Question

  1) Describe the structure of your ecosystem including important abiotic features and dominant plant and animal species.

Answer 1

Ecosystem includes all living components which interact with each other as well as with the non-living components.Ecosystem is a ecological unit.It can be of different types- terrestrial, freshwater, ocean.

The structure of the ecosystem is made up of two components:

1. Abiotic components: This includes all of the non-living elements of the ecosystem such as air, water, temperature, rock, minerals etc.
2. Biotic components: This includes all of the living elements of the ecosystem which are further defined as:

• Producers-These are chlorophyll containing plants/organisms which are able to perform photosynthesis and other organisms are dependent on them for sustenance.
• Consumers- They are not able to synthesize their food and get their energy from other organisms.They can further be categorized as herbivores(plant eaters), carnivores(flesh eaters), omnivores(eat plants as well as flesh).
• Decomposers- They feed on dead and decaying matter and plays an important role in nutrient recycling.

In this ecosystem,

• Dominant animal species- Chital, wild boar, sambhar, tiger, jungle cat, porcupine, jungle cat,deer, jackal, hyena, lizard, house sparrow,dove, pigeon etc.
• Dominant plant species- Sal, shesham, semal, grass, Rauwolfia serpentina , podophyllum, Ephecra gerardiana, Viala serpens etc.