ECOLOGY

ECOLOGY

1. ECOSYSTEM

   •    Is a community of living organisms (plants, animals and microbes) in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment (things like air, water and mineral soil), interacting as a system. These biotic and abiotic components are regarded as linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows.   
   • BIOTOP
     •  is an area of uniform environmental conditions providing a living place for a specific assemblage of plants and animals. Biotope is almost synonymous with the term habitat, which is more commonly used in English-speaking countries. However, in some countries these two terms are distinguished: the subject of a habitat is a species or a population, the subject of a biotope is a biological community.
     • HABITAT
       • A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant, or other type of organism. It is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds a species population. A habitat is made up of physical factors such as soil, moisture, range of temperature, and availability of light as well as biotic factors such as the availability of food and the presence of predators. A habitat is not necessarily a geographic area—for a parasitic organism it is the body of its host or even a cell within the host's body.
   • BIOCOENOSIS
     •  (biocoenose, biocenose, biotic community, biological community, ecological community), coined byKarl Möbius in 1877, describes the interacting organisms living together in a habitat (biotope). This term is rarely used in English, as this concept has not been popularized in anglophone countries. Instead, English-speaking scientists normally use the terms ecosystems or communities.
   • BIOSPHERE
     • The biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. It can also be termed the zone of life on Earth, a closed system (apart from solar and cosmic radiation and heat from the interior of the Earth), and largely self-regulating.[1] By the most general biophysiological definition, the biosphere is the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere, hydrosphere, andatmosphere. The biosphere is postulated to have evolved, beginning with a process of biopoesis (life created naturally from non-living matter such as simple organic compounds) or biogenesis (life created from living matter), at least some 3.5 billion years ago.
     • BIOMES
       • Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as contiguous areas with similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such ascommunities of plants, animals, and soil organisms,[1] and are often referred to as ecosystems. Some parts of the earth have more or less the same kind of abiotic and biotic factors spread over a large area, creating a typical ecosystem over that area. Such major ecosystems are termed as biomes. Biomes are defined by factors such as plant structures (such as trees,shrubs, and grasses), leaf types (such as broadleaf and needleleaf), plant spacing (forest, woodland, savanna), and climate. 
       • TERRESTRIAL
         • Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (tropical and subtropical, humid)
         • Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests (temperate, humid)
         • Tropical and subtropical coniferous forests (tropical and subtropical, semihumid)
         • Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests (tropical and subtropical, semihumid)
         • Temperate coniferous forests (temperate, humid to semihumid)
         • Boreal forests/taiga (subarctic, humid)
         • Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands (tropical and subtropical, semiarid)
         • Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands (temperate, semiarid)
         • Flooded grasslands and savannas (temperate to tropical, fresh or brackish water inundated)
         • Montane grasslands and shrublands (alpine or montane climate)
         • Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub or sclerophyll forests (temperate warm, semihumid to semiarid with winter rainfall)
         • Deserts and xeric shrublands (temperate to tropical, arid)
         • Tundra (Arctic)
         • Mangrove (subtropical and tropical, salt water inundated)
       • AQUATIC
         • MARINE
           • Polar
           • Temperate shelves and sea
           • Tropical upwelling
           • Tropical coral
           • Temperate upwelling
         • FRESHWATER
           •    - Large lakes - Large river deltas - Polar freshwaters - Montane freshwaters - Temperate coastal rivers - Temperate floodplain rivers and wetlands - Streams and rivers - Temperate upland rivers - Tropical and subtropical coastal rivers - Tropical and subtropical floodplain rivers and wetlands- Tropical and subtropical upland rivers- Xeric freshwaters and endorheic basins- Oceanic islands