF FOREST
There are three major types of

forests: Tropical, Temperate, and arctic.

Each of these major forest types

have other groups of forests that are named because of the weather and seasons they have.

Tropical forests cluster near the equator

TEMPERATE FOREST

ARCTIC FOREST

Tropical forests Have the greatest diversity of species (lots of birds, small mammals, and insects) Located near the equator (an imaginary line around the Earth forming the great circle that is equidistant from the north and south poles) There is no winter and these forests only have 2 seasons: rainy and dry 12 hours of daylight Temperature is about the same all year around (68F to 77F) Average rainfall is more than 78 inches per year 1 square kilometer may contain more than 100 species of trees Soil is not nutrient rich

Types of tropical forests


Evergreen rainforest: no dry season.

Seasonal rainforest: short dry period


Semi-evergreen forest: longer dry season (has

both deciduous and evergreen trees )

Moist/dry deciduous forest (monsoon): the

length of the dry season increases further as rainfall decreases (all trees are deciduous). lose their leaves or needles, i.e. pine tree. Deciduous trees drop their leaves, i.e. maple trees.)

(Evergreen trees are always green and never

Temperate forests
Located in eastern North America, northeastern Asia, and

western and central Europe Have winter and other seasons

Temperature varies from -22F to 86F Rainfall occurs throughout the year, averages 30 to 60

inches per year

Soil is nutrient rich 3-4 tree species per square kilometer (include such species

as oak, hickory, beech, hemlock, cottonwood, elm, and willow)

maple,

basswood,

Has both small and large mammals including squirrels,

rabbits, skunks, birds, deer, mountain lion, bobcat, timber wolf, fox, and black bear

Types of temperate forests:


Moist

Conifer: (trees that produce evergreen forests: wet winters and dry summers high

cones)

and

Dry conifer forests: low precipitation and located in

elevations

Mediterranean forests: precipitation mostly in winter,

less than 40 inches per year. inches of rain per year

Temperate coniferous: mild winters, more than 78 Temperate broad-leaved rainforests: mild, frost-free

winters, and more than 60 inches of rain that occurs throughout the year.

Boreal forest (also called taiga)


The largest type of biome (zone) that occurs on land. Located in Eurasia and North America (66% of boreal

forests are in Siberia with the remaining located in Alaska, Scandinavia and Canada)

Have short, moist summers and long, cold dry winters Most of the precipitation is snow (15 to 40 inches per

year)

Has mostly evergreen conifers with needle leaves (pine,

fir and spruce trees)

Large and small mammals and birds (hawks, moose,

bear, weasel, lynx, fox, wolf, deer, hares, chipmunks, shrews, and bats)

Types of boreal forests:


North American:

2.4 million square miles that extends from central Alaska in the west to central Labrador in the east.
3.4 million square miles stretching from western Scandinavia across Northern Europe and Asia to the Pacific Ocean.

Eurasian :

The different components of a forest ecosystem Abiotic component : These are the inorganic as well as organic

substances present in the soil and atmosphere. occur in the following order.

Biotic component : The living organisms present in the food chain Producers : The trees are of different kinds depending upon the kind

of the forest formation developing in that climate. Besides trees, there are also present several climbers, epiphytes, shrubs and a ground vegetation. grandis, Butea frondosa, Shorea rubusta and Anogeissus latifolia, Adina cordifolia and so on.

In tropical moist deciduous forest the producers, are Tectona

In temperate deciduous forests the dominant trees are species of

Quercus, Acer, Betula ,and conifers such as Abies, Pinus Thuja, Picea etc., whereas in a temperate coniferous forests, the dominant producer trees are gymnosperrns genera : Abies, Picea, Pinus, Cedrus, Juniperus and wide range of flowering plants.

Consumers
(a) Primary consumers. These are the herbivores

that include the animals feeding on tree leaves as ants, flies, beetles, leafhoppers, bugs and spiders etc., and larger animals grazing in shoots and/or fruits of the producers, the elephants, nilgai, deer, moles, squirrels, shrews, flying foxes, fruit bats, mongooses etc., carnivores like snakes, birds, lizards, fox etc. feeding on the herbivores. Tertiary consumers. These are the top carnivores like lion, tiger, etc., that eat carnivores of secondary consumers level.

(b) Secondary consumers. These are the top

(c)

Decomposers These are wide variety of microorganisms

including fungi (species of Aspergillus, Coprinus, Polyporus, Ganoderma, Fusarium, Alternariq, Trichoderma etc.), bacteria (species of Bacillus, Clostridhim, Pseudomonas, Angiococcus etc.,) and actinomycetes, like species of Streptomyces etc. of decomposition in tropical and subtropical forests is more rapid than that in the temperature ones. They actively participate in biogeochemical nutrient recycling.

Rate

GRASSLAND ECOSYSTEMS
Grasslands

are dominated by grass species but sometimes also allow the growth of a few trees and shrubs.

Rainfall is average but erratic. Seasonal

cycles of temperature and precipitation contribute to abundant vegetative growth that both protects and enriches the soils of these prairies and plains, making them among the richest farmlands in the world

Three types of grasslands are

found to occur in different climatic regions:

(a) Tropical grasslands (25-100cm of

annual precipitation) (b) Temperate grasslands (150 cm of annual precipitaiton) (c)Polar grasslands (Arctic Tundra)

(a) Tropical grasslands: They occur near the borders of

tropical rain forests in regions of high average temperature and low to moderate rainfall. In Africa, these are typically known as Savannas, which have tall grasses with scattered shrubs and stunted trees. zebras, giraffes, gazelle, antelopes etc. During dry season, fires are quite common.

The Savannas have a wide diversity of animals including

Termite mounds are very common here. The termites gather

the detritus (dead organic matter) containing a lot of cellulose and build up a mound. On the top of the mound fungi are found to grow which feed upon this dead matter including cellulose and in turn release methane, a greenhouse gas.

Tropical

savannas have a highly efficient system of photosynthesis. Most of the carbon assimilated by them in the form of carbohydrates is in the perennating bulbs, rhizomes, runners etc. which are present underground. Deliberate burning of these grasslands can release huge quantities of carbon dioxide, another green house gas, responsible for global warming.

Rhizome

Termite mound

Savannas are grasslands with scattered trees

(b) Temperate grasslands: They are usually

found on flat, gentle sloped hills, winters are very cold but summers are hot and dry. Intense grazing and summer fires do not allow shrubs or trees to grow. In United States and Canada these grasslands are known as prairies, in South America as Pampas, in Africa as Velds and in central Europe and Asia they are known as Steppes.
Winds keep blowing and evaporation rate is

very high. It also favours rapid fires in summer. The soils are quite fertile and therefore, very often these grasslands are cleared for agriculture.

Temperate grasslands include the North American prairie

veld

veld

Most abundant in Steppes antelope

Steppes - bustard

(c)Polar grasslands (Arctic Tundra): They are

found in arctic polar region where severe cold and strong, frigid winds along with ice and snow create too harsh a climate for trees to grow. and hence several small annual plants grow in the summer.

In summers the sun-shines almost round the clock

The animals include arctic wolf, weasel, arctic fox,

reindeer etc.

A thick layer of ice remains frozen under the soil

surface throughout the year and is known as permafrost. In summer, the tundra shows the appearance of shallow lakes, bogs etc. where mosquitoes, different type of insects and migratory birds appear

Long, bitter-cold winters characterize the tundra

Reindeer

Grass
weasel

DESERT ECOSYSTEMS
These

ecosystems occur in regions where evaporation exceeds precipitation (rainfall, snow etc.) About l/3rd of our world's land area is covered by deserts. drought resistant or drought avoiding plants.

The precipitation is less than 25 cm per year.

Deserts have little species diversity and consist of The atmosphere is very dry and hence it is a poor

insulator. That is why in deserts the soil gets cooled up quickly, making the nights cool. Deserts are of three major types, based on climatic conditions:

(a) Tropical deserts like Sahara and Namib

in Africa and Thar desert, Rajasthan, India are the driest of all with only a few species. Wind blown sand are very common. Temperate deserts like Mojave in Southern California where day time temperatures are very hot in summer but cool in winters.

(b)

(c) Cold deserts like the Gobi desert in China

has cold winters and warm summers.

Temperate Deserts

Cold Desert

Deserts are defined by their dryness

Tropical Desert

Thar desert

Sahara desert

Desert Ecosystem : Structure and Function:


Deserts occupy about 17 per cent of land, occurring in

the regions with an annual rainfall of less than 25 centimeters. The various biotic components are :

1.Producers. stems and branches variously modified, a

few succulents like cacti are present. Some lower plants like lichens and xerophytes mosses may be present. insects, able to live under xeric conditions. In additions to them, there are also found some nocturnal rodents and birds. The 'ship of desert', camels feed on tender shoots of the plants.

2. Consumers The most common animals are reptiles and

3. Decomposers. These are very few, as due to poor

vegetation the amount of dead organic matter is correspondingly less. They are some fungi and bacteria, most of which are thermophilic.

succulent plant or succulent is

a plant that has fleshy and turgid water-storing tissues such as stems, leaves or roots, capable of retaining large amounts of moisture

Producers

Consumers

consumers

AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
Aquatic ecosystems dealing with water bodies

and the biotic communities present in them are either freshwater or marine.

Freshwater ecosystems are further

type (lentic) -like ponds, lakes or free-flowing type (lotic)-like rivers.

another

Freshwater ecosystems are varied because

they are influenced not only by local climate, soil, but also by the surrounding ecosystems.

terrestrial

Lentic Ecosystem - Ponds

Lotic Ecosystem - Lakes

Pond ecosystem
It

is a small freshwater aquatic ecosystem where water is stagnant.

Ponds may be seasonal in nature i.e.

receiving enough water during rainy season. Ponds are usually shallow water bodies

They contain several types of algae,

aquatic plants, insects, fishes and birds.

Pond ecosystem
Structure and Function: A pond is a good example of a small

self-sufficient and self-regulating ecosystem. Location, size ,depth and substratum of a pond influence pond ecosystem.

Fresh waters, are extremely important

as a source of drinking water.

Biotic component: The various organisms that constitute the

biotic component are as follows :

1. Producers : (a) Macrophytes

: They are mainly large rooted plants which include partly or completely submerged, floating Sagittaria, Nymphara, Potamogeton, Chara, Hydrilla, Vallisheria, Utricularia, Marselia,

The common plant species are Trapa, Typha,

Eicchornia, Spirodella, occur in the pond.

Lemna

etc

also

Macrophytes

Macrophytes

(b) Phytoplankton
These

are minute, floating suspended lower plants.

or

Majority of them are filamentous

algae such as Ulothrix, Spirogyra, Cladophora and Oedogonium.

Besides them there are also present

Volvox, Microcystis, Oscillatoria, Chlamydomonas, Spirulina

Phytoplanktons

2.Consumers : Most of the consumers are herbivores while a few insects and some large fish are carnivores.
The

consumers in a pond ecosystem are distinguished as follows :

(a) Primary consumers : These are herbivores

feeding directly on living plants (producers) or plant remains. They may be large as well as minute in size. populations include fish, insect larvae, beetles, mites, molluscs, crustaceans etc.

Benthic

Besides these, some mammals as cows, buffaloes

etc., visit the pond casually and feed on marginal rooted macrophytes. Some birds also regularly visit the pond feeding on some hydrophytes.

(ii) Zooplankton : These are chiefly the rotifers as

Brachionus, Asplancha Lecane etc, protozoans as Euglena, Coleps, Dileptus etc

some

Zooplanktons

(b) Secondary consumers (Carnivores) : They are the carnivores, which feed on the

primary consumers herbivores. These are chiefly insects and fish, which feed on zooplankton.
(c) Tertiary consumers (carnivores) : Some

large fish feed on the smaller fish and thus become the tertiary (top) consumers.

In a pond, fish may occupy more than one trophic levels. The small fish (herbivores) feed

on phytoplankton while some fish feed on zooplankton at carnivore level.

3.MicroConsumers or Decomposers :

They are also known as micro consumers, since they absorb only a fraction of the decomposed organic matter.
They bring about the decomposition of complex dead organic matter of both plants and animals to simple forms.

Lake ecosystems
Lakes are usually big freshwater bodies

with standing water.

They have a shallow water zone called

Littoral zone, an open-water zone where effective penetration of solar light takes place, called Limnetic zone and a deep bottom area where light penetration is negligible, known as profundal zone

Stratification of lakes
The lakes show stratification or zonation based on

temperature differences.

During summer, the top waters become warmer

than the bottom waters. Therefore, only the warm top layer circulates without mixing with the colder layer, thus forming a distinct zonation: : Warm, lighter, circulating surface

Epilimnion

layer Hypolimnion : Cold, viscous, non-circulating bottom layer. region of sharp drop in temperature.

In between the two layers is thermocline, the

Stratification of lakes

Rivers and Streams Ecosystems


As

compared with lentic freshwaters (ponds, lakes etc), lotic waters such as streams and rivers have been less studied.

Producers : The chief producers

that remain permanently attached to a firm substrate are green algae such as Cladophora, encrusting diatoms and aquatic mosses.

Green algae

Types of Green algae

Phytoplanktons-Diatoms & Mosses

Consumers

:The consumers show certain such features as permanent attachment to firm substrate, presence of hooks and suckers, sticky undersurfaces. freshwater sponges and caddisfly larvae, larvae of Stimulium , snails and flatworms, fish and stonefly like actinomycetes are present which acts as decomposers.

Thus a variety of animals are found, which are

Decomposers : Various bacteria and fungi

Consumers

snails

sponges

mayfly

flatworms

Estuaries
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal area

at the mouth of a river where fresh water and salty seawater meet.

Constant mixing of water stirs up the silt

which makes the nutrients available for the primary producers.

There are wide variations in the stream flow

and tidal currents at any given diurnally, monthly and seasonally.

location

Therefore, the organisms present

in estuaries show a wide range of tolerance to temperature and salinity.

Such

organisms are known as eurythermal and euryhaline. Coastal bays, and tidal marshes are examples of estuaries.

Estuaries have a rich biodiversity

and many endemic.

of

the

species

are

There are many migratory species

of fishes like eels and salmons in which half of the life is spent in fresh water and half in salty water.

Eels -Anguilla australis

Salmons

For them estuaries are ideal places

for resting during migration, where they also get abundant food. are ecosystems. highly productive

Estuaries

Producers
Microscopic algae comprising phytoplankton suspended

in the water column and benthic diatoms on the sediment estuaries near the mouth of permanently open

Seaweeds

Beds

of submerged aquatic plants like eelgrass, generally only exposed at the lowest spring tides, in the middle reaches and tropical areas of the east coast, in the intertidal zone of the middle and upper reaches

Saltmarshes, as well as mangroves in the subtropical

Reeds and aquatic grasses at the head of the estuary.

Producers

Redknobbed coot

seahorse

Herons

You might also like