The textbook definition for ecosystem would tell you that this is a specific unit in the scale of organization of living systems above the community-level and below the biome-level and which includes abiotic factors (water, rocks and minerals). As for examples of ecosystems my favorite one is the farm, or agroecosystem, where diverse species of plants and animals are grown together.

Anil:

This useful link would provide you with basic components of a Ecosystem:

Best

Syed

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecosystem

The living community of plants and animals in any area together with the non-living components of the environment such as soil, air and water constitute the ecosystem.

An ecosystem is region with a specific and recognisable landscape form, such as a grassland, forest, desert, wetland and coastal area. The nature of the ecosystem is based on its geographical features like hills, mountains, plains, rivers, lakes, coastal areas or island. It is also controlled by climatic conditions such as the amount of sunlight, the temperature and the rainfall in the region. The geographical, climatic and soil characteristics form its non-living or abiotic component. These features create conditions that that support a community of plants and animals that evolution has produced to live in these specific conditions. The living part of the ecosystem is referred to as its biotic component.

I wish I were certain about what you need here. Aquatic verses terrestrial ecosystems seem to be among the best defined. Even so, although the transition zones can be narrow they blur the definition of each particular ecosystem. But, from the point of view of clear cut biological transitions, one of the hardest ecosystems to define (if we want to define it as an ecosystem and not just a transition zone) in terms of where it starts and ends is an estuarine environment. Perhaps such transition zones are most interesting because they can be areas of extreme energy exchange. One might think the estuary is only receiving inputs from up stream, with a little from incoming tides, but the bird and insect life can carry enormous amounts of organic material (hence energy) back to the land, to lakes, to streams, or even hurry it on to the sea.

What is an Ecosystem?

An ecosystem includes all of the living things (plants, animals and organisms) in a given area, interacting with each other, and also with their non-living environments (weather, earth, sun, soil, climate, atmosphere). Ecosystems are the foundations of the Biosphere and they determine the health of the entire earth system.

In an ecosystem, each organism has its own niche or role to play.

Consider a small puddle at the back of your home. In it, you may find all sorts of living things, from microorganisms to insects and plants. These may depend on non-living things like water, sunlight, turbulence in the puddle, temperature, atmospheric pressure and even nutrients in the water for life. (Click here to see the five basic needs of living things)

This very complex, wonderful interaction of living things and their environment, has been the foundations of energy flow and recycle of carbon and nitrogen.

Anytime a ‘stranger’ (living thing(s) or external factor such as rise in temperature) is introduced to an ecosystem, it can be disastrous to that ecosystem. This is because the new organism (or factor) can distort the natural balance of the interaction and potentially harm or destroy the ecosystem. Click to read on ecosystem threats (opens in new page).

Usually, biotic members of an ecosystem, together with their abiotic factors depend on each other. This means the absence of one member or one abiotic factor can affect all parties of the ecosystem.

Unfortunately, ecosystems have been disrupted, and even destroyed by natural disasters such as fires, floods, storms and volcanic eruptions. Human activities have also contributed to the disturbance of many ecosystems and biomes.

Ecosystem goods and services This is the extremely vital life-support services ecosystems provide to human life, its well-being and future economic and social development. For example: The benefits ecosystems provide include food, water, timber, air purification, soil formation and pollina

REGARDS!!!

MD OSIM

ACSIR DOCTORAL FELLOW,CSIR-NEERI,INDIA

EMAIL:[email protected]

Hi Anil

To add up to the previously suggested answers, I would say that an ecosystem in its most essential form is a unit of nature that combines two elements: biocoenosis (a community of interacting living organisms) and biotope (a defined habitat for this community). Then it is only a matter of scale to define that unit spatially. Leave a piece of bread rot somewhere and you will quickly see a community of organisms (bacteria, fungi, insects, etc.) colonise it and make it become an ecosystem. That ecosystem will function as long as nutrients are available to sustain all organisms depending on it. So an ecosystem must also be defined temporally.

The entire universe might also be considered a single ecosystem as it consists of a complex interaction of living and non-living components.

Hope this helps.

Best,

Jeremy

Ecosystem is Biotic and Abiotic factors together,

The example of simple and crispy ecosystem in nature is Lagoon

Dear Kenneth M Towe

Thank you so much.

The alliance of biotic and abiotic component is considered as an ecosystem then a single tree could be an ecosystem??

Dear Anil,

Your definition of ecology is what I understand it to be while the ecosystem is the environment, the world, the home within which ecology obtains. The entire biological and physical world or system, complex as it may be, make up the ecosystem. It is studied from different angles depending on need and expertise of the researcher. The ecosystem holds the demands or requirements the organism must adapt to in order to survive.

Obianuju P. Umeji

About textbooks:

There is a lot of good textbooks, but if I had to choose only one, I would indicate Ecology: From individuals to ecosystems (Blackwell, 2006, 4th ed.), by Begon et al. A complementary reference, especially in the case of courses with an emphasis on communities and ecosystems would be The ecology of plants (Sinauer, 2006, 2nd ed.), by Gurevitch et al.

About ecosystem concept:

For an illuminant discussion on the concept of ecosystem, I think that would be worth consulting A hierarchical concept of ecosystem (PUP, 1986), by O’Neill et al. And for an interesting (and replicable) field study whose results contrast with some common sense notions about the concept of ecosystem, I would indicate the article ‘Trophic cascades across ecosystems’ (Nature 437: 880-3, 2005), by Knight et al.