Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components of

their environment (things like air, water and mineral soil), interacting as a system. [2] These biotic
and abiotic components are regarded as linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows.
[3]
The relationship between the abiotic components and the biotic components of the ecosystem is
termed 'holocoenosis'. As ecosystems are defined by the network of interactions among organisms,
and between organisms and their environment,[4] they can be of any size but usually encompass
specific, limited spaces[5] (although some scientists say that the entire planet is an ecosystem). [6]
Energy, water, nitrogen and soil minerals are other essential abiotic components of an ecosystem.
The energy that flows through ecosystems is obtained primarily from the sun. It generally enters the
system through photosynthesis, a process that also captures carbon from the atmosphere. By
feeding on plants and on one another,animals play an important role in the movement of matter and
energy through the system. They also influence the quantity of plant and microbial biomass present.
By breaking down dead organic matter, decomposers release carbon back to the atmosphere and
facilitate nutrient cycling by converting nutrients stored in dead biomass back to a form that can be
readily used by plants and other microbes.[7]
Ecosystems are controlled both by external and internal factors. External factors such as climate,
the parent material that forms the soil, and topography control the overall structure of an ecosystem
and the way things work within it, but are not themselves influenced by the ecosystem. [8] Other
external factors include time and potential biota. Ecosystems are dynamic entitiesinvariably, they
are subject to periodic disturbances and are in the process of recovering from some past
disturbance.[9] Ecosystems in similar environments that are located in different parts of the world can
have very different characteristics simply because they contain different species. [8] The introduction
of non-native species can cause substantial shifts in ecosystem function. Internal factors not only
control ecosystem processes but are also controlled by them and are often subject to feedback
loops.[8] While the resource inputs are generally controlled by external processes like climate and
parent material, the availability of these resources within the ecosystem is controlled by internal
factors like decomposition, root competition or shading.[8] Other internal factors include disturbance,
succession and the types of species present. Although humans exist and operate within ecosystems,
their cumulative effects are large enough to influence external factors like climate. [8]
Biodiversity affects ecosystem function, as do the processes of disturbance and succession.
Ecosystems provide a variety of goods and services upon which people depend; the principles
of ecosystem management suggest that rather than managing individual species, natural
resources should be managed at the level of the ecosystem itself. Classifying ecosystems into
ecologically homogeneous units is an important step towards effective ecosystem management, but
there is no single, agreed-upon way to do this.

The Concept of the Ecosystem

"I bequeathe myself to the dirt, to grow from the grass I love;
If you want me again, look for me under your boot-soles."

- Walt Whitman
The term ecosystem (a contraction of ecological system) is generally understood as to
the entire assemblage of organisms (plant, animal and other living beingsalso
referred to as a biotic community or biocoenosis) living together in a certain space

with their environment (or biotope), functioning as a loose unit. Together, these
components and their interactions with and relationships to each other form a dynamic
and complex new whole, functioning as an "ecological unit", with additional
characteristics that can't be found in the individual components. Nor could any
organism live completely on its own without involving any other species of
organism.
There are no conceptual restrictions on how large or small a space or an area must be
to host an ecosystem, nor on the minimum numbers species or individual organisms
to be present.
Early conceptions of an ecosystem were as a structured functional unit in equilibrium
of energy and matter flows among constituent elements. Some considered this vision
limited, and preferred to view an ecosystem in terms of cybernetics, which, like any
other type of system, is governed by the rules of systems science and cybernetics, as
applied specifically to collections of organisms and relevant abiotic components. The
branch of ecology that gave rise to this view has become known as systems ecology.
Politically, the concept has become important, since the Convention on Biological
Diversity, (CBD), signed by almost 200 nations. The CBD formulates the concept in
the following definition: "Ecosystem" means a dynamic complex of plant, animal
and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a
functional unit" (Convention on the Biological Diversity, 1992).

PROCEDURE:
Introduction:
1. Table 1 below shows one outline of the way that we can look at any ecosystem. You can see that there are a number of
completely different components, which alone do not mean much. When taken together however, they help us to understan
how the ecosystem is really working. In fact they help us to create a better "Model" of how the ecosystem works. Since ma
of our environmental concerns today are related to how we are damaging, interfering with, modifying or restoring ecosystem
it is useful to know how these whole systems work.. Take a full page and make an outline in a notebook with spaces simila
those shown in Table 1. Use this outline to help guide you through the different parts of Structure and Function. Make
notations in the boxes to help you remember important points about how you will look at your own ecosystem.

2. One of the advantages of using Race Rocks as a model to study ecosystems is that many parts of these components ca
be studied remotely on the internet. Go to this file to see how you might use the robotic cameras to study the horizontal
distribution of the ecosystem.It also provides several examples of how you can determine horizontal distribution of
organisms.

3 . Since Race Rocks is rather devoid of trees, the vertical distribution of the ecosystem is not so obvious. It is howe
an important factor on a different scale, in the intertidal zone, in the tidepools, on the thinly vegetated rock surface and
even below the ground. See this file onvertical distribution on the Race Rocks website which documents some of th
variations. Then design your own protocol for analyzing the effect that vertical stratification has on the abiotic factors affecti
the species of an ecosystem.

4. Biotic components comes next in our attempt to model the structure of the Ecosystem. All ecosystems have a set
organisms which are specific to that ecosystem. In some cases, the set of organisms indeed is the defining character of the
ecosystem. We speak of "index species" or "the biotope" to help us define and characterize the ecosystem. On
racerocks.com, we are continually updating the list of organisms which occur in the many definable micro-ecosystems of R
Rocks.

The students of the Biology and Environmental Systems classes of Lester Pearson College have helped in the production
theRace Rocks Taxonomy. If you go to that link, shown below, you can work through the hierarchy of a system of
classification which allows you to pull up photographs, videos and descriptions of the species we have identified. Also a se
directions which can help you to set up your own taxonomy of an ecosystem near you can be found in the Adopt an
Ecosystemassignment.

In order to be sure that you understand how our Taxonomy works, we will go through the process of looking for information
the Elephant seal.
a) From the racerocks.com home page click on the Ecosystem icon in the yellow bar.
b) Select the image of The Race Rocks Taxonomy.
c) Follow with your cursor Kingdom Animalia/Phylum Chordata/Subphylum vertebrata/Class

TABLE 1. Structure and Function of Ecosystems

1.0.1 DISTRIBUTION OF
POPULATIONS OF SPECIE

1.0 ECOSYSTEM
STRUCTURE

1.0.2 Biotic Components

1.0.3 Abiotic Component