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Ecosystem Grade 7

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22 views6 pages

Ecosystem Grade 7

Uploaded by

Adithya
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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ECOSYSTEM - important terms

● Ecosystem
● Types of ecosystem and examples
● Decomposition
● Food chain
● Food web
● Trophic level
● Energy flow

Ecosystem
Introduction-
❖ Ecosystem is a community of living and nonliving things that work together. ❖
Living things are the Biotic factors and nonliving things are the abiotic factors.

Important terms-
❖ A population is defined as a group of organisms of the same species living in the
same place at the same time
❖ Species is a group of organisms that can interbreed
❖ A community includes all of the populations living in the same area at the
same time
➢ Within a community, each species depends on other species for food,
shelter, pollination, seed dispersal etc
➢ If one species is removed it can affect the whole community
➢ This is called interdependence
❖ A habitat is the place where an organism lives
➢ E.g. badgers, deer, oak trees and ants are all species that would live in a
woodland habitat

❖ Biotic factors - all organisms-animals, plants, microorganisms, fish, amphibians


etc. in a given environment.
❖ Biotic factors are included in 3 groups -
1. Producers
2. Consumers
3. Decomposers.
❖ Biotic factors - Consumers are divided into
1. primary consumers(herbivores)
2. secondary consumers (carnivores)
3. tertiary consumers
4. quaternary consumers
❖ Abiotic factors - air, water, soil, temperature etc.
Types of ecosystem and examples
❖ Ecosystems can vary greatly in size and scale

A small ecosystem might be a garden pond

A large ecosystem might be the whole of Antarctica

❖ There are two types of ecosystem:

Terrestrial Ecosystem - eg, desert ecosystem

Aquatic Ecosystem - eg. freshwater ecosystem

Decomposition

❖ Decomposition is an important process in an ecosystem.


❖ It keeps the ecosystem clean and makes our soil fertile.
❖ The decomposition process is done by the organisms called decomposers. By this
process dead organisms or substances are broken down into simpler organic or
inorganic matter.
❖ An organism, often a bacterium or fungus that feeds on and breaks down dead
plant or animal matter, making nutrients available to the ecosystem.

Food chain - eating or being eaten

❖ A food chain refers to the order of events in an ecosystem, where one living
organism eats another organism, and later that organism is consumed by another
larger organism.
❖ The flow of nutrients and energy from one organism to another forms a food
chain.
Food web - interconnected food chains
❖ A food web consists of all the food chains in a single ecosystem.
❖ Each living thing in an ecosystem is part of multiple food chains.
Trophic level
❖ It forms the feeding positions in a food web or chain.
❖ All food webs and chains have at least two or three trophic levels.

Energy flow
❖ Energy is transferred up in a food web or chain from lower to higher
trophic levels.
❖ Typically, only about 10% of the energy at one level is made available to
the next level.
❖ The remaining 90% of the energy is used for different life
processes or is released into the environment as heat.
❖ The energy loss explains why there are rarely more than four trophic
levels in a food web or food chain.
❖ At times there can be a 5th trophic level, however, generally, there
is not enough energy remaining to support any extra levels.
Intruders in an ecosystem - Invasive species
❖ When an invasive species enters a new ecosystem, it disturbs that
ecosystem's natural operations.
❖ Invasive species often spread rapidly because there are no checks in place
in the new ecosystem to prevent rampant population growth.
❖ Whereas Hippos in Africa, a native species, must live with
drought and predation in its ecosystem.
❖ Eg. New Zealand had native birds nesting on the ground with no threat.
This was before humans inhabited New Zealand. Once humans came, so
did other species of animals, the invasive species like stoats which were
brought in to control rabbits. This slowly led to extinction of various
native birds.
❖ Invasive species can overuse resources and destroy habitats, causing
native populations to decline or even go extinct.
❖ Ecosystems are delicately balanced –– when one plant or animal is harmed,
it can endanger the rest of the environment.

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