Different Ecosystems
🎯 In this topic you will
- Learn about some of the many different kinds of ecosystem on Earth
- Describe some of the different habitats in an ecosystem
🧠 Key Words
- ecosystem
- producer
- consumer
- decomposer
- habitat
Show Definitions
- ecosystem: A community of living organisms interacting with each other and their physical environment.
- producer: An organism, like a plant, that makes its own food using energy from sunlight.
- consumer: An organism that eats other living things to get energy.
- decomposer: An organism that breaks down dead plants and animals into simpler substances.
- habitat: The natural environment where a plant or animal lives.
🌍 Exploring Ecosystems Around the World
The ecosystem in the Arizona Sonoran Desert is just one of many different ecosystems on Earth. Here are three more examples of ecosystems: mangrove forests, sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, and a rice paddy.
🌍 Life in a Mangrove Forest
Mangroves are trees that can grow with their roots in sea water. They form forests along the coasts of many tropical countries.
Young fish live among the mangrove roots, safe from larger fish that might eat them. Mud skippers climb out onto the mud when the tide is out, feeding on whatever they can find.
As the mangrove leaves fall onto the mud, they are decomposed by bacteria. Prawns and crabs eat the partly decomposed leaves.
Crab-eating macaques, a type of monkey, climb through the trees and catch crabs on the tree roots and mud.
🧪 Did you know?
Earth’s ecosystems support more than 8 million species — and scientists discover thousands of new ones each year, especially in remote or understudied habitats like mangrove forests and deep oceans.
🌍 Life on the Sea Ice in the Arctic Ocean
During the winter in the Arctic Ocean, it is so cold that some of the sea water freezes.
Seals hunt for fish in the water, but have to come to the surface to breathe air.
Polar bears patrol the ice, looking for seals to kill and eat. Polar bears are good swimmers, and can move from one ice floe to another.
Arctic foxes also look for food on the ice.
Enough light passes through the ice to allow tiny algae (single-celled plants) to grow on the underside of the ice floes.
Tiny shrimp-like organisms eat the algae. Fish eat the shrimp-like organisms.
📌 Important Concept
Food Chains and Energy Flow: In an ecosystem, energy is transferred from producers to consumers through feeding relationships. Each step in a food chain shows how energy moves between organisms.
🌍 Rice Paddies as Human-Made Ecosystems
Not all ecosystems are natural. This area of rice paddies in Malaysia is farmed by people.
At some times of year, the paddy fields are flooded with water. Algae grow in this shallow water, and on the mud at the sides of the flooded areas.
Fish swim into the flooded paddies from the irrigation canals. Frogs and dragonflies breed in the water.
Because the water is shallow, it heats up quickly during the day, and cools down quickly at night.
Farmers often add fertiliser to the paddy fields, making not only the rice but also the algae grow faster, providing more food for the animals.
Many birds feed in and around the paddy fields.
⚠️ Common Mistake
Be careful not to assume that fertilisers only help crop plants — they also increase algae growth, which can affect the whole ecosystem.
❓ QUESTIONS
1. What is an ecosystem?
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2. What do decomposers do in an ecosystem?
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3. Describe how algae are involved in the rice paddy ecosystem.
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4. How do mangrove trees help protect coastal regions?
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5. What kinds of animals live on the sea ice in the Arctic ecosystem?