EVS

• Ecosystem


  A geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscape, work together to form a bubble of life
• Components of an ecosystem

  • Biotic (living)
  • Abiotic (nonliving)

  
• Types of ecosystems


  • Artificial
  • Terrestrial
  • Lentic
  • Lotic
• Ecosystems are parts of biomes, which are climatic systems of life and organisms
• Examples of ecosystems


  • Agroecosystem
  • Aquatic ecosystem
  • Coral reef
  • Desert
  • Forest
  • Human ecosystem
  • Littoral zone
  • Marine ecosystem
  • Prairie
  • Rainforest
  • Savanna
  • Steppe
  • Taiga
  • Tundra
  • Urban ecosystem
• As a society, we depend on healthy ecosystems to purify the air, sequester carbon, cycle nutrients, and pollinate our crops
• Autecology


  The study of an individual species of organisms and its population
• Synecology


  The study of communities, their composition, their behavior and relation with the environment

  
• Types of Synecology


  • Population Ecology
  • Community Ecology
  • Ecosystem Ecology
• Types of ecosystems


  • Terrestrial
  • Aquatic
• Types of Terrestrial ecosystems

  • Forest
  • Grassland
  • Tundra
  • Desert
• Forest ecosystem


  • Consists of several plants, animals and microorganisms that live in coordination with the abiotic factors of the environment
  • Helps in maintaining the temperature of the earth and are the major carbon sink
• Grassland ecosystem


  • Vegetation is dominated by grasses and herbs
• Tundra ecosystem


  • Devoid of trees and found in cold climates or where rainfall is scarce
  • Covered with snow for most of the year
• Desert ecosystem


  • Regions with very little rainfall
  • Days are hot and nights are cold
• Types of Aquatic ecosystems

  • Freshwater
  • Marine
• Freshwater ecosystem


  • Includes lakes, ponds, rivers, streams and wetlands
  • Has no salt content
• Marine ecosystem


  • Includes seas and oceans
  • Has a more substantial salt content and greater biodiversity
• Components of ecosystem structure


  • Biotic
  • Abiotic

  
• Biotic components


  All life in an ecosystem, including producers, consumers, and decomposers
• Types of biotic components


  • Producers (autotrophs)
  • Consumers (heterotrophs)
  • Decomposers (saprotrophs)
• Producers


  Autotrophs that can produce food through photosynthesis
• Types of consumers


  • Primary
  • Secondary
  • Tertiary
  • Quaternary
• Primary consumers


  Herbivores that rely on producers for food
• Secondary consumers


  Depend on primary consumers for energy, can be carnivores or omnivores
• Tertiary consumers


  Depend on secondary consumers for food, can also be omnivores
• Quaternary consumers


  Present in some food chains, prey on tertiary consumers, usually at the top of the food chain
• Decomposers


  Saprophytes like fungi and bacteria that thrive on dead and decaying organic matter, essential for recycling nutrients
• Abiotic components


  Non-living components of an ecosystem, including air, water, soil, minerals, sunlight, temperature, nutrients, wind, altitude, turbidity, etc.
• Functions of an ecosystem

  • Regulates ecological processes and supports life systems
  • Cycles nutrients between biotic and abiotic components
  • Maintains balance among trophic levels
  • Cycles minerals through the biosphere
  • Facilitates synthesis of organic components and energy exchange

  
• Food chain


  The flow of energy from producers, to consumers, and eventually to apex predators or detritivores
• Ecological pyramid


  Graphical representation of the number, energy, and biomass of successive trophic levels in an ecosystem

  
• Food web


  Network of interconnected food chains within a single ecosystem
• Direct values of ecosystems


  • Consumptive use value
  • Productive use value
• Indirect values of ecosystems

  • Non-consumptive use value
  • Option value
  • Existence value
• Energy resource


  Something that can produce heat, power life, move objects, or produce electricity
• Types of energy resources


  • Non-renewable
  • Renewable
• Non-renewable energy resources


  • Fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas)
  • Nuclear materials
• Renewable energy sources


  • Solar
  • Wind
  • Hydro
  • Tidal
  • Geothermal
  • Biomass
• Biomass energy


  Energy produced from organic matter like plants, wood, and waste