What is an Ecosystem?
An ecosystem is all living and nonliving things in an environment and how they interact. The living parts of an ecosystem depend on the non-living parts. For example, coastal redwood trees need water, air, and sunlight to survive. During the dry summer months, the trees get their water from the fog that rolls in. The living parts of an ecosystem depend on the other living parts of the ecosystem. For example, foxes eat the rabbits that live in their woodland ecosystem.
Living Things: Plants, animals, bacteria, etc.
Nonliving Things: water, air, soil, sun, etc.
Nonliving Things: water, air, soil, sun, etc.
Population - all the members of one species that live within an area of an ecosystem. The size may change depending on available: food, water, and space
Community - different populations that interact in an area
Habitat - The place where a living things makes its home is its habitat. A habitat has everything that a plant or animal needs. For example, the desert has water, oxygen, and food that a sidewinder snake would need.
Niche - specific role an organism has in its habitat (type of food it eats, how it gets its food, adaptations, etc.)
Community - different populations that interact in an area
Habitat - The place where a living things makes its home is its habitat. A habitat has everything that a plant or animal needs. For example, the desert has water, oxygen, and food that a sidewinder snake would need.
Niche - specific role an organism has in its habitat (type of food it eats, how it gets its food, adaptations, etc.)
Ecosystems can change over time. For example, an ecosystem may get more rain than usual which cause more plants to grow. This could cause the animal population to grow since they have more plants to eat. More predators would come into the area, thus changing the ecosystem. Another example may be a fire in an area. If the fire destroys the grasses, the small animal (i.e. squirrels) population will drop. When that population drops, predators like coyotes drop as well because they have less food to eat.
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