Environment and Ecology Unit 1 Ecology: General Knowledge and Facts

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Last Updated on October 26, 2024 by XAM CONTENT

Hello students, we are providing General Knowledge (GK) Articles useful for all exams. The resources for GK are very less and also not organised in proper way. So, to help students we have created special GK website to provide all GK articles in proper and organised way. In this article, you will find important one-liners general knowledge for Environment and Ecology Unit 1 Ecology.

Subject	Environment and Ecology
Unit	Unit 1 Ecology
Topics	Ecology: Components and Functions Types of Ecosystems Components of Ecosystem
Nature of Material	General Knowledge (GK)
Useful for	All Exams that Include GK
Covered	Important One-Liners
Important Link	Environment and Ecology GK

Environment and Ecology Unit 1 Ecology GK

Ecology: Components and Functions

• Ecology: The term was coined by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel in 1869.
  • It may be defined as the scientific study of the relationship among the living organisms and with their environment.
• Environment: The conditions or surroundings in which an organism operates or lives.
  • It includes both biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) components.
• Ecological Hierarchy: The formation of grouping of organisms due to the synergy of organisms with their environment.
• Individual: The Individual organism is the first level of ecological hierarchy.
• Population: A group of individuals that live in a definite area, interact with each other and belong to the same species.
• Community: A group of organisms that live in an area, that interacts with each other and containing several different species.
• Ecosystem: A collection or group of organisms and their environment, interacting with each as one of the ecological unit. The term ‘Ecosystem’ was coined by A.G. Tansley in 1935.
• Biosphere: A relatively thin life supporting stratum of the surface of the Earth that extends from the deep sea vents in the ocean to a few kilometres into the atmosphere.
• Biome: Group of similar ecosystems with the same general type of environment anywhere in the world.
• Habitat: It is the physical space in which the animal resides and which includes its environment.
• Niche: The role played by an organism in a community. The niche of an species describes how it fits within its environment.
• Species: It is a group of organism capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offsprings.
  • Every species has a specific set of genetic characteristics that distinguishes it from other species.
• Species Diversity: The different kinds of organisms present in a community represents the diversity of species.
• Amensalism: One species harms or limits the existence of the other species without being harmed or adversely affected.
  • It is a negative relationship between the two species.
• Predation: Predator catches, kills and consumes a prey animal of a different species. Prey suffers but the predator profits from this kind of relationship.
• Parasitism: One species suffers while the other profits. It includes a parasite which lives on other living species known as the host.
• Competition: Both the species gets adversely affected when both need a vital resource which is in short supply.
  • It can be intra-specific or inter-specific.
• Commensalism: One species (the host) is neither harmed nor inhibited while the other species (commensal) benefits.
• Mutualism: That kind of biotic interaction in which both species gets benefited.
• Neutralism: A kind of relationship between the two organisms in which they appears to be no influence on each other.
• Gross Primary Productivity (GPP): The rate of production of an organic matter during photosynthesis.
• Net Primary Productivity (NPP): It is the biomass which is available for the consumption by the heterotrophs (decomposers and the herbivores).
  • Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) minus the respiration losses (R) is equal to the NPP.
• Ecological Efficiency (Lindeman’s Efficiency): The ratio between the amount of energy acquired from lower trophic level and that transferred from the higher trophic level.
  • It follows a 10% rule.
• 10 Percent Rule: If 100 cal is produced by the autotrophs, the herbivores will store only 10 cal and the carnivores will store only 1 cal .
• Trophic Level: A particular position of an organism in a food chain based on the source of their nutrition or food.
• Food Chain: A food chain is a series of organisms where all the organisms are dependent on next organism as a source of food. Food chain Start with producers.
• Food Web: In an ecosystem, the trophic levels do not always follow a linear relationship.
  • They are linked together and form a food web.
  • It is a matrix of the inter-connected food chains.
• Ecological Pyramids: These are the graphic illustrations of the trophic levels. The base of pyramids are made up of producers.
• Bio-accumulation is the mechanism of increase in the concentration of a chemical in a biological organism over time, compared to the chemical’s concentration in the environment. Compounds are taken ups and stored by the organisms.
• Biomagnification: There is an increase in the concentration of a pollutant from one trophic level to another trophic level.
• Nutrient/Biogeochemical Cycles: The movement of the nutrient elements through the various ecosystem components. In a perfect nutrient cycle, the replacement of the nutrients is at the same rate as they are used.
  • Examples of these cycles include Water Cycle, Carbon Cycle, Nitrogen Cycle, Phosphorus Cycle, etc.
• Ecological Succession: It is the mechanism through which animal and plant species, in a given region, are replaced or transformed into another over time.
• Pioneer Community: The community which initially inhabits the bare area. After some time, this community gets replaced by another community and the process continues.

• Climax Community: The community which forms the final or terminal stage of succession.
• Sere: The complete sequence of communities in each area succeeding each other during the succession.
• Homeostasis: It refers to the ecosystems ability to self-regulate. The ability to control the function and structure of their own organisms.

Types of Ecosystems

Ecosystem can be classified into two types:

• Terrestrial Ecosystem
• Aquatic Ecosystem

Terrestrial Ecosystem:

• Forest Terrestrial Ecosystem: A forest ecosystem is made up of several plants, especially trees, animals and microorganisms that coexist with the environment’s abiotic factors. Forests help in keeping up with the temperature of the earth and are the significant carbon sink.
• Tundra Ecosystem: The tundra is a type of ecosystem that lacks trees and is typically located in cold climates or areas with low rainfall, resulting in most of the year being covered in snow. It can be found in the Arctic or on mountain tops.
• Grassland Ecosystem: In a grassland ecosystem, the vegetation is dominated by grasses and herbs. Temperate grasslands and tropical or savanna grasslands are examples of grassland ecosystems.
• Desert Ecosystem: Deserts are found throughout the world. These are regions with little rainfall and scarce vegetation. The days are hot and the nights are cold.
• Natural Ecosystem: It is a collection of living and non-living entities that naturally exists and inside which each of the components interact as a single unit through physical, chemical and biological processes.
• Artificial Ecosystem: These are also termed as the man-engineered or man-made ecosystems. Examples include the croplands.
• Aquaculture: Practice of raising aquatic plants or animals in a managed environment.

Aquatic Ecosystem

• Freshwater Ecosystem: The freshwater ecosystem is an aquatic ecosystem that includes lakes, ponds, rivers, streams and wetlands. These have no salt content in contrast with the marine ecosystem.
• Marine Ecosystem: The marine ecosystem includes seas and oceans. These have a more substantial salt content and greater biodiversity in comparison to the freshwater ecosystem.

Components of Ecosystem

There are two components of ecosystem are Abiotic and biotic:

• Biotic components (living organisms)
• Abiotic components (non – living components)

Abiotic components (non – living components)

• The abiotic component can be grouped into following categories:
  • Inorganic substances
  • Organic substances
  • Physical factors
  • Lithosphere
  • Hydrosphere
  • Atmosphere
• Inorganic Substances: Examples: Carbon dioxide, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, sulphur, water, rock, soil and other minerals.
• Organic Substances: Examples: Carbohydrates, proteins, lipids and Humic substances.
• Physical Factors: Examples: Sun light, temperature, rainfall, humidity and pressure. They are influence the growth and development of organisms of biological communities.
• Lithosphere: The lithosphere is the outer most part of the Earth. It is made up of rocks and minerals. It is covered by a thin layer of soil.
• Hydrosphere: Hydrosphere is made up of all the water and watery layers of the Earth. All of the oceans, lakes, seas and clouds are an example of the hydrosphere. The hydrosphere covers 70 percent of the Earth’s surface.
• Atmosphere: Atmosphere is a mixture of gases, water vapour and dust particles in different proportions. It is held near the surface of the planet by Earth’s gravitational attraction. Nitrogen (78%) and Oxygen (21%) are permanent gases of the atmosphere. They constitute 99% of the total composition and their percentages always remain the same without any change. The remaining one percentage is occupied by Argon (0.93%), Carbon-di-oxide, (0.03%), Neon (0.0018%), Helium (0.0005%), Ozone (0.00006%) and Hydrogen (0.00005%)
• Biotic components (Living organisms): The biotic component can be grouped into following categories-
  • Producers
  • Consumers
  • Decomposers
• Producers: Producers (Green plants) are organisms that make their own food through the photosynthesis. They are also known as autotrophs. Green plants are called autotrophs, as they absorb water and nutrients from the soil, carbon dioxide from the air, and capture solar energy for this process. Examples: Green plants, Trees
• Consumers: Consumers are called heterotrophs and they consume food synthesized by the autotrophs. It can be divided into three categories:
  • Herbivores or Primary Consumer
  • Carnivores or Secondary consumers
  • Omnivores
• Herbivores or Primary Consumer: A herbivore is gets its energy from eating plants. Examples: Cow, Goat, Horses, Deer, Rhinoceros, Sheep, Rabbit.

• Carnivores or Secondary consumers: Secondary consumers are organisms that eat primary consumers (Herbivores) for energy. Examples: Spider, Eagles, Owls, Cat, Snake, lizard, Dog.
• Omnivores: Omnivores defined as the animals that eat on plants and other animals for nutrition. Examples: Chickens, Crows, Humans, Bear, Pigs.
• Decomposers: Decomposers are the organisms that break down dead plants and animals. Examples: Bacteria, Fungi.

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