Ecosystems
An A community of animals, plants and microorganisms, together with the habitat where they live. describes a natural biological unit that is made up of both living and non-living parts. It is made up of a number of:
- A place where plants, animals and microorganisms live. - the place where an organism lives
- All the organisms that live in a habitat (plants and animals). - all the living organisms that live within a habitat
A community can contain a number of different A type of organism that is the basic unit of classification. Individuals of different species are not able to interbreed successfully..
Species
A species is a group of organisms that can interbreed to produce Capable of producing offspring. offspring. For example, a horse and a donkey can interbreed with one another but their offspring (a mule) will be unable to reproduce as mules are Not being able to have children.. The fact that offspring cannot reproduce shows that horses and donkeys belong to two different species.
Biodiversity
The range of animals and plants in a given area. is the degree of variation that exists among all living organisms on Earth.
When examining the biodiversity on Earth it is useful to consider the All of the members of a single species that live within a geographical area. of organisms in a species. These can fluctuate in an ecosystem depending on factors such as:
- competition between organisms for resources
- predator numbers
- disease
All living things within an ecosystem are When two or more organisms are reliant on one another.. A change in the size of one population affects all other organisms within the ecosystem. This is shown particularly clearly by the relationship between An animal that hunts, kills and eats other animals for food. and Organisms that predators kill for food. populations.