OUR ENVIRONMENT

NAME:- Pratik Sanjay Chavan

SUBJECT:- Science (Biology)
Roll No:- 13
GRADE:- 10th
SCHOOL:- Aurangabad Public School
 CONTENT
THIS CHAPTER INCLUDES:-
1)The Concept of Ecosystem
2)Biomagnification
3)How Do Our Activities Affect the Environment?
THE CONCEPT OF ECOSYSTEM
Definition of Ecosystem:- An ecosystem (or ecological
system) consists of all the organisms and the physical
environment with which they
interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked
together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy
enters the system through photosynthesis and is
incorporated into plant tissue. By feeding on plants and
on one another, animals play an important role in the
movement of matter and energy through the system
Types of Ecosystem:-
Ecosystem is divided into two broad categories:-
• Natural Ecosystem:- These are ecosystems that occur
naturally and can survive without any intervention from
human beings. Examples of natural ecosystems are
forests, mountains, rivers, etc.
• Artificial Ecosystem:- When human beings modify the
already existing ecosystem to meet their purpose or
create an ecosystem of their own that mimics the
natural condition, those are called artificial ecosystems.
Components of Ecosystem:-
Biotic components are the living things that have a
direct or indirect influence on other organisms in an
environment. For example plants, animals, and
microorganisms and their waste materials.
Abiotic components of an ecosystem include all
chemical and physical elements i.e. non-living
components. Abiotic components can vary from region
to region, from one ecosystem to another. They mainly
take up the role of life supporter. They determine and
restrict the population growth, number, and diversity
of biotic factors in an ecosystem. Hence, they are
called limiting factors.
The significance of Biotic and Abiotic Components
Biotic components can be classified into three categories:
Producers: These include all the autotrophs. They use light energy and synthesize food on their own, e.g.
plants, green algae, etc.
Consumers: These include all the heterotrophs that directly or indirectly depend on producers for their
food. Consumers are further categorized as herbivores, carnivores, omnivores and parasites.
Decomposers: These include saprophytes which act on dead matter and decay them for their nutrition.
The relevance of biotic and abiotic components in an environment appears when they start interacting
with each other. For example, biotic elements like plants provide food for other organisms. The soil is the
abiotic element which supports the growth of the plants by providing nutrients and other essential
elements. Biotic components depend on abiotic components for their survival and help in the formation
of abiotic factors like soil, nutrients, etc.
Food Chains
A food chain explains which organism eats another organism in the environment. The food chain is a
linear sequence of organisms where nutrients and energy is transferred from one organism to the other.
This occurs when one organism consumes another organism. It begins with the producer organism,
follows the chain and ends with the decomposer organism. After understanding the food chain, we
realise how one organism is dependent upon another organism for survival.
Tropical Levels
various steps, representing organisms in a food chain, at which the transfer of food and energy takes place are called trophic levels. The various
trophic levels are given below:
The plants or the producers which fix the solar energy and provide it for consumers constitute thefirst trophic level, e.g., green plants.
The herbivores or the primary consumers form the second trophic level, e.g., rats, rabbit, deer, goat, etc.
Carnivores or the secondary consumers. Which feed on herbivores make up the third trophic level, e.g., snakes, wall lizard, frog, small birds,
small fish, etc.
Large carnivores or top carnivores, which feed upon the small carnivores constitute the last trophic level. Thus, in a food chain, consisting of four
trophic levels, tertiary consumers are top carnivores (fourth trophic level) but in a food chain with five trophic levels, quaternary consumers are
top carnivores (fifth trophic level). Some examples of top carnivores are eagle, tiger, lion, etc. These organisms are not preyed upon, instead they
die of old age, disease or injury.
Food Web:
Food web, a complex network of interconnecting and overlapping food chains showing feeding
relationships within a community. A food chain shows how matter and energy from food are transferred
from one organism to another, whereas a food web illustrates how food chains intertwine in
an ecosystem. Food webs also demonstrate that most organisms consume or are consumed by more than
one species, which food chains often do not show.
Flow of Energy in an Ecosystem:
Energy flow is a sequential process of movement of energy in an ecosystem through a
series of organisms and back to the external environment.
Flow of energy in an ecosystem is always unidirectional. It moves progressively through
the various trophic levels and is no longer available to the previous level.
Energy flows progressively through the various trophic levels:
Producers →Herbivores → Carnivores.
Flow of energy and its utilization: The flow of energy between various components of
the environment has been extensively studied and it has been found that -
(a) Only 1% of the solar radiation is trapped by producers during their photosynthetic
activity and gets converted into food energy. The rest is dissipated as heat.
(b) When green plants are eaten by herbivores, a great deal of energy is lost as heat to
the environment. some amount goes into digestion, some in doing work and the rest
goes towards growth and repro- duction. On an average, 10% of the food (energy) is
turned into the body of herbivores. Similarly, 10% of the total energy available to the
herbivores is made available for the next level of consumers.
(c) 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.
(d) As very less energy is available for next level of consumers, food chain generally
consists 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.
HOW DO OUR ACTIVITIES AFFECT THE
ENVIRONMENT?
While we would have greatly contributed to the well being of our society, we have overlooked or
neglected the fact that eventually, we have been playing up with the environment in which we stay. This
has been showing up in recent times in the form of global warming, floods, cyclones, tsunamis etc which
are a few consequences of various activities of man. Few are:
Ozone layer and its depletion:
Ozone layer:-The ozone layer or ozone shield is a region of Earth's stratosphere that absorbs most of
the Sun's ultraviolet radiation. It contains a high concentration of ozone (O3) in relation to other parts of
the atmosphere, although still small in relation to other gases in the stratosphere. The ozone layer
contains less than 10 parts per million of ozone, while the average ozone concentration in Earth's
atmosphere as a whole is about 0.3 parts per million. The ozone layer is mainly found in the lower portion
of the stratosphere, from approximately 15 to 35 kilometers (9 to 22 mi) above Earth, although its
thickness varies seasonally and geographically
BIOMAGNIFICATION
It is the accumulation of harmful chemicals within organisms
which happens at each stage of the food chain. If harmful non-
biodegradable chemicals enter the bodies of organisms
through the food chains and go on concentrating at each
trophic level, then there would be an increase in the
concentration of persistent pollutants like DDT or other
substances like heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic,
cadmium, etc. per unit weight of the organism with the rise in
trophic level. This phenomenon is called biomagnification or
biological magnification.
Explanation: If 0.003 parts per billion(ppm) of DDT in water
becomes 0.003ppm in phytoplankton, 0.04 plankton, 0.5ppm
in clams and small fish, 2.0ppm in predator fish and 5ppm in
fish eating birds like seg gulls. Thus, there is an increase in the
concentration of the chemicals at each trophic level.
It is caused due to the non-utilization of the substances in
metabolism, accumulation of fat. These sub- stances cannot
be degraded by decomposers.
Ozone Formation
Molecular oxygen present in the stratosphere absorbs short wavelength of ultraviolet radiation in the
range of 1800A to 2200Å. This causes splitting of molecular oxygen into its constituent atoms. In
stratosphere, along with the above reaction another photochemical reaction also occurs. Ozone absorbs
UV radiation in the range of 2000 to 2900A.
Ozone depletion:-
Ozone layer depletion is the thinning of the ozone layer present in the upper atmosphere. This happens
when the chlorine and bromine atoms in the atmosphere come in contact with ozone and destroy the
ozone molecules. One chlorine can destroy 100,000 molecules of ozone. It is destroyed more quickly
than it is created.
WASTE MANAGEMENT:
In our daily activities, we generate a lot of waste materials that are thrown away. For example-food
wastes, cans, dirt ash, waste leather, waste paper, etc.
• Depending on some criteria, there are two board categories of substances :
1)Biodegradable substances: Biodegradable means that a substance can be easily decomposed by
naturally occurring agents such as oxygen, water, ultraviolet rays, microbes, acid rains, etc. These
microorganisms secrete specific enzymes which breakdown complex organic substances into simpler and
soluble substances. The latter reach the reservoir pool (air, water or soil) and are again available to
autotrophs for utilization.
2)Non-Biodegradable:-Non-Biodegradable substances: The substances which are not decomposed
naturally by the action of microorganisms are called non-biodegradable substances.
(a)Such substances contaminate the air, water and soil resources and hence cause pollution.
(b) They are generally inert and stable chemicals, therefore they persist in the environment for a long
GARBAGE
Garbage is refuse of food, vegetables and fruit articles along with other domestic wastes. Every household produces a lot
of garbage (wastes) daily. Some of the garbage is biodegradable, whereas a major part of it is non-biodegradable. If the
household garbage is not disposed off properly, it can pollute various environmental resources such as air, water and soil.
Garbage management is the non-pollutant disposal of the waste. It consists of three steps
1)Collection of garbage.
2) Transport of garbage from collection sites to disposal sites.
2) Disposal of garbage
Some of the methods of waste disposal are briefly described below:
1)Recycling: Different kind of solid wastes like paper, plastics, etc., can be recycled. For example, waste paper is sent to the
paper mills where it is reprocessed to produce new paper. Metal wastes are melted to obtain fresh metal. Waste plastic is
used for obtaining petrochemicals
2) Sewage treatment plants (STPs): The dirty drain water containing urine and faeces, which is carried from our homes by
underground pipes (called sewers) is called sewage. Sometimes, untreated sewage is dumped into the river, which
pollutes the river water. Thus, sewage should always be disposed off by treating it in sewage treatment plants (STPs). The
treatment results in the production of clean water, which is then discharged into river.
Organic matter present in the sewage is 'digested in digesters of STP to produce 'sewage gas' (a kind of biogas) and