Organisation in an Ecosystem

• Photosynthetic organisms are the producers of biomass for life on earth
• Feeding relationships within a community can be represented by food chains
• All food chains begin with a producer which synthesises molecules which are usually a green plant or alga which makes glucose by photosynthesis
• A range of experimental methods using transects and quadrats are used by ecologists to determine the distribution and abundance of species in an ecosystem
• Producers are eaten by primary consumers, which in turn may be eaten by secondary consumers and then tertiary consumers
• Consumers that kill and eat other animals are predators, and those eaten are prey
• In a stable community the numbers of predators and prey rise and fall in cycles
• Gardeners and farmers try to provide optimum conditions for rapid decay of waste biological material
• Compost produced is used as a natural fertiliser for growing garden plants or crops
• Anaerobic decay produces methane gas
• Biogas generators can be used to produce methane gas as a fuel
• If it is too hot rate of decomposition decreases because enzymes become denatured and organisms die
• The rate of decomposition increases in moist environments because the organisms need water to carry out biological processes