What is an ecosystem? Simply? It is a community of organisms that live together in a geographic area...like a stream, a riverbed, the shoreline, a tree...the area can be really small, or really big, it just depends on several factors. Defining an ecosystem can be hard, but some factors are easy to see. Abiotic factors include nonliving things. For example, rocks, sunlight, soil, lava, telephone poles. Biotic factors on the other hand are all the factors in an ecosystem that are living or alive. Like bacteria, mold, flies, zebras and unicorns....(just checking to see if you are really reading this post...) An ecosystem includes living and nonliving factors. It's just the way it is. Because the boundaries of ecosystems are sometimes hard to distinguish scientists make up their own systems to determine what the boundaries are. You might hear "high plains ecosystem", or "Yellowstone ecosystem", "American Fork River ecosystem". This helps scientists study a certain area even though the boundaries may cross over into the other. Exploring ecosystems is fun and satisfying when you find all sorts of different living conditions for animals, plants and microorganisms....
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Mrs. TaylorI love science! Everything about the world is interesting and never boring. I love to study plants, animals, insects, and people. My favorite subjects are my students who are the most unique organisms on the planet! Categories |