Ecosystem -
Consists of all living organism
Ecology -
The study of interactions occur between organisms and their environment.
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an ecosystem there must be certain things to help the organisms live.
Such as the temperature and the water and food supplies. Temperature is
important because if, for example it gets too cold it might be harder
to collect food. The food supply, water, and shelter is also very important
because if the organisms are low on food, water, or living space, it creates
competition between the living things in that ecosystem. Competition - Limits population, food, space, and nesting areas. it is normally between the same species but can be with different species. Things that limits the population is called a limiting factor. Limiting factor - For populations food, living space, and anything that prevents the number of individuals in a population is called limiting factor. 
Something that isn't good for an ecosystem is too many predators.
Say if you had a group of foxes and rabbits living in the same ecosystem.
If the foxes became over populated they would eat up all the rabbits
and the other food they need. Then the foxes would start to starve.
That would also be an example of competition when the foxes begin
to fight over whatever food they can find. It's also the same for shelter,
because if there were too many foxes in a small area they wouldn't have
much space to live in for shelter. Another thing that can be bad for an ecosystem is "alien species" meaning organisms brought into an ecosystem on purpose or on accident. For an example the animal "Nutria." It was originally from South Africa but was brought to North America for fur trade. But then they escaped and started to breed. That caused a lot of problems because the Nutria had voracious eating habits and were destroying crops and dams. In an ecosystem there is something called "Abiotic and Biotic Factors." Abiotic is the things in an ecosystem that are not living such as, rocks, soil, water, and temperature. Biotic is all the living things like, animals, bug, trees, and grass. It effects it greatly because for example, the animals need the water to live. Symbiotic Relationships are Parasitism, Mutualism, and Comensalism. 
They represent the relationships between organisms. Parasitism
is when one benefits and the other is harmed. Like ticks and dogs. Mutualism
is when both benefit, like clown fish in an anemone. The clown fish lives
in an anemone and cleans the debris. But while the anemone stings
everything else, the clown fish has a protective coating so that won't happen.
Comensalism is when one benefits and the other nothing happens. Like when
small birds follow cows so that when the cows stir up all the insects in
the ground the birds can eat them up!There must be diversity among animals in an ecosystem. It keeps the food chain going and a 
cycle. Different species are needed so that there is predators and
prey. Like in Africa, Lions and Zebras. If there were no zebras, or even
any other species in that ecosystem, the Lions wouldn't be able to survive
on anything else (other than they're own species) or if they needed to
turn herbivores.Also in an ecosystem there are consumers and producers. Predators are consumers because they eat other living things for energy. Producers are plants. They use the sun and a process called photosynthesis to get their energy. In an ecosystem another thing that animals must have is adaptations. Like cats and their claws. They wouldn't be able to attack they're prey without their claws. Same with polar bears and their thick fur to survive in the cold weather. Those are two reasons organisms need to adapt to their environment. Links foodweb habitat loss ring-necked pheasant |