Category Environment

Are decomposers necessary in the biosphere?

              Have you observed the carcass of an animal or a bird decomposing and disintegrating into the soil? If you observe closely, you could find small maggots or worms that eat up the dead body. When animals or plants die, they slowly become part of the soil thanks to the presence of decomposers.

             Decomposers play a crucial role in the process of recycling. They eat away the dead remains of the plants and the animals. They have the capability of breaking down organic matter and converting them into simpler substances. This means that these substances go through a cyclical life by being integrated into organisms and are used repeatedly.

              Nowadays, people are encouraged to use biodegradable materials. Materials that can be broken down into simpler substances naturally are called biodegradable materials. However, human activities have hindered the process of natural recycling.

              Materials such as tin, plastic and glass are non-biodegradable. These materials cannot be broken down naturally; and therefore, they can remain in the environment for hundreds or thousands of years. They can pose a threat to life and are possible health hazards.

             Governments, these days, are urging people to replace non-biodegradable products with biodegradable products.

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Do food chains play an important role in biosphere?

            If every living thing is comfortably placed in nature and allowed to grow and multiply at leisure, the earth would soon become inadequate for life! Therefore, the equilibrium of life on earth should be kept in check. Food chains play that vital role in our environment.

            Every living thing, at one or other time, is consumed by another. The process of who eats whom is called food chain. It is basically, a series of living beings linked together because each one is the food for another. The position each species occupies within a food chain is called a feeding level. Thus, plants come to the first as they represent the lowest level. The final consumer comes at the last level. Thus a pyramid is formed in the biosphere.

            For example, grasshoppers eat plants; meanwhile, grasshoppers become prey to frogs. Snakes consume frogs. However, snakes are eaten by peacocks, which is the final consumer in the pyramid. When the final consumer at the top of the pyramid dies and disintegrates, its substances are taken up as nourishment by plants. Thus this chain or cycle continues. If any of the links is lost or damaged it affects the whole chain. All living beings are inter-connected and inter-dependent; and therefore, all living things are part of this chain.

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Is life in biosphere cyclical?

            Have you ever wondered whether we would run out of oxygen at some point in time if all living things used it for their existence? However, we know that trees and plants release oxygen to the atmosphere. Life in biosphere is cyclical. The elements that sustain life travel from one form of life to another making each of them dependent upon the other. The most important cycles in the biosphere are nitrogen cycle, oxygen cycle, carbon cycle and water cycle.

            Nitrogen is required in all living beings to produce proteins. Nitrifying bacteria present in certain plants carry out the process of nitrogen fixation. Denitrifying bacteria decompose the dead remains and waste products of plants and animals and release nitrogen back into the atmosphere.

            Living things take in oxygen from the air as it helps the release of energy from the food they consume. The process of photosynthesis that occurs in the leaves of green plants releases oxygen. Additionally, green plants play an important role in carbon cycle. They consume carbon dioxide to produce food. When animals consume these plants, they get some part of carbon. Carbon dioxide is released back to the H atmosphere when the animals exhale. Carbon is returned to nature when the animals die.

            In the case of water cycle, water changes into vapour and rises up in the atmosphere. When it cools down, it condenses into water droplets which combine together to constitute clouds. When clouds become heavy with water droplets they fall back on Earth in the form of rain or snow.

            These cycles are vital for the existence and sustenance of life on Earth.

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What is an ecosystem?

            If you observe a pond or a river, you would be amazed to see the variety of living things there. You would find not only fishes, but also plants, frogs, insects, birds and many more creatures! They all live there quietly and interdependently.

            An ecosystem is the coexistence of different life forms in a given geographical area. Various species of creature from a community at such locations. The communities with its surroundings such as soil, temperature, vegetation etc. from an ecosystem.

            Individual animals fight for resources in an ecosystem, because there is a limit to resources available for a biological community. Different species interact with each other in the ecosystem for their survival, food, shelter etc.

            This interaction, however, may be in the form of relationships like that of the prey and the hunter. It may be one of mutual benefit or symbiotic. Symbiotic living means interdependence and a friendly relationship with nature and living beings.

            Life in an ecosystem is cyclical in nature as living organisms depend on each other. The continuity of the fragile ecosystem depends on the interrelationship between various physical and biological factors.

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What is ecology?

            In the entire universe known to him, Man is yet to find another planet like Earth where there is life. Our planet, therefore, is unique because it holds a system that contains life in its diverse manifestations. This diversity is so enormous that our attempt to study it seriously has just begun!

            You may have heard the saying that nature is the greatest teacher. Man tries to know more about nature systematically and scientifically. Ecology is the science that studies the behaviour of plants and animals, and in Particular, environmental conditions. Ecology addresses the full scale of life, from tiny bacteria to processes that spay entire planet.

            Ecology comes from the Greek word ‘Oikos’. The word means a place to live in. Ernest Haeckel, a renowned German biologist, used the term for the first time. However, his idea of ecology was forgotten until about 1900 when biologists began to take serious interest in it. Ancient Greek philosophers such as Hippocrates and Aristotle were the first thinkers who discussed ecology in their studies on natural history.

            Ecology has many practical applications today. Modern ecology became a much more rigorous science only in the late 19th century.

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Why is biosphere vital to humans?

            When Man goes into space, he needs protective gear because he is out of his environment. We live comfortably in the biosphere where life thrives.

            Biosphere comes from the Greek word ‘bios’, which means life. We humans live in the biosphere. Biosphere is a layer that extends slightly above and slightly below the surface of the earth. This space covers the earth’s entire surface.

            Biosphere is, in fact, the living part of our home planet and it comprises a number of ecosystems. It also includes the atmosphere. The atmosphere acts just like a blanket over the earth as it protects our planet from harmful rays of the sun.

            Millions of different ecosystems are present in the biosphere and they are contained within many geographical areas known as biomes. The ecologists divide the biosphere into smaller units such as ecosystems, habitats and niches. This division makes its study easier because each of these units can be studied individually in detail.

            Biosphere consists of some 35,000 species of living creatures including human beings.

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