An ecosystem can be natural or artificial, temporary or permanent, e.g. large grassland, a forest, a village, an aquarium or a pond can all be regarded as ecosystems. The various constituent of ecosystem are summarised into following categories:

I. Natural Ecosystem

Such ecosystem operates by themselves without any major interference by man. These are further classified as:

(A) Terrestrial Ecosystem: Forests, grassland, deserts etc.

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(B) Aquatic Ecosystem: These are of two types.

(i) Fresh Water Ecosystem – Fresh water ecosystem are of two types:

Lotic – Running water as springs, streams, river etc.

Lentic – Standing water as lake, pond, ditch etc.

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(ii) Marine Ecosystem: Water bodies which may be deep bodies as a ocean or estuary.

II. Artificial Ecosystem

These are man-made ecosystems, which are artificially maintained by man such as sugarcane, maize, wheat, rice fields, gardens, orchards, dams, are examples of artificial ecosystems.

Conservation of Ecosystem

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The word ‘eco’ means environment. The theme of ecosystem concept is that at any place where an organism live, there is a continuous interaction between the living and non-living components i.e., plants, animals and their environment.

Some of the man’s activities like hunting of various animals disrupt the food chains in which there animals normally take parts. The shortening of food chains due to man’s activities leads to an imbalance in the functioning of an ecosystem and ultimately in the functioning of the whole biosphere.

Modern agricultural activities use a large number of toxic chemicals like pesticides, weedicides and Rodenticide, to protect the crop plants from pests and diseases.

Some of these poisonous chemicals mix-up with soil and water and are absorbed by the plants from the soil along with water with other minerals in this way the poisonous chemical substances enter the food chain right from the producer level. When man and other animals eat these plants or their products, the poisonous chemical substances are transformed to their bodies.

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During the process of food transfer through trophic levels, there harmful chemicals get concentrated at each successive level. The increase in concentration of harmful chemical substances like pesticides in the body of living organisms at each trophic level of a food chain is called biological magnification. To consume ecosystem, such activities should be minimised.