What is an Ecosystem?
An ecosystem is the basic functional unit of an environment where organisms interact with each other (living and nonliving), both necessary for the maintenance of life on earth. It includes plants, animals, microorganisms, and all other living things along with their nonliving environment, which includes soil, land, air, water, dust, and other parts of nature.
If ecology has to be studied in detail, the basic unit starts from the Ecosystem. The study of the Ecosystem deals with how organisms living together interact with each other and how energy flows through the chain of organisms in the Ecosystem. It also studies how an organism lives in a relationship that is harmful or benefitted by one another to live in a sustainable manner.
It is seen in nature that the Ecosystem can be as large or small. It depends on the number of abiotic components available in the environment. The ecosystem in the north or south poles does not have much flora and fauna as compared to a tropical climate like a forest due to the extreme climate the animals are subjected to. Only organisms that are resistant to such an environment will be able to make up the Ecosystem. Overall, it is understood that different ecosystems combined would make up the biosphere.
Types of Ecosystem
In ecology, ecosystems are classified into different types based on the region or on the basis of the environment like land or water. It can also be grouped based on the amount of energy the Ecosystem consumes.
Classification in basic ecosystem are :
1. Terrestrial Ecosystem
2. Aquatic Ecosystem
All other types will fall on either of these ecosystems and hence can be subcategorized into different types.
Terrestrial Ecosystem
These ecosystems can only be found on land. Different landforms will have different ecosystems based on the climate, temperature, types of organisms residing, the food chain, energy flow, and other factors. This Ecosystem has a relative scarcity of water percentage than the aquatic Ecosystem, and also there is better availability of sunlight as the major source of energy. Types of terrestrial ecosystems are:
Forest Ecosystem: These ecosystems are a densely packed environment of various flora and fauna. It has the highest number of organisms living per square km. It is important to conserve this ecosystem as many rare species of the earth are found here. Most of the oxygen in the world is supplied by the forests.
Desert Ecosystem: Deserts are defined as ecosystems that receive rainfall of less than 25cm indicating extreme climate. Even in harsh temperatures, there are organisms that have resistance towards high temperatures and plants that require very little water to survive, having modified their leaves and stem to conserve water. Camels, rattlesnakes, and cacti are a few examples.
Mountain Ecosystem: Mountains are regions of high altitude above sea level with scattered vegetation. It also has an extreme climate, and animals of these regions have developed thick fur on the skin to survive the cold climate.
Grassland Ecosystem: It mainly includes shrubs, herbs, and few trees which are not as dense as the forests. These basically include grazing animals, insectivores, herbivores. The temperatures are not too extreme in these ecosystems. There are two main forms: The savannas and prairies. The savannas are the tropical grasslands. It dries seasonally with many predators and grazers. The prairies are temperate grassland, which lack large shrubs and trees.
Aquatic Ecosystem
The aquatic ecosystem consists mainly of animals and organisms that stay in the water bodies, such as lakes, oceans and seas. Amphibians, fish, sea creatures all come under this ecosystem. Since water is in abundance, organisms survive using the oxygen dissolved in water. This ecosystem is much larger than the terrestrial ecosystem as it acquires a greater part of the earth. The two types of aquatic ecosystems are:
Marine Ecosystem: It includes all the oceans and seas and constitutes about 71% of the earth’s surface. About 97% of the water on earth falls under this category. Sharks, whales, dolphins, seals, walrus, and many more come under this ecosystem.
Freshwater Ecosystem: It includes all the rivers, lakes, ponds, and water bodies that are not salted. This accounts for 0.8% of earth’s water and 0.009% of total water present on earth. There are three types of this ecosystem lotic system where the water is fast-moving, e.g., rivers. The lentic system where the water remains stagnant, e.g., ponds and lakes. The wetlands where the soil remains saturated for most of the time period.
Structure of the Ecosystem
The structure of an ecosystem refers to the explanation of living beings and the physical features of the environment in which the organisms live.
Components of the Ecosystem
The ecosystem has two components associated with it mentioned below:
1. Abiotic component
2. Biotic component
Abiotic Component
This basically involves inorganic minerals, calcium, phosphorus & iron. It also includes soil, water, land & solar radiation. It is further divided into climatic factors and edaphic factors which include rain, light, temperature, and wind, soil, pH, minerals, and topography.
Biotic Component
The biotic component consists of all the living organisms in the ecosystem. It can be classified as Autotrophic organisms that produce their own food and heterotrophic organisms which depend on other organisms for food. This classification is based on nutritional requirements of the organism.
Producers: These are the organisms in the ecosystem that generate the food and energy with the help of sunlight, oxygen, and all other abiotic components. The main producers of the ecosystem are the plants.
Consumers: These are the organisms that take their nutrition from the food that is made by the producers.
Primary Consumers: These organisms feed directly from the producers. They are herbivorous animals like deer, rabbit, cow, buffalo, and giraffes.
Secondary Consumers: These organisms feed on the primary consumers for their nutrition. These are carnivorous and omnivorous animals like crows, dogs, cats, snakes.
Tertiary Consumers: These organisms feed on secondary consumers. These are only carnivores where they only consume meat usually by preying on prey. Eg., lion, tiger, cheetah
Quaternary Consumers: These organisms feed on the tertiary consumers for their nutrition. Eg; Eagle, which consumes a snake that consumes a frog that consumes a fly.
Decomposers
These organisms break down dead matter and gain their nutrition, and the decomposed material returns back to the land, which will again be utilized by the producers to produce more food.
The Function of the Ecosystem
The primary function of any ecosystem is the exchange of energy from one life form to others, which eventually runs in a circle and sustains the entire life of the planet. Without the ecosystems maintaining balance, there would not have been any life form existing on earth.
Important Ecological Concepts
The study of the Ecosystem involves understanding energy flow in the Ecosystem, the various relationships between two organisms, following commensalism, parasitism, mutualism, predation, and various symbiotic relationships exist in an ecosystem. Biogeochemical cycles and limiting factor complexes, the evolution of ecosystems, and the science of population in ecosystems are various important ecological concepts that come under the study of ecology.
Ecosystem
Ecosystem can be defined as the main functional unit that exists in an environment where there is an intersection between all the organisms that are living in the environment which is required for balancing life on earth. Ecosystems are large in structure and have hundreds of animals and plants which live in a balance or it can be something small too. In harsh areas like the North and South poles, ecosystems are simpler in structure and have very few organisms which dwell in such areas. The ecosystems have all the components like plants, animals, microbes and many other living beings which live with non-living components like soil, land, water, air and other components of nature. When we study ecology, we start with studying the ecosystem which deals with the relationships between animals and how the transfer of energy occurs between these animals. We also learn about food chains and food webs. Ecosystems can be either small or large depending on the biotic and abiotic components present in the system. Ecosystems of harsh climate are usually smaller as there are lesser species and abiotic components too whereas the ecosystems of tropical climate will comparatively have a larger number of flora and fauna. We must remember that all the different types of ecosystems form the biosphere.
Some organisms are found in multiple and different ecosystems around the earth which share different relationships with other or similar organisms. There are ecosystems which help species mutually benefit each other be it in getting shelter, protection or food. This relationship is called mutualism. To learn more about the ecosystem, log in or sign up to Vedantu where you can download free notes and revision notes too.
FAQs on Ecosystem
1. Explain the types of terrestrial ecosystems?
The types of terrestrial ecosystem are as follows:
Forest ecosystem: This ecosystem consists of plants, animals and microbes which live together along with other abiotic components of the environment. This ecosystem helps in the maintenance of the earth’s temperature and acts as a large carbon sink.
Grassland ecosystem: In this ecosystem, grasses and herbs are largely present and thus the name. For example, Savannah grasslands and temperate grasslands.
Tundra ecosystem: Such an ecosystem does not have trees and are found mostly in the colder climates or areas where there is a low rainfall. This ecosystem is mostly covered by snow throughout the year. For example, the Arctic or mountain tops.
Desert ecosystem: This ecosystem is made of sand and has very low rainfall. Here, the days are very hot and nights are cold.
2. Explain the types of aquatic ecosystems?
There are mainly two types of aquatic ecosystem:
Freshwater ecosystem: This is an aquatic ecosystem which includes ponds, rivers, lakes, wetlands and streams. They do not have any salt content as compared to the marine ecosystem.
Marine ecosystem: This ecosystem is found in the oceans and seas. They have a high amount of salt content and are saline in nature. When compared to freshwater ecosystems, they have a greater biodiversity due to the presence of a larger amount of species.
3. What are the biotic components in the ecosystem?
The biotic components in the ecosystem are as follows:
Producers are the main components of the plants and are also called the autotrophs. They produce food by the process of photosynthesis and all the other components of the ecosystem are directly or indirectly dependent on them.
The second components are the consumers which are also called the heterotrophs that depend on the producers for food. They can be primary, secondary and tertiary. The primary consumers feed on the plants and are called herbivores. The secondary consumers depend on the primary consumers and can be either carnivore or omnivore. Lastly, the tertiary consumers depend on the secondary consumers for food. They can be omnivores. There are quaternary consumers in some food chains too which may not have any natural predators.
Decomposers are the components that depend on the dead and decay matter of all the other components. They can be fungi or bacteria. They are crucial for recycling energy and nutrients in the environment.
4. What are the abiotic components of an ecosystem?
The abiotic components are the non-living components of the ecosystem and they are crucial for the survival of the living beings as it helps in maintaining a proper balance in the environment. The nonliving or abiotic components are elements like water, air, soil, minerals, sunlight, temperature, wind, altitude and many more. We can understand the importance of abiotic factors when we consider the process of photosynthesis which requires sunlight by the plants.
5. Give some of the functions related to the ecosystem?
The functions of the ecosystem are as follows:
Ecosystems regulate all the processes that are required for the support and stabilization of the organisms and systems that are present in the environment.
It is important for recycling the necessary nutrients between the living and non-living beings.
It is required for maintaining balance between trophic levels present in the ecosystem.
For cycling the minerals through the biosphere.
The abiotic components allow the synthesis of organic components with some energy exchange.
