Essay on the Important Types of Ecosystem !
Ellenberg (1973) has classified the world into a hierarchy of ecosystems. Biosphere is the largest and all-encompassing ecosystem. Next lower level is mega-ecosystems such as marine ecosystems (i.e., ecosystems of saline water of sea, ocean and lake); Limnic ecosystems (i.e., ecosystems of fresh-water); semi-terrestrial ecosystems (i.e. ecosystems of wet soil and air); terrestrial ecosystems (i.e., ecosystems of aerated soil and air); and urban-industrial ecosystems (man-made ecosystems like cropland, city, etc.).
The next-lower level is represented by macro-ecosystems (forests, etc.) within each mega-ecosystem. Meso-ecosystems (e.g., a cold deciduous broad leaf forest with its fauna) are considered as the basic units of this scheme.
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Meso-ecosystems are sub-divided into micro- ecosystems which depart with respect to a certain component (a low land, mountain, or sub-alpine cold broad leaf forest with its fauna). Nano-ecosystems are further small ecosystems which are spatially contained within larger ecosystems and that show a certain individuality of their own.
Natural and Artificial Ecosystems:
Different types of ecosystems like the pond, lake, river, stream, spring, sea, ocean, estuary, forest, grassland, desert, coral reef, cropland, city, etc., differ from each other not only in productivity but also in their species composition. All of them have a similar fundamental plan of their gross structure and function as have been already stated earlier.
However, some ecosystems like pond, lake, river, stream, spring, sea, ocean, estuary, forest, grassland, desert, coral reef, etc., are self-regulating systems without much direct human interference and manipulations, and are called natural ecosystems. On the other hand, the city and cropland ecosystems are man-made (or man-engineered)-ecosystems, so are called artificial ecosystems.
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In these ecosystems man plans manipulations (e.g., addition of fertilizers to increase the yield, use of chemicals to control diseases, proper irrigation, etc.) in the physico-chemical environment of the cropland ecosystem to get more food, cloth, timber, medicines and other useful plant products.
Incomplete Ecosystems:
There are certain ecosystems which do not contain all the four basic components of ecosystem (i.e., abiotic substances, producers, consumers and decomposers) and they may lack one or more basic components of an ecosystem. Such ecosystems are called incomplete ecosystems (Southwick, 1976).
For example, certain incomplete ecosystems such as abyssal depths of the sea and caves lack producers but contain only consumers and decomposers. As in the realm of complete darkness green plants cannot survive.