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BIOLOGICAL COMMUNITY on earth exists in isolation. Human beings have acquired
an especially vivid awareness of this truth in the past quarter of a century.
Concern about pollution of air, land, and water has become acute throughout
much of the world, and the threats to endangered species have received worldwide
media attention.It is within the context of an "escape from civilization"- or of a "return to nature" -that many tourists all over the planet make their first visit to a national park. At a sanctuary such as Kanha, visitors are not likely to be disappointed. They may gain an especially rewarding appreciation of the park, however, if they look at it as an ecosystem. This term, coined by the British plant biologist A. G. Tansley in 1935, has been defined as "all the living organisms in a particular environment, together with the physical environment itself."Tourists themselves are a component of the ecosystem comprising Kanha.
One of the most basic links among species in such a system is the transfer of energy in the food chain. Another important set of relationships stems from certain keystone species. Conservation of the tiger, for example, is a critical environmental
issue for India now, not just because of this creature's own magnificence, but
because of the value of the species to whole ecosystems.Ecosystems exist in many different sizes and shapes. They may range, for example, from a small pond to a vast desert. Within any particular ecosystem, water, soil, plants, and animals interact. Mineral nutrients are recycled between living and non-living components of the system. Plants absorb energy, and the process of photosynthesis helps them to grow. These plants are often called producers. They make their own food.
If we use a geometrical shape to illustrate some of the most important relationships within an ecosystem, the producers would be at the base of a pyramid. Herbivores, or vegetation-eaters, are considered primary consumers. At Kanha, these include the four species of deer (sambar, barasingha, chital, and barking deer), as well as the antelope (nilgai, blackbuck, chowsingha) and the gaur. Vegetation is also an important part in the diet of langurs, sloth bears, and wild boar. Primary consumers sustain themselves by eating plants, exclusively or for the most part. They are on the nexthigher level of the pyramid, above the producers.
One level above the primary consumers are the secondary consumers, who are sometimes called predators or carnivores. Although these species may sometimes eat plant matter, their diet is primarily other animals. Carnivores themselves are often further subdivided into two categories: primary and secondary. Primary carnivores, such as mongooses and foxes, eat only (or mostly) herbivores. Secondary carnivores, such as tigers and leopards, may eat other carnivores as well as herbivores.
