The aerial ecosystem has aroused curiosities and questions since time immemorial, being part of numerous studies and research. The Maya, for example, already developed hypotheses and research about their operation and the processes that took place above the earth’s surface, calling the air ecosystem as supramundo and, on the contrary, to the one who was under the earth’s surface as a underworld. Today, we do not use these terms, but, we divide it into air, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem. However, although the name is different, the idea is the same. In Ecology Verde we invite you to keep knowing What is an air ecosystem, its characteristics and types.
What is the aerial ecosystem: definition
Ecosystem is called the system that forms a set of living beings and the environmentincluding their physical and chemical factors with which they relate. All these organisms, although they are independent beings, share the same habitat, so that, thanks to their interaction with him and other organisms, they make up An ecosystem.
As for aerial medium, we understand that, occurs mainly in the air, therefore, a Air Ecosystem It will be that system formed by organisms, physical and chemical factors that interact and relate to this environment.
Keep in mind that most organisms and species use air as means of transport, to relate or look for foodbut they do not spend their whole life in this environment, but they combine it with others such as land or aquatic. This occurs, for example in the case of plants that use the wind to disperse and transport their seeds in order to reproduce or the birds that cross the heavens to move, despite the fact that they sleep and spend part of their life in the nests located in the trees.
Air ecosystem components
As mentioned above, an air ecosystem is composed of both physical and biological factors. More specifically, the air ecosystem components are:
- Physical factors: mainly, are those parameters that affect the ecosystem such as air movement, humidity, pressure, temperature, noise, vibrations and ionizing radiation.
- Chemical factors: They are all those components that can be found in the aerial environment, mainly gases, such as neon, helium, methane, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, water vapor, ozone and aerosols.
- Biological factors: They are those living organisms such as plants, animals and microorganisms found in this medium, such as birds, insects and even some mammals.
Air ecosystem animals
The air ecosystem animals They are part of the biological components. There is a great diversity and number of species that are part of these ecosystems:
- Insects: They can present very varied structures and wings. Lady, beetles, bees, wasps, ants, flies, mosquitoes, butterflies and moths. For example, in the image of the first section we can see a bee flying and point to perch on a flower to feed.
- Birds: It is their wings, which have allowed them to conquer this element. They also have other adaptations such as their hollow bones or feathers that offer them protection and at the same time they are very light. Some examples of birds are: pigeons, canaries, jilgueros, swallows, seagulls, eagles, hawks, toucans, pelicans, flamingos and parrots. As an example, we can observe the cover photo of this article in which we see a kind of seagull flying.
- Mammals: Bats or chiroptera are the only mammals that can fly and, therefore, are part of aerial ecosystems, although there are also some animals that, although they cannot fly, plan, by using a skin similar to the wings such as squirrels, lizards and snakes. Learn more about flying and gliding mammals in this other Ecology Verde.
Examples of aerial ecosystems
An ecosystem is defined mainly by its components and the interaction and relationship produced between them, therefore, some Examples of aerial ecosystems They make it up:
- Insects that have wings and use the aerial medium to move and look for food, as is the case of bees that move from flower in flower in search of nectar, or that can communicate through their movements in the air. However, not only insects that have wings can be part of the air ecosystem. There are insects and arachnids that move through threads and air currents.
- Plants, such as mosses, fungi and orchids that use the aerial medium, and take advantage of air flows so that their seeds can disperse and reach new territories. In fact, some seeds even have adaptations such as helical wings to achieve and exceed greater distances.
- Bats that are part of the aerial ecosystem, feeding on some insects, usually nocturnal, as is the case of moths, move in this medium and communicate through sound waves that are transmitted by the air.
If you want to read more articles similar to Air Ecosystem: What is, characteristics and typeswe recommend that you enter our category of ecosystems.
