Concept of Ecology and Ecosystem

Ecology Biodiversity Habitat Ecosystem Ecology Ecosystem Components and Processes of Ecosystem Biogeochemistry Trophic Levels Food Chain Food Web Meaning of Words

Q1 What is ecology? ANS Ecology, derived from the Greek words meaning study of house, is the scientific study of the relationships that living organisms have with each other and with their natural environment. It includes the composition, distribution, amount (biomass), number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems. Ecosystems are composed of dynamically interacting parts including organisms, the communities they make up, and the non-living components of their environment. Ecosystem processes, such as primary production, pedogenesis, nutrient cycling, and various niche construction activities, regulate the flux of energy and matter through an environment. These processes are sustained by the biodiversity within them. Biodiversity refers to the varieties of species in ecosystems, the genetic variations they contain, and the processes that are functionally enriched by the diversity of ecological interactions. An understanding of how biodiversity affects ecological function is an important focus area in ecological studies. Ecology explains:

Life processes and adaptations Distribution and abundance of organisms The movement of materials and energy through living communities The successional development of ecosystems The abundance and distribution of biodiversity in the context of the environment

Ecology is a human science as well. There are many practical applications of ecology in conservation biology, wetland management, natural resource management (agro-ecology, agriculture, forestry, agroforestry, fisheries), city planning (urban ecology), community health, economics, basic and applied science, and human social interaction (human ecology). Ecosystems maintain biophysical feedback mechanisms that modulate metabolic rates and evolutionary dynamics between living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) components of the planet. Ecosystems sustain life-supporting functions and produce natural capital through the regulation of continental climates, global biogeochemical cycles, water filtration, soils, food, fibres, medicines, erosion control, and many other natural features of scientific, historical, economic, or intrinsic value. Ecology addresses the full scale of life, from tiny bacteria to processes that span the entire planet. Ecologists study many diverse and complex relations among species, such as predation and pollination. The diversity of life is organized into different habitats, from terrestrial (middle) to aquatic ecosystems. The scope of ecology covers a wide array of interacting levels of organization spanning micro-level (e.g., cells) to planetary scale (e.g., ecosphere) phenomena. Ecosystems, for example, contain populations of individuals that aggregate into distinct ecological communities. It can take thousands of years for ecological processes to bring about the final successional stages of a forest. An ecosystem's area can vary greatly, from tiny to vast. A single tree is of little consequence to the classification of a forest ecosystem, but critically relevant to organisms living in and on it. Several generations of an aphid population can exist over the lifespan of a single leaf. Each of those aphids, in turn support diverse bacterial communities. The nature of connections in ecological communities cannot be explained by knowing the details of each species in isolation, because the emergent pattern is neither revealed nor predicted until the ecosystem is studied as an integrated whole.

The scale of ecological dynamics can operate like a closed system, such as aphids migrating on a single tree, while at the same time remain open with regard to broader scale influences, such as atmosphere or climate. Hence, ecologists classify ecosystems hierarchically by analyzing data collected from finer scale units, such as vegetation associations, climate, and soil types, and integrate this information to identify emergent patterns on regional, landscape, and chronological scales.

Q2 What is Biodiversity? ANS Biodiversity (an abbreviation of "biological diversity") describes the diversity of life from genes to ecosystems and spans every level of biological organization. The term has several interpretations, and there are many ways to index, measure, characterize, and represent its complex organization. Biodiversity includes species diversity, ecosystem diversity, genetic diversity and the complex processes operating at and among these respective levels. Biodiversity plays an important role in ecological health as much as it does for human health. Preventing species extinctions is one way to preserve biodiversity, but factors such as genetic diversity and migration routes are equally important and are threatened on global scales. Conservation priorities and management techniques require different approaches and considerations to address the full ecological scope of biodiversity. Populations and species migration, for example, are sensitive indicators of ecosystem services that sustain and contribute natural capital toward the well-being of humanity. An understanding of biodiversity has practical application for ecosystem-based conservation planners as they make ecologically responsible decisions in management recommendations to consultant firms, governments, and industry. The protected areas have been established under the protected area network across the world for conservation of biodiversity. Q3 What is a Habitat? ANS

 The habitat of a species describes the environment over which a species is known to occur and the type of community that is formed as a result. More specifically, "habitats can be defined as regions in environmental space that are composed of multiple dimensions, each representing a biotic or abiotic environmental variable; that is, any component or characteristic of the environment related directly (e.g. forage biomass and quality) or indirectly (e.g. elevation) to the use of a location by the animal." For example, a habitat might be an aquatic or terrestrial environment that can be further categorized as a montane or alpine ecosystem. Habitat shifts provide important evidence of competition in nature where one population changes relative to the habitats that most other individuals of the species occupy. For example, one population of a species of tropical lizards (Tropidurus hispidus) has a flattened body relative to the main populations that live in open savanna. The population that lives in an isolated rock outcrop hides in crevasses where its flattened body offers a selective advantage. Habitat shifts also occur in the developmental life history of amphibians and in insects that transition from aquatic to terrestrial habitats. Biotope and habitat are sometimes used interchangeably, but the former applies to a community's environment, whereas the latter applies to a species' environment. Q4 Explain the concept of Ecosystem Ecology? ANS Ecosystem ecology is the integrated study of biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems and their interactions within an ecosystem framework. This science examines how ecosystems work and relates this to their components such as chemicals, bedrock, soil, plants, and animals. Ecosystem ecology examines physical and biological structures and examines how these ecosystem characteristics interact with each other. Ultimately, this helps us understand how to maintain high quality water and economically viable commodity production. Energy transformations and biogeochemical cycling are the main processes that comprise the field of ecosystem ecology. Ecology generally is defined as the interactions of organisms with one another and with the environment in which they occur. Ecology is studied at the level of the individual, the population, the community, and the ecosystem. Studies of individuals are concerned mostly about physiology, reproduction, development or behavior, and studies of populations usually focus on the habitat and resource needs of individual species, their group behaviors, population growth, and what limits their abundance or causes extinction. Studies of communities examine how populations of many species interact with one another, such as predators and their prey, or competitors that share common needs or resources.

 The functional aspects of an ecosystem ecology include such things as the amount of energy that is produced by photosynthesis, how energy or materials flow along the many steps in a food chain, or what controls the rate of decomposition of materials or the rate at which nutrients are recycled in the system. A major focus of ecosystem ecology is on functional processes, ecological mechanisms that maintain the structure and services produced by ecosystems. These include primary productivity (production of biomass), decomposition, and trophic interactions. Studies of ecosystem function have greatly improved human understanding of sustainable production of forage, fiber, fuel, and provision of water. Functional processes are mediated by regional-to-local level climate, disturbance, and management. Thus ecosystem ecology provides a powerful framework for identifying ecological mechanisms that interact with global environmental problems, especially global warming and degradation of surface water. This example demonstrates several important aspects of ecosystems: Ecosystem boundaries are often nebulous and may fluctuate in time Organisms within ecosystems are dependent on ecosystem level biological and physical processes Adjacent ecosystems closely interact and often are interdependent for maintenance of community structure and functional processes that maintain productivity and biodiversity These characteristics also introduce practical problems into natural resource management. Ecosystem ecology is an inherently interdisciplinary field of study. An individual ecosystem is composed of populations of organisms, interacting within communities, and contributing to the cycling of nutrients and the flow of energy. The ecosystem is the principal unit of study in ecosystem ecology. Population, community, and physiological ecology provide many of the underlying biological mechanisms influencing ecosystems and the processes they maintain. Cycling of energy and matter at the ecosystem level are often examined in ecosystem ecology, but, as a whole, this science is defined more by subject matter than by scale. Ecosystem ecology approaches organisms and abiotic pools of energy and nutrients as an integrated system which distinguishes it from associated sciences such as biogeochemistry. Biogeochemistry and hydrology focus on several fundamental ecosystem processes such as biologically mediated chemical cycling of nutrients and physical-biological cycling of water. Ecosystem ecology forms the mechanistic basis for regional or global processes encompassed by landscape-to-regional hydrology, global biogeochemistry, and earth system science.

Q5 What is an Ecosystem? ANS An ecosystem consists of the biological community that occurs in some locale, and the physical and chemical factors that make up its non-living or abiotic environment. There are many examples of ecosystems -- a pond, a forest, an estuary and grassland. The study of ecosystems mainly consists of the study of certain processes that link the living, or biotic, components to the non-living, or abiotic, components. An ecosystem is all the organisms in an area, working together with their non living resources. Organisms all have very different ecosystems. For example: The ecosystem of the Wood Frog would be the Northern part of the United States in swamps, bogs, and wooded areas. Limiting Factors The definition of a limiting factor is anything that prevents the number in a population. An example of a limiting factor could be: A group of rabbits are living in one area, then a week later a pack of wolves settle in the same area and start eating and hunting the rabbits. Thus the wolves would be the limiting factor because they are shortening the population of the rabbits. There are different kinds of limiting factors; another one instead of predators is abiotic resources. Abiotic resources are the non living things in an ecosystem. Animals lives depend on the amount of abiotic resources in their ecosystem. Some examples of abiotic resources are: Water, Air, Soil, and Space.

Diversity in Animals All animals are different. There are four groups in an animals food habit. The animal is a carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, or a decomposer. A carnivore is an animal that only eats meat; carnivores can range from lions, tigers, sharks, etc. An herbivore is an animal that only eats plants; these can range from panda bears, cows, and goats. Omnivores are a mixture of carnivores and herbivores, these animals eat both plants and meat. A good example of an omnivore would be a human or a pig. Decomposers; When animals die, you dont think that they just rot there do you? Well they dont, decomposers are there to break down the nutrients to help the plants grow strong.

Symbiotic Relationships A relationship in which an organism lives on, near, or in another organism

Symbiotic Relationships have three parts: Mutualism, Commensalism, and Parasitism. Mutualism is a symbiotic relationship in which both animals benefit. Commensalism is when one animal benefits and the other is not effected. Parasitism is when one animal benefits and the other is harmed. Here are some examples are all three. Mutualism: Clownfish and sea anemones are an excellent example, sea anemones provide good homes for the clownfish, and the clownfish cleans the sea anemones. Commensalism: When cows move about in the fields, they stir up the insects living in the grass; this is good for the egret that eats the insects. Parasitism: A cat and a flea is a good example also. The flea feeds on the blood of the cat, and the cat is left to scratch and suffer the consequences.

An ecosystem is a community of living organisms (plants, animals and microbes) in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment (things like air, water and mineral soil), interacting as a system. These components are regarded as linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. As ecosystems are defined by the network of interactions among organisms, and between organisms and their environment, they can come in any size but usually encompass specific, limited spaces although it is sometimes said that the entire planet is an ecosystem. Energy, water, nitrogen and soil minerals are other essential abiotic components of an ecosystem. The energy that flows through ecosystems is obtained primarily from the sun. It generally enters the system through photosynthesis, a process that also captures carbon from the atmosphere. By feeding on plants and on one another, animals play an important role in the movement of matter and energy through the system. They also influence the quantity of plant and microbial biomass present. By breaking down dead organic matter, decomposers release carbon back to the atmosphere and facilitate nutrient cycling by converting nutrients stored in dead biomass back to a form that can be readily used by plants and other microbes. Ecosystems are controlled both by external and internal factors. External factors such as climate, the parent material which forms the soil and topography control the overall structure an ecosystem and the way things work within it, but are not themselves influenced by the ecosystem. Other external factors include time and potential biota. Ecosystems are dynamic entitiesinvariably, they are subject to periodic disturbances and are in the process of recovering from some past disturbance. Ecosystems in similar environments that are located in different parts of the world can end up doing things very differently simply because they have different pools of species present.

 The introduction of non-native species can cause substantial shifts in ecosystem function. Internal factors not only control ecosystem processes but are also controlled by them and are often subject to feedback loops. While the resource inputs are generally controlled by external processes like climate and parent material, the availability of these resources within the ecosystem is controlled by internal factors like decomposition, root competition or shading. Other internal factors include disturbance, succession and the types of species present. Although humans exist and operate within ecosystems, their cumulative effects are large enough to influence external factors like climate. Biodiversity affects ecosystem function, as do the processes of disturbance and succession. Ecosystems provide a variety of goods and services upon which people depend; the principles of ecosystem management suggest that rather than managing individual species, natural resources should be managed at the level of the ecosystem itself. Controls on Ecosystem Function There are two dominant theories of the control of ecosystems. The first, called bottom-up control, states that it is the nutrient supply to the primary producers that ultimately controls how ecosystems function. If the nutrient supply is increased, the resulting increase in production of autotrophs is propagated through the food web and all of the other trophic levels will respond to the increased availability of food (energy and materials will cycle faster). The second theory, called top-down control, states that predation and grazing by higher trophic levels on lower trophic levels ultimately controls ecosystem function. For example, if you have an increase in predators, that increase will result in fewer grazers, and that decrease in grazers will result in turn in more primary producers because fewer of them are being eaten by the grazers. Thus the control of population numbers and overall productivity "cascades" from the top levels of the food chain down to the bottom trophic levels. There is evidence from many ecosystem studies that BOTH controls are operating to some degree, but that NEITHER control is complete. For example, the "top-down" effect is often very strong at trophic levels near to the top predators, but the control weakens as you move further down the food chain. Similarly, the "bottom-up" effect of adding nutrients usually stimulates primary production, but the stimulation of secondary production further up the food chain is less strong or is absent. Thus we find that both of these controls are operating in any system at any time, and we must understand the relative importance of each control in order to help us to predict how an ecosystem will behave or change under different circumstances, such as in the face of a changing climate.

The Geography of Ecosystems o There are many different ecosystems: rain forests and tundra, coral reefs and ponds, grasslands and deserts. o Climate differences from place to place largely determine the types of ecosystems we see. o How terrestrial ecosystems appear to us is influenced mainly by the dominant vegetation. o The word "biome" is used to describe a major vegetation type such as tropical rain forest, grassland, tundra, etc., extending over a large geographic area. o It is never used for aquatic systems, such as ponds or coral reefs. It always refers to a vegetation category that is dominant over a very large geographic scale, and so is somewhat broader than an ecosystem.

The distribution of biomes o Temperature and rainfall patterns for a region are distinctive. o Every place on earth gets the same total number of hours of sunlight each year, but not the same amount of heat. o The sun's rays strike low latitudes directly but high latitudes obliquely. o This uneven distribution of heat sets up not just temperature differences, but global wind and ocean currents that in turn have a great deal to do with where rainfall occurs. Add in the cooling effects of elevation and the effects of land masses on temperature and rainfall, and we get a complicated global pattern of climate. o A schematic view of the earth shows that complicated though climate may be, many aspects are predictable.

o High solar energy striking near the equator ensures nearly constant high temperatures and high rates of evaporation and plant transpiration. o Warm air rises, cools, and sheds its moisture, creating just the conditions for a tropical rain forest. o Contrast the stable temperature but varying rainfall of a site in Panama with the relatively constant precipitation but seasonally changing temperature of a site in New York State. Every location has a rainfall- temperature graph that is typical of a broader region.

Climate patterns affect biome distributions o As per plant physiology, certain plants are distinctive of certain climates, creating the vegetation appearance that we call biomes. o The distribution of biomes plots well on the distribution of climates. o Some climates are impossible, at least on our planet. High precipitation is not possible at low temperatures -- there is not enough solar energy to power the water cycle, and most water is frozen and thus biologically unavailable throughout the year. The high tundra is as much a desert as is the Sahara.

The distribution of biomes related to temperature and precipitation

Q6 What are the Components and Processes of an Ecosystem? ANS We can clasify the Components of an ecosystem by listing them under the headings "abiotic" and "biotic". ABIOTIC COMPONENTS Sunlight Temperature Precipitation Water or moisture Soil or water chemistry (e.g., P, NH4+) etc. BIOTIC COMPONENTS Primary producers Herbivores Carnivores Omnivores Detritivores etc.

All of these vary over space and time By and large, this set of environmental factors is important almost everywhere, in all ecosystems. A functional group is a biological category composed of organisms that perform mostly the same kind of function in the system; for example, all the photosynthetic plants or primary producers form a functional group. Membership in the functional group does not depend very much on who the actual players (species) happen to be, only on what function they perform in the ecosystem.

Processes of Ecosystems The figure below with the plants, zebra, lion, and so forth illustrates the two main ideas about how ecosystems function: ecosystems have energy flows and ecosystems cycle materials. These two processes are linked, but they are not quite the same.

Energy flows and material cycles Energy enters the biological system as light energy, or photons, is transformed into chemical energy in organic molecules by cellular processes including photosynthesis and respiration, and ultimately is converted to heat energy. This energy is dissipated, meaning it is lost to the system as heat; once it is lost it cannot be recycled. Without the continued input of solar energy, biological systems would quickly shut down. Thus the earth is an open system with respect to energy. Elements such as carbon, nitrogen, or phosphorus enter living organisms in a variety of ways.

 Plants obtain elements from the surrounding atmosphere, water, or soils. Animals may also obtain elements directly from the physical environment, but usually they obtain these mainly as a consequence of consuming other organisms. These materials are transformed biochemically within the bodies of organisms, but sooner or later, due to excretion or decomposition, they are returned to an inorganic state. Often bacteria complete this process, through the process called decomposition or mineralization. During decomposition these materials are not destroyed or lost, so the earth is a closed system with respect to elements (with the exception of a meteorite entering the system now and then). The elements are cycled endlessly between their biotic and abiotic states within ecosystems. Those elements whose supply tends to limit biological activity are called nutrients.

The Transformation of Energy The transformations of energy in an ecosystem begin first with the input of energy from the sun. Energy from the sun is captured by the process of photosynthesis. Carbon dioxide is combined with hydrogen (derived from the splitting of water molecules) to produce carbohydrates (CHO). Energy is stored in the high energy bonds of adenosine triphosphate, or ATP (see lecture on photosynthesis). The prophet Isaah said "all flesh is grass", earning him the title of first ecologist, because virtually all energy available to organisms originates in plants. Because it is the first step in the production of energy for living things, it is called primary production. Herbivores obtain their energy by consuming plants or plant products, carnivores eat herbivores, and detritivores consume the droppings and carcasses of us all. The adjoining diagram portrays a simple food chain, in which energy from the sun, captured by plant photosynthesis, flows from trophic level to trophic level via the food chain. A trophic level is composed of organisms that make a living in the same way that is they are all primary producers (plants), primary consumers (herbivores) or secondary consumers (carnivores). Dead tissue and waste products are produced at all levels. Scavengers, detritivores, and decomposers collectively account for the use of all such "waste" -- consumers of carcasses and fallen leaves may be

other animals, such as crows and beetles, but ultimately it is the microbes that finish the job of decomposition. Not surprisingly, the amount of primary production varies a great deal from place to place, due to differences in the amount of solar radiation and the availability of nutrients and water. However, energy transfer through the food chain is inefficient. This means that less energy is available at the herbivore level than at the primary producer level, less yet at the carnivore level, and so on. The result is a pyramid of energy, with important implications for understanding the quantity of life that can be supported. Usually when we think of food chains we visualize green plants, herbivores, and so on. These are referred to as grazer food chains, because living plants are directly consumed. In many circumstances the principal energy input is not green plants but dead organic matter. These are called detritus food chains. Examples include the forest floor or a woodland stream in a forested area, a salt marsh, and most obviously, the ocean floor in very deep areas where all sunlight is extinguished 1000's of meters above. The organization of biological systems is much more complicated than can be represented by a simple "chain". There are many food links and chains in an ecosystem, and we refer to all of these linkages as a food web. Food webs can be very complicated, where it appears that everything is connected to everything else and it is important to understand what the most important linkages are in any particular food web.

Q7 Explain Biogeochemistry. ANS The term Biogeochemistry is defined as the study of how living systems influence and are controlled by, the geology and chemistry of the earth. Thus biogeochemistry encompasses many aspects of the abiotic and biotic world that we live in. There are several main principles and tools that biogeochemists use to study earth systems. Most of the major environmental problems that we face in our world toady can be analyzed using biogeochemical principles and tools. These problems include global warming, acid rain, environmental pollution, and increasing greenhouse gases. The principles and tools that we use can be broken down into 3 major components: element ratios, mass balance, and element cycling.

1. Element Ratios In biological systems, we refer to important elements as "conservative". These elements are often nutrients.

By "conservative" we mean that an organism can change only slightly the amount of these elements in their tissues if they are to remain in good health. It is easiest to think of these conservative elements in relation to other important elements in the organism. For example, in healthy algae the elements C, N, P, and Fe have the following ratio, called the Redfield ratio after the oceanographer who discovered it: C : N : P : Fe = 106 : 16 : 1 : 0.01 Once we know these ratios, we can compare them to the ratios that we measure in a sample of algae to determine if the algae are lacking in one of these limiting nutrients.

2. Mass Balance Another important tool that biogeochemists use is a simple mass balance equation to describe the state of a system. The system could be a snake, a tree, a lake, or the entire globe. Using a mass balance approach we can determine whether the system is changing and how fast it is changing. The equation is: NET CHANGE = INPUT + OUTPUT + INTERNAL CHANGE In this equation the net change in the system from one time period to another is determined by what the inputs are, what the outputs are, and what the internal change in the system was. The example is of the acidification of a lake, considering the inputs and outputs and internal change of acid in the lake.

3. Element Cycling Element cycling describes where and how fast elements move in a system. There are two general classes of systems that we can analyze, as mentioned above: closed and open systems. A closed system refers to a system where the inputs and outputs are negligible compared to the internal changes. Examples of such systems would include a bottle, or our entire globe. There are two ways we can describe the cycling of materials within this closed system, either by looking at the rate of movement or at the pathways of movement. 1. Rate = number of cycles / time * as rate increases, productivity increases 2. Pathways-important because of different reactions that may occur In an open system there are inputs and outputs as well as the internal cycling.

Thus we can describe the rates of movement and the pathways, just as we did for the closed system, but we can also define a new concept called the residence time. The residence time indicates how long on average an element remains within the system before leaving the system. 1. Rate 2. Pathways 3. Residence time, Rt Rt = total amount of matter / output rate of matter (Note that the "units" in this calculation must cancel properly)

Q8 Explain Trophic levels. ANS

A trophic pyramid (a) and a food-web (b) illustrating ecological relationships among creatures

The trophic pyramid roughly represents the biomass at each level. Plants generally have the greatest biomass. Names of trophic categories are shown to the right of the pyramid.

 Some ecosystems, such as many wetlands, do not organize as a strict pyramid, because aquatic plants are not as productive as long-lived terrestrial plants such as trees. Ecological trophic pyramids are typically one of three kinds: 1) Pyramid of numbers 2) Pyramid of biomass 3) Pyramid of energy A trophic level is "a group of organisms acquiring a considerable majority of its energy from the adjacent level nearer the abiotic source." Links in food webs primarily connect feeding relations or trophism among species. Biodiversity within ecosystems can be organized into trophic pyramids, in which the vertical dimension represents feeding relations that become further removed from the base of the food chain up toward top predators, and the horizontal dimension represents the abundance or biomass at each level. When the relative abundance or biomass of each species is sorted into its respective trophic level, they naturally sort into a 'pyramid of numbers'. Species are broadly categorized as autotrophs (or primary producers), heterotrophs (or consumers), and detrivores (or decomposers). Autotrophs are organisms that produce their own food (production is greater than respiration) by photosynthesis or chemosynthesis. Heterotrophs are organisms that must feed on others for nourishment and energy (respiration exceeds production). Heterotrophs can be further sub-divided into different functional groups, including primary consumers (strict herbivores), secondary consumers (carnivorous predators that feed exclusively on herbivores) and tertiary consumers (predators that feed on a mix of herbivores and predators). Omnivores do not fit neatly into a functional category because they eat both plant and animal tissues. It has been suggested that omnivores have a greater functional influence as predators, because compared to herbivores they are relatively inefficient at grazing. Trophic levels are part of the holistic or complex systems view of ecosystems. Each trophic level contains unrelated species that are grouped together because they share common ecological functions, giving a macroscopic view of the system. While the notion of trophic levels provides insight into energy flow and top-down control within food webs, it is troubled by the prevalence of omnivory in real ecosystems. This has led some ecologists to reiterate that the notion that species clearly aggregate into discrete, homogeneous trophic levels is fiction.

 Nonetheless, recent studies have shown that real trophic levels do exist, but above the herbivore trophic level, food webs are better characterized as a tangled web of omnivores.

Each link in a food chain is known as a trophic level. For example, in each food chain, plants always form the first trophic level. The plant eating animals called herbivores like insects, rodents, rabbits, deer, cattle, etc. form the second trophic level. The animals like frog, small fish, small birds which feed on the second trophic level organism form the third trophic level. These are eaten by still longer carnivores like lion or tiger, who constitute the fourth trophic level. Food chain defined as the feeding of one organism upon another in a sequence of food transfers. Food chain is the chain of transfer of energy which typically comes from the sun, from one organism to another. A simple food chain is like the following: Green plant -- grasshopper -- rat -- snake hawk--fungus. In the food chain, the green plant is the primary producer by trapping energy from sunlight. The grasshopper is the primary consumers because they directly consume the green plant. The rat is the primary carnivore or secondary consumer because it eats the grasshopper. The snake, a secondary carnivore or tertiary consumer, eats the rat. The hawk is the tertiary carnivore because it eats the secondary carnivore, the snake.

The hawk eventually dies and its remains are broken down by decay-causing bacteria and fungi.

Each step in a food chain is called trophic level. Trophic level is the feeding position in a food chain such as primary producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, decomposers etc . The producers or green plants form the first trophic level. Herbivores form the second trophic level, while carnivores form the third and even the fourth trophic levels. Difference between a food web and a food chain o A food web consists of many food chains. o A food chain only follows just one path as animals find food. eg: A hawk eats a snake, which has eaten a frog, which has eaten a grasshopper, which has eaten grass. o A food web shows the many different paths plants and animals are connected. eg: A hawk might also eat a mouse, a squirrel, a frog or some other animal. The snake may eat a beetle, a caterpillar, or some other animal. And so on for all the other animals in the food chain. o A food web is several food chains connected together.

Q9 What is a Food Chain? ANS A food chain is a linear sequence of links in a food web starting from a trophic species that eats no other species in the web and ends at a trophic species that is eaten by no other species in the web. A food chain differs from a food web, because the complex feeding relations are aggregated into trophic species and the chain only follows linear pathways.

 A common metric used to quantify food web trophic structure is food chain length.

 In its simplest form, the length of a chain is the number of links between a trophic consumer and the base of the web and the mean chain length of an entire web is the arithmetic average of the lengths of all chains in a food web. Food chains were first introduced in a book published in 1927 by Charles Elton, which also introduced the food web concept The food chain length is a continuous variable that provides a measure of the passage of energy and an index of ecological structure that increases in value counting progressively through the linkages in a linear fashion from the lowest to the highest trophic (feeding) levels. Food chains are often used in ecological modeling (such as a three species food chain). They are simplified abstractions of real food webs, but complex in their dynamics and mathematical implications. Ecologists have formulated and tested hypotheses regarding the nature of ecological patterns associated with food chain length, such as increasing length increasing with ecosystem size, reduction of energy at each successive level, or the proposition that long food chain lengths are unstable. Food chain studies have had an important role in eco-toxicology studies tracing the pathways and biomagnifications of environmental contaminants. Food chains vary in length from three to six or more levels. A food chain consisting of a flower, a frog, a snake and an owl consists of four levels; whereas a food chain consisting of grass, a grasshopper, a rat, a snake and finally a hawk consists of five levels. Producers, such as plants, are organisms that utilize solar energy or heat energy to synthesize starch. All food chains must start with a producer. Consumers are organisms that eat other organisms. All organisms in a food chain, except the first organism, are consumers. All living things need food to give them the energy to grow and move. A food chain shows how each living thing gets its food. It shows who is eating who. The arrow means "is eaten by"

Grass ---->

Grasshopper ---->

Toad ---->

Snake ---->

Hawk

Grass is eaten by Grasshopper is eaten by Toad is eaten by Snake is eaten by Hawk A food chain always starts with a green plant. (All plants are PRODUCERS.)

which is eaten by an animal. (All the animals in a food chain are CONSUMERS) A food chain ends with a predator. (The predator is at the top of the food chain) The Sun is very important for all living things, without the sun the plants would not grow, without plants there would be no animals

Q10 Explain the Food web ANS A food web is the archetypal ecological network. Plants capture solar energy and use it to synthesize simple sugars during photosynthesis. As plants grow, they accumulate nutrients and are eaten by grazing herbivores, and the energy is transferred through a chain of organisms by consumption. The simplified linear feeding pathways that move from a basal trophic species to a top consumer is called the food chain. The larger interlocking pattern of food chains in an ecological community creates a complex food web. Food webs are a type of concept map or a heuristic device that is used to illustrate and study pathways of energy and material flows.

Generalized food web of waterbirds

Food webs are often limited relative to the real world. Complete empirical measurements are generally restricted to a specific habitat, such as a cave or a pond, and principles gleaned from food web microcosm studies are extrapolated to larger systems.

 Feeding relations require extensive investigations into the gut contents of organisms, which can be difficult to decipher, or stable isotopes can be used to trace the flow of nutrient diets and energy through a food web. Despite these limitations, food webs remain a valuable tool in understanding community ecosystems. Food webs exhibit principles of ecological emergence through the nature of trophic relationships: some species have many weak feeding links (e.g. omnivores) while some are more specialized with fewer stronger feeding links (e.g., primary predators). Food webs are composed of subgroups where members in a community are linked by strong interactions, and the weak interactions occur between these subgroups. This increases food web stability. Step by step lines or relations are drawn until a web of life is illustrated.

Food Web is thus a system of interlocking and independent food chains. Basically a food web is a bunch of food chains put together. As you can see in the above example, the Foxes, Hawks, Owls, an Snakes are the main predators. Next come the Insectivores Birds, and the Toads.

 After them is some of the insects, Spiders, Predaceous insects, and herbivorous insects. In this example some of the other animals such as the rabbits, seed eating birds, mice, and the squirrels are shown at the bottom, they usually eat plants and small insects. Animals in this food web example: Carnivores: Hawks and Owls Snakes Insectivorous Birds Predaceous insects Herbivores: Herbivorous Insects Rabbits Seed eating birds Omnivores: Foxes Toads Squirrels Mice Spiders

Meaning of Words Herbivore - an animal that eats plants. Carnivore - an animal that eats other animals. Omnivore - an animal that eats both plants and animals e.g. bears and humans. Producer - usually a green plant that produces its own food by photosynthesis Primary Consumer - Animals that consume only plant matter. They are herbivores e.g. rabbits, caterpillars, cows, sheep, and deer. Secondary Consumer - Animals that eat primary consumers (herbivores). Tertiary Consumer - Animals that eat secondary consumers i.e. carnivores that feed on other carnivores. Predators - kill for food. They are either secondary or tertiary consumers - eg polar bears, golden eagles Prey - are the organisms that predators feed on. Examples of predator and prey species are: fox and rabbit; blue tit and caterpillar; wolf and lamb Scavenger - a consumer that eats dead animals (e.g. crab, crow, vulture, buzzard and hyena) Detritivore - a consumer that obtains its nutrients from detritus

Decomposer - an organism such as bacteria and fungi that breaks down dead organisms and their wastes. . (They do not 'eat' the food like scavengers, as they have no mouth-parts. Instead they break down solid matter into liquids which they can absorb.) Examples: bacteria and some fungi.

Trophic Level - A trophic level is each level in a food chain. Matter is always 'lost' as heat energy at each trophic level. Basal Energy Requirement (B.E.R.) - the amount of energy used by an organism's body just to keep alive, when no food is being digested and no muscular work is being done. Food Web - a network of interrelated food chains in a given area