Forests are large terrestrial habitats and constitute one of the important ecosystems of the world. The components of a forest ecosystem are abiotic and biotic components.
Biotic Component: These are in organic as well as norganic as well as organic substances present in the soil and atmosphere. The availability of light in a forest ecosystem may vary depending upon the types of species and their canopy structure. In addition to the minerals present in forests we find the dead organic debris the litter accumulation.
Biotic component: The living organisms in food chain occur in the following order:
Producers: Trees are the main producers in a forest ecosystem with much species diversity and grater degree of stratification especially in tropical moist deciduous forests. Besides trees forests also has a good diversity of several climbers, epiphytes shrubs, and ground vegetation. In a tropical deciduous forest the important producers include Tectona grandis, short robusta, butea species etc.
Consumers: The different consumers in a forest ecosystem are as follows;
Primary consumers: These are the herbivores animals which feed on different plant parts constitute the primary consumers and include the animals feeding on tree level as ants files, beetles, leaf hoppers, bugs and spiders etc., The larger grazing animals present in forest ecosystem are elephants, squirrels, flying foxes, fruit bats,nilgai deer, moles, etc.
Secondary consumers. These are the animals which feed mainly as primary consumers and include lizards, snakes, birds and fox etc.
Tertiary consumers: These are the top carnivores like lion, tiger, etc, that eat carnivores of secondary consumers level.
Decomposers: These are wide variety of microorganisms including fungi and actinomycetes etc. which convert the dead parts of plants and animals into organic material and finally into the smaller elements constitute the decomposers.
