ORGANIZATION OF BIOSPHERE
BIOSPHERE
·
The Biosphere (also
known as the Ecosphere), is the worldwide sum of all Ecosystems.
·
The Biosphere is
made up of the parts of Earth where life exists.
·
Scientists
describe the Earth in terms of Spheres.
a)
Lithosphere or
Geosphere - The solid surface layer of the Earth.
b)
Atmosphere - The
layer of air that stretches above the Lithosphere.
c)
Hydrosphere - The
earth’s water, on the surface, in the ground, and in the air.
d) Cryosphere – The portions of Earth's surface where water is in solid form, including sea ice, lake ice, river ice, snow cover, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, and frozen ground. Thus, there is a wide overlap with the Hydrosphere.
·
Since life
exists on the ground, in the air, and in the water,
the biosphere overlaps all these spheres. Although
the biosphere measures about 20 kilometers from top to bottom, almost
all life exists between about 500 meters below the ocean’s surface to about 6
kilometers above sea level.
·
Biosphere maintains
or creates the conditions of temperature, light, gases, moisture, and minerals
required for life processes.
·
Biosphere can
be naturally sub-divided into Terrestrial and Aquatic biosphere.
i) Terrestrial biosphere
·
The Terrestrial
biosphere is usually distributed into particular climatic regions called Biomes,
each of which is characterized by a dominant plant form, altitude, and
latitude.
·
Particular
biomes include grassland, desert, mountain, and tropical rain forest.
ii) Aquatic biosphere
·
The Aquatic biosphere
is generally divisible into freshwater and marine realms.
COMMON TERMINOLOGIES IN MICROBIAL
ECOLOGY
Ecology
·
The study of
the interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment.
Microbial Ecology
·
A subset of
ecology focusing on microbes.
Biogeography
·
Patterns in the
distribution of organisms over space.
Microbial Biogeography
·
A subset of
biogeography focusing on microbes.
Community
·
A group of
different kinds of organisms (at least two) that occupy the same space at the
same time that interact and share the same environment.
·
Mixture of
different Population is called Community.
Populations
·
Similar
organisms produce a Population (all the members of a single species) through
reproduction.
·
For organisms
with Sexual reproduction, this level is the “Species”. In contrast, Prokaryotes
are classified using taxonomic units such as “Strain”.
Microbiome
·
A community of
microbes that occupy a specific space or collection of spaces is called
Microbiome.
·
The “Human microbiome”
refers generally to the communities of microbes found in and on humans.
·
The “Built environment
microbiome” refers to the communities of microbes found in and on entities that
have been built by humans.
Ecosystem
·
A community of
organisms and their environment that operate as a system.
Habitat
·
The habitat is
the physical location in the environment to which an organism has adapted.
·
In the case of
microorganisms, the habitat is frequently a microenvironment, where particular
qualities of oxygen, light, or nutrient content are somewhat stable.
Niche
·
The Niche is
the overall role that a species (or population) serves in a community. This
includes such activities as
ü Nutritional intake (what it eats)
ü Position in the community structure (what is eating
it)
ü Rate of population growth.
Nice presentation
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