Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Dr. V.Nagarajan
FOOD CHAINS
The sequence of eating and being eaten in an
ecosystem is known as food chain.
Grassing Food Chain:
Grass---- Rabbit---- Fox
ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS
ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS
(i)Pyramid of Biomass:
(i)Pyramid of Energy
Ecosystem
For each of the ecosystem, the following 4 basic issues need to be discussed:
1.Nature of the ecosystem, structure and its functions.
2. Uses of the ecosystem and its purposes.
3. Process of degradation of the ecosystems.
4. Measures to protect it from deteriorating in the long-term and for
conservation of the ecosystem.
1.Forest Ecosystem
Forest utilization:
Natural forests provide local people with a variety
of products if the forest is used carefully.
Natural forest ecosystems play an important role
in controlling local climate and water regimes.
It is well-known that under the canopy of a
natural forest, it is cooler than outside the forest .
During the monsoon, the forest retains moisture
and slowly releases it through perennial streams
during the rest of the year. Plantations fail to
perform this function adequately.
The loss of forest cover in the catchments of a
river thus leads to irreversible changes such as
excessive soil erosion, large run-off of surface
water during monsoons leading to flash floods,
and a shortage of water once the monsoons are
Forest Products:
Forest Services
Grassland Ecosystem:
A wide range of landscapes in which the vegetation is mainly
formed by grasses and small annual plants are adapted to
Indias various climatic conditions. These form a variety of
grassland ecosystems with their specific plants and animals.
Rainfall is average but erratic.
Limited grazing helps to improve the net primary production of
the grasslands but overgrazing leads to degradation of
these grasslands resulting in desertification.
Three types of grasslands are found to occur in different
climatic regions:
Tropical grasslands: They occur near the borders of
tropical rain forests in regions of high average temperature
and low to moderate rainfall.
Temperate grasslands: They are usually found on flat,
gentle sloped hills, winters are very cold but summers are
hot and dry.
Polar grasslands (Arctic Tundra): They are found in arctic
polar region where severe cold and strong, frigid winds
along with ice and snow create too harsh a climate for trees
to grow.
DESERT ECOSYSTEMS
winters.
(iii) Cold deserts like the Gobi desert in China has cold winters
and warm summers.
DESERT ECOSYSTEMS
water due to
Some
plants
show
very
deep
roots
to
tap
the
groundwater.
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
a) Pond ecosystem: