Different parts of the world vary enormously in the kinds of plant and animal life they can support. This is mainly caused by the climate in each place, which allows different kinds of living things to thrive. The climate itself is influenced by the physical characteristics of a region —whether it is mountainous or near the sea, for example —and its position on the Earth — how near to the equator it is. Different parts of the world can share similar conditions, even if they are thousands of miles apart. Each area contains communities of millions of living things that rely on each other for survival. These communities are called ecosystems.
An ecosystem includes all of the living things (plants, animals and organisms) in a given area, interacting with each other, and also with their non-living environments (weather, earth, sun, soil, climate, atmosphere). Ecosystems are the foundations of the Biosphere and they determine the health of the entire earth system. Consider a small puddle at the back of your home. In it, you may find all sorts of living things, from microorganisms to insects and plants. These may depend on non-living things like water, sunlight, turbulence in the puddle, temperature, atmospheric pressure and even nutrients in the water for life.
This very complex, wonderful interaction of living things and their environment has been the foundations of energy flow and recycle of carbon and nitrogen. Anytime a ‘stranger’ (living thing(s) or external factor such as rise in temperature) is introduced to an ecosystem, it can be disastrous to that ecosystem. This is because the new organism (or factor) can distort the natural balance of the interaction and potentially harm or destroy the ecosystem.
Usually, biotic members of an ecosystem, together with their abiotic factors depend on each other. This means the absence of one member or one abiotic factor can affect all parties of the ecosystem.
Unfortunately, ecosystems have been disrupted, and even destroyed by natural disasters such as fires, floods, storms and volcanic eruptions. Human activities have also contributed to the disturbance of many ecosystems and biomes.
The concept of the ecosystem has evolved since its origin. The term, coined in the 1930s, belongs to British botanists Roy Clapham (1904-1990) and Sir Arthur Tansley (1871-1955). It was originally applied to units of diverse spatial scale; from a weathered piece of tree trunk to a pond, a region or even the entire biosphere of the planet, the only requirement being that organisms, physical environment and interactions could exist within them.
This is the extremely vital life-support services ecosystems provide to human life, its well-being and future economic and social development. For example: The benefits ecosystems provide include food, water, timber, air purification, soil formation and pollination.
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