1. Ecosystems By Kamal

2. What is ecology? • ‘Eco’ in ‘ecosystem’ stands for ‘ecology’. • ‘Ecology’ in Greek means ‘study of the home’. • What do you have at home? • Living things: humans, animals, plants, etc. • Non-living things: water, light, air, etc. (‘Home’ could be your house, a pond, a desert, a forest or any location on the earth.) Ecosystems

3. What is a system? • ‘System’ in ‘ecosystem’ means ‘interconnected things’. • A DVD player is a system of many things. Can you name them? • All the interconnected things work together in the DVD player to play video and music by interacting with your remote control. Ecosystems

4. What is an ecosystem? • Everything in the natural world is connected. An ecosystem is a community of living and non-living things that work together. • How do living things interact among themselves, their neighbours and the environment? • How do they get food and how they become food for others? • What is their impact on the environment? • A fish pond is an example of an ecosystem. Ecosystems

5. Parts of an ecosystem • The living things of an ecosystem can be classified into: • Producers: Who produce food for others (plants). • Consumers: Who consume food from producers (animals). • Decomposers: Who break down living things when they are dead and send them back to soil (bacteria, fungi, etc). • The environment includes soil, atmosphere, heat, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and light from the sun, and water. Ecosystems

6. Types of ecosystems • Ecosystems are classified based on location, environment and living things. Tundra Forest Aquatic Desert Grassland Ecosystems

7. Human activities in ecosystems • Nature provides a healthy environment for all living things to live in harmony. • However, human activities could endanger the harmony of the ecosystems. Can you name a few human activities that could endanger? • Tree cutting, Tourism, Illegal hunting and fishing, Burning fossil fuels – cars, industrial pollution Tree cutting Industrial Automobile Fishing Tourism pollution pollution Ecosystems

8. Ecosystems in Mauritius • Most forest ecosystems have faded in Mauritius due to tree cutting and other human activities. • This caused an imbalance in the ecosystem of Mauritius. • As a result, the Pink Pigeon and other rare birds could no longer found in many parts of Mauritius. • Mauritius has coral reef ecosystems in various forms in the coastal line of about 400 km: • Lagoons, Reefs, Estuaries, Mangroves, Salt-water wetlands, Sheltered bays Ecosystems