Environment and Ecosystem

The environment can be broadly defined as our surrounding.

Although our interest lies primarily in the environment of humans
but we can’t exist in isolation. Thus human activities have to be
understood in the context with other form of life that exists in
animal as well as in the plant kingdom. Therefore it is essential to
deal with the environment of all life forms.
The Environment comprises of three basic spheres namely
atmosphere (air),
Hydrosphere (water) and lithosphere (land). These three meet at
the common interface on the earth, and this interface is the
biosphere (life bearing space) .
The structure and function of biosphere are dependent on the
exchange of matter and energy that takes place continuously
among the three.

Ecosystem
The Biosphere can be easily visualized to be made up of living
system comprising of the plants and animal kingdom and non
living components such as mineral and water etc. The entire
system is sustained by the Sun, which is the primary source of
energy. Organism of different species from both plant and animal
kingdom interact among themselves as well as with the physical
environment they occupy. The total assemblage of these
components with their interaction with each other is called
ecosystem.
This ecosystem has three distinctive components
• A biotic, non living inclusive of climate regime
 • Biotic, or living component
• Light and heat – the energy source

A biotic component includes inorganic and organic components

present in the environment. Inorganic components of the
ecosystem are substances such as oxygen, carbon dioxide,
water, and minerals whereas organic substances comprises of
carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, amino acids and the likes.
Climate, light, and heat can be treated either as a separate
entities or can be called as abiotic component. The predominant
source of energy to the Earth biosphere is the Sun. And the
circulation of abiotic substances in the ecosystem is either
through material or energy cycle.

Biotic substances in the ecosystem are various plants and

animals including microbes. These can be classified as producer
(autographs) and consumers (heterotrophy).

Autographs produce their own food from inorganic substances

using light or chemical energy. Plants and unicellular algae which
contain the chlorophyll pigments are producers. They take up
substances such as water, carbon dioxide, and oxygen and other
inorganic nutrients and through their bio-chemical system
produce their biological food needed for their life form. This
production activity is vital for the existence of the ecosystem as
the product of this photosynthesis support life on earth.
The photosynthesis results in the eventual release and of oxygen
after breaking the carbon dioxide and water molecules. Energy
obtained from solar radiation is vital in this process. Thus it is
clear that the process of photosynthesis takes place basically
during day time. But some insignificant amount of photosynthesis
also takes place in the night using the faint light emitted by the
heavenly bodies.

Heterotopias do not have the ability to produce their own food.

All the species of the animal kingdom comes under this category.
Bacteria belong to the plant kingdom as they are not capable of
producing their own food. Hence are classified as consumers

Animals feeding on plants are primary consumers (herbivores).

While those feeing on animals are called secondary consumers
(carnivores). Another category of consumers, which feed on both
plants and animals, are called omnivores.

In the natural environment a balance exists among the various

organisms and abiotic components. The state of equilibrium is
known as ecological balance. And the system is called “balanced
ecosystem.” If any disturbance occurs due to natural or man
made activities, this balance is upset, and the ecosystem
becomes imbalanced. If enough time is allowed for the
restoration, a balanced ecosystem will gradually reappear but the
new balanced ecosystem may not resemble the original system.

Ecology
Ecosystem is a vast and complex natural system comprising of
large pools of material resources and living organisms which are
supported by sources of energy. And there is constant exchange
of materials and energy in the ecosystem. This dynamics of the
system has to be understood properly to make us live a healthy
and happy life. The study of this system in all its totality is know
as “ecology.’’
The word Ecology finds its origin in Greek word ekos meaning the
house and logos which means knowledge of. Thus it is the
knowledge of what makes our dwelling place function. Ecology
essentially requires knowledge of physics, chemistry, and the life
science and their various derivatives.
Ecosystems are broadly classified into
*Terrestrial ecosystem—encompassing the activities on land
*Aquatic ecosystem – those that exist in water.

These can be further subdivided into any number of ecosystems

for understanding it conveniently such as forest, mountain,
desert system etc.
Whereas Aquatic ecosystem can be divided into Marine, fresh
water and Estuarine ecosystems.
Each and every component of biosphere can be quoted as an
example of an ecosystem. Let us take the components of a
pond:-

Abiotic- Water, dissolved oxygen, carbon dioxide, inorganic salts

like chlorides, nitrates, phosphates of calcium, sodium, and
potassium. A large number of organic compounds such as organic
acids are also present.

Biotic- Both producers (aquatic plants) and consumers are

present (fish etc.) are also found in the pond.
In a fresh water pond two types of producers are present- the
large plants floating or growing along the shoreline, and the
floating and suspended microscopic plants. The second one is
mostly made up of different type of algae which are distributed
through out the water as deep as the sunrays can go. The small
plants are called phytoplankton. Although the individual cells are
invisible but when they are present in large quantities they give a
greenish hue to the water body.

Along with the producers, a pond ecosystem contains consumers

also namely fish, insects and crabs etc. They are of both type’s
primary and secondary consumers. Tertiary consumers feeding
on the carnivores can also be present. These consumers are
visible to naked eyes and are called macro consumers.
Microscopic consumers are also present at the surface as well as
the bottom of water and are called Zooplanktons.
The pond ecosystem also has a major consumer form (including
bacteria and fungus) called decomposers. These are micro
consumers and play a very vital role in breaking down the waste
products of the macro consumers and dead consumers along
with producer’s organisms. Without the decomposers, the
ecosystem can not exist as it gets overloaded with waste
products and dead organisms. They are great scavengers.
In the pond ecosystem, bacteria, the main decomposers, feed on
the biodegradable organic material available to them in the form
of water matter discharged by the animal species, and the dead
organism of both animal and plant species. They consume
oxygen for bio-chemical oxidation of the organic matter, and for
their own respiration. As a consequence, carbon dioxide is
liberated. This carbon dioxide is consumed by algae, which are in
abundance in the water. The algae growth is promoted by the
nutrients present in water. Algae carry out photosynthesis in the
presence of sun light consuming the released carbon dioxide. In
this process the release oxygen to be consumed by bacteria
again. This cyclic activity is called algal- bacterial symbiosis, and
it keeps the pond ecosystem in a balanced condition.