Steppe, deciduous forest, swamp, aquarium, ocean, field - any item from this list can be considered an example of an ecosystem. In our article, we will reveal the essence of this concept and consider its components.
Environmental Communities
Ecology is a science that studies all facets of the relationship of living organisms in nature. Therefore, the subject of its study is not a separate individual and the conditions of its existence. Ecology considers the nature, result and productivity of their interaction. Thus, the totality of populations determines the features of the functioning of the biocenosis, which includes a number of biological species.
But under natural conditions, populations interact not only with each other, but also with a variety of environmental conditions. Such an ecological community is called an ecosystem. To refer to this concept, the term biogeocenosis is also used. Both the miniature aquarium and the boundless taiga are an example of an ecosystem.
Ecosystem: definition of the concept
As you can see, an ecosystem is a pretty broad concept. From a scientific point of view, this community representsa combination of elements of wildlife and abiotic environment. Consider such an example of an ecosystem as a steppe. This is an open grassy area with plants and animals that have adapted to the conditions of cold winters with little snow and hot dry summers. In the course of adaptation to life in the steppe, they developed a number of adaptation mechanisms.
Thus, numerous rodents make underground passages in which they store grain reserves. Some steppe plants have such a modification of the shoot as a bulb. It is typical for tulips, crocuses, snowdrops. Within two weeks, while there is enough moisture in the spring, their shoots have time to grow and bloom. And they survive the unfavorable period underground, feeding on previously stored nutrients and the water of the fleshy bulb.
Grain plants have another underground modification of the shoot - the rhizome. Substances are also stored in its elongated internodes. Examples of steppe cereals are bonfire, bluegrass, hedgehog, fescue, bent grass. Another feature is the narrow leaves that prevent excessive evaporation.
Classification of ecosystems
As you know, the boundary of an ecosystem is established by phytocenosis - a plant community. This feature is also used in the classification of these communities. Thus, a forest is a natural ecosystem, examples of which are very diverse: oak, aspen, tropical, birch, fir, linden, hornbeam.
At the heart of another classification are zonal or climatic features. Suchan example of an ecosystem is a community of a shelf or sea coasts, rocky or sandy deserts, floodplain or subalpine meadows. The totality of such communities of various types make up the global shell of our planet - the biosphere.
Natural ecosystem: examples
There are also natural and artificial biogeocenoses. Communities of the first type function without human intervention. A natural living ecosystem, examples of which are quite numerous, has a cyclic structure. This means that the primary production of plants is again returned to the system of matter and energy cycles. And this despite the fact that it necessarily passes through a variety of food chains.
Agrobiocenoses
Using natural resources, man has created numerous artificial ecosystems. Examples of such communities are agrobiocenoses. These include fields, vegetable gardens, orchards, pastures, greenhouses, forest plantations. Agrocenoses are created to obtain agricultural products. They have the same food chain elements as a natural ecosystem.
Producers in agrocenoses are both cultivated and weed plants. Rodents, predators, insects, birds are consumers, or consumers of organic matter. And bacteria and fungi represent a group of decomposers. A distinctive feature of agrobiocenoses is the mandatory participation of a person, who is a necessary link in the trophic chain and creates conditions for productivity.artificial ecosystem.
Comparison of natural and artificial ecosystems
Artificial ecosystems, examples of which we have already considered, have a number of disadvantages compared to natural ones. The latter are characterized by stability and the ability to self-regulate. But agrobiocenoses cannot exist for a long time without human participation. So, a field of wheat or a garden with vegetable crops independently produces no more than a year, perennial herbaceous plants - about three. The record holder in this regard is the garden, the fruit crops of which are able to develop independently up to 20 years.
Natural ecosystems receive only solar energy. In agrobiocenoses, humans introduce its additional sources in the form of tillage, fertilizers, aeration, weed and pest control. However, many cases are known when human economic activity also led to adverse consequences: salinization and waterlogging of soils, desertification of territories, pollution of natural shells.
City Ecosystems
At the present stage of development, man has already made significant changes in the composition and structure of the biosphere. Therefore, a separate shell is isolated, directly created by human activity. It's called the noosphere. Recently, such a concept as urbanization has been widely developed - increasing the role of cities in human life. More than half of the world's population already lives in them.
Ecosystem of citieshas its own distinctive features. In them, the ratio of elements of trophic chains is violated, since the regulation of all processes associated with the transformation of substances and energy is carried out exclusively by man. Creating for himself all possible benefits, he creates a lot of unfavorable conditions. Polluted air, transport and housing problems, high levels of morbidity, constant noise have a negative impact on the he alth of all urban residents.
What is succession
Very often within the same area there is a successive change of natural communities. This phenomenon is called succession. A classic example of ecosystem change is the appearance of a deciduous forest in place of a coniferous one. Due to the fire in the occupied territory, only seeds are preserved. But it takes a long time for them to germinate. Therefore, grassy vegetation first appears at the site of the fire. Over time, it is replaced by shrubs, and they, in turn, are deciduous trees. Such successions are called secondary. They arise under the influence of natural factors or human activities. In nature, they are quite common.
Primary successions are associated with the process of soil formation. It is typical for territories deprived of life. For example, rocks, sands, stones, sandy loam. At the same time, conditions for the formation of soils first arise, and only then the remaining components of the biogeocenosis appear.
So, an ecosystem is a community that includes biotic elements and factors of inanimate nature. They are in close interaction, connected by the circulation of substances andenergy.
