Explain the interlinked relationship among all the components of a forest.
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Answer:
Components of a Forest Ecosystem
The components of a forest ecosystem are as follows:
1.Productivity
There are two types of productivity in a forest ecosystem, primary and secondary. Primary productivity means the rate of capture of solar energy or biomass production per unit area over a period of time by the plants during photosynthesis.
2. Decomposition
Decomposition is an extremely oxygen-requiring process. In the process of decomposition, decomposers convert the complex organic compounds of detritus into inorganic substances such as carbon dioxide, water and nutrients. Detritus is the remains of the dead plant such as leaves, bark, flowers and also the dead remains of the animals including their faecal matter. The steps involved in the process of decomposition are fragmentation, leaching, catabolism, humification and mineralization.
3. Energy flow
Energy flows in a single direction. Firstly, plants capture solar energy and then, transfer the food to decomposers. Organisms of different trophic levels are connected to each other for food or energy relationship and thus form a food chain.
Energy Pyramid is always upright because energy flows from one trophic level to the next trophic level and in this process, some energy is always lost as heat at each step.
4. Nutrient Cycling
Nutrient cycling refers to the storage and movement of nutrient elements through the various components of the ecosystem. There are two types of Nutrient cycling, gaseous and sedimentary.
For Gaseous cycle (i.e. nitrogen, carbon), atmosphere or hydrosphere is the reservoir whereas for the sedimentary cycle (i.e. phosphorus) Earth’s crust is the reservoir.
Explanation: