ECOSYSTEM (Part-I)

Micro-organisms that decompose dead organic residues and waste materials are called detergents or decomposers.

Zooplanton and other small marine creatures eat phytoplankton and become food for fish, crustaceans, and other larger species.

Carbon dioxide, water, chlorophyll, and sunlight are essential for the autotrophic form of nutrition. Green plants make their food using these ingredients, which is called photosynthesis.

Organisms that prepare their own food using light are called autotrophs, for example, green plants, algae, etc.

Humans are placed at the top of the food chain, as omnivores receive maximum nutrition among all consumers.

A pyramid of biomass is a diagram that shows the population at each of the food chain. Accordingly, producers occupy the base with the highest biomass.

The relationship between an ecosystem's numbers, biomass, energy, or bio-productivity can be represented by a pyramid known as the ecological pyramid. In a biomass pyramid, producers are at the base, followed by herbivores and then carnivores at the top.

Ecology is a branch of biology in which organisms study the interactions of communities with their environments. Ecology is also called environmental biology. The German word Ecology was first used in 1866 by the German zoologist Ernst Haeckel.

E P Odum is the father of modern ecology. Eugene Odum pioneered the concept of the ecosystem—the holistic understanding of the environment as a system of interacting biotic communities

All the living organisms of an area and the non-living components present in the environment jointly make up the ecosystem.

Carbon and energy requirements of autotrophic organisms (such as plants) are fulfilled by photosynthesis. In this process, green parts of the plant, like leaves, combine sunlight, CO₂, and water in the presence of chlorophyll to form the energy molecule glucose (C₆H₁₂O₆).