Inspiring quotes

The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible.
-Arthur C. Clarke

Thursday, July 21, 2011

What is an ecosystem ?


An ecosystem is a natural area containing living organisms that react to each other and to their environment and plants,

it is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving, physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight. It is all the organisms in a given area, along with the nonliving (abiotic factors with which they interact; a biological community and its physical environment.

Within each ecosystem, there are habitats which may also vary in size. A habitat is the place where a population lives. A population is a group of living organisms of the same kind living in the same place at the same time. All of the populations interact and form a community. The community of living things interacts with the non-living world around it to form the ecosystem. The habitat must supply the needs of organisms, such as food, water, temperature, oxygen, and minerals. If the population's needs are not met, it will move to a better habitat. Two different populations can not occupy the same niche at the same time, however. So the processes ofcompetition, predation, cooperation, and symbiosis occur.