CHAPTER – 15

OUR ENVIRONMENT
ENVIRONMENT
Environment is the sum total of all internal factors , substances , living being
and conditions that surrounds an organism and influence the same without
becoming its part. It consist of both living and non-living organism , each of which
has several sub-components . The different components and sub-components of
the environment are inter-linked and inter-depended.
EFFECTS OF ADDING WASTE TO THE ENVIRONMEN
ENVIRONMENT
NVIRONMENT
Human activities produce a lot of waste material which are thrown away into
the environment . These waste cause air, water and soil pollution. The waste
materials produced are of two main types. They are:
*Biodegradable waste
* Non-biodegradable waste
BIODEGRADABLE WASTE
Biodegradable waste are waste which are decomposed into harmless
substance by microorganisms .
Eg:- Vegetables, fruits, pulses, cotton ,wool etc.
NON-
NON-BIODEGRADABLE WASTE
Non-biodegradable waste are waste which are not decomposed by
microorganisms.
Eg:- Polythene bags , Plastics , glass , insecticide , pesticide , metals etc.
ECOSYSTEMS AND ITS COMPONENTS
Ecosystem is a structural and functional unit of biosphere consisting of living
beings and the physical environment ; which interact with each other and maintain
a balance in nature. All the interacting material in an area together with the non-
living components of the environment constitute an ecosystem. In an ecosystem ,
energy and matter are continuously exchanged between living and non-living
components .There are two types of ecosystem :
• Artificial ecosystem
• Natural ecosystem
NATURAL ECOSYSTEM
These ecosystem develop in nature without human support .Natural
ecosystem are of two types :
• Terrestrial
• Aquatic
Terrestrial ecosystem : It occurs over land ,. They are of three main types .
1.Desert 2. Grassland 3. Forest
Aquatic ecosystem : These are found in water bodies .
Fresh water ecosystem like pond , lakes , rivers etc.
Marine water ecosystem like Sea , ocean etc.
ARTIFICIAL ECOSYSTEM
They have been created and are maintained by human beings .Artificial
ecosystem are also called man – made or anthropogenic ecosystem .Agro
ecosystem is the largest man – made ecosystem .
Garden is a common artificial ecosystem maintained by most institutes . It
has various types of plants grown and maintained by gardener . Aquarium is
another artificial ecosystem .
COMPONENTS OF ECOSYSTEM
Ecosystem have two components :
 Biotic
 Abiotic
ABIOTIC COMPONENTS
 These are non-living components of an ecosystem . These include soil , water
, air , sunlight , temperature , humidity , moisture , rainfall etc. These factors affect
the distribution of the organism.
BIOTIC COMPONENTS
Biotic components are living components like plants , animals and
microorganisms . They consist of producers , consumers and decomposers .
i. Producers [ autotrophs ] = Producers are green plants which produce food by
photosynthesis .
Eg:- Green plants
ii. Consumers [heterotrophs ] = Consumers are, herbivorous which get their food
directly from plants , carnivorous which get their food indirectly from plants
and omnivores which get their food from plants directly/indirectly .
iii. Decomposers = Decomposers are microorganisms which decompose dead
plants and animals . They decompose complex organic substances into simple
organic substances in the soil which are again used by plants .

Food Chain
Food chain is the flow of energy from one organism to the next and to the
next and so on . the y usually start with producer ( plants ) and end with
carnivore . In a food chain an organism gets food from one group of organisms .
Examples of food chain :

Two step food chain

Five step food chain

Trophic Levels
Each step in a food chain where transfer of energy takes place is called
trophic level . The first trophic level consists of producers . The second trophic level
consists of primary consumer . The third trophic level consists of secondary
consumer . The forth level consist of tertiary consumer .
Since the transfer of food energy decreases at every trophic level , the no. of
trophic levels are limited and do not exceed 4 or 5.
Food Web
Food web is a network of food chains where all the chains are naturally inter
connected.
FLOW OF ENERGY IN AN ECOSYSTEM
Green plants capture 1% of the solar energy incident on the earth
through the process of photoysnthesis . A part of this trapped energy is used by
plants in performing their metabolic activities and some energy is released as heat
into the atmosphere , the remaining energy stored in the plants as photosynthetic
products.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ENERGY TRANSFER
• Energy is supplied by the sun and it is not created in the biosphere . Energy
is only converted from one form to another in the biosphere .
• There is a continuous transfer of energy from one trophic level to the next in
a food chain , This flow of energy is uni-directional
• At each trophic level , there is a loss of energy which gets into environment .
 • At each trophic level, some of the energy is utilized by the organism for their
growth , reproduction and development .
• At each trophic level , some energy is lost due to respiration and other
metabolic activities .
o Thus at each trophic level, the amount of energy available is less than
that available at the previous level
10% Law
The law was given by Lindeman in 1942. According to 10% law energy is
passed in an ecosystem from one trophic level to the next, only 10% of the energy
will be passed on. A trophic level is the position of an organism in a food chain .
This has been explaine d with the help oa an example :
Plants --- Deer --- Tiger
1000J 100J 10J
In this food chain 10% of the energy produced by plants is transferred to deer
and its 10% is transferred to tiger .
BIOMAGNIFICATION
BIOMAGNIFICATION / BIOLOGICAL MAGNIFICATION
The increase in the concentration of harmful chemical substances in the body
of living organisms at each trophic level of a food chain is called biomagnifications.
Example – The use of several pesticides and other chemicals to protect our crops
from diseases and pests . These chemical are either washed down into the soil or
into the water bodies . from the soil these are absorbed by the plants , and from the
water bodies these are taken up by aquatic plants and animals . This is one of the
ways in which they enter the food chain . As the chemical are not degradable ,
these get accumulated progressively at each trophic level . As human beings
occupy the top level in any food chain , the maximum concentration of these
chemicals get accumulated in our bodies .
OZONE LAYER
Ozone molecule contain three oxygen atoms [ O3 ] .Ozone is found in the
stratosphere above the earth`s surface and protects the earth from harmful
ultraviolet [uv] radiations of the sun.
Ozone layer at the higher levels of atmosphere is a product of ultraviolet
radiation acting on oxygen [ O2 ] molecule. The UV radiations split molecular oxygen
[O2] into free oxygen [O2] atoms . These atoms then combine with molecular oxygen
to form ozone as shown :
UV
O2 - ---
--- O+O
O + O2 ----
---- O3
The amount of ozone in the atmosphere began to drop sharply in 1980s .
This decrease has been linked to synthetic chemicals like chlorofluorocarbons [
CFCs ] which are used in refrigerators , air conditions , aerosol , fire extinguishers
etc.
HARMFUL EFFECTS OF OZONE LAYER DEPLETTION
The harmful effects ozone layer depletion are
 It can cause skin cancer .
 It damages the eyes by causing the eye disease called cataract .
 It damages the immune system
 It affect terrestrial and aquatic life
MEASURES
MEASURES TO PREVENT THE OZONE DEPLETION
DEPLETION
In 1987 , the united nations environmental programme [ UNEP ] succeeded in
forging an agreement to freeze CFC production, besides there are some other
methods to prevent ozone depletion such as Limit private vehicle , use eco-
friendly household cleaning products ,avoid using pesticides , banning the use
of dangerous nitrous oxide .
MANAGING THE GARBAGE WE PRODUCE
The household waste is called Garbage. The garbage include left over
food , fruit and vegetable peels , fallen leaves of potted plants , waste paper ,
unwanted plastic objects , glass articles , metal objects , discarded shoes etc .
some of the important modes of waste disposal are :
1. Recycle
2. Preparation of compost
3. Incineration
4. Landfill
5. Sewage treatment
1. Recycle – The solid waste like paper , plastic and metals etc are recycled.
for example , waste paper is send to paper mills where it is reprocessed to
form newspaper once again . The broken plastic articles like plastic bags ,
buckets ,cups ,plates etc are send to plastic processing factories where they
melted and remolded to make new articles .
2. Preparation of compost - Biodegradable domestic waste such as left over
food , fruits ,vegetable peels etc can be converted into compost by burying in
a pit dug into ground and is used as manure.
3. Incineration – The burning of substances at high temperature [more than
1000°C] to form ashes is called incineration . It destroy household waste,
chemical waste and biological waste . It greatly reduce the volume of wastes
because when the large volume of waste material is burned , then only a
small volume of ash is left behind which can be disposed of by landfill .
Incineration is carried out in an incinerator . All the organic matter present in
waste is removes us carbon dioxide and water vapour .
4. Landfill – The disposal of waste by putting it in low – lying areas of ground
and covering it with soil is called landfill.
5. Sewage Treatment – The dirty drain water which is carried from our homes
by the underground pipes is called sewage .If untreated sewage is dumped
into river , it can pollute the river water . Thus , sewage is disposed off by
treating it at the sewage treatment plant.
Q. Though the Kulhads are made up of clay which is an eco-
eco-friendly substances but
their use has been discontinued in the train now-
now-a-days . Give reasons which leads
to discontinuanceof this practice
Ans. Kulhads have been discontinued in trains now-a-days because :
• They are made up of top layer of soil , which is the most fertile layer of soil .
Excessive use of kulhads would deplete the most fertile layer which is
important for agriculture .
• Kulhads are neither recyclable nor reusable .