structural component of ecosystem
- 1. Presentation on : Structural component of ecosystem By : Dhruv M Patel(16BEECV084) (160410111045)
- 2. System = regularly interacting and interdependent components forming a unified whole Ecosystem = an ecological system; = a community and its physical environment treated together as a functional system
- 3. Structure: • Living (biotic) • Nonliving (abiotic) Process: • Energy flow • Cycling of matter (chemicals) Change: • Dynamic (not static) • Succession, etc.
- 4. ABIOTIC components: Solar energy provides practically all the energy for ecosystems. Inorganic substances, e.g., sulfur, boron, tend to cycle through ecosystems. Organic compounds, such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and other complex molecules, form a link between biotic and abiotic components of the system.
- 5. The biotic components of an ecosystem can be classified according to their mode of energy acquisition. In this type of classification, there are: Autotrophs and Heterotrophs Organisms that produce their own food from an energy source, such as the sun, and inorganic compounds. Organisms that consume other organisms as a food source.
- 6. Trophic level: All the organisms that are the same number of food-chain steps from the primary source of energy
- 7. Producers: Producers or the autotrophic organisms are those living members of the ecosystem that utilize sunlight as their energy-source and simple inorganic materials like water, carbon dioxide and salts to produce their own food. Producers are largely photosynthetic plants and their kind varies with the kind of ecosystem For example, in a dense forest the trees are the most important producers. In lakes and ponds, the producers are rooted or large floating plants and microscopic plants (phytoplankton), usually the algae. In the ocean, the rooted and floating algae are the producers. However, whether large or small, rooted in the soil or floating in the water, all producers support an array of consumers and decomposers.
- 8. Consumers: Consumers are those living organisms that ingest other organisms and are, therefore, called heterotrophs.They derive their food directly or indirectly from the producers or the green plants. The food is then digested, i.e., broken down to simple substances which are metabolized in the consumer’s body and the waste products of their metabolism are released to the environment.The vast majority of consumers are the animals.
- 9. The primary consumers in an ecosystem are herbivores, which feed directly on the producers (green plants). However, primary consumers also vary with the kind of the ecosystem. For example, a deer or a giraffe is a primary consumer in a forest ecosystem, while a cow or a goat is a primary consumer in a grassland or crop ecosystem
- 10. Some ecosystems may have the top carnivores like the lion and vulture, which are not killed or rarely killed and eaten by other animals. Another important type of consumers is the bottom-living detritivores, which subsist on the rain of organic detritus from autotrophic layers above.These are called the tertiary consumers.
- 11. Decomposers: Decomposers or the micro-consumers are also called the saprobes or saprophytes.They are also the living components, chiefly the bacteria and fungi, that break down the complex compounds of dead protoplasm of producers and consumers, absorb some of the decomposition products, and release simple substances usable by the producers. Molds and mushrooms (Agaricus) of the forest floor are the largest of the decomposers that are visible to a naked eye. In a pond, the aquatic bacteria, flagellates and fungi are distributed throughout, but they are especially abundant in the bottom, where dead bodies of plants and animals accumulate.
- 12. Abiotic Substances or Components: The abiotic component consists of two things: the materials and the energy.The materials are like water, minerals atmospheric gases, and salts.They also include some organic matter, such as the amino acids and other products of decay of living things.The quantity of abiotic materials like the minerals present at any given time in an ecosystem is termed as the standing state similar to the standing crop, which refers to the quantity of biotic components.
- 13. Thank you