ABOUT ECOSYSTEM

In ecology, an ecosystem is a geographical area in which plants, animals, and other species, as well as weather and topography, coexist to form a sphere of life that surrounds them. In addition to biotic (living) components, ecosystems may also contain abiotic (nonliving) components. Biotic factors include organisms such as plants, animals, and other species. Abiotic variables include rocks, temperature, and humidity, to name a few examples. Every part of an ecosystem is either directly or indirectly reliant on every other aspect of the ecosystem. For example, a change in the temperature of an ecosystem will frequently have an impact on the types of plants that grow there. Animals that rely on plants for food and shelter will have to adapt to the changes, relocate to a different ecosystem, or die if the changes are not reversed quickly.

ECOSYSTEM

Everything in an ecosystem is linked to everything else, either directly or indirectly. In many cases, if the temperature of an ecosystem changes, it can change how many plants will be able to grow there. Adapt to the changes, move to a new ecosystem, or die.

Large and small ecosystems can be found all over the world. Tide pools, the ponds left by the ocean when the tide goes out, are tiny ecosystems. They have everything you need to live. Tide pools are full of seaweed, which is a type of algae that uses photosynthesis to make food. People who eat plants like abalone eat seaweed. Carnivores like sea stars eat other animals in the tide pool, like clams or mussels, that are in the water at the time. 

Tide pools change with the level of the ocean. When the tide comes in and the pool is full, some organisms, like seaweed, can grow. This is when they can thrive. When the tide goes out, there are shallow pools where other organisms, like hermit crabs, can live. They need these pools to stay dry. It’s this way that the biotic parts of the ecosystem depend on the abiotic ones.

Earth’s surface is made up of a group of ecosystems that are all linked together. Ecosystems are often part of a bigger biome. Biomes are large parts of land, sea, or the air. It’s not just forests and ponds that make up biomes. There are also tundra and bogs in the world. Their general structure is based on what kind of plants and animals live in them, so they’re very easy to find. Many different ecosystems can be found in every forest, pond, reef, or part of the tundra, and you can find them all there.

The biome of the Sahara Desert, for example, has a lot of different ecosystems in it. The biome has an arid climate and hot weather that make it unique. Oasis ecosystems can be found in the Sahara, where date palm trees, water, and animals like crocodiles live. The Sahara also has dune ecosystems, which change with the wind. 

The snakes and scorpions in these ecosystems must be able to live in sand dunes for a long time. The Sahara even has a marine environment, where the Atlantic Ocean creates cool fogs on the Northwest African coast where the land meets the water from the Atlantic. Small trees and shrubs live in this Sahara ecosystem. Goats and other animals that eat small trees live in this area.

Even if two places sound alike, they could have very different ecosystems. People in Mongolia and China have a very different kind of desert than people in Egypt have a very different kind of desert. The Gobi is a cold desert that gets a lot of snow and has freezing temperatures. The Gobi isn’t like the Sahara. It has ecosystems that aren’t made of sand, but miles of bare rock. They can grow in the cold and dry weather. As a result, gazelles and even takhi, a rare type of wild horse, live in these Gobi ecosystems.

Even the cold desert ecosystems of the Gobi aren’t the same as the desert ecosystems of Antarctica, which are frozen. As you can see from this map, Antarctica has very little vegetation and a thick layer on the ground that is mostly made of ice. It is very dry in this desert ecosystem, and there are very few mosses. Only a few birds live there, such as skuas, which are very small.

People and things that live in the environment are at risk from these things

People have been working with ecosystems for a long time. Many cultures grew up near nearby ecosystems. Many Native American tribes in North America’s Great Plains lived complex lives based on the plants and animals that lived there. A large grazing animal native to the Great Plains, bison, became the most important living thing in many Plains Indian cultures, like the Lakota or Kiowa, because it was so important to their way of life.

 Bison are sometimes called buffalo. People from these tribes used buffalo hides for shelter and clothes, buffalo meat for food, and buffalo horn to make things like tools. Bison herds lived in the tall grass prairies of the Great Plains. The bison herds were followed by tribes all year long.

As human populations have grown, however, many ecosystems have been taken over by people. There was a lot of tallgrass prairie in the Great Plains that was turned into farmland. As the ecosystem got smaller, fewer bison were able to live. Today, only a few herds are left in places like Yellowstone National Park.

In the tropical rainforests near the Amazon River in South America, there is a lot of the same thing happening. The Amazon rainforest has a lot of different ecosystems, like canopies, understories, and forest floors. These ecosystems have a lot of food.

In the canopies, tall, thin trees like figs look for sunlight. Canopy ecosystems also have other plants, called epiphytes, that grow right on the branches. Understory ecosystems are found beneath the canopy. The canopies are lighter and less humid than the awnings. Animals like monkeys live in understory ecosystems, where they eat fruit from trees as well as smaller animals, like beetles, that live there. Many different flowers grow on the forest floor, and insects like butterflies eat them. Butterflies, in turn, provide food for animals like spiders in forest floor ecosystems, like the ones found in the woods.

Humans are putting all of these rain forest ecosystems in the Amazon at risk. Land is being cleared for farming, housing, and business. Countries in the Amazon rainforest, like Brazil, Venezuela, and Ecuador, aren’t very well-off. People who are poor can make money by cutting down trees to make space for crops like soy and corn. These things give them a steady source of income and food. Family health care can get better, and kids may be able to go to school, too.

However, the destruction of rain forest ecosystems comes with a price tag, too. In the past, many modern medicines have been made from plants found in the rainforest. Curare, which is used to relax muscles, and quinine, which is used to treat malaria, are just two of the medicines on this list. A lot of scientists think that destroying the rainforest ecosystem could stop more medicines from being made.

The rain forest ecosystems are also bad for farming. There aren’t as many nutrients in Amazon rainforest soil as there are in Great Plains soil, where people cut down tallgrass prairies. Only a few crops may grow before all the nutrients are used up. They have to move on to the next piece of land, leaving an empty ecosystem behind.

Ecosystems that rebound

Ecosystems can grow back from being destroyed, though. People in the South Pacific are worried about coral reef ecosystems because of warmer water and less salt in the water. Corals turn white, or lose their bright colours, when the water is too hot for them. Water that isn’t salty enough kills them. Without the reef structure, the ecosystem breaks down. Organisms and plants like seagrass are lost. Animals, like fish, snakes, and shrimp, are also lost.

Most coral reef ecosystems will bounce back after they die. Colorful corals return to the ocean as it gets cooler and more salt stays in the water. Slowly, they make reefs. All of these things also come back. People, cultures, and governments are working together to protect ecosystems that are important to them. There are ecosystem rights in the constitution of Ecuador, for example, and this is something that the government agrees with. 

Rights of Nature say that nature, or Pachamama [Earth], where life is reproduced and exists, has the right to live, stay alive and regenerate itself. This means that nature has the right to live, stay alive and regenerate itself. Every person, group, or country will be able to ask for public bodies to recognise nature’s rights. Ecuador has more than just rain forest ecosystems. It also has river ecosystems and the unique ecosystems on the Galapagos Islands.

DIAGRAM OF POND ECOSYSTEM