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An ecosystem is a community of living organisms interacting with each other and their non-living environment. Energy enters ecosystems through photosynthesis by plants and is transferred between organisms through food webs. Decomposers break down dead organic matter and release nutrients back into the environment to be used again by plants and other organisms, cycling matter and nutrients within the system. Ecosystems are influenced by both external factors such as climate and geography that are not influenced by the ecosystem itself, as well as internal factors like species composition and nutrient cycling that can influence and be influenced by the ecosystem.

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44 views2 pages

Ecosystem: Jump To Navigation Jump To Search

An ecosystem is a community of living organisms interacting with each other and their non-living environment. Energy enters ecosystems through photosynthesis by plants and is transferred between organisms through food webs. Decomposers break down dead organic matter and release nutrients back into the environment to be used again by plants and other organisms, cycling matter and nutrients within the system. Ecosystems are influenced by both external factors such as climate and geography that are not influenced by the ecosystem itself, as well as internal factors like species composition and nutrient cycling that can influence and be influenced by the ecosystem.

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Dexter
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Ecosystem

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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This article is about natural ecosystems. For the term used in man-made systems, see Digital
ecosystem. For the system of classifying ecologically homogeneous land units, see Biome.
"Biosystem" redirects here. For the journal, see BioSystems.

Left: Coral reef ecosystems are highly productive marine systems.[1] Right: Temperate rainforest on the Olympic


Peninsula in Washington state.

An ecosystem is a community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving


components of their environment, interacting as a system.[2] These biotic and abiotic
components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. [3] Energy
enters the system through photosynthesis and is incorporated into plant tissue. By
feeding on plants and on one another, animals play an important role in the movement
of matter and energy through the system. They also influence the quantity of plant
and microbial biomass present. By breaking down dead organic
matter, decomposers release carbon back to the atmosphere and facilitate nutrient
cycling by converting nutrients stored in dead biomass back to a form that can be
readily used by plants and other microbes.[4]
Ecosystems are controlled by external and internal factors. External factors such
as climate, parent material which forms the soil and topography, control the overall
structure of an ecosystem but are not themselves influenced by the ecosystem. [5] Unlike
external factors, internal factors are controlled, for example, decomposition, root
competition, shading, disturbance, succession, and the types of species present.
Ecosystems are dynamic entities—they are subject to periodic disturbances and are in
the process of recovering from some past disturbance. [6] Ecosystems in similar
environments that are located in different parts of the world can end up doing things
very differently simply because they have different pools of species present. [5] Internal
factors not only control ecosystem processes but are also controlled by them and are
often subject to feedback loops.[5]
Resource inputs are generally controlled by external processes like climate and parent
material. Resource availability within the ecosystem is controlled by internal factors like
decomposition, root competition or shading.[5] Although humans operate within
ecosystems, their cumulative effects are large enough to influence external factors like
climate.[5]
Biodiversity affects ecosystem functioning, as do the processes
of disturbance and succession. Ecosystems provide a variety of goods and
services upon which people depend.

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