 All organisms such as plants, animals,

microorganism and human being as well as the

physical surroundings interact with each other
to maintain a balance in nature. All the
interacting organisms in an area together with
non-living constituents of an environment
forms an ecosystem.
 An ecosystem consists of biotic components
comprising plants and animals and abiotic
components comprising physical factors such
as temperature, rainfall, wind, soil and
minerals.
 For example, if you visit a garden you will find
different plants, such as grasses, trees; flower
bearing plants like rose, jasmine, sunflower ;
and animals like frogs, insects and birds. All
these living organisms interact with each other
and their growth, reproduction and other
activities are affected by the abiotic
components of ecosystem. So a garden is an
ecosystem.
 Ecosystem like forests, ponds and lakes are an
example of natural ecosystem.
 Ecosystem like crop-fields and garden are an
example of man-made (artificial) ecosystem.
Producers

Consumers

decomposers
 All the green plants and certain bacteria which
can produce food by photosynthesis come
under the category called producers.
 Organisms depend on the producers either
directly or indirectly for their sustenance come
under the cateogary called consumers.
 These organisms consume the food produced,
either directly from producers or indirectly by
feeding on the consumers.
HERBIVORES

CARNIVORES

OMNIVORES

PARASITES
 The microorganisms, comprising of bacteria
and fungi, break down the dead remains and
waste products of organisms. These
microorganiasms are the decomposers as they
break-down the complex substances into the
simple inorganic substances that go into soil
and used once more by the plants..
 The series of organisms feeding on one another
taking part at various biotic levels forms a food
chain.
 A food chain is the flow of food energy from
one organism to the next and to the next and so
on.
BOOK DIAGRAM
 Each step or level of the food chain forms the
trophic level.
 The autotrophs or the producers are at the first
trophic level. They fix up the solar energy and
make it available for heterotrophs or
consumers.
 The herbivore or the primary consumers come
at the second trophic level.
 Small carnivore or secondary consumers come
at the third trophic level.
 Large carnivore or tertiary consumers come at
the fourth trophic level.
 A food web is a combination of several
interconnected food chains.
 From the energy flow diagram ( PREVIOUS
SLIDE ) , two things become clear. Firstly, the
flow of energy is unidirectional. The energy
that is captured by the autotrophs does not
revert back to the solar input and the energy
which passes to the herbivores does not come
back to autotrophs. As it moves progressively
through the various trophic levels it is no
longer available to the previous level.
Secondly, the energy available at each trophic
level gets diminished progressively due to loss
of energy at each level.
Ozone (O3) is a molecule formed by three atoms of
oxygen. While O2, which we normally refer to as
oxygen, is essential for all aerobic forms of life.
Ozone, is a deadly poison. However, at the higher
levels of the atmosphere, ozone performs an
essential function. It shields the surface of the earth
from ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the Sun. This
radiation is highly damaging to organisms, for
example, it is known to cause skin cancer in human
beings.
Ozone at the higher levels of the atmosphere is a
product of UV radiation acting on oxygen (O2)
molecule. The higher energy UV radiations split
apart some molecular oxygen (O2) into free oxygen
(O) atoms. These atoms then combine with the
molecular oxygen to form ozone as shown—
The amount of ozone in the atmosphere began to
drop sharply in the 1980s. This decrease has been
linked to synthetic chemicals like (CFCs)
chlorofluorocarbons which are used as refrigerants
and in fire extinguishers. In 1987, the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
succeeded in forging an agreement to freeze CFC
production at 1986 levels. It is now mandatory for
all the manufacturing companies to make CFC-free
refrigerators throughout the world.
 Substances that are broken down by biological
processes are said to be biodegradable.
 Substances that are not broken down in this
manner are said to be non-biodegradable.
These substances may be inert and simply
persist in the environment for a long time or
may harm the various members of the eco-
system.
The length and complexity of food chains
vary greatly. Each organism is generally
eaten by two or more other kinds of
organisms which in turn are eaten by
several other organisms. So instead of a
straight line food chain, the relationship
can be shown as a series of branching
lines called a food web.
 •The green plants in a terrestrial ecosystem capture
about 1% of the energy of sunlight that falls on their
leaves and convert it into food energy.
•When green plants are eaten by primary consumers,
a great deal of energy is lost as heat to the
environment, some amount goes into digestion and
in doing work and the rest goes towards growth and
reproduction. An average of 10% of the food eaten is
turned into its own body and made available for the
next level of consumers.
 •Therefore, 10% can be taken as the average value
for the amount of organic matter that is present at
each step and reaches the next level of consumers.
• Since so little energy is available for the next level
of consumers, food chains generally consist of only
three or four steps. The loss of energy at each step is
so great that very little usable energy remains after
four trophic levels.
• There are generally a greater number of
individuals at the lower trophic levels of an
ecosystem, the greatest number is of the producers.