Table of Contents
What is an Ecosystem?
An ecosystem is a community of different living things and their physical environment. The living things in an ecosystem interact with one another and with the environment.
Components of Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a community of plants, animals and microorganisms in conjunction with their physical environment. The term can refer to a small body of water, such as a puddle, or to the planet Earth.
Components of an ecosystem include:
• Abiotic factors, such as sunlight, water, and minerals
• Biotic factors, such as plants, animals, and microorganisms
• Energy flow, such as photosynthesis and predation
• Food webs, such as the transfer of energy from producers to consumers
• Habitats, such as forests, wetlands, and prairies
Food Chain and Web
A food chain is a linear sequence of links in an ecological community, where each organism in the chain eats the organism below it. The food chain starts with the primary producers, usually plants, and ends with the top carnivores, which are usually animals.
A food web is an ecological network of food chains. It shows how the different members of an ecosystem are linked together by their feeding relationships. Food webs are more complex than food chains because they show how many different animals eat each other.
