Science
Ecosystems.
Definition
An ecosystem is a community of living organisms (biotic factors) interacting with their nonliving environment (abiotic factors) as a functional unit. Energy flows through ecosystems via food webs, and matter cycles through biogeochemical processes.
Examples
Real-world.
- 1 A coral reef ecosystem includes fish, corals, algae, and the warm shallow saltwater they depend on
- 2 A pond ecosystem has producers (algae), consumers (fish, frogs), decomposers (bacteria), plus water, sunlight, and nutrients
- 3 The Amazon rainforest ecosystem contains the greatest biodiversity of any terrestrial ecosystem on Earth