Living things and their home work together.
Plants and animals live in one place. They need soil and air too. This helps them grow and stay healthy. It is like a big team.
Can you find a team in nature?
Living things and their home work together.
Plants and animals live in one place. They need soil and air too. This helps them grow.
Plants catch sunlight to make food. Animals eat plants or other animals. This moves energy through the team. When things die, tiny helpers break them down. This puts nutrients back into the soil. It helps new plants grow again. Nature is a busy, working team.
An ecosystem is a busy, working system. It is made of living things and their home.
Living things are called biotic parts. These include plants and animals. Non-living things are called abiotic parts. These include soil, air, and water.
These parts work together in a set of steps. First, plants use sunlight to make food. This is called photosynthesis. This process lets energy into the system. Next, animals eat the plants. Some animals eat other animals too. This moves energy through the system.
When things die, decomposers help. These are tiny living things that break down dead matter. They let out carbon into the air. They also put nutrients back into the soil. This helps new plants grow.
External factors like climate control the ecosystem. Internal factors like root competition also help shape it. Ecosystems can change or face trouble from humans. But they can also recover and stay strong.
An ecosystem is a busy, working system of nature. It is made of living things and their physical environment. Scientists call the living parts biotic factors. These include plants, animals, and microbes. The non-living parts are called abiotic factors. These include soil, water, and sunlight.
These two parts are linked together. They connect through nutrient cycles and energy flows. This means matter and energy move from one part to another. Every ecosystem occupies a specific physical space.
Energy enters the system through a way it works called photosynthesis. During this, plants capture light energy. They use it to combine carbon dioxide and water. This makes carbohydrates and oxygen. This total amount of photosynthesis is called gross primary production (GPP). Plants use about half of this energy to grow and stay healthy. The leftover part is called net primary production (NPP).
Animals then move this energy around. Herbivores eat the plants to get energy. Carnivores eat those animals. This creates a food chain. In nature, these chains are actually complex food webs.
People have studied these systems for a long time. The term "ecosystem" was first used in 1935. A British ecologist named Arthur Tansley used it. A man named Arthur Roy Clapham actually came up with the word. Tansley wanted to show how materials move between living things and their home. Later, scientists like G. Evelyn Hutchinson and Raymond Lindeman studied them more. Lindeman suggested that energy flow is the main driver of an ecosystem. Other scientists, the Odum brothers, used a "systems approach" to study them.
Many different factors control how an ecosystem works. External factors like climate control the main structure. Climate determines which biome an ecosystem belongs to. Rainfall and temperature also affect how much energy is available. Internal factors also play a huge role. These include things like root competition and shading. Decomposition is another important internal factor. Decomposers break down dead organic matter. This releases carbon back into the air. It also turns nutrients back into a form plants can use.
Ecosystems provide many goods and services for people. Ecosystem goods are material things like food, water, and fuel. Ecosystem services are improvements to the world around us. These include cleaning the air and water. They also include things like crop pollination. However, humans can cause many problems for these systems. Pollution, habitat loss, and invasive species can hurt them. If an ecosystem loses its main features, it is called "collapsed." We can use restoration to help fix these systems.
An ecosystem, or ecological system, is a complex network formed by living organisms interacting with their physical environment. This system is composed of two main parts: biotic and abiotic components. Biotic factors are the living parts, such as plants, animals, and microbes. Abiotic factors are the non-living parts, like soil, water, and sunlight.
These components are linked through energy flows and nutrient cycles. These cycles allow matter and energy to move from one pool to another. This movement is known as an ecosystem process. These processes can occur at many different scales. The correct scale for study depends on the specific question being asked.
Energy and matter move through a specific sequence of steps. First, energy enters the system through photosynthesis. During this process, plants capture light energy to combine carbon dioxide and water. This creates carbohydrates and oxygen. The total amount of photosynthesis in an ecosystem is called gross primary production (GPP). Plants use about half of this GPP for their own respiration to support growth. The remaining energy is called net primary production (NPP).
This NPP is either eaten by animals while the plant is alive or becomes detritus when the plant dies.
Organisms occupy different levels within a trophic system. Primary producers are the photosynthetic organisms that start the energy flow. Primary consumers, also called herbivores, eat the plant tissues. Secondary consumers, known as carnivores, eat the primary consumers. There are also microbivores that feed on microbes like bacteria and fungi. A single sequence of consumption, such as plant to herbivore to carnivore, is a food chain. However, most real systems are much more complex. They form food webs where organisms feed on multiple types of food at different levels.
Decomposition is a vital process for maintaining these systems. Decomposers break down dead organic matter and detritus. This process releases carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. It also facilitates nutrient cycling by converting nutrients from dead biomass back into forms plants can use.
In terrestrial ecosystems, the vast majority of net primary production ends up being broken down by these decomposers. In contrast, aquatic systems see a much higher proportion of plant biomass being consumed by herbivores.
Ecosystems are controlled by both external and internal factors. External factors, or state factors, determine the overall structure. Climate is the strongest external factor, determining the biome an ecosystem belongs to. Rainfall and temperature influence photosynthesis and energy availability. Topography also plays a role by affecting microclimates and water movement.
Internal factors also control and are controlled by ecosystem processes. These include root competition, shading, and decomposition. While external factors provide resource inputs, internal factors control how available those resources are within the system.
The concept of the ecosystem has a specific history. The term was first used in 1935 by British ecologist Arthur Tansley. The word was actually coined by Arthur Roy Clapham at Tansley's request. Tansley wanted to emphasize the transfer of materials between organisms and their environment. Later, G. Evelyn Hutchinson suggested that mineral nutrients in lakes limit algal production. This, in turn, limits the animals that eat the algae. Raymond Lindeman further suggested that energy flow is the primary driver of ecosystems. Finally, Howard and Eugene Odum developed a systems approach to study these energy and material flows.
Ecosystems are dynamic and can be measured by their resistance and resilience. Resistance is the tendency of a system to remain close to its equilibrium state. Ecological resilience is the capacity to absorb disturbance and reorganize while keeping the same function and identity.
Many ecosystems provide essential goods and services. Ecosystem goods are tangible products like food, water, fuel, and medicinal plants. Ecosystem services are improvements to the environment, such as cleaning air and water or pollinating crops. However, human impacts like pollution and habitat fragmentation can cause degradation. If an ecosystem loses its defining features, it is considered collapsed.
Understanding these systems is vital for global stability. Ecosystems help maintain the hydrological cycle and atmospheric oxygen. They also play a role in the carbon cycle, which influences the global climate through the greenhouse effect. Protecting these systems through restoration can help achieve Sustainable Development Goals. By studying ecosystems through monitoring or experimentation, scientists learn how to protect these complex, living webs.
Where will your curiosity go next?
🖼️ Images & Media (10)
More to explore
✨ What else?
Related topics you might enjoy
🔬 Go deeper
More advanced topics to explore
🪜 Step back
Simpler topics to build understanding
What is Nepedia?
A free, ad-free encyclopedia for children. Every article is written at five reading levels, so the same page works for a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old — use the level switcher above to see this one change. No account needed to read.