How our Ecosystem works
DEFINITION
“Ecosystem is that system of different communities where the function of the interaction between living and non-living organisms occurs”
The sun is the primary source of production of energy for all components as no single species can produce food and recycle it on its own for survival. For completion of the chemical cycle, there are several species involved to make and help to flow energy. Therefore, the smallest unit of this whole setup is known as the “ecosystem”. This system works when all individuals participate and perform their functions.
Natural Level of Organization
In general life sciences at the biological level starts from the very simplest level of atoms which then come up with the structure of molecules. Molecules are then organized into tissues and tissues further go into the structure of the organ which arranged the system as an organ system. The organ system makes an organism that further forms a similar group of species known as a population. The population of different species forms a community where the contribution of community and abiotic components make an ecosystem that comprises the biosphere.
Kinds of Ecosystem
There are three major kinds of an ecosystem that include:
1. Natural Ecosystem- The type of ecosystem which operates its function by itself without the interference of man. It contains two further categories.
Terrestrial ecosystem: It contains forests, grasslands, and deserts.
Aquatic Ecosystem: which has two more categories:
i. Freshwater Ecosystem: It can be lotic (running bodies of water such as streams, rivers, brooks, and springs) or can be lentic (standing bodies of water such as pools, ponds, lakes, and ditches)
ii. Marine Ecosystem- These can be deep water bodies having salt as the ocean or shallow ones or estuaries.
2. Artificial Ecosystem- Where the function is controlled by man which disturbs the natural balance by the addition of energy, for example, the croplands of maize, wheat, and fields of rice, and the manned spaceships.
3. Micro Ecosystem- To study the natural ecosystem which is large in size and has many factors operating at one time which leads to complexity and difficulty to study. Ecologists are managing to study vast ecosystems by producing micro-ecosystem in laborites.
Ecosystem Structure
The structure of an ecosystem defines the description of present organisms within the information of their histories. It is the way to know who is who in the ecosystem. It also defines the information of environmental physical features along with the distribution of nutrients. It holds two major components
1. Abiotic component
It comprises three components which are:
1. Conditions of climate and physical factors include air water soil temperature light moisture humidity.
2. Inorganic substances such as water, nitrogen(N), carbon(C), Sulfur(S), and phosphorus(P) help to form a biochemical cycle in the ecosystem and are designated as the standing state or standing quality.
3. Organic substances such as carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids humus present either may be in an environment or biomass.
2. Biotic component
It has various organisms including:
Producers: Those bacteria which process photosynthesis and green plants. These producers from complex organic substances such as carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids with the help of minerals come from water and mud. There may be some pond producers that are:
a) Macrophytes- It comprises further three types of hydrophytes
i. Completely or partly submerged plant
ii. Emergent aquatic plants
iii. Floating plants
b) Phytoplankton- These plants are microscopic floating or suspended on water lower plants such as (algae) that are distributed through water but lie in the photic zone.
Consumers: Those dependent species that consume their food from producers come mainly from plants. It comprises three types of consumers.
1. Herbivores (primary consumers)- These organisms feed plants. They may be in minute sizes such as fish, beetles, and mites, or present in large sizes such as cows, buffaloes, goats, rhinoceros, etc.
2. Carnivores (secondary consumers)- Organisms that are dependent on primary consumers for their nutrition such as foxes, wolves, sparrows, snakes, etc.
3. Top consumers (tertiary consumers)- These organisms feed secondary consumers also known as top consumers such as loin, hawks, tigers, vultures, etc.
4. Decomposers- These organisms take fractions by the decomposed matter of producers and consumers which helps to maintain the biogeochemical cycle. In pond ecosystems, decomposers are bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungi.
The function of an Ecosystem
“The flow of energy circles in a non-cyclic manner from decomposers to producers and macro consumers. Whereas, the minerals keep going cyclically”
The flow of energy and cycling of nutrients by the interaction of physio-chemical and biotic components in the ecological process is considered the heart of ecosystem dynamics. The function of the ecosystem describes the flow of energy and how much energy is consumed by plants around the year and how much plant material is consumed by herbivores and the ratio of herbivores that are eaten by carnivores. The producers are converters as some ecologists refer to this name as producers that make minerals taken from the soil and environment and fix radiant energy to make organic matter such as carbohydrates and proteins.
In an ecosystem, productivity signifies the amount of production of organic matter in any unit of time.
1. Primary productivity- It is the rate of radiant energy stored in the photosynthetic processes of producers. Primary productivity has two more types.
a) Gross primary productivity: It is the synthesis of organic compounds from atmospheric or aqueous carbon dioxide.
b) Net primary productivity: It is the amount of carbon dioxide used and released in vegetation during photosynthesis and the respiration of plants.
2. Secondary productivity- The rate of energy which is stored by consumers level that tends to utilize the produced food by consumers which they convert into different tissues by the whole process of respiration. On the consumer level, the energy keeps transferring from one organism to another.
Net Productivity- It is the storage rate of organic matter which is not used by heterotrophs and consumers.
