Ecosystem of the meadow. Consumers and components of the meadow ecosystem

An ecosystem is a concept that defines a system of relationships within any community of living beings that are interconnected by their environment ("oikos" (Greek) - "dwelling" and "system").

Thus, when we consider the relationship between plants, animals, parasites, bacteria inhabiting meadow space, we say that all this is a meadow ecosystem.

Natural ecosystems: grouping by groups

They are divided as follows:

1. Ground - tundra, taiga, broad-leaved forests, steppes, deserts.

2. Freshwater - rivers, lakes, reservoirs, swamps, wetlands.

3. Marine - ocean, shelf, upwelling (areas with a rise of deep ocean waters), estuaries (estuaries of rivers flowing into the seas and oceans), reefs.

Ecosystems can be the following in size:

• Micro - very small (for example, marsh hummock);

• Meso - medium in size (this may be, for example, a meadow or a pond);

• Macro - very large (ocean or continent);

• Global - the planet.

The aggregate components of ecosystems and natural factors

Any ecosystem consists of a set of biotic components: living organisms that inhabit it, and abiotic (inanimate) - minerals, organic soil, nitrogen, carbon, water.

Natural factors influence indirectly the development of communities of living beings, limited by the space of the system. This is solar radiation, air humidity, temperature background, air pressure.

It is also necessary to mention human intervention in the life of communities - these are anthropogenic factors that can not only change the ecosystem, but also destroy it.

Meadow: systematization

It is customary to call a meadow a limited area, overgrown with grass. In Russia, meadows are traditionally divided into native (natural) and artificial. (Deduced from the rotation, specially zaluzhennye for a certain time).

Native meadows are traditionally used for haymaking and grazing cattle. They give a rich harvest of grasses, and the meadow ecosystem itself maintains the necessary ratio of living beings for a long-term life. The trouble with such territories is soil erosion, underbrush overgrowing (near forests) and weed propagation. The native meadows are getting smaller and smaller.

Artificial meadows are considered on the plots of fields taken out of the crop rotation or appeared after the reduced forest. They are planted with perennial herbs, yielding a high yield. Constantly monitor the condition of the soil, introducing the necessary mineral and organic fertilizers. The ecosystem of the meadow in this case is completely different from the natural one, it is created and maintained only artificially.

Both natural and artificial meadows are used for pasturing cattle. Correct is considered the breakdown of such sites into sectors for sequential use, this allows the grass cover to be restored.

Biotic components of the meadow ecosystem

Meadow refers to the average size of communities of living beings, therefore it has in its composition all the components inherent in any of them.

Inhabitants of the meadow ecosystem are called biotic components. According to the accepted classification, these are producers, consumers and decomposers.

1. ₆ H ₁₂ O ₆ (основа любого органического вещества). Producers are plants that convert the energy of the Sun by photosynthesis into the glucose isomer C ₆ H ₁₂ O ₆ (the basis of any organic matter).

2. Consumers - consumers of the meadow ecosystem, eating plants, insects or other animals.

3. Reductants are organisms that feed on dead organic matter.

The meadow producers

The main plants on the meadow are grass. It is believed that one hundred square meters can exist side by side about one hundred different plants.

The main meadow grasses are cereals (about forty species). This timothy, red and meadow fescue, ryegrass, a hedgehog, a meadow grass, a meadow foxgrass, a brome grass, a white fox . They make up the basic green mass, give a good turf, grow slowly in the spring, grow again in the autumn (give an otawa). These grasses - the lower tier of the meadow.

The following for prevalence in the meadow are legumes (from fifteen to twenty species): clover, peas, rank. They enrich the soil with nitrogen. This is the second tier.

The grasses represent the plants of the families of umbelliferous, labutose, buttercup, carnation - this is basically the third tier.

Herbs are the very first, the main link in the food chain of land communities. Not an exception and the meadow ecosystem. Animals (herbivores), insects, birds feed on both greens and seeds. The more wild grasses in the meadow, the more possible consumers can feed on this site.

Consumables

Consumers of the meadow ecosystem are divided into three orders:

1. To consumers (consumers) of the first order are representatives of the fauna directly feeding on producers (producers), that is, plants. These are insects (butterflies, bees, snails), herbivorous mammals (rodents, cattle, horses, sheep, goats, hares), meadow birds (quail, lark, partridge).

2. Second-order consumers are carnivores eating plant-eating animals. These are foxes, hedgehogs, insectivorous birds (wagtail, corncrake, snipe, tit, magpie) and more spiders.

3. Third-order consumers are predators eating carnivores. They are birds (kestrel, harrier, hawk, kite) and animals (eg, fox).

Destroyers of the meadow ecosystem

Any food chain must be closed, this is due to the cyclical nature of its reproduction. Therefore, there must exist organisms capable of decomposing all organic remains. еструкторами. They are called decomposers, or destructors. They perform very important functions - they are orderlies in nature, they close the biogeochemical cycle.

Where do organic remains come from? This is the dead and ground (root) parts of plants, fallen leaves fallen in autumn, dead (or from any disease, or killed or finished the process of existence) birds and animals, the products of the life of birds, animals and humans. All this organic is rich in energy, it is called detritus.

The ecosystem of the meadow makes it possible for the following animals that feed on detritus (detritophages):

• Birds - eagles vultures, crows, jackdaws;

• Insects - ants, insect larvae developing under the ground, dung beetles, biped centipedes;

• Earthworms.

All of the above representatives of meadow fauna belong traditionally to consumers who occupy a separate niche in the hierarchy of consumers. Consuming dead remains and thereby cleaning the environment, they leave behind solid undigested residues (excrement).

Reedents of the meadow

Meadow grasses, which are producers, for their growth should take from the soil the mineral substances dissolved in it.

On land (including in the meadow), mineral substances enter the soil in two ways - biotic and abiotic.

1. In nature, only fungi and soil microorganisms are able to convert complex organic compounds into simple organic and inorganic compounds. They are the main decomposers of terrestrial ecosystems. It's a biotic way.

2. Mechanical destruction (freeze-thawing), chemical and photochemical reactions taking place in nature, convert complex organic compounds into accessible organic and inorganic decomposers. This is an abiotic way.