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Together, the autotrophs and heterotrophs form various trophic (feeding) levels in the ecosystem: the producer level (which is made up of autotrophs), the primary consumer level (which is composed of those organisms that feed on producers), the secondary consumer level (which is composed of those organisms that feed on primary consumers), and so on. The movement of organic matter and energy from the producer level through various consumer levels makes up a food chain. For example, a typical food chain in a grassland might be grass (producer) → mouse (primary consumer) → snake (secondary consumer) → hawk (tertiary consumer). Actually, in many cases the food chains of the ecosystem's biological community overlap and interconnect, forming what ecologists call a food web. The final link in all food chains is made up of decomposers, those heterotrophs (such as scavenging birds and mammals, insects, fungi, and bacteria) that break down dead organisms and organic wastes into smaller and smaller components, which can later be used by producers as nutrients. A food chain in which the primary consumer feeds on living plants is called a grazing pathway, and a food chain in which the primary consumer feeds on dead plant matter is known as a detritus pathway. Both pathways are important in accounting for the energy budget of the ecosystem.

Nutrient cycling

Nutrients are chemical elements and compounds that organisms must obtain from their surroundings for growth and the sustenance of life. Although autotrophs obtain nutrients primarily from the soil while heterotrophs obtain nutrients primarily from other organisms, the cells of each are made up primarily of six major elements that occur in similar proportions in all life-forms. These elements- hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur-form the core protoplasm (that is, the semifluid substance that makes up a cell's cytoplasm and nucleus) of organisms. The first four of these elements make up about 99 percent of the mass of most cells. Additional elements, however, are also essential to the growth of organisms. Calcium and other elements help to form cellular support structures such as shells, internal or external skeletons, and cell walls. Chlorophyll molecules, which allow photosynthetic plants to convert solar energy into chemical energy, are chains of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen compounds built around a magnesium ion. Altogether, 16 elements are found in all organisms; another eight elements are found in some organisms but not in others.

These bioelements combine with one another to form a wide variety of chemical compounds. They occur in organisms in higher proportions than they do in the environment because organisms capture them, concentrating and combining them in various ways in their cells, and release them during metabolism and death. As a result, these essential nutrients alternate between inorganic and organic states as they rotate through their respective biogeochemical cycles: the carbon cycle, the oxygen cycle, the nitrogen cycle, the sulfur cycle, the phosphorous cycle, and the water cycle. These cycles can include all or part of the following environmental spheres: the atmosphere, which is made up largely of gases including water vapour; the lithosphere, which encompasses the soil and the entire solid crust of Earth; the hydrosphere, which includes lakes, rivers, oceans, groundwater, frozen water, and (along with the atmosphere) water vapour; and the biosphere, which includes all living things and overlaps with each of the other environmental spheres.

A portion of the elements are bound up in limestone and in the minerals of other rocks and are unavailable to organisms. The slow processes of weathering and erosion eventually release these elements to enter the cycle. For most of the major nutrients, however, organisms not only intercept the elements moving through the biosphere, but they actually drive the biogeochemical cycles. The movement of nutrients through the biosphere is different from the transfer of energy because, whereas energy flows through the biosphere and cannot be reused, elements are recycled. For example, the same atoms of carbon or nitrogen may, over the course of eons, move repeatedly between organisms, the atmosphere, the soil, and the oceans. Carbon released as carbon dioxide by an animal may remain in the atmosphere for 5 or 10 years before being taken up by another organism, or it may cycle almost immediately back into a neighbouring plant and be used during photosynthesis.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica John P. Rafferty.

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Ecosystem - Trophic Levels, Food Chains, Interactions

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Ecosystem - Trophic Levels, Food Chains, Interactions: Together, the autotrophs and heterotrophs form various trophic (feeding) levels in the ecosystem: the producer level (which is made up of autotrophs), the primary consumer level (which is composed of those organisms that feed on producers), the secondary consumer level (which is composed of those organisms that feed on primary consumers), and so on.

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3 Animals That Keep Their Whole Ecosystem Together

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The threat of invasive species - Jennifer Klos

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Copyright © 1996-2015 National Geographic SocietyCopyright © 2015-2026 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All rights reserved

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Learn all you wanted to know about animals with pictures, videos, facts, news, and more.

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In any arrangement or community, the "keystone" is considered one of the most vital parts. In a marine ecosystem, or any type of ecosystem, a keystone species is an organism that helps hold the system together. Without its keystone species, ecosystems would look very different. Some ecosystems might not be able to adapt to environmental changes if their keystone species disappeared. That could spell the end of the ecosystem, or it could allow an invasive species to take over and dramatically shift the ecosystem in a new direction.

Since a keystone species is not a formal designation, scientists may debate which plants or animals in a particular ecosystem deserve the title. Some wildlife scientists say the concept oversimplifies one animal or plant's role in complex food webs and habitats. On the other hand, calling a particular plant or animal in an ecosystem a keystone species is a way to help the public understand just how important one species can be to the survival of many others.

There are three types of keystone species cited by many scientists: predators, ecosystem engineers, and mutualists.
Predators
Predators help control the populations of prey species, which in turn affects the quantity of plants and animals further along the food web. Sharks, for example, often prey upon old or sick fish, leaving healthier animals to flourish. Simply by their presence near sea grass beds, sharks are able to keep smaller animals from overgrazing and wiping out the grass. Scientists in Australia observed that when tiger sharks were not near the grass beds, sea turtles-among tiger sharks' favorite prey-tended to decimate them. But when tiger sharks patrolled the grass beds, the sea turtles were forced to graze across a much wider region.
Ecosystem Engineers
An ecosystem engineer is an organism that creates, changes, or destroys a habitat. There is perhaps no clearer example of a keystone engineer than the beaver. River ecosystems rely on beavers to take down old or dead trees along riverbanks to use for their dams. This allows new, healthier trees to grow in abundance. The dams divert water in rivers, creating wetlands that allow a variety of animals and plants to thrive.
Mutualists
When two or more species in an ecosystem interact for each other's benefit, they are called mutualists. Bees are a primary example of this. As bees take the nectar from flowers, they collect pollen and spread it from one flower to the next, enhancing the odds of fertilization and greater flower growth. Nectar and pollen are also the primary food sources for the bees themselves.

Some scientists identify other categories of keystone species. One alternate list includes predators, herbivores, and mutualists. Another cites predators, mutualists, and competitors for resources.

Keystone species can also be plants. Mangrove trees, for instance, serve a keystone role in many coastlines by firming up shorelines and reducing erosion. They also provide a safe haven and feeding area for small fish among their roots, which reach down through the shallow water.

In many cases, the vital role of a keystone species in an ecosystem is not fully appreciated until that species is gone. Ecologist Robert Paine, who coined the term "keystone species" in the 1960s, observed the importance of such species in a study of starfish along the rocky Pacific coastline in Washington state. The starfish fed on mussels, which kept the mussel population in check and allowed many other species to thrive. When the starfish were removed from the area as part of an experiment, the mussel population swelled and crowded out other species. The biodiversity of the ecosystem was drastically reduced. Payne's study showed that identifying and protecting keystone species can help preserve the population of many other species.

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In any arrangement or community, the "keystone" is considered one of the most vital parts. In a marine ecosystem, or any type of ecosystem, a keystone species is an organism that helps hold the system together. Without its keystone species, ecosystems would look very different.

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A biome is an area classified according to the species that live in that location. Temperature range, soil type, and the amount of light and water are unique to a particular place and form the niches for specific species allowing scientists to define the biome. However, scientists disagree on how many biomes exist. Some count six (forest, grassland, freshwater, marine, desert, and tundra), others eight (separating two types of forests and adding tropical savannah), and still others are more specific and count as many as 11 biomes.

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What's a Biome?

To make sense of complexity, humans often need to categorize, or group, things. We have food groups, sexes, eye colors, ages, and movie genres, to name a few. We categorize all types of things, whether they are ideas or objects, and whether they are small or large. One of the largest things that we try to categorize may be the types of environments found on Earth.

The natural world is more varied than we can imagine, and one way to try to make this variation easier to handle is to put different environment types into groups. We can divide our surroundings many ways-by how much water there is, by how warm it is, or by the types of plants or animals we find there. Depending on what characteristics we choose to describe an environment, the groupings we end up selecting may be different.

Usually we group the different natural areas on Earth into categories based on plant and animal life and how they are able to survive in that part of the world. Making groups based on living organisms can be very complicated. We already know of over 1.7 million species of organism, and there are likely over 17 million that exist. But again, by grouping organisms with similar adaptations together, we can see through some of the complexity and have a chance to better understand the living Earth.

A biome is a type of environment that is defined by the types of organisms that live there. We can also think of these as life zones ("bio" means life). Dividing land up in this way lets us talk about areas that are similar, even if they're on different continents. But depending on whom you talk to, the way we divide up the world into separate biomes differs.

Biome vs. Biome

Biome categories can be broad or narrow. When we say forest, you may picture a cool, quiet area with pine trees, where bears, deer, and rabbits wander around. Or instead, you might imagine a wet, dark, and noisy rainforest, where you can see monkeys, parrots, and big cats.

According to some people, all forest types belong in one group - the forest biome. But others think that temperate forests (seasonally cold) with pine trees, are very different from tropical rainforests, with dense, leafy canopy and lots of rain. This difference of opinion means that the number of biomes can range anywhere from 5 to 20 biomes.

How Different is Different?

If we take a closer look at these temperate and rain forests, we see that they differ quite a bit in the amount of rain they get and in their temperatures. Tropical rainforests are warm and don't experience a winter season. But temperate forests have a defined winter, with snow and temperatures below zero.

With those cold temperatures, the plants and animals in temperate rainforests have to have adaptations to deal with cold weather. Do those groups seem different enough to you to be in a separate biome?

Don't worry, there is no right or wrong answer. This method of categorizing is one of convenience, and sometimes it just depends on why you're dividing the groups.

Biomes of the World

In order to give you a small taste of the huge diversity of the types of environments out there, we divide the world up into only nine biomes. Just remember that these groups could also be divided into nearly 20 biomes. That means that within each of these biomes there is a range of temperature and weather conditions, and we also find some organisms that are adapted to only part of the biome and others that are adapted to the full range of conditions within the boundaries we are defining.

You probably picture tropical rainforest as a jungle, where it stays warm all year. There are too many animals to count and the huge numbers of trees keep their leaves year-round. Many of these forests get so much rain that there isn't even much of a dry season - more like a rainy season and a rainier season.

This is the kind of forest where there are four relatively distinct seasons. Many of the trees shed their leaves in the fall and become inactive through the cold winter. In these forests, you find deer, woodpeckers, and bears, some of which hibernate through the winter.

Deserts make up the hottest biome, but can also get cold temperatures in winter. Such temperature swings make this an extreme environment, where many animals have to burrow underground to find more stable temperatures in order to survive. Plants and animals here must be able to withstand long periods without water.

Tundra is flat and cold with low plants like grass and moss that only grow during the short summer. A thick layer of ice lies just below the shallow soil (permafrost) all year around, and trees cannot penetrate it to anchor their roots. Many birds visit the tundra in the summer to nest, but most escape the winter by migrating to warmer areas. Mice and other small mammals stay active during the winter in protected tunnels under the snow.

Taiga is the largest land (terrestrial) biome in the world. It is made up of mainly conical-shaped evergreen trees with needle-like leaves. These trees are called conifers because their seeds are clumped into cones. The taiga has long, cold winters when most mammals hibernate and birds migrate, or leave the area because the winters are too cold for them to stay. Animals like weasels, grouse and rabbits that do not migrate or hibernate grow dense feathers or fur and turn white to match the snow.

Sometimes called plains or prairie, grasslands are almost entirely short to tall grasses with no trees. This land type gets just enough rain to help grasses, flowers, and herbs grow, but stays dry enough that fires are frequent and trees cannot survive. Here we find large mammals that often travel together in huge herds.

These tree-studded grasslands receive enough seasonal rainfall so that trees can grow in open groups or singly throughout. The animals living here have long legs for escaping predators and usually are seen in herds. A combination of fire and grazing animals are important for maintaining the savannah.
Freshwater
This water biome is named for the low concentration of salt found in the water. This includes most ponds, streams, lakes, and rivers. Because salt is important to body function, the plants and animals here have many adaptations that help them save salt.
Marine
This water biome is the largest biome in the world, as it includes the five major oceans that cover 70% of the Earth. Marine water has high levels of salt, so animals and plants living here have adaptations that help them get rid of salt or take on water.
Virtual Biomes
Take a virtual look inside some of these biomes using a computer, smart phone, tablet, or Google Goggles. Our first two virtual biomes are the desert and rainforest. Compare how the two are different and how they are the similar. Write up your results in our biologist notebook.

Additional images from Wikimedia via Adrien Facélina and Pam Brophy.

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No two environments on Earth are the same. But with so many places to learn about, we often need to talk about some environments as a similar group rather than individually. For that, we have the brilliance of biomes.Also in: Français | Español

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The word ecosystem means ecological systems. Ecology is the study of ecosystems

An ecosystem includes all the living things (plants, animals and organisms) in a given area, interacting with each other, and with their non-living environments (weather, earth, sun, soil, climate, atmosphere). In an ecosystem, each organism has its own niche or role to play.

Ecosystems are the foundations of the Biosphere and they determine the health of the entire Earth system.

Sir Arthur George Tansley (1871 -1955) was an English botanist who introduced the concept of the ecosystem into biology

Ernst Heinrich Philipp August (1834 -1919) was a German biologist, naturalist philosopher, physician, professor, marine biologist, and artist who discovered, described and named thousands of new species mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms invented many words commonly used by biologists today, such as phylum, phylogeny, and ecology.

An ecosystem is a community of living organisms (plants, animals and microbes) in a particular area.

The term `eco' refers to a part of the world and `system' refers to the co-ordinating units. An ecosystem is a community of organisms and their physical environment interacting together. Environment involves both living organisms and the non-living physical conditions. These two are inseparable but inter-related. The living and physical components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows.

The organisms in an ecosystem are usually well balanced with each other and with their environment. An ecosystem may be natural or artificial, land-based or water-based. Artificial systems may include a cropland, a garden, a park or an aquarium. Introduction of new environmental factors or new species can have disastrous results, eventually leading to the collapse of an ecosystem and the death of many of its native species. Some of the major non-living factors of an ecosystem are: Sunlight Water Temperature Oxygen Soil Air

How big is an ecosystem?

Ecosystems can be of any size, but usually they are places. An ecosystem may be of very different size. It may be a whole forest, as well as a small pond. An ecosystem may be as large as the Great Barrier Reef or as small as the back of a spider crab's shell, which provides a home for plants and other animals, such as sponges, algae and worms.

Ecosystem boundaries are not marked (separated) by rigid lines. Ecosystems are often separated by geographical barriers such as deserts, mountains, oceans, lakes and rivers. As these borders are never rigid, ecosystems tend to blend into each other. Therefore, a lake can have many small ecosystems with their own unique characteristics. As a result, the whole earth can be seen as a single ecosystem, or a lake can be divided into several ecosystems, depending on the used scale. Scientists call this blending "ecotone"

Ecosystem diversity

Ecosystem diversity is the variety of ecosystems in a given place. An ecosystem is a community of organisms and their physical environment interacting together. For food, shelter, growth and development, all life systems interact with the environment. This is why it is necessary to preserve the ecosystems.

Scales of Ecosystems

Ecosystems come in indefinite sizes. It can exist in a small area such as underneath a rock, a decaying tree trunk, or a pond in your village, or it can exist in large forms such as an entire rain forest. Technically, the Earth can be called a huge ecosystem.

Ecosystems can be classified into three main scales.
Micro: A small scale ecosystem such as a pond, puddle, tree trunk, under a rock etc.
Messo: A medium scale ecosystem such as a forest or a large lake.
Biome: A very large ecosystem or collection of ecosystems with similar biotic and abiotic factors such as an entire Rainforest with millions of animals and trees, with many different water bodies running through them.

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Ecosystems are the foundations of the Biosphere and they determine the health of the entire Earth system.

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An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscapes, work together to form a bubble of life.

Subjects

Biology, Ecology, Earth Science, Meteorology, Geography, Human Geography, Physical Geography

An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscape, work together to form a bubble of life. Ecosystems contain biotic or living, parts, as well as abiotic factors, or nonliving parts. Biotic factors include plants, animals, and other organisms. Abiotic factors include rocks, temperature, and humidity.

Every factor in an ecosystem depends on every other factor, either directly or indirectly. A change in the temperature of an ecosystem will often affect what plants will grow there, for instance. Animals that depend on plants for food and shelter will have to adapt to the changes, move to another ecosystem, or perish.

Ecosystems can be very large or very small. Tide pools, the ponds left by the ocean as the tide goes out, are complete, tiny ecosystems. Tide pools contain seaweed, a kind of algae, which uses photosynthesis to create food. Herbivores such as abalone eat the seaweed. Carnivores such as sea stars eat other animals in the tide pool, such as clams or mussels. Tide pools depend on the changing level of ocean water. Some organisms, such as seaweed, thrive in an aquatic environment, when the tide is in and the pool is full. Other organisms, such as hermit crabs, cannot live underwater and depend on the shallow pools left by low tides. In this way, the biotic parts of the ecosystem depend on abiotic factors.

The whole surface of Earth is a series of connected ecosystems. Ecosystems are often connected in a larger biome. Biomes are large sections of land, sea, or atmosphere. Forests, ponds, reefs, and tundra are all types of biomes, for example. They're organized very generally, based on the types of plants and animals that live in them. Within each forest, each pond, each reef, or each section of tundra, you'll find many different ecosystems.

The biome of the Sahara Desert, for instance, includes a wide variety of ecosystems. The arid climate and hot weather characterize the biome. Within the Sahara are oasis ecosystems, which have date palm trees, freshwater, and animals such as crocodiles. The Sahara also has dune ecosystems, with the changing landscape determined by the wind. Organisms in these ecosystems, such as snakes or scorpions, must be able to survive in sand dunes for long periods of time. The Sahara even includes a marine environment, where the Atlantic Ocean creates cool fogs on the Northwest African coast. Shrubs and animals that feed on small trees, such as goats, live in this Sahara ecosystem.

Even similar-sounding biomes could have completely different ecosystems. The biome of the Sahara Desert, for instance, is very different from the biome of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and China. The Gobi is a cold desert, with frequent snowfall and freezing temperatures. Unlike the Sahara, the Gobi has ecosystems based not in sand, but kilometers of bare rock. Some grasses are able to grow in the cold, dry climate. As a result, these Gobi ecosystems have grazing animals such as gazelles and even takhi, an endangered species of wild horse.

Even the cold desert ecosystems of the Gobi are distinct from the freezing desert ecosystems of Antarctica. Antarcticas thick ice sheet covers a continent made almost entirely of dry, bare rock. Only a few mosses grow in this desert ecosystem, supporting only a few birds, such as skuas.

Threats to Ecosystems

For thousands of years, people have interacted with ecosystems. Many cultures developed around nearby ecosystems. Many Native American tribes of North Americas Great Plains developed a complex lifestyle based on the native plants and animals of plains ecosystems, for instance. Bison, a large grazing animal native to the Great Plains, became the most important biotic factor in many Plains Indians cultures, such as the Lakota or Kiowa. Bison are sometimes mistakenly called buffalo. These tribes used buffalo hides for shelter and clothing, buffalo meat for food, and buffalo horn for tools. The tallgrass prairie of the Great Plains supported bison herds, which tribes followed throughout the year.

As human populations have grown, however, people have overtaken many ecosystems. The tallgrass prairie of the Great Plains, for instance, became farmland. As the ecosystem shrunk, fewer bison could survive. Today, a few herds survive in protected ecosystems such as Yellowstone National Park.

In the tropical rain forest ecosystems surrounding the Amazon River in South America, a similar situation is taking place. The Amazon rain forest includes hundreds of ecosystems, including canopies, understories, and forest floors. These ecosystems support vast food webs.

Canopies are ecosystems at the top of the rainforest, where tall, thin trees such as figs grow in search of sunlight. Canopy ecosystems also include other plants, called epiphytes, which grow directly on branches. Understory ecosystems exist under the canopy. They are darker and more humid than canopies. Animals such as monkeys live in understory ecosystems, eating fruits from trees as well as smaller animals like beetles. Forest floor ecosystems support a wide variety of flowers, which are fed on by insects like butterflies. Butterflies, in turn, provide food for animals such as spiders in forest floor ecosystems.

Human activity threatens all these rain forest ecosystems in the Amazon. Thousands of acres of land are cleared for farmland, housing, and industry. Countries of the Amazon rain forest, such as Brazil, Venezuela, and Ecuador, are underdeveloped. Cutting down trees to make room for crops such as soy and corn benefits many poor farmers. These resources give them a reliable source of income and food. Children may be able to attend school, and families are able to afford better health care.

However, the destruction of rain forest ecosystems has its costs. Many modern medicines have been developed from rain forest plants. Curare, a muscle relaxant, and quinine, used to treat malaria, are just two of these medicines. Many scientists worry that destroying the rain forest ecosystem may prevent more medicines from being developed.

The rain forest ecosystems also make poor farmland. Unlike the rich soils of the Great Plains, where people destroyed the tallgrass prairie ecosystem, Amazon rain forest soil is thin and has few nutrients. Only a few seasons of crops may grow before all the nutrients are absorbed. The farmer or agribusiness must move on to the next patch of land, leaving an empty ecosystem behind.

Rebounding Ecosystems

Ecosystems can recover from destruction, however. The delicate coral reef ecosystems in the South Pacific are at risk due to rising ocean temperatures and decreased salinity. Corals bleach, or lose their bright colors, in water that is too warm. They die in water that isnt salty enough. Without the reef structure, the ecosystem collapses. Organisms such as algae, plants such as seagrass, and animals such as fish, snakes, and shrimp disappear.

Most coral reef ecosystems will bounce back from collapse. As ocean temperature cools and retains more salt, the brightly colored corals return. Slowly, they build reefs. Algae, plants, and animals also return.

Individual people, cultures, and governments are working to preserve ecosystems that are important to them. The government of Ecuador, for instance, recognizes ecosystem rights in the countrys constitution. The so-called Rights of Nature says Nature or [Earth], where life is reproduced and exists, has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution. Every person, people, community or nationality, will be able to demand the recognitions of rights for nature before the public bodies. Ecuador is home not only to rain forest ecosystems, but also river ecosystems and the remarkable ecosystems on the Galapagos Islands.

Fast Fact

Bactrian and Dromedary
Different desert ecosystems support different species of camels. The dromedary camel is tall and fast, with long legs. It is native to the hot, dry deserts of North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The Bactrian camel has a thicker coat, is shorter, and has more body fat than the dromedary. The Bactrian camel is native to the cold desert steppes of Central Asia.

It is easy to tell the two types of camels apart: Dromedaries have one hump, Bactrians have two.

Fast Fact

Coral Triangle
The most diverse ecosystem in the world is the huge Coral Triangle in Southeast Asia. The Coral Triangle stretches from the Philippines in the north to the Solomon Islands in the east to the islands of Indonesia and Papua in the west.

Fast Fact

Ecocide
The destruction of entire ecosystems by human beings has been called ecocide, or murder of the environment.

Fast Fact

Human Ecosystem
"Human ecosystem" is the term scientists use to study the way people interact with their ecosystems. The study of human ecosystems considers geography, ecology, technology, economics, politics, and history. The study of urban ecosystems focuses on cities and suburbs.

Media Credits

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Illustrators

Mary Crooks, National Geographic Society

Editors

Jeannie Evers, Emdash Editing, Emdash Editing

Producer

National Geographic Society

other

Last Updated

October 19, 2023

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An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscapes, work together to form a bubble of life.

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Everything in the natural world is connected. An ecosystem is a community of living and non-living things that work together. Ecosystems have no particular size. An ecosystem can be as large as a desert or a lake or as small as a tree or a puddle. If you have a terrarium, that is an artificial ecosy…