PG diploma in Environment Education program

Unit 2.1.(45 min)

2.1 Ecosystems: What they are,
how they Work, and how they
Change?

Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

Ecosystem What They Are

Where

from?

did the concept come

Sir Arthur Tansley, a Renaissance man

coined the concept in 1935
~ Karl Mobius (1877)
~ S. A. Forbes (1887)
Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

Ecosystems
Eugene

Odum

~ Took concept of Ecosystem and

brought it to the attention of the
ecological community and made it
a fundamental idea in society

Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

Ecosystems
Eugene

Odum cont

~1953 published classic

Fundamentals of Ecology

Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

Ecosystems
Eugene

cont

Odum

~ Figure 2.1
mixes
biological
systems with
physical
components
Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

Ecosystems

Eugene Odum cont

~ Faced
criticism
and
developed
Figure 2.2

Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

Ecosystems
Eugene

Odum cont

~ Advocated using the idea of ecosystem

beyond simply biology to the social
sciences--New Ecology

Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

ECOLOGY :
interdisciplinary
science

Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

It overlaps with many elements of physical and

biological sciences
GENETICS

PHYSIOLOGY

ECOLOGY

HYDROLOGY

ATMOSPHERIC
STUDIES

GEOLOGY
BIOCHEMISTRY
BEHAVIOR
Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

Ecosystems
THE RULES OF ECOLOGY
F. A. BAZZAZ:
1. Everything is connected to everything else.
2. Everything must go somewhere.
3. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

ECO + SYSTEM

Part of word relates

to the environment

Collection of related parts

that function as a unit

Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

ECOSYSTEM
DEFINITIONS

Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

Any area of nature that includes living

organisms and non-living substances
that interact to produce an exchange of
materials between the living and nonliving parts is an ecological system or
ecosystem.
(E. P. Odum(1959) Fundamentals of Ecology W. B. Sanders,
Philadelephia.)

Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

Due to that
definition
Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

2 basic ECOSYSTEM
components are :
LIVING

- components

( biotic )
PHYSICAL- components
( abiotic )

Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

Britannica def :
the

complex of living organisms,

their physical environment, and all
their interrelationships in a particular
unit of space

Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

Examples of ecosystems

Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

riverine ecosystems
also called Lotic Ecosystem, any spring, stream,
or river viewed as an ecological unit of the biotic
community and the physiochemical environment,
within which mass and energy are exchanged.
The waters are usually flowing (lotic) and exhibit
a longitudinal gradation in temperatures,
concentration of dissolved material, turbidity, and
atmospheric gases, from the source to the
mouth.

Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

boundary ecosystem
complex of living organisms in areas where
one body of water meets another, e.g.,
estuaries and lagoons, or where a body of
water meets the land, e.g., marshes. The
latter are often called wetlands.

Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

marine ecosystem :complex of living

organisms in the ocean environment

Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

lacustrine ecosystem
Lacustrine - Pertaining to lakes includes
wetlands and deepwater habitats that may
be tidal or non-tidal but ocean derived salinity
is less than one part per thousand (1 ppt). 1
ppt is the equivalent of one gram of sodium
chloride (salt) per liter of water.

Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

polar ecosystem :

complex of living
organisms in polar regions such as polar
barrens and tundra

Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.

Summary

The ecosystem is the central theme.

It is man the geological agent, not so much as
man the animal, .
Nature with our intelligent help, can cope with
mans physiological needs and wastes, but she
has no homeostatic mechanisms to cope with
bulldozers, concrete, and the kind of agroindustrial air, water, and soil pollution that will be
hard to contain as long s the human population
itself remains out of control.
(Odum, 1971 page 36 First edition)
Subodh Sharma Dr.nat.tech.; Aquatic Ecology Centre, P.O. Box: 6250, sharmaku@yahoo.com.