What is an Ecosystem?

An ecosystem is a unit composed of interdependent organisms that share the same habitat. Ecosystems usually form a series of chains that show the interdependence of organisms within the system. It can also be defined as: "An ecosystem consists of the biological community of a place and the physical and chemical factors that constitute the abiotic environment."

An ecosystem includes all of the living things like plants, animals and organisms in a given area, interacting with each other, and also with their nonliving environments like weather, earth, sun, soil, climate, atmosphere.

Levels of organization in an ecosystem

-Individual: is any living thing or organism; individuals do not breed with individuals from other groups. Animals, unlike plants, tend to be very definite with this term because some plants can cross-breed with other fertile plants.

 -Population: a group of individuals of a given species that live in a specific geographic area at a given time.  Note that populations include individuals of the same species, but may have different genetic makeup such as hair/eye/skin colour and size between themselves and other populations.

-Ecosystem Community: this includes all the populations in a specific area at a given time. A community includes populations of organisms of different species; a great community usually includes biodiversity.

-Ecosystem:  ecosystems include more than a community of living organisms interacting with the environment. At this level they depend on other abiotic factors such as rocks, water, air and temperature.

-Ecosystem Biome: is a set of ecosystems sharing similar characteristics with their abiotic factors adapted to their environments.

-Ecosystem Biosphere: when we consider all the different biomes, each blending into the other, will all humans living in many different geographic areas, we form a huge community of humans, animals and plants, in their defined habitats. A biosphere is the sum of all the ecosystems established on Earth.