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Biology vocabulary · Ecology and Ecosystems

Ecosystem

Meaning in biology, with examples

/ˈiːkoʊˌsɪstəm/nounCore term

In biology, ecosystem means: A community of living things together with the non-living parts of their environment, such as water, soil and climate, all interacting as one system.

In Turkish: ekosistem

How it is used

Used in ecology, environmental science and the news. Living parts are called biotic factors and non-living parts abiotic factors. An ecosystem can be as large as a forest or as small as a pond.

Example sentences

  1. The dam changed the whole river ecosystem downstream.

  2. Wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems on Earth.

Common collocations

  • marine ecosystem
  • freshwater ecosystem
  • ecosystem services
  • fragile ecosystem
  • disturb an ecosystem
  • habitatThe natural place where a particular organism or species lives and finds the food, shelter and conditions it needs.
  • biodiversityThe variety of life in a particular place or on Earth as a whole, including the diversity of genes, species and ecosystems.
  • food chainA simple sequence showing what eats what in an ecosystem. It starts with a producer such as a plant and passes energy from one consumer to the next.
  • populationAll the members of one species that live in the same area at the same time and can breed with each other.
  • decomposerAn organism, mainly a bacterium or fungus, that breaks down dead plants, animals and waste, returning nutrients to the soil and the ecosystem.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Ecology and Ecosystems

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