Natural Ecosystem

The blog has helped you in understanding the nature of ecosystems of the natural environment.

Let us learn about their characteristics -

1. Major source of energy - Sun

2. Abiotic component - Non-living e.g. rocks, land, water bodies and the elements of atmosphere

3. Biotic Components --

A.Producers of the ecosystem (Green plants / Autotrophs)

B.Macro Consumers - Primary consumer (Herbivores) - e.g. cattle, deer, goat, rabbit, squirrels, etc.

Secondary consumers (Carnivores) e.g. fox, snake, frog etc

Tertiary consumers- e.g. lion tiger, hawk, etc. C. Micro consumers (detritivores ) - feed on dead organic matter e.g. earthworms. D.Decomposers- Bacteria & fungi

4.Ecosystem is a system that the includes all the organisms of a given area interact with the physical environment(abiotic component).

5. Food chain - Transfer of food energy from green plants through a series of organisms with repeated stages of consuming and being consumed.Food chains are not isolated sequences. 6. Food web - This interlocking patten of food chains. 7. Tropic Structure - The sharpe decline in the energy available at each successive tropic level. Therefore, the shape of tropic structure is like pyramid. 8. Biogeochemical cycles - While the flow of energy in the ecosystem is unidirectional, nutrients required in the ecosystem, gets circulated in the system e.g. water cycle, carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, sulfur cycle, oxygen cycle, phosphorus cycle etc. 9. All eco system regulate and maintain themselves under a set of environmental conditions. 10. Ecological Niche - Each organisms has a definite role to play in the natural ecosystem, so that the system maintains balance and functions in proper order. 11. Ecosystem are dynamic and change their structure and function in time and space. These changes are orderly and the process is known as ecological succession.