Category: Ecosystem

Advantages and Disadvantages of Dams are as follows:Dams are used for storing water. This stored water is led down through large pipes or tunnels to lower levels. In the course of the fall of water, the water rotates turbines. ADVERTISEMENTS: The produced mechanical energy is converted to electricity by the generators connected to it.Transformers change the alternating current produced by the generators into current of very high voltage for easy transmission through long distances Advantages of Dams: (a) Economical: The cost of operating a hydroelectric plant is nearly immune to increases in the cost of fossil fuels. Operating labour cost is also low. Source: draxelrad.com ADVERTISEMENTS: Image(b) Safe: Hydroelectricity produces the least amount of greenhouse gases. Disadvantages of dams: (a) Failure Hazard: In the case of failure of dams, millions…

Metals whose densities exceed 6 g cm are usually referred to as heavy metals. Some (Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Sn, V, W, Zn) of these are essential for life processes whereas others (Cd, Pb, Hg) have no known useful biologi­cal role; all of them are injurious to living organisms at higher concentrations.Davies et al. (1987) have studied the relationships between leaf and soil concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn, using radish (Raphanus sativus) as the experimental plant which was grown on 46 garden soils. These soils were characterized by varying degrees of metal contamination. In some pots of contaminated soil, they added lime to modify soil pH.Liming was found to greatly reduce foliar Zn concentrations. The pH effect appears to be exercised through a modification of the…

Secondary production is generally defined as the elaboration of new tissue that is added to the standing crop biomass of animals. Though technically correct, this definition is inadequate since it does not specify the levels of ecological organization used, and the concept is not identical at various levels of organization. The above definition is really valid only for an individual animal.For a population, secondary production is the increase in biomass of the individuals concerned; in other words, it is the sum of the growth of the individuals minus their loss of weight together with the population’s nationality, mortality, immigration, and emigration. Similarly, at the level of the ecosys­tem, the secondary production of the ecosystem is not the sum of the produc­tions of the populations since one population may feed upon…

Birds are special kind of animal species with certain specific characteristics that are common to all of them. All of them are feathered, winged, bipedal (meaning: having two legs), egg-laying, warm blooded, vertebrate animals belonging to the class Aves. They are an important part of the ecosystem and are present across the globe from the Arctic to the Antarctic.Birds inhabit the environment that suits them and that is what separates the species found in Polar Regions from those in the Tropical Region. In spite of all the similarities that the bird species share, they have certain unique characteristics which differentiate them from others.Birds may be of different sizes. They could be small as much as 2 inches (e.g. Bee hummingbird) to as big as 2.75 meters (like an Ostrich). Fossil…

All of us love freedom and have their own expressions of being free. Each one of us wants to define freedom in the way it suits us.Some teens may feel that being with friends and peers is freedom, some responsible citizens feel that loving their country and doing something about it is freedom while some think that being in the lap of Mother Nature is freedom. My idea of freedom is being a butterfly.Nature has bounty of birds and insects that are blessed with qualities that make them unique and abilities & roles that make them an indispensable part of this ecosystem. A butterfly is quite a light flying insect which belongs to the family of moths. Image Source: upload.wikimedia.org ADVERTISEMENTS: It gives one immense pleasure to see a gorgeously…

12 Questions with Answers and Explanations on “Ecosystem” for Biology Students: Image Source: cnx.orgQ.1. What are the two basic categories of ecosystem? Give two examples to each.Ans. ADVERTISEMENTS: TerrestrialEx- GrasslandForest ADVERTISEMENTS: AquaticEx- PondWetlandQ. 2. Describe the components of an ecosystem. ADVERTISEMENTS: Ans. Ecosystem consists of abiotic and biotic components.Abiotic components: These components are the non-living components. Light, temperature, soil, water are the abiotic factors that make the habitat for living beings.They affect the living organisms behaviour and physiology. The survival of living organisms is directly or indirectly effected by these factors and thus they are dependent on it.Biotic components: These are the living components. Plants and animals.They live in a habitat and show inter dependance on each other and on the abiotic components.The components of the ecosystem are seem to…

Here is your essay on the Most Important Physical Properties of Water !Water is an extremely inert body in relation to most other chemical substances. It contains following unique physical pro­perties which have ecological relevance: image source: goodwp.com 1. Specific Heat: Water is capable of storing tremendous quantities of heat energy with a relatively small rise in temperature. In this pro­perty, it is exceeded only by ammonia, liquid hydrogen and li­thium. Thus water is said to have a high specific heat which can be defined as the number of calories necessary to raise one gram not water one degree centigrade. The specific heat of water is given the value of 1. ADVERTISEMENTS: Because such great quantities of heat are absorbed be­fore the temperature of natural waters such as ponds, lakes…

Essay on Theoretical Approaches towards The Concept of Climax Community !The concept of climax long was a subject of much controversy and discussion. There are following three theoretical approaches to the climax: 1. Monoclimax theory: This theory is developed largely by Frederick Clements. This theory recognizes only one climax, determined solely by climate, no matter how great the variety of environmental conditions is at the start. All seral communities in a given region, if allowed sufficient time, would ultimately converge to a single climax. ADVERTISEMENTS: The whole landscape would be clothed with a uniform plant and animal community. All other communities than the climax are related to the climax by successional development and are recognized as sub climax, disclimax, preclimax, post-climax and so on. image source: jpkc.scau.edu.cnA subclimax is a…

Here is your Short Speech on Ecosystem !A classic example of an ecosystem is a small lake or pond the abiotic or non-living parts of a freshwater pond include the water, dissolved oxygen, carbon dioxide, inorganic salts such as phosphates, nitrates and chlorides of sodium, potassium, and calcium, and a multitude of organic compounds such as amino acids, humic acids, etc.The living part of the freshwater pond can be subdivided according to the functions of the organisms, i.e., what they contribute toward keeping the ecosystem operating as a stable, interacting whole. image source: i.ytimg.com ADVERTISEMENTS: In a freshwater pond there are two types of producers, the larger plants growing along the shore or floating in shallow water, and the microscopic floating plants, most of which are algae, that are distributed…

Essay on Soils Fauna and Soil Flora !Soil supports a wide array of organisms of different body-sizes and taxonomic groups. Generally, soil organisms are classified into three major groups namely micro-fauna and micro-flora, meso-fauna or meio-fauna, and macro-fauna. image source: pasowinerealestate.com ADVERTISEMENTS: Mesoflora and macroflora because occur above the surface of soil (land-surface), therefore are ex­cluded from this discussion: 1. Microfauna: It includes animals with body size within the range of 20 µ to 200µ. It includes all Protozoa and small-sized mites, nematodes, rotifers, tradigrades and copepode Crustacea. Soil inhabiting protozoans like amoeba, ciliates, zoomastigine flagellates occur near the surface soils, while the testate forms like Thecamoeba, Euglypha and Difflugia, have a wider vertical distribu­tion.The common terrestrial polyclad is Bipalium. The nematodes such as Rhabditis, Diplogaster, Tylenchus, Heterodera, Aphelen- choides,…