Ecosystem

What is an Ecosystem?

An ecosystem is a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment. In an ecosystem, living and non-living components, such as plants, animals, water, and soil, work together as a system, exchanging energy and nutrients.

A Big Natural Community

An ecosystem is a group of living and non-living things that work together in the same environment. It includes animals, plants, water, soil, and even sunlight. Everything in an ecosystem is connected and depends on each other to survive.

What Makes Up an Ecosystem?

An ecosystem has two main parts:

1. Living Things (Biotic): Animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms like bacteria.
2. Non-Living Things (Abiotic): Sunlight, air, water, soil, and rocks.

These parts interact, creating a balanced system. For example, plants grow using sunlight and water, animals eat the plants, and the soil recycles nutrients.

Types of Ecosystems

Ecosystems exist everywhere and come in many forms:

• Forest Ecosystems: Full of trees, birds, insects, and fungi.
• Ocean Ecosystems: Home to fish, coral, seaweed, and whales.
• Desert Ecosystems: Include cacti, lizards, snakes, and sandy soil.
• Freshwater Ecosystems: Rivers, lakes, and ponds with frogs, fish, and algae.

Why Ecosystems Are Important

Ecosystems keep nature balanced by:

• Producing Oxygen: Plants in ecosystems make the air we breathe.
• Providing Food: Ecosystems grow crops, fish, and animals that feed humans and wildlife.
• Recycling Waste: Decomposers like fungi break down dead plants and animals, returning nutrients to the soil.

How They Stay Balanced

Every part of an ecosystem plays a role. For example:

• Predators, like wolves, control herbivore populations.
• Plants provide shelter and food for animals.
• Water and sunlight help plants grow.

When one part is damaged, the whole ecosystem can be affected.

How Ecosystems Function Within Biomes

Ecosystems are smaller communities of plants, animals, and microorganisms that interact with each other and their environment. Biomes are large areas that contain similar ecosystems with specific climates, like deserts, forests, or oceans.

Each ecosystem within a biome has living things (like plants and animals) and non-living things (like water, soil, and sunlight) that work together. For example, in a forest biome, there may be several ecosystems, like ponds, grasslands, and woodlands. Each of these ecosystems supports different plants and animals that are adapted to live there.