What Is an Ecosystem?
≈ 18 minA habitat is the particular place where a plant or animal lives — the reeds at the edge of a dam, a crack in a Karoo rock, the soil under a mielie field.
An ecosystem is bigger than that. It is all the living things in a place, together with the non-living surroundings they depend on, working as one system.
- Living parts: plants, animals, fungi and the tiny living things in soil and water.
- Non-living parts: sunlight, water, air, soil, rock and temperature.
Scientists study ecosystems as systems because the parts are connected. Change one part and the others feel it.
Worked example — a farm dam outside Bloemfontein.
| Part of the ecosystem | Living or non-living? |
|---|---|
| Reeds along the edge | living |
| Frogs and dragonflies | living |
| Barbel in the deep water | living |
| Water and mud | non-living |
| Sunlight and air | non-living |
In a dry summer the water level drops (a non-living change). The reeds shrink back, the frogs lose their breeding pools, and the birds that eat frogs move away. One non-living change ran right through the living parts — that is what makes it a system.
Which of these is a non-living part of a wetland ecosystem?
The particular place where a plant or animal lives is called its ______.
Sipho says: "The ecosystem of the dam is just the fish and the frogs." What is the best correction?
In one rock pool at Kalk Bay a learner counts crabs, sea snails and small fish. How many living things did she count altogether?