Environmental problems are currently one of the most urgent and priority on the planet. Much attention is paid to how people use lake ecosystems and forests. Behind great science lies terms that today not only a schoolboy, but every self-respecting adult should know. We often hear "ecosystem pollution", what does this mean? What are the parts of an ecosystem? The basics of discipline are given already in elementary school. As an example, we can highlight the topic "Forest Ecosystem" (Grade 3).
Why did ecology as a science emerge?
This is a relatively young biological discipline, which appeared as a result of the rapid development of the labor activity of mankind. Increased use of natural resources has led to disharmony between people and the surrounding world. The term "ecology", proposed by E. Haeckel in 1866, literally translated from Greek as "the science of home, habitat, shelter." In other words, this is the doctrine of the relationship of living organisms with their environment.
Ecology, like any other science, did not arisestraightaway. It took almost 70 years for the concept of "ecosystem" to emerge.
Stages in the development of science and the first terms
In the 19th century, scientists accumulated knowledge, were engaged in the description of ecological processes, generalization and systematization of already available materials. The first terms of naki began to appear. For example, K. Mobius proposed the concept of "biocenosis". It refers to the totality of living organisms that exist in the same conditions.
At the next stage in the development of science, the main measuring category is distinguished - the ecosystem (A. J. Tensley in 1935 and R. Linderman in 1942). Scientists have been studying energy and trophic (nutritional) metabolic processes at the level of living and non-living components of the ecosystem.
At the third stage, the interaction of various ecosystems was analyzed. Then they were all combined into such a thing as the biosphere.
In recent years, science has mainly focused on the interaction of man with the environment, as well as on the destructive influence of anthropogenic factors.
What is an ecosystem?
This is a complex of living beings with their habitat, which is functionally united into a single whole. There is necessarily an interdependence between these ecological components. There is a connection between living organisms and their environment at the level of substances, energy and information.
The term was first proposed in 1935 by the British botanist A. Tansley. He also determined what parts an ecosystem consists of. Russian biologist V. N. Sukachev introduced the concept of "biogeocenosis" (1944d.), which is less voluminous in relation to the ecosystem. Variants of biogeocenoses can be a spruce forest, a swamp. Examples of ecosystems are the ocean, the Volga River.
All living organisms can be influenced by biotic, abiotic and anthropogenic environmental factors. For example:
- frog ate a mosquito (biotic factor);
- man got wet in the rain (abiotic factor);
- people cut down the forest (anthropogenic factor).
Components
What parts does an ecosystem consist of? There are two main components or parts of an ecosystem - biotope and biocenosis. A biotope is a place or territory in which a living community (biocenosis) lives.
The concept of a biotope includes not only the habitat itself (for example, soil or water), but also abiotic (non-living) factors. These include climatic conditions, temperature, humidity, etc.
Structure
Any ecological system has a specific structure. It is characterized by the presence of certain varieties of living organisms that can comfortably exist in this particular environment. For example, the stag beetle lives in mountainous areas.
All types of living organisms are distributed in an ecosystem structured: horizontally or vertically. The vertical structure is represented by plant organisms, which, depending on the amount of solar energy they need, line up in tiers or floors.
Often, in tests, schoolchildren are given the task of distributing floors in the forest ecosystem (Grade 3). The lower floor is a litter (basement), which is formed due to fallen leaves, needles, dead organisms, etc. The next tier (surface) is occupied by mosses, lichens, mushrooms. A little higher - grass, by the way, in some forests this floor may not be. Next comes a layer of shrubs and young shoots of trees, followed by small trees, and the topmost floor is occupied by large, tall trees.
A horizontal structure is a mosaic arrangement of different types of organisms or microgroups depending on their food chains.
Important features
Living organisms inhabiting a certain ecological system, in order to preserve their vital activity, feed on each other. This is how food or trophic chains of an ecosystem are formed, which consist of links.
Producers or autotrophs belong to the first link. These are organisms that produce (produce), synthesize organic substances from inorganic ones. For example, a plant consumes carbon dioxide and releases oxygen and glucose, an organic compound, during photosynthesis.
Intermediate link - decomposers (saprotrophs or destructors-destroyers). These include those organisms that are capable of decomposing the remains of inanimate plants or animals. As a result, organic matter is converted into inorganic matter. Decomposers are microscopic fungi, bacteria.
The third link is a group of consumers (consumers or heterotrophs), which includesHuman. These living beings cannot synthesize organic compounds from inorganic ones, so they get them ready-made from the environment. First-order consumers include herbivorous organisms (cow, hare, etc.), and subsequent orders include carnivorous predators (tiger, lynx, lion), omnivorous animals (bear, man).
Types of ecosystems
Any ecological system is open. It can also exist in an isolated form, its boundaries are blurred. Depending on the size, very small or microecological systems (human oral cavity), medium or mesoecological systems (forest edge, bay) and macroecological systems (ocean, Africa) are distinguished.
Depending on the method of origin, there are spontaneously created or natural ecosystems and artificial or man-made. Examples of ecosystems of natural formation: sea, stream; artificial - pond.
According to their location in space, water (puddle, ocean) and terrestrial (tundra, taiga, forest-steppe) ecological systems are distinguished. The first, in turn, are divided into marine and freshwater. Freshwater can be lotic (stream or river), lentic (reservoir, lake, pond) and wetland (swamp).
Examples of ecosystems and their human use
Man can have an anthropogenic effect on the ecosystem. Any use of nature by people has an impact on the ecological system at the level of the region, country or planet.
As a result of overgrazing,irrational nature management and deforestation, two meso-ecosystems (field, forest) are destroyed at once, and an anthropogenic desert is formed in their place. Unfortunately, there are many such examples of ecosystems.
The way people use lake ecosystems is of great regional importance. For example, in case of thermal pollution, as a result of the discharge of heated water into the lake, it becomes swamped. Living creatures (fish, frogs, etc.) are dying, blue-green algae are actively multiplying. The main world supply of fresh water is concentrated in lakes. Consequently, the pollution of these water bodies leads to the disruption of not only the regional, but also the global ecosystem of the world.
