What Is An Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a natural unit

consisting of all plants, animals and
micro-organisms (biotic factors) in an
area functioning together with all of the
non-living physical (abiotic) factors of
the environment.

 Aquatic systems are those that contain

plants and animals that predominantly
depend on a significant amount of
water to be present for at least part of
the year.

CHAPARRAL
A dense, impenetrable thicket of
shrubs or dwarf trees. A vegetation
type dominated by shrubs and small
trees, especially evergreen trees with
thick, small leaves.

CORAL REEF
A large underwater formation
created
from
the
calcium
carbonate skeletons of coral
animals; can also refer to the
animals living on and near the
coral reef.

DESERT
A desert is a landscape form or region
that receives very little precipitation.
Deserts can be defined as areas that
receive an average annual precipitation
of less than 250 mm (10 in), or as areas
in which more water is lost than falls as
precipitation.In the Kppen climate
classification system, deserts are
classed as BWh (hot desert) or BWk
(temperate desert).

GREATER YELLOWSTONE
ECOSYSTEM
Greater Yellowstone is the last remaining large,
nearly intact ecosystem in the northern
temperate zone of the Earth and is partly
located in Yellowstone National Park. Conflict
over management has been controversial, and
the area is a flagship site among conservation
groups that promote ecosystem management.
The Greater Yellow Ecosystem (GYE) is one of
the world's foremost natural laboratories in
landscape ecology and geology and is a worldrenowned recreational site. It is also home to
the animals of Yellowstone.

HUMAN ECOSYSTEM
Human ecosystems are complex cybernetic
systems that are increasingly being used by
ecological
anthropologists
and
other
scholars to examine the ecological aspects
of human communities in a way that
integrates multiple factors as economics,
socio-political organization, psychological
factors, and physical factors related to the
environment.

LARGE MARINE ECOSYSTEM

Any marine environment, from pond to
ocean, in which plants and animals
interact with the chemical and physical
features on the environment.

LITTORAL ZONE
The region of the shore of a lake or sea
or ocean / the shore of a sea or ocean.

MARINE ECOSYSTEM
Any marine environment, from pond to
ocean, in which plants and animals
interact with the chemical and physical
features of the environment.

RAINFOREST
Mixed rainforest or mixed forest) is a
rainforest classification where eucalypt
forest grows in combination with Cool
Temperate rainforest species.

SAVANNA
A tropical or subtropical grassland
containing scattered trees and droughtresistant undergrowth.

SUBSURFACE LITHOAUTOTROPHIC
MICROBIAL ECOSYSTEM
A minute life form; a microorganism,
especially a bacterium that causes
disease.

TAIGA
A moist sub arctic coniferous forest
that begins where the tundra ends and
is dominated by spruces and firs.

TUNDRA
A type of ecosystem dominated by
lichens, mosses, grasses, and woody
plants. Tundra is found at high latitudes
(arctic tundra) and high altitudes
A treeless plain characteristic of the
arctic and sub arctic regions.

URBAN ECOSYSTEM
Is the subfield of ecology which deals with the
interaction of plants, animals and humans with
each other and with their environment in urban or
urbanizing settings. Analysis of urban settings in
the context of ecosystem ecology (looking at the
cycling of matter and the flow of energy through
the ecosystem) can result in healthier, better
managed communities. Studying the factors which
allow wild plants and animals to survive (and
sometimes thrive) in built environments can also
create more livable spaces. It allows people to
adapt to the changing environment while
preserving the resources.

 The diagram
above shows
how
both
energy
and
inorganic
Energy Flow Through the
Ecosystem
nutrients
flow
through
the
ecosystem.
The dark arrows represent the movement
of this energy .
The movement of the inorganic nutrients
is represented by the open arrows.

To summarize: In the flow of energy and

inorganic nutrients through the ecosystem, a
few generalizations can be made:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

The ultimate source of energy (for most

ecosystems) is the sun
The ultimate fate of energy in ecosystems is
for it to be lost as heat.
Energy and nutrients are passed from
organism to organism through the food chain
as one organism eats another.
Decomposers remove the last energy from
the remains of organisms.
Inorganic nutrients are cycled, energy is not.

Food Chains and Webs:

A food chain is the path of food from a given final
consumer back to a producer. For instance, a typical
food chain in a field ecosystem might be:
grass

grasshopper

mouse

snake

hawk

The real world, of course, is more complicated

than a simple food chain. While many organisms
do specialize in their diets (anteaters come to
mind as a specialist), other organisms do not.
Hawks don't limit their diets to snakes; snakes
eat things other than mice. Mouse eats grass as
well as grasshoppers, and so on.

A more realistic depiction of who eats whom is

called a food, web; an example is shown
below:

It is when we have a picture of a food web in front of

us that the definition of food chain makes more sense.
We can now see that a food web consists of
interlocking food chains, and that the only way to
untangle the chains is to trace back along a given food
chain to its source.

 The food webs you see here are grazing food

chains since at their base are producers which
the herbivores then graze on. While grazing
food chains are important, in nature they are
outnumbered by detritus-based food chains. In
detritus-based food chains, decomposers are at
the base of the food chain, and sustain the
carnivores which feed on them. In terms of the
weight (or biomass) of animals in many
ecosystems, more of their body mass can be
traced back to detritus than to living producers.

PYRAMIDS
The concept
biomass
important.

It is a general principle that the further

removed a trophic level is from its source
(detritus or producer), the less biomass it will
contain (biomass here would refer to the
combined weight of all the organisms in the
trophic level).

of
is