Subject : Biology

Session : 2013-14
Submitted To :
Mr. Mohit
Kumar Premi

Submitted
By :
Azmi Zaheer
XII

DECLARATION
This is to

for general declaration

purposes only that all relevant work

pertaining

to

presented

miniature

project on :
"Ecosystems"
has been solely completed by me.
Besides unavoidable links to certain
references,

the

overall

work

is

absolutely original in nature.

Azmi Zaheer

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that all relevant work
pertaining

to

presented

miniature

project on :
"Ecosystems"
was

completed

by

Azmi

Zaheer

under my guidance. He has done hard

work to complete the project. His work
is absolutely original in nature.

Mr. Mohit Kumar Premi

BIODATA
Name

Azmi Zaheer

Class / Sec

XII

Session

2013-14

Subject

Biology

Roll No.

Topic

"Ecosystems"

Subject Teacher

Mr. Mohit Kumar

Premi

Teacher's Sign

Principal's Sign

Remarks

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
History of all great works is to witness that no
great work was ever done without either the
active

or

passive

support

of

person's

surroundings and one's close quarters. Thus it is

not hard to conclude how active assistance from
seniors could positively impact the execution of a
project. I am highly thankful to our learned
faculty Mr. Mohit Kumar Premi, for his active
guidance throughout the completion of project.
Last but not the least , I would also want to
extend my appreciation to my parents as well as
those who could not be mentioned here but have
well played their role to inspire me behind the
curtain.
Azmi Zaheer

Ecosystem

Coral reefs are a highly productive marine ecosystem.

Rainforest ecosystems

are

rich

in

biodiversity.

This

is

the Gambia River in Senegal's Niokolo-Koba National Park.

An ecosystem is
animals

and

a community of

microbes)

in

living

conjunction

organisms
with

(plants,

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.
Ecosystems are controlled both by external and internal
factors.

External

factors

such

as climate,

the parent

material which forms the soil and topography, control the

overall structure of an ecosystem and the way things work
within

it,

but

ecosystem. Other

are

not

external

themselves
factors

influenced
include

by

time

the
and

potential biota. Ecosystems are dynamic entitiesinvariably,

they are subject to periodic disturbances and are in the process
of recovering from some past disturbance.Ecosystems in similar
environments that are located in different parts of the world

can have very different characteristics simply because they

contain

different

species. The introduction

of

non-native

species can cause substantial shifts in ecosystem function.

Internal factors not only control ecosystem processes but are
also controlled by them and are often subject to feedback
loops. While the resource inputs are generally controlled by
external processes like climate and parent material, the
availability

of

these

controlled

by

internal

competition

or

resources
factors

shading. Other

within
like

the

ecosystem

decomposition,

internal

factors

is

root

include

disturbance, succession and the types of species present.

Although humans exist and operate within ecosystems, their
cumulative effects are large enough to influence external
factors like climate.
Biodiversity affects ecosystem function, as do the processes
of disturbance and succession. Ecosystems provide a variety
ofgoods and services upon which people depend; the principles
of ecosystem management suggest that rather than managing
individual species, natural resources should be managed at the
level of the ecosystem itself. Classifying ecosystems into
ecologically homogeneous units is an important step towards
effective ecosystem management, but there is no single,
agreed-upon way to do this.

History and development

Arthur Tansley, a British ecologist, was the first person to use
the term "ecosystem" in a published work. Tansley devised the
concept to draw attention to the importance of transfers of
materials between organisms and their environment. He later
refined the term, describing it as "The whole system, ...
including not only the organism-complex, but also the whole
complex

of

physical

factors

forming

what

we

call

the

environment". Tansley regarded ecosystems not simply as

natural units, but as mental isolates. Tansley later defined the
spatial extent of ecosystems using the term ecotope.
Ecosystem processes
Energy and carbon enter ecosystems through photosynthesis,
are

incorporated

into

living

tissue,

transferred

to

other

organisms that feed on the living and dead plant matter, and
eventually released through respiration. Most mineral nutrients,
on the other hand, are recycled within ecosystems.
Ecosystems are controlled both by external and internal
factors. External factors, also called state factors, control the
overall structure of an ecosystem and the way things work
within it, but are not themselves influenced by the ecosystem.
The most important of these is climate. Climate determines
the biome in which

the

ecosystem

is embedded.

Rainfall

patterns and temperature seasonality determine the amount of

water available to the ecosystem and the supply of energy

available (by influencing photosynthesis). Parent material, the
underlying

geological

material

that

gives

rise

to

soils,

determines the nature of the soils present, and influences the

supply

of

mineral

nutrients. Topography also

controls

ecosystem processes by affecting things like microclimate, soil

development and the movement of water through a system.
This may be the difference between the ecosystem present
in wetland situated in a small depression on the landscape, and
one present on an adjacent steep hillside.
Primary production

Global

oceanic

September

and

1997

terrestrial phototroph abundance,

to

August

2000.

As

an

from

estimate

of autotroph biomass, it is only a rough indicator of primary

production potential, and not an actual estimate of it. Provided
by

theSeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard

Center and ORBIMAGE.

Space

Flight

Primary production is the production of organic matter from

inorganic carbon sources. Overwhelmingly, this occurs through
photosynthesis. The energy incorporated through this process
supports life on earth, while the carbon makes up much of the
organic

matter

in

living

and

dead

biomass, soil

carbon and fossil fuels. It also drives the carbon cycle, which
influences globalclimate via the greenhouse effect.
Through the process of photosynthesis, plants capture energy
from light and use it to combinecarbon dioxide and water to
produce carbohydrates and oxygen. The photosynthesis carried
out by all the plants in an ecosystem is called the gross
primary production (GPP). About 4860% of the GPP is
consumed in plant respiration. The remainder, that portion of
GPP that is not used up by respiration, is known as the net
primary production (NPP). Total photosynthesis is limited by a
range of environmental factors. These include the amount of
light available, the amount ofleaf area a plant has to capture
light (shading by other plants is a major limitation of
photosynthesis), rate at which carbon dioxide can be supplied
to the chloroplasts to support photosynthesis, the availability of
water, and the availability of suitable temperatures for carrying
out photosynthesis.

Energy flow

Left: Energy flow diagram of a frog. The frog represents a node

in an extended food web. The energy ingested is utilized for
metabolic processes and transformed into biomass. The energy
flow continues on its path if the frog is ingested by predators,
parasites, or as a decaying carcass in soil. This energy flow
diagram illustrates how energy is lost as it fuels the metabolic
process that transforms the energy and nutrients into biomass.
Right: An expanded three link energy food chain (1. plants, 2.
herbivores, 3. carnivores) illustrating the relationship between
food flow diagrams and energy transformity. The transformity
of energy becomes degraded, dispersed, and diminished from
higher quality to lesser quantity as the energy within a food
chain

flows

from

one

trophic

species

into

another.

Abbreviations: I=input, A=assimilation, R=respiration, NU=not

utilized, P=production, B=biomass.
Decomposition
The carbon and nutrients in dead organic matter are broken
down by a group of processes known as decomposition. This
releases nutrients that can then be re-used for plant and

microbial production, and returns carbon dioxide to the

atmosphere

(or

water)

where

it

can

be

used

for

photosynthesis. In the absence of decomposition, dead organic

matter would accumulate in an ecosystem and nutrients and
atmospheric carbon dioxide would be depleted. Approximately
90% of terrestrial NPP goes directly from plant to decomposer.
Nutrient cycling

Biological nitrogen cycling

Ecosystems continually exchange energy and carbon with the
wider environment; mineral nutrients, on the other hand, are
mostly

cycled

back

and

forth

between

plants,

animals,

microbes and the soil. Most nitrogen enters ecosystems

through

biological nitrogen

fixation,

is

deposited

through

precipitation, dust, gases or is applied as fertilizer. Since most

terrestrial ecosystems are nitrogen-limited, nitrogen cycling is
an important control on ecosystem production.

Until modern times, nitrogen fixation was the major source of

nitrogen

for

ecosystems.

Nitrogen

fixing

bacteria

either

live symbiotically with plants, or live freely in the soil. The

energetic cost is high for plants which support nitrogen-fixing
symbiontsas much as 25% of GPP when measured in
controlled conditions. Many members of the legume plant
family

support

nitrogen-fixing

symbionts.

Some cyanobacteria are also capable of nitrogen

fixation.

These are phototrophs, which carry out photosynthesis. Like

other nitrogen-fixing bacteria, they can either be free-living or
have symbiotic relationships with plants. Other sources of
nitrogen

include acid

depositionproduced

through

the

combustion of fossil fuels, ammonia gas which evaporates from

agricultural fields which have had fertilizers applied to them,
and dust. Anthropogenic nitrogen inputs account for about 80%
of all nitrogen fluxes in ecosystems.
Function and biodiversity

Loch Lomond in Scotland forms a relatively isolated ecosystem.

The fish community of this lake has remained stable over a
long period until a number of introductions in the 1970s
restructured its food web.

Spiny

forest

at

Ifaty, Madagascar,

various Adansonia (baobab)

featuring

species, Alluaudia

procera (Madagascar ocotillo) and other vegetation.

Ecosystem processes are broad generalizations that actually
take place through the actions of individual organisms. The
nature of the organismsthe species, functional groups and
trophic levels to which they belongdictates the sorts of
actions these individuals are capable of carrying out, and the
relative efficiency with which they do so. Thus, ecosystem
processes

are

driven

by

the

number

of

species

in

an

ecosystem, the exact nature of each individual species, and the

relative abundance organisms within these species. Biodiversity
plays an important role in ecosystem functioning.
Ecosystem goods and services
Ecosystems provide a variety of goods and services upon which
people

depend. Ecosystem

goods

include

the

"tangible,

material products" of ecosystem processesfood, construction

material, medicinal plantsin addition to less tangible items
like tourism and recreation, and genes from wild plants and
animals

that

can

be

used

to

improve

domestic

species. Ecosystem services, on the other hand, are generally

"improvements in the condition or location of things of value".
Ecosystem management
When natural

resource

management is

applied

to

whole

ecosystems, rather than single species, it is termed ecosystem

management. A

variety

of

definitions

exist: F.

Stuart

Chapin and coauthors define it as "the application of ecological

science

to

resource

management

to

promote

long-term

sustainability of ecosystems and the delivery of essential

ecosystem goods and services", while Norman Christensen and
coauthors defined it as "management driven by explicit goals,
executed by policies, protocols, and practices, and made
adaptable by monitoring and research based on our best
understanding of the ecological interactions and processes
necessary to sustain ecosystem structure and function" and
Peter Brussard and colleagues defined it as "managing areas at
various scales in such a way that ecosystem services and
biological resources are preserved while appropriate human use
and options for livelihood are sustained".

Ecosystem dynamics

Temperate rainforest on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington

state.

The High

Peaks

Wilderness

Area in

the

6,000,000-acre

(2,400,000 ha) Adirondack Park is an example of a diverse

ecosystem.
Ecosystems are dynamic entitiesinvariably, they are subject
to periodic disturbances and are in the process of recovering
from some past disturbance. When an ecosystem is subject to
some sort of perturbation, it responds by moving away from its

initial state. The tendency of a system to remain close to its

equilibrium

state,

despite

that

disturbance,

is

termed

its resistance. On the other hand, the speed with which it

returns

to

its

initial

state

after

disturbance

is

called

its resilience.
From one year to another, ecosystems experience variation in
their biotic and abiotic environments. A drought, an especially
cold winter and a pest outbreak all constitute short-term
variability in environmental conditions. Animal populations vary
from year to year, building up during resource-rich periods and
crashing as they overshoot their food supply. These changes
play out in changes in NPP, decomposition rates, and other
ecosystem

processes. Longer-term

changes

also

shape

ecosystem processesthe forests of eastern North America still

show legacies of cultivation which ceased 200 years ago, while
methane production in eastern Siberian lakes is controlled by
organic matter which accumulated during the Pleistocene.
The frequency and severity of disturbance determines the way
it impacts ecosystem function. Major disturbance like a volcanic
eruption or glacial advance and retreat leave behind soils that
lack plants, animals or organic matter. Ecosystems that
experience disturbances that undergo primary succession. Less
severe disturbance like forest fires, hurricanes or cultivation
result insecondary succession. More severe disturbance and
more frequent disturbance result in longer recovery times.

Ecosystems recover more quickly from less severe disturbance

events.
The early stages of primary succession are dominated by
species with small propagules (seed and spores) which can be
dispersed long distances. The early colonizersoften algae,
cyanobacteria and lichensstabilize the substrate. Nitrogen
supplies are limited in new soils, and nitrogen-fixing species
tend to play an important role early in primary succession.
Unlike in primary succession, the species that dominate
secondary succession, are usually present from the start of the
process, often in the soil seed bank. In some systems the
successional pathways are fairly consistent, and thus, are easy
to predict. In others, there are many possible pathwaysfor
example, the introduced nitrogen-fixing legume, Myrica faya,
alter successional trajectories in Hawai'ian forests.
Ecosystem ecology

A hydrothermal vent is an ecosystem on the ocean floor. (The

scale bar is 1 m.)
Ecosystem ecology studies "the flow of energy and materials
through organisms and the physical environment". It seeks to

understand the processes which govern the stocks of material

and energy in ecosystems, and the flow of matter and energy
through them. The study of ecosystems can cover 10 orders of
magnitude, from the surface layers of rocks to the surface of
the planet.
Classification of Ecosystems

Flora of Baja California Desert,Catavia region, Mexico.

Classifying ecosystems into ecologically homogeneous units is
an important step towards effective ecosystem management. A
variety of systems exist, based on vegetation cover, remote
sensing,

and bioclimatic

classification systems. American

geographer Robert Bailey defines a hierarchy of ecosystem

units ranging from microecosystems (individual homogeneous
sites, on the order of 10 square kilometres (4 sq mi) in area),
through mesoecosystems (landscape mosaics, on the order of
1,000 square kilometres (400 sq mi)) to macro ecosystems
(ecoregions, on the order of 100,000 square kilometres
(40,000 sq mi)).
Bailey

outlined

five

different

methods

for

identifying

ecosystems: gestalt ("a whole that is not derived through

considerable of its parts"), in which regions are recognized and

boundaries drawn intuitively; a map overlay system where
different layers like geology, landforms and soil types are
overlain to identify ecosystems; multivariate clustering of site
attributes; digital image processing of remotely sensed data
grouping

areas

based

on

their

appearance

or

other spectral properties; or by a "controlling factors method"

where

subset

of

factors

(like

soils,

climate,

vegetation physiognomy or the distribution of plant or animal

species) are selected from a large array of possible ones are
used

to

delineate

ecosystems. In

contrast

with

Bailey's

methodology, Puerto Rico ecologist Ariel Lugo and coauthors

identified ten characteristics of an effective classification
system: that it be based on geo referenced, quantitative data;
that it should minimize subjectivity and explicitly identify
criteria and assumptions; that it should be structured around
the factors that drive ecosystem processes; that it should
reflect the hierarchical nature of ecosystems; that it should be
flexible enough to conform to the various scales at which
ecosystem management operates; that it should be tied to
reliable measures of climate so that it can "anticipate global
climate change; that it be applicable worldwide; that it should
be validated against independent data; that it take into account
the

sometimes

complex

relationship

between

climate,

vegetation and ecosystem functioning; and that it should be

able to adapt and improve as new data become available".

Types of ecosystems
Aquatic ecosystem

Marine ecosystem

Large marine ecosystem

Freshwater ecosystem

Lake ecosystem

River ecosystem

Wetland

Terrestrial ecosystem

Forest

Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Littoral zone

Riparian zone

Subsurface lithoautotrophic microbial ecosystem

Urban ecosystem

Movile Cave

Desert