Wikibooks: FHSST Biology/Contents/Index/ES/Ecosystems/Biospheres, biomes and ecosystems

• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Subjects: Tundra
• Online Access: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/FHSST_Biology/Contents/Index/ES/Ecosystems/Biospheres,_biomes_and_ecosystems

Biospheres biomes and ecosystems The definition of an ecosystem is any area of nature that includes living organisms and non living substances interacting to produce an exchange of materials between the living and non living parts. A problem with the definition is that of a boundary as the definition can be applied on any scale. For example a pond with its interaction between the water micro organisms invertebrates fish and amphibians could be defined as an ecosystem. But if water birds that occasionally frequent the pond and feed on fish are included in this ecosystem then the boundary of the ecosystem expands to include the living area of the water birds. Ecosystems can best be studied by observing the flows of energy matter through an ecosystem. The definition of the biosphere is the part of the earth in which life is permanently possible and which contains all living organisms. This includes the oceans the surface of continents and the atmosphere. Animal and plant species are classified into communities that are adapted to a particular environment. The major biomes are the aquatic biome the desert biome the forest biome the grassland biome and the tundra biome. The Aquatic Biome Water covers ¾ of the Earth’s surface. A large number of animals and plants are adapted to living in water and it is thought that life began in water billions of years ago. The aquatic biome can be divided into salt water and fresh water. Fresh water is essential for life on Earth. Fresh water has low salt concentrations. Fresh water environments include ponds lakes streams rivers and wetlands. Ponds and lakes are still water environment unlike rivers and steams where water flows in a specific direction. These still water bodies can vary from a few metres in size in the case of ponds to thousands of kilometres in the case of lakes. Ponds and lakes may only contain water during the rainy season. In this case they are called seasonal. If they always contain water then they are called permanent. Ponds and lakes may have a small ...