Ecosystem

Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment (things like air, water and mineral soil), interacting as a system. These biotic and abiotic components are regarded as linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. As ecosystems are defined by the network of interactions among organisms, and between organisms and their environment, (although some scientists say that the entire planet is an ecosystem).

Components of the Ecosystem
An ecosystem has two basic components:
i) Abiotic components.
ii) Biotic components.
The relationship between the abiotic components and the biotic components of the ecosystem is termed holocoenosis .
Abiotic Components
These include the non-living, physical and chemical factors such as air, water, soil and the basic elements and compounds of the environment.
Biotic Components
It comprises the living part of the environment, which includes the association of a number of interrelated populations belonging to different species inhabiting a common environment. The populations are those of animal community, plant community and microbial community.
Biotic community is distinguished into autotrophs, heterotrophs and saprotrophs.