Ecological Systems: What are and examples

We start with the Ecological System Definition. An ecological system or ecosystem is a system formed by living organisms that belong to several species, which interact with each other and organize in a certain environment.

We then have, on the one hand, the biotic factors (animals, plants, fungi, protists, bacteria, etc.), whose group we will call biocenosis and, on the other hand, we have the Abiotic factors (physical and chemical factors of the place where they live, such as climate or the type of soil) that constitutes the so -called biotope. Here you can learn more about the difference between biotope and biocenosis, its relationship and examples. We also offer you more detailed explanations in these other articles about what abiotic factors, their characteristics and examples are and what are biotic factors, their characteristics and examples.

It is interesting to highlight here that the discipline that is responsible for the study of ecosystems is called Systems ecologyalthough more than a discipline is an interdisciplinary field. Systems ecology has a holistic orientation, that is, studies ecosystems as a whole and not just the parts that make them up.

Let’s see below What are the characteristics of ecological systems. First of all, it is important to know that one of the Characteristics of ecosystems It is that there are several levels of organization in them. These are:

• Individuals: characteristic organisms of specific species.
• Populations: It is the set of individuals of a species that lives in a certain place or region at a given time.
• Communities: It is a grouping of populations of different species of a certain place or region at a given time. Here you can learn more about the ecological community and its characteristics and here about what the biological community, its structure and examples is.
• Ecosystems: It is the set of communities with each of its interactions plus the physical environment where they are. The set of ecosystems is called a biosphere.

Another characteristic of ecological systems is that energy flows through all its levels of organization, thus giving rise to three different types of individuals or trophic levels: Producers, consumers and decomponers:

• Producers: They are the ones that are responsible for capturing the light energy that comes from the sun to, together with the water and minerals of the biotope, produce organic matter that has a lot of energy. Plants and algae are producing organisms.
• Consumers: They are those that consume the organic matter that producers previously elaborated. Consumers can be herbivores when they eat grass (such as deer, rabbits or caterpillars), carnivores when they eat meat (for example tigers, sharks or lynx) or detritivorous when they feed on corpses, excrements or waste (such as vultures, beetles or worms). Depending on their level and type of food, they are divided into primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers and quaternary consumers.
• Decomponers: These are those organisms that break down the organic matter of plants and animals when they die. In the decomposition process they transform it into inorganic compounds such as water, carbon dioxide and mineral salts that return to the substrate, being available again for producers.

The energy that producers took is lost or eliminated progressively when passing through each of the described groups. Why does this happen? It is because organisms invest that energy to move and generate heat, as well as to grow and reproduce. This results in pyramidal structure of ecological systemswhere producers would be at the base and, on this, the different types of consumers in an orderly manner (carnivores above herbivores).

We advise you to also read these other ecology articles about how an ecosystem works and what are the components of an ecosystem.

The Classification of ecological systems It can be done based on different criteria depending on the field of interest. Thus, if we are interested in the intervention of man, they can be classified as:

• Natural ecological systems: They are those in which the human being does not intervene.
• Artificial or urban ecological systems: They are those in which the human being does intervene.

If what is taken into account is how living beings adapt to their environment, then we can classify them in:

• Terrestrial ecological systems: They occur on the surface of the earth, in mountains, deserts or valleys, which have different characteristics in terms of temperature, humidity or oxygen concentration.
• Aquatic ecological systems: They are those that have species adapted to aquatic environments of different salinity and temperature and correspond to 75% of the Earth’s ecosystems.
• Mixed ecological systems: They are those in which two physical means (earth and water or earth and air) are combined.
• Microbial ecological systems: With them we refer to those that are formed by microscopic organisms.

Finally, another classification is what takes into account the flows of energy and matter, being able to classify them into:

• Open ecological systems: They are those that there is exchange of matter and energy abroad.
• Closed ecological systems: They are in which there is no exchange of matter with the outside, but of energy.

Finally, it is important to comment that there are combinations of the different classifications, for example, we can find a closed aquatic natural ecosystem or an open terrestrial artificial ecosystem.

Here you can read more about the different types of ecosystems or ecological systems and here you can see a video on the subject. In addition, in this other post we talk about the diversity of ecosystems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3leevif_qsq

Finally, we give different examples of ecological systems explained above:

• Artificial or urban ecological systems: a city, a crop field, a livestock exploitation, a reservoir, etc.
• Natural ecological systems: any of those that are going to be cited below.
• Terrestrial ecological systems: a tropical jungle, a savanna, a coniferous forest, a chaparral, a desert, etc.
• Aquatic ecological systems: a river, a stream, a lake, a swamp, a coral reef, oceanic abyssal areas, etc.
• Mixed ecological systems: the mangroves, the margins of the rivers, etc.
• Microbial ecological systems: protozoa that live with bacteria and phytoplankton of different sizes, essential microbes in nutrient cycles, etc.
• Open ecological systems: All planetary ecosystems are considered open.
• CLOSED ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS: The planet Earth meets the definition of closed ecological system, as it receives energy from the sun, but there is no exchange of matter with the universe (or this is despicable). Another example would be an ecosphere.

Now that you have learned all this about ecological systems, we encourage you to read these other articles about what is the importance of ecosystems and how to take care of the ecosystem.

If you want to read more articles similar to Ecological Systems: What are and exampleswe recommend that you enter our category of ecosystems.