Ecosystem definition

Have you ever heard the expression “you can’t tell the players without a program” and found it to be true? Sometimes you need background information, a list of the players, their titles or functions, definitions, explanations of interactions and rules to be able to understand a sporting event, a theatrical play or a game. The same is true for understanding the subtle but important differences among the various components that make up an ecosystem. Terms such as individual, population, species, community and ecosystem all represent distinct ecological levels and are not synonymous, interchangeable terms. Here is your brief guide or program to understanding these ecological players. You are an individual, your pet cat is an individual, a moose in Canada is an individual, a coconut palm tree on an island in the Indian Ocean is an individual, a gray whale cruising in the Pacific Ocean is an individual, and a tapeworm living in the gut of a cow is an individual, as is the cow itself. An individual is one organism and is also one type of organism (e.g., human, cat, moose, palm tree, gray whale, tapeworm, or cow in our example). The type of organism is referred to as the species. There are many different definitions of the word species, but for now we’ll leave it simply that it is a unique type of organism. As a grammatical aside, note that the word “species” always ends in an “s”. Even if you are referring to just one type of organism, one species, it is a species; there is no s...

In brief • A good understanding of business ecosystems is growing increasingly critical to keeping up with – and staying ahead of – the pace of change. • Participants in business ecosystems create more value collectively than they could create individually. • Companies who do not embrace business ecosystems risk falling behind. Ecosystem defined Ecosystem is one of those terms that if you ask one hundred people what it means, you will probably get one hundred different answers, most of them in a similar zone, but the variation would be significant. The first time I ever heard the word ecosystem was probably in a grade school science class where we studied the “ecosystem of the ocean”. Ecosystem is a concept that recognizes, in any closed system, the members of that system must work with and around each other to keep the system stable, ideally optimizing the collective benefit. We see plenty of evidence in the natural world of how a balanced ecosystem benefits all participants - and how destructive imbalance in an ecosystem can be. Since we work in the business world, I felt it would be useful to make a more precise definition of ecosystem relative to the goal of business value creation across multiple parties. Thus, we define a “business ecosystem” as follows: "A business ecosystem is a purposeful business arrangement between two or more entities (the members) to create and share in collective value for a common set of customers. Every business ecosystem has participants, ...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Together, autotrophs and heterotrophs form various trophic (feeding) levels in the ecosystem. The first level contains the producers—organisms that make their own food. This level is occupied by the ecosystem’s autotrophs. The next level contains the primary consumers—organisms that feed on producers. Then comes the secondary consumer level, which contains organisms that feed on primary consumers. The next level contains tertiary consumers, which feed on secondary consumers. The amount of available energy decreases as it flows from one level to the next, so most ecosystems can only support four trophic levels (producers through tertiary consumers). The relationship among trophic levels is often described using a model called an Food Chains and Food Webs • The same safe and trusted content for explorers of all ages. • Accessible across all of today's devices: phones, tablets, and desktops. • Improved homework resources designed to support a variety of curriculum subjects and standards. • A new, third level of content, designed specially to meet the advanced needs of the sophisticated scholar. • And so much more! Choose a language from the menu above to view a computer-translated version of this page. Please note: Text within images is not translated, some features may not work properly after translation, and the translation may not accurately convey the intended meaning. Britannica does not review the converted text. After translating an articl...

Global warming, if it proceeds as many scientists predict, threatens to undo decades of conservation work and could mean the destruction of the monarch butterfly, the edelweiss, the polar bear and innumerable other species living in fragile ecosystems, an emerging body of scientific evidence suggests. — William K. Stevens The Environment of Ecosystem For the now-ubiquitous prefix eco-, we can thank the great German zoologist Ernst Haeckel, who in 1866 coined the term oekologie from the Greek oikos, meaning “home, place to live.” Haeckel was thinking primarily of the “homes” of animals, but by the time the word translated into English in 1875 (initially spelled “oecology”), its meaning had broadened to embrace plant habitats as well. The related term ecosystem was proposed by the British botanist Arthur Tansley, 60 years after one of his own professors first translated Haeckel’s oekologie. It may have been ecosystem, which treats eco- as a prefix to a standard English word, that gave English speakers permission to do the same in coining a host of other terms: ecosphere, ecotour, eco-friendly, and all the rest. Meanwhile, ecosystem itself has been appropriated freely in all kinds of contexts well removed from the natural environment: the “app ecosystem,” the “education ecosystem,” the “startup ecosystem,” the “pop-culture ecosystem,” the “mobile ecosystem,” the “biking ecosystem,” and so forth. Recent Examples on the Web One function Musk now serves in the tech ecosystem is ...

Complex Social-Ecological Systems: Complex Social-Ecological Systems is an important way of thinking about Human-Environment interactions, one which many Geographers use in their work. While Complex Social-Ecological Systems approaches are used by researchers in many fields (such as Sustainability Science, Ecology, Environmental Science, and Human Ecology), Geographers have made a central contribution to the theory and methods behind this approach. Complex Social-Ecological Systems also get called Human-Environment Systems, Adaptive Systems and Coupled Human-Natural Systems. They include interlinked "social" systems and "ecological" or "natural" systems. As you will learn in the section, the different components of these systems are complex, integrated systems composed of human society, economy, and a biological ecology. Credit: Complex Social-Ecological Systems by © Penn State University is licensed under Positive and Negative Feed-backs: Feedbacks refer to both an initial action and the resulting environmental reaction in a system. Positive feedbacks increase the magnitude of impact (environmental reaction)of the initial action, destabilizing the system. Melting ice is an example of a positive feedback loop in the environment. On the other hand, negative feedbacks decrease the magnitude of impact (environmental reaction) of the initial action, stabilizing the system. The Carbon Cycle is an example of a negative feedback loop in the environment. Schematic illustration of ...

Biodiversity is all the different kinds of life you’ll find in one area—the variety of animals, plants, fungi, and even microorganisms like bacteria that make up our natural world. Each of these species and organisms work together in ecosystems, like an intricate web, to maintain balance and support life. Biodiversity supports everything in nature that we need to survive: food, clean water, medicine, and shelter. But as humans put increasing pressure on the planet, using and consuming more resources than ever before, we risk upsetting the balance of ecosystems and losing biodiversity. Global Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services reported 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction—the highest number in human history. Three-quarters of the land-based environment and roughly 66% of the ocean environment have been significantly altered. More than a third of the world's land surface and nearly 75% of freshwater resources are now devoted to crop or livestock production. Climate change worsens the impact of other stressors on nature and our well-being. Humans have overfished the oceans, cleared forests, polluted our water sources, and created a climate crisis. These actions are impacting biodiversity around the world, from the most remote locales to our own backyards. Pledge for our planet Our planet is facing major conservation challenges from threats like climate change, deforestation, overfishing, ...

What is an Ecosystem? An ecosystem is a structural and functional unit of ecology where the living organisms interact with each other and the surrounding environment. In other words, an ecosystem is a chain of interactions between organisms and their environment. The term “Ecosystem” was first coined by A.G.Tansley, an English botanist, in 1935. Read on to explore the structure, components, types and functions of the ecosystem in the notes provided below. Structure of the Ecosystem The structure of an ecosystem is characterised by the organisation of both biotic and abiotic components. This includes the distribution of energy in our environment. It also includes the climatic conditions prevailing in that particular environment. The structure of an ecosystem can be split into two main components, namely: • Biotic Components • Abiotic Components The biotic and abiotic components are interrelated in an ecosystem. It is an open system where the energy and components can flow throughout the boundaries. Biotic Components Biotic components refer to all living components in an ecosystem. Based on nutrition, biotic components can be categorised into autotrophs, heterotrophs and saprotrophs (or decomposers). • Producers include all autotrophs such as plants. They are called autotrophs as they can produce food through the process of photosynthesis. Consequently, all other organisms higher up on the food chain rely on producers for food. • Consumers or heterotrophs are organis...

That's because there is no single app or one platform that takes care of all your business needs, no matter how comprehensive that platform is. So you employ specialized tools for different business functions, and this multitude of applications forms your company's technology ecosystem. This is the backbone of your business operations. Everything you do, from your code to your business expenses and customer database, sits inside your apps, which means that making sure you’re getting the most out of them is vital to your organization's success. So how can you ensure that your technology ecosystem is the best it can be? What is a technology ecosystem? The term “technology ecosystem” can mean multiple things. If you Google it, you’ll probably come across a variety of definitions: it can describe a tech scene in a physical location, like London or San Francisco. Or, in the context of this article, a technology ecosystem is the collection of tech solutions that a certain company uses to run its business, and how these solutions connect with each other. This is the definition we’ll be working with here. The reason we call it an ecosystem — as opposed to just "collection of apps" or "app stack", for example — is because the term "ecosystem" describes not only what tools you’re using, but also how they interact with one another. The term "ecosystem" was first used in the field of ecology to describe a community of living organisms, factors and elements — such as plants, animals, s...

What is an ecosystem? An ecosystem is a natural environment and includes the flora (plants) and fauna (animals) that live and interact within that environment. Flora, fauna and bacteria are the biotic or living components of the ecosystem. Ecosystems are dependent on the following abiotic or non-living components : • climate - the temperature and amount of rainfall are very important in determining which species can survive in the ecosystem • soil - the soil type is important as this provides nutrients that will support different plants • water - the amount of water available in an ecosystem will determine what plants and animals can be supported The biotic parts of the ecosystem have a complex relationship with the abiotic components - changing one will lead to a change in the other.

/ˈikəʊsɪstɛm/ Other forms: ecosystems An ecosystem is all the living things, from plants and animals to microscopic organisms, that share an environment. Everything in an ecosystem has an important role. Well, almost everything. The term ecosystem was coined in 1935, though ecosystems have been around as long as living things. Eco is a spin-off from the word ecology and describes anything having to do with the environment and our relation to it. You've probably heard of related terms like eco-friendly and eco-warrior. And system comes from the Greek word systema or "organized body, whole." IXL Comprehensive K-12 personalized learning Rosetta Stone Immersive learning for 25 languages Wyzant Trusted tutors for 300 subjects Education.com 35,000 worksheets, games, and lesson plans TPT Marketplace for millions of educator-created resources ABCya Fun educational games for kids SpanishDict Spanish-English dictionary, translator, and learning Emmersion Fast and accurate language certification Copyright © 2023 Vocabulary.com, Inc., a division of IXL Learning • All Rights Reserved. • Log Out • My Learning • My Proficiency Report • My Profile • Schools & Teachers • My Classes • My SAT Roadmap • My TOEFL Roadmap • My ACT Roadmap • My GRE Roadmap • Assignments & Activities • My Lists • Find a List to Learn... • Create a New List... • My Progress • Words I'm Learning • My Trouble Words • Words I've Mastered • My Achievements • User Administration • User Authentication • My Account