Ecosystems And Ecology

Ecosystems and Ecology

Ecosystems and Ecology gives you the information about definitions and various examples to understand the concepts of environment, ecology, and ecosystems.

Image by Pandanna Imagen from Pixabay
Ecosystems and Ecology

What is the Environment?

Everything that is around is collectively known as Environment.
The environment is the combination of living and non-living organisms and interaction between the living and non-living components.
The environment keeps changing continuously as it is not static.

Components of the Environment

Biotic Components – All the living organisms.
Abiotic Components – All the non-living things are called the abiotic components.

Examples of biotic components

Plants
Animals
Micro-organisms

Examples of abiotic components

Rocks
Soil
Water
Fire
Air
Energy

What is Ecology?

#Ecosystems and Ecology

Ecology is the study of the relationship between living organisms and their environment.

Ecology is made of two words – Oikos and Logos.

Oikos – the place to live in.
Logos – Study

So, Ecology is the study of the place where we live in.

Components of Ecology

An individual organism is a member of a species. A group of individual members of a species is called the population of the species. Many such populations combine and make a community. This community has a relationship with its environment and the community interacts with the environment according to the relationship. The relationship between the community of living organisms and their environment is called an ecosystem. A group of all the similar types of ecosystems is called a biome. All the biomes on the earth combine and make the biosphere. The biosphere is the region where the atmosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere interact and supports life on the earth.

Individual – Individual and independent organism.
(ex. – a deer)
⇓
Population – Group of organisms of same species.
(ex. – a population of deer)
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Community – Population of many species.
(ex. – populations of deer, lions, wolves, zebras, etc.)
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Ecosystem – Interaction of community with their environment.
(ex. – relationship among all the community animals and the forests they live in)
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Biome – Big reasons containing similar ecosystems.
(ex. – tropical rainforests)
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Biosphere – Region on the Earth where life exists.
(ex. – complete biosphere of the earth)

What is an Ecosystem?

A relationship between the living organisms and their environment is called an ecosystem. Living organisms interact with their surroundings in a particular way. All the nutrients and energy flow happen within an ecosystem according to the relationships.

The study of an ecosystem is called ecology.

There are different types of living organisms are present in the ecosystem.

Primary Producers (Autotrophs) – Plants that produce food by photosynthesis.
Consumers – Herbivores, Carnivores, Omnivores.