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ASSIGNMENT
- 1. MANNAM FOUNDATION CENTREFOR EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY PORUVAZHY, EDAKKADU, KOLLAM 2014-2015 ASSIGNMENT Submitted to Submitted by Rintu Chacko Saranya T S Natural Science Natural Science Reg. No: 18114373023 Submitted on 27-10-2015
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- 3. 3 INDEX Sl No. ContentsPage No. 1 Introduction 4 2 Components of Eco system 5-6 3 Conclusion 7 4 Reference 8
- 4. 4 INTRODUCTION An ecosystem consistsof the biological community that occurs in some locale, and the physical and chemical factors that make up its non-living or abiotic environment. There are many examples of ecosystems -- a pond, a forest, an estuary, a grassland. The boundaries are not fixed in any objective way, although sometimes they seem obvious, as with the shoreline of a small pond. Usually the boundaries of an ecosystem are chosen for practical reasons having to do with the goals of the particular study. The study of ecosystems mainly consists of the study of certain processes that link the living, or biotic, components to the non-living, or abiotic, components. Energy transformations andbiogeochemical cycling are the main processes that comprise the field of ecosystem ecology. As we learned earlier, ecology generally is defined as the interactions of organisms with one another and with the environment in which they occur. We can study ecology at the level of the individual, the population, the community, and the ecosystem. Studies of individuals are concerned mostly about physiology, reproduction, development or behavior, and studies of populations usually focus on the habitat and resource needs of individual species, their group behaviors, population growth, and what limits their abundance or causes extinction. Studies of communities examine how populations of many species interact with one another, such as predators and their prey, or competitors that share common needs or resources. In ecosystem ecology we put all of this together and, insofar as we can, we try to understand how the system operates as a whole. This means that, rather than worrying mainly about particular species, we try to focus on major functional aspects of the system.
- 5. 5 COMPONENTS OF ANECOSYSTEM 1. Abiotic Substances: These include basic inorganic and organic compounds ofthe environment or habitat of the organism. The inorganic components of an ecosystem are carbon dioxide, water, nitrogen, calcium, phosphate, all of which are involved in matter cycles (biogeochemical cycles). The organic components of an ecosystemare proteins, carbohydrates, lipids and amino acids, all of which are synthesized by the biota (flora and fauna) of an ecosystemand are reached to ecosystem as their wastes, dead remains, etc, The climate, temperature, light, soil, etc., are other abiotic components of the ecosystem. 2. Producers: Producers are autotrophic organisms like chemosynthetic and photosynthetic bacteria, blue green algae, algae and all other green plants. They are called ecosystemproducers because they capture energy from non-organic sources, especially light, and store some of the energy the form of chemical bonds, for the later use. Algae of various types are the most important producers of aquatic ecosystems, although in estuaries and marshes, grasses may be important as producers. Terrestrial ecosystems have trees, shrubs, herbs, grasses, and mosses that contribute with varying importance to the production of the ecosystem. Since heterotrophic organisms depend on plants and other autotrophic Organisms like bacteria and algae for their nutrition, the amount of energy that the producers capture, sets the limit on the availability of energy for the ecosystem. Thus, when a green plant captures a certain amount of energy from sunlight, it is said to “produce”the energy for the ecosystem.
- 6. 6 3. Consumers: They areheterotrophic organisms in the ecosystemwhich eat other living creatures. There are herbivores, which eat plants, and carnivores, which eat other animals. They are also called phagotrophs or macroconsumers. Sometimes herbivores are called primary macroconsumers and carnivores are called secondaryMacroconsumers. 4. Reducers orDecomposers: Reducers, decomposers, saprotrophs orMacroconsumers are heterotrophic organisms that breakdown dead and waste matter. Fungi and certain bacteria are the prime representatives of this category. Enzymes are secreted by their cells into or onto dead plant and animal debris. These chemicals digest the dead organism into smaller bits or molecules, which can be absorbed bythe fungi or bacteria (saprotrophs). The decomposers take the energy and matter that they harvest during this feeding process fortheir own metabolism. Heat is liberated in each chemical conversion along the metabolic pathway. No ecosystem could function long without decomposers. Dead organisms would pile up without rotting, as would waste products. It would not be long before an essential element, phosphorus, forexample, would be first in short supply and then gone altogether, because the dead corpses littering the landscape would be hoarding the entire supply. Thus, the importance of the decomposers to the ecosystem is that they tear apart organisms and in their metabolic processes release to the environment atoms and molecules that can be reused again by autotrophic organisms. They are not important to the ecosystemfrom the energy point of view but from the material (nutrient) point of view. Energy cannot be recycled, but matter can be. Energy must be fed into ecosystem to keep up with the dissipation of heat or the increase in entropy.
- 7. 7 CONCLUSION An ecosystem isa community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment (things like air, water and mineral soil), interacting as a system. These biotic and abiotic components are regarded as linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. As ecosystems are defined by the network of interactions among organisms, and between organisms and their environment, they can be of any size but usually encompass specific, limited spaces (although some scientists say that the entire planet is an ecosystem). Energy, water, nitrogen and soil minerals are other essential abiotic components of an ecosystem. The energy that flows through ecosystems is obtained primarily from the sun. It generally enters the system through photosynthesis, a process that also captures carbon from the atmosphere. By feeding on plants and on one another, animals play an important role in the movement of matter and energy through the system. They also influence the quantity of plant and microbial biomass present. By breaking down dead organic matter, decomposers release carbon back to the atmosphere and facilitate nutrient cycling by converting nutrients stored in dead biomass back to a form that can be readily used by plants and other microbes
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