ECOSYSTEM

·     An ecosystem is a natural system consisting of all plants, animals and microorganisms (biotic factors) in an area functioning together with all the non-living physical (abiotic) factors of the environment.

·     In any ecosystem communities or living organisms interact with their physical environment in such a way that there is a well defined flow of energy forming clear trophic levels and material cycles within the system.

·   Term ‘Ecosystem’ was first of all given by British ecologist Arthur Tansley (1935). He described it as the interactive system established between biocoenosis (a group of living creatures) and their biotope (the environment in which they live). Thus, he defined Ecosystem as “System arising out of interactions between living and non-living components of environment.”

·     "Ecosystem" means a dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit" (Convention on the Biological Diversity, 1992).

TYPES OF ECOSYSTEM

It is mainly of two types:

·        Natural Ecosystems

·        Artificial Ecosystems

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF ECOSYSTEM

a.  Structure of Ecosystem includes:

·        Abiotic Components

·        Biotic Components

·        Climatic Conditions

b.  Function of Ecosystem includes

·        Energy Flow

·        Material cycles or biogeochemical cycles