EcosystemBy: Caroline R. Ignacio

Ecosystems are composed of organisms interacting with each other and with their environment such that energy is exchanged and system-level processes, such as the cycling of elements, emerge.

• Ecosystems include living organisms, the dead organic matter produced by them, the abiotic environment within which the organisms live and exchange elements (soils, water, atmosphere), and the interactions between these components. Ecosystems embody the concept that living organisms continually interact with each other and with the environment to produce complex systems with emergent properties, such that "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" and "everything is connected".

• There are two components: ABIOTIC AND BIOTIC COMPONENTS ABIOTIC COMPONENTS: Sunlight Temperature Precipitation Water or Moisture Soil or water chemistry BIOTIC COMPONENTS: Primary Producers Herbivores Carnivores Omnivores

• OTHER ABIOTIC COMPONENTS

Abiotic components are such physical and chemical factors of an ecosystem as light, temperature, atmosphere gases(nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide are the most important), water, wind, soil. These specific abiotic factors represent the geological, geographical, hydrological and climatological features of a particular ecosystem. Separately:

* Water, which is at the same time an essential element to life and a milieu * Air, which provides oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide to living species and allows the dissemination of pollen and spores * Soil, at the same time source of nutriment and physical support. The salinity, nitrogen and phosphorus content, ability to retain water, and density are all influential. * Temperature, which should not exceed certain extremes, even if tolerance to heat is significant for some species * Light, which provides energy to the ecosystem through photosynthesis * Natural disasters can also be considered abiotic. According to the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, a moderate amount of disturbance does good to increase the biodiversity.

OTHER BIOTIC COMPONENTS

The living organisms are the biotic components of an ecosystem. In ecosystems, living things are classified after the way they get their food.

Biotic Components include the following: Autotrophs produce their own organic nutrients for themselves and other members of the community; therefore, they are called the producers. There are basically two kinds of autotrophs, "chemoautotrophs and photoautogrophs. " Chemautotrophs are bacteria that obtain energy by oxidizing inorganic compounds such as ammonia, nitrites, and sulfides , and they use this energy to synthesize carbohydrates. Photoautotrophs are photosynthesizers such as algae and green plants that produce most of the organic nutrients for the biosphere.

Heterotrophs, as consumers that are unable to produce, are constantly looking for source of organic nutrients from elsewhere. Herbivores like giraffe are animals that graze directly on plants or algae. Carnivores as wolf feed on other animals; birds that feed on insects are carnivores, and so are hawks that feed on birds. Omnivores are animals that feed both on plants and animals, as human.

• Detritivores - organisms that rely on detritus, the decomposing particles of organic matter, for food. Earthworms and some beetles, termites, and maggots are all terrestrial detritivores. Nonphotosynthetic bacteria and fungi, including mushrooms, are decomposers that carry out decomposition, the breakdown of dead organic matter, including animal waste. Decomposers perform a very valuable service by releasing inorganic substances that are taken up by plants once more.