Organisms and Environment - Part I

Organisms and Environments
Introduction
∙

Nature comprises of two things –
environment and organisms

∙

Although environment literally means
the surroundings of an organism, it is
meaningless without its organisms

∙

Thus environment can be defined as –
sum of all the external factors (both
biotic and abiotic) affecting the life and
development of an organism in its
natural habitat.

∙

Ecology or environmental science
refers to the study or interrelationships
of living organisms (animals, plants, and
microorganisms) with their physical and
biological environment.

∙

Ecosystem

is

the

whole

biotic

community in a given area plus its
abiotic

environment

among them.

and

interaction

∙

Habitat is the place where a particular
organisms lives.

∙

Ecological niche – it is the role which a
particular

organisms

plays

in

the

community including habitat and its
interaction with other organisms. The
role of an organism includes –
i)

what it eats

ii)

it is eaten by whom,

iii)

its range of movement

iv)

season and time of its activity

v)

its

effect

on

other

factors

of

community etc.
Thus, niche should not be confused with
habitat.

There are 3 aspects of ecological niche
–
Spatial/ Habitat niche – Physical space
occupied by the organism.
Trophic niche – The trophic position of
the organism and its role.
Multidimentional niche – position of
the

organism

in

the

environmental

gradients.
Ecosystem – Ecosystem is the whole
biotic community in a given area plus its
abiotic environment and interactions
among them.
There are two kinds of ecosystems.
i) Natural ecosystem – It operates
under natural conditions without any
major interference of man. They may be

terrestrial (forest grassland, desert etc)
or aquatic (pond, river, lake, wet land
etc.)
ii) Artificial ecosystem – These are
man-made and maintained artificially by
man eg. Croplands and aquarium.
Structure of ecosystem includes, its
composition

(species-

biomass),

quantity and distribution of non-living
materials,

range

of

conditions

of

existence like temperature and light.
Functions of ecosystem includes the
energy flow rates of photosynthesis and
respiration,

nutrient

cycles

community etc.
Components of ecosystem –

of

the

On the basis of their nature, ecologists
generally classify various environmental
factors into two major categories.
i)

Abiotic factor – These are non-living
and

include

factors.

climatic

Climatic

temperature,

light,

and

edaphic

factors

include

air,

atmospheric

humidity, rain and water.
Edaphic factors include factors of soil
eg.

Soil

texture,

substratum,

topography, minerals like, Ca, Mn, Mg,
Fe, P, S, C, N etc and pH.
ii) Biotic factors –
These include the living organisms of an
ecosystem.
These

may

(producers)

be
eg.

either

autotrophs

Plants

and

Photosynthetic/Chemosynthetic bacteria
or these may be heterotrophs.
Heterotrophs are of two types – namely
macroconsumers and microconsumers.
Macroconsumers are herbivores and
carnivores (or omnivores)
Herbivores

are

primary

consumers

whereas, carnivores or omnivores are
secondary

consumers

or

tertiary

consumers.
Micro-consumers

are

usually

the

decomposers that include saprophytic
fungi, bacteria and Actinomycetes.
Decomposers

release

inorganic

nutrients back in the environment by
decomposing the organic compounds.
Ecosystem structure and patterns –

The biotic and abiotic factors of the
ecosystem may vary with location and
time.
These variations allow the formation of
different spatial pattern in an ecosystem.
2 types of special patterns are
1) Zonation

Zonation

2) Stratification

Stratification

Productivity of an ecosystem
It refers to the rate of production i.e. the
amount of organic matter (biomass)
accumulates per unit time. It can be
classified as
1. Primary productivity - Rate at which
the solar energy is converted and stored
by the producers. It may be –

Gross primary productivity or
Net primary productivity
2. Secondary productivity – It is the rate
of energy storage at the level of
consumers.
3. Net productivity – It is the rate of
storage of organic matter which is not
used by the consumers.

DECOMPOSERS:

o

•

The decomposers break down complex organic matter into inorganic substances like carbon
dioxide, water and nutrients, called decomposition.

•

Dead plant remains such as leaves, bark, flowers and dead remains of animals, including fecal

•

matter, constitute the detritus.
The process of decomposition completed in following steps:
o Fragmentation : Break down of detritus into smaller particles by detritivore

o

(earthworm).
Leaching: Water soluble inorganic nutrients go down into the soil horizon and get

o

precipitated as unavailable salts.
Catabolism : Bacterial and fungal enzymes degrade detritus into simple inorganic

o

substances.
Humification: Accumulation of dark coloured amorphous substances called humus.

Importance of humus:

o
o
o
o

Highly resistance to microbial action.
Undergo decomposition at an extremely slow rate.
Being colloidal in nature, it serves as reservoir for nutrients.
Mineralization: The humus is further degraded by some microbes and release of
inorganic nutrients occur.

Factor affects rate of decomposition:

•
•
•
•
•

Decomposition is largely an oxygen-requiring process.
Detritus rich in chitin and lignin has slow rate of decomposition.
Detritus rich in nitrogen and water-soluble substance like sugar has faster decomposition.
Temperature and soil moisture are most important climatic factor that regulate decomposition
Warm and moist environment favor decomposition.

Low temperature, dryness and anerobiosis inhibit decomposition.

Ecological Pyramids
Ecological pyramids are models that show how energy flows through
ecosystems.
Pyramids can show the relative amounts of energy, biomass, or numbers of
organisms at each trophic level in an ecosystem.
The base of the pyramid represents producers. Each step up represents a
different level of consumer. The number of trophic levels in the pyramid is
determined by the number of organisms in the food chain or food web.
• An energy pyramid represents the energy available for each trophic
level in an ecosystem.

○ The energy needs of organisms are greater from level to level in an
ecosystem.
○ Therefore, the total amount of energy available at each level decreases
in an ecosystem.
○ Each successive level in an ecosystem can support fewer numbers of
organisms than the one below. With each level of the pyramid, only
10% of the energy available is used by organisms while there is an
energy loss of about 90% to the environment.

•

A number pyramid represents the number of individual organisms
available for energy at each trophic level in an ecosystem. It can be used
to examine how the population of a certain species affects another.

○ The autotrophic level is represented at the base of the pyramid.
This represents the total number of producers available to support
the energy needs of the ecosystem.
○ The total numbers of individual organisms tend to decline as one
goes up trophic level
A biomass pyramid represents the total mass of living organic matter (biomass)
at each trophic level in an ecosystem.

○ Since the number of organisms is reduced in each successive trophic
level, the biomass at each trophic level is reduced as well.

ENERGY FLOW IN ECOSYSTEM:

•

Except for deep sea hydrothermal ecosystem, sun is the only source of energy for all ecosystems on

•
•
•
•

earth.
Less than 50% of incident solar radiation isphotosynthetically active radiations. (PAR).
Plants capture 2-10 % of PAR and used in photosynthesis.
All organisms depend on the producers, either directly or indirectly.
Energy flow in the ecosystem is unidirectional i.e. energy transferred from producer to

•

consumers.
Energy transfer is not absolute, and spontaneous, unless energy is degraded it can not be transfer.

•

When energy transferred from one trophic level to another, lot of energy lost in the form of heat to
the environment.
Only 10% of energy transferred from one trophic level to other.

NUTRIENT CYCLES IN ECOSYSTEMS:
Although the biosphere dissipates heat, it serves to recycle materials. Within ecosystems, materials
like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphorous continually recycle and are rarely lost. These cycles
are termed biogeochemical cycles.
Biogeochemical cycles describe how elements move between organisms and the physical
environment. Elements from the environment ascend food webs, and return to the
physical environment when an organism decomposes. Some chemicals are concentrated
as they ascend food webs, with toxic effects.

The Carbon Cycle
Most carbon in the biosphere is found as bicarbonate (HCO3-) in oceans and carbon
dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. Each year, terrestrial producers convert approximately 12% of
atmospheric carbon in carbon dioxide into complex organic compounds. This carbon is incorporated
within the food chain, where it is eventually returned to the oceans and atmosphere, as carbon
dioxide, through the process of aerobic respiration.

The Phosphorous Cycle
The weathering of rocks makes phosphate ions (PO43- and HPO42-) available to plants which is
incorporated into ATP or DNA/RNA nucleotides. This phosphate is then passed on to the next trophic
level when consumers eat the producers. Consumers assimilate this phosphate into teeth, bones,
shells, etc. As these organisms die, their phosphates, once again, become available for plants to
repeat the cycle.
Notice from the diagram on the right that some phosphates run into aquatic systems where it is
incorporated by photosynthetic algae. These phosphates eventually become part of sedimentation
and are re-exposed to weathering after upheaval.

ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION:
•

The gradual and fairly predictable change in the species composition of a given area is

•

called ecological succession.
Composition and structure of the community constantly change in response to changing

•
•

environmental condition.
This change is orderly and sequential, parallel with the changes in the physical environment.
All the changes lead finally to a community that is in near equilibrium with the environment and

•

that is called climax community.
During succession some species colonize and area and their populations become more numerous,

•
•
•

whereas populations of other species decline and even disappear.
The entire sequences of communities that successively change in a given area are called sere.
The individual transitional communities are termed as seral stages.
In the successive seral stages there is a change in the diversity of species of organisms, in crease in

•

number of species and total biomass.
Primary succession: succession that starts where no living organisms are there- these could be
areas where no living organism ever existed may be a bare rock or new water body.

•

Secondary succession: succession that starts in areas that somehow, lost all the living

•
•
•
•
•

organisms that existed there.
Primary succession occurs in:newly cooled lava,
bare rock,
Newly created pond or reservoir.
Secondary succession begins in areas where natural biotic communities have been destroyed such

•
•
•
•

as
In abandoned farm lands.
Burned or cut forest,
land that have been flooded
Since some soil or sediment is present, secondary succession is faster than primary succession.

Succession in plants:

•

Based on the nature of habitat – whether it is water or it is on very dry areas- succession of plants is

•

calledhydrarch or xerarch.
Hydrarch succession takes place in water areas and the successional series progress

•

from hydric to mesiccondition.
Xerarch
succession takes

•

from xeric to mesic conditions.
Both hydrarch and xerarch successions lead to medium water conditions (mesic) – neither too dry

place

in

dry

areas

(xeric) nor too wet (hydric)
Xerarch succession: Succession in bare rock:

•

The species that invades bare area are called pioneer species.

and

the

series

progress

•
•
•
•
•

In primary succession on bare rock the pioneer species is the lichen.
Lichen secretes acid to dissolve rock, helping in weathering and soil formation.
The little soil, leads to growth of bryophytes (mosses).
The mosses speed up the process of soil accumulation by trapping wind-blown particles.
Lichen moss carpet provides suitable substratum for the germination of seeds of herbaceous

•

plants.
Gradually more soil is accumulated and herbaceous species make way for the invasion

•

of shrubs followed bytrees.
The climax community is generally dominated by trees.

Hydrarch (succession in aquatic environment)

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

In primary succession in water, the pioneer species arephytoplankton.
Zooplanktons.
Sub merged plant stage. (rooted hydrophytes)
Sub merged and free-floating plant stage.
Reed-swamp stage.
Marsh-meadow stage.
Shrub stage
Trees
The climax again would be the forest
All the succession whether taking place in water or on land, proceeds to a similar climax community
– the mesic.

ECOSYSTEM SERVICES:

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

The products of ecosystem processes are named as ecosystem services.
Healthy forest ecosystems purify air and water.
Mitigate droughts and flood.
Cycle nutrients.
Generates fertile soil.
Provide wildlife habitat.
Maintain biodiversity.
Pollinate crops.
Provide storage site for carbon
Provides aesthetic, cultural and spiritual values

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES:
•

AGRO-CHEMICAL AND THEIR EFFECTS:

•
•
•
•

Use of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides has increased manifold for enhancing crop production.
Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides etc, are being increasingly used.
These are toxic to non-target organisms that are important components of the soil ecosystem?
Increasing amounts of artificial fertilizers causes eutrophication.

SOLUTIONS:

•

Integrated organic farming is a cyclical, zero waste procedure, where waste products from one

•
•

process are cycled in as nutrients for other processes.
Maximum utilization of resource and increase the efficiency of production.
He includes bee-keeping, diary management, water harvesting, composting and agriculture in a
chain of processes, which support each other and allow an extremely economical and sustainable
venture.

Advantages:

•
•
•

There is no need of use of chemical fertilizers for crops
Cattle excreta are used as manure.
Crop waste used to create compost, which can be used as a natural fertilizer or can be used to
generate natural gas for energy need.

•
•
•
•

Biomagnifications: increase in concentration of the toxicant at successive trophic level is called
biological magnification or biomagnifications.
Toxic substance accumulated by an organism cannot be metabolized or excreted.
The accumulated toxic passed to the next trophic level.
This phenomenon is well known for mercury and DDT.

SOLID WASTES:

•

Solid wastes refer to everything that goes out in trash.

•

Municipal solid wastes are wastes from homes, offices, stores, schools, hospitals etc. It

•
•

comprises paper, food wastes, plastics, glass, metals rubber, leathers, textiles etc.
Open damp of these wastes serve as the breeding ground for rats and flies.
Sanitary landfills were adopted as substitute for open-burning dumps.

Sanitary landfills:

•

Wastes are dumped in a depression or trench after compaction and covered with dirt everyday.

Disadvantages:

•
•

Shortage of space for huge garbage’s.
Danger of seepage of chemicals, polluting the ground water resources.

Solution to solid wastes:

•

All solid wastes are categorized into thee types:
o Bio-degradable.
o Recyclable.
o Non-biodegradable.

•
•
•
•

All the garbage generated is sorted first.
Recyclable material to be separated and send for recycles.
Biodegradable wastes can be put into deep pits in the ground and be left for natural breakdown.
Only Non-biodegradable wastes are left and required to be disposed.

Prevention:

•
•
•
•

The need to reduce our garbage generation should be a prime goal.
Reduction in use of plastics and use of eco-friendly packaging.
Carrying cloth or other natural fiber carry bags when we go shopping.
Refusing polythene bags.

Case study of Remedy for Plastic wastes: (Ahmed Khan)

•
•
•

Polyblend, a fine powder of recycled modified plastic, was developed by his company.
Polyblend is mixed with bitumen that is used to lay roads.
It increases the water repelling property of bitumen, and helped to increase road life by a factor of

•

three.
The raw material used for polyblend is plastic film waste.

•

GREEN HOUSE EFFECT AND GLOBAL WARMING:

•

The term “Greenhouse effect” has been derived from a phenomenon that occurs in greenhouse.

•

In a greenhouse the glass panel lets the light in, but does not allow heat to escape. Therefore the

•

greenhouse warms up, very much like inside a car that has been parked in the sun for a few hours.
The greenhouse effect is a naturally occurring phenomenon that is responsible for heating of

•

Earth’s surface and atmosphere.
Without greenhouse effect the average temperature at surface of earth would have been a chilly

•

-18o C rather than the present average of 15 o C.
Clouds and gases reflect about one-fourth of the incoming solar radiation and absorb some of it but
half of incoming solar radiation falls on Earth’s surface heating it, while a small portion is reflected
back.

•

Earth’s surface re-emits heat in the form of infrared radiation but some part of this does not escape

•

into space because of atmospheric gases (e.g. carbon dioxide, methane etc).
The molecule of these gases radiate heat energy and a major part of which again comes to Earth’s

•

surface, thus heating it up once again.
Carbon dioxide and methane – are commonly called as greenhouse gases because they are

•

responsible for greenhouse effect.
Increase in the level of greenhouse gases has led to considerable heating of Earth leading to global

•

warmingor enhanced green house effect.
During the past century, the temperature of Earth has increased by 0.6 o C.

Effect of global warming:

•

Deleterious changes in the environment and resulting in odd climatic changes (e.g. El Nino effect).

•
•

Increased melting of polar ice caps as well as of other places like the Himalayan snow caps.
Rise in sea level that can submerge many coastal areas.

Control of global warming:

•
•
•
•
•
•

Reduce use of fossil fuel.
Improving efficiency of energy usage.
Reducing deforestation.
Promoting aforestation programme.
Slowing down growth of human population.
International initiative to be taken to reduce emission of green house gases.

•

OZONE DEPLETION IN THE STRATOSPHERE:

•
•

‘Bad’ ozone formed in the lower atmosphere (troposphere) that harms plants and animals.
There is ‘good’ ozone also; this ozone is found in the upper part of the atmosphere

•
•

called stratosphere, and it acts as a shield absorbing ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
The thickness of ozone layer is measured in terms of Dobson units (DU)
Ozone (O3) gas is continuously formed by the action of UV rays on molecular oxygen, and also

•

degraded into molecular oxygen in the stratosphere.
There should be proper balance of formation and degradation of ozone.

Ozone depletion:

•

Balance of ozone in stratosphere is disrupted due to enhancement of ozone degradation by

•
•
•
•
•
•

chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
CFCs find wide use as refrigerants.
CFCs discharged in the lower part of atmosphere move upward and reach stratosphere.
In stratosphere, UV rays acts on CFCs and release active Cl atoms.
Cl degrades ozone releasing molecular oxygen.
Cl acts as catalysts and not consumed during reaction.
Whatever CFCs are added to the stratosphere, they have permanent and continuing affects one

•

Ozone levels.
The depletion is marked particularly over the Antarctic region. This has resulted in formation of
a large area of thinned ozone layer, commonly called as the ozone hole.

•

Deforestation:

•

Conversion of forested areas to non-forested one.

Effects of deforestation

•

Leads to global warming due to excess carbon-dioxide

•
•
•
•

Loss of biodiversity
Damage to hydrological cycle
Leads to soil erosion
Desertification of land

Reforestation

•
•
•

Restoring forest that was existing earlier E.g. Observing Van-Mahotsavas
It also occurs naturally
Aforestation Developing a forest in a new area where no such forest existed in that area.

A case study of people‘s participation in forest conservation

•
•
•
•
•

A king of Jodhpur wanted to arrange wood for his new palace in 1731.
Few Bishnois hugged the trees and asked to cut them first rather than cutting trees.
365 persons lost their lives in this act
A small temple is now present there in remembrance of this act
Amrita Devi Bishnois Wild Life Protection Award is instituted for individuals of rural areas who

•
•

take keen interest in protecting wild life.
Chipko movement
It was started by local women of Garhwali; they hugged the trees to protect them from the axes of

•
•
•
•

contractors.
Joint forest management (jfm)
Strategy Government of India in 1980
Local communities worked with the government to save the forest.
Communities get forest products for encouragement.

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Organisms and Environment - Part I

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Organisms and Environment - Part I