What is an ecosystem?

What is an ecosystem and when did the term appear? The idea of the unity of living organisms and their surrounding nature came even in the ancient Greek heads, but the idea was realized only in the nineteenth century from the birth of Christ. The modern definition, explaining what an ecosystem is, sounds like this (in different sources there is a slight discrepancy): it is a collection of living organisms inhabiting a relatively similar section of the landscape, plus a system of connections responsible for the exchange of matter and energy between them, plus the habitat, or biotope.

Ecosystems are classified by their degree of sustainability and diversity. As an example - a birch grove. This is a relatively stable monocultural ecosystem. The opposite is tropical forest. The variety of its constituent organisms is such that travelers have repeatedly stated that it is sometimes impossible to find two plants of the same species within the line of sight.

The concept of the ecosystem includes many components. Specialists-ecologists distinguish climatop - the chemical composition of the air or water environment inherent in this part of the landscape. Edafotop - the soil, which is typical for this ecosystem. Ecotope - a set of environmental conditions, a biotope is a site of a terrain that is suitable for living in a particular species of plants or animals. And, finally, the biocenosis is a set of living organisms inhabiting a site of the terrain. Ecology is a science that is emerging, developing, therefore some scientists include additional factors in the ecosystem that are disputed by their colleagues. However, this is only a matter of classification. Some prefer a more fractional division of the components of the ecosystem, others they oppose.

To better understand what an ecosystem is, one should remember that the influence of a person on the outside world is not that every decade, but every year it becomes stronger. Therefore, there is a huge number of artificial ecosystems, to the formation and maintenance of which the person has the most direct relationship. A good example of such an anthropogenic ecosystem is agricultural land in all its diversity. Wheat field, apple orchard, cotton plantation are all examples of artificial ecosystems that have all the characteristics characteristic of natural and natural ecosystems.

A particular type of anthropogenic ecosystems is the city. The modern industrial city has a special significance in the global ecosystem named "planet Earth". It affects not only the neighboring ecosystems, but also "through remote access" - to those systems that are separated from it for many kilometers. For tens, hundreds, and sometimes thousands of kilometers. And it's not just about polluting the environment. The material needs of the city can change the composition of ecosystems, even on a different continent. A classic example: to meet the needs of the city in paper, producers are forced to cultivate a certain type of tree, most suitable for production. In this regard, the forests, previously consisted of trees of different breeds and ages, become monocultural and even monoecious.

Modern science allows a fairly complete answer to the question of what an ecosystem is, what its impact on a person (and vice versa). But what about ways to maintain ecosystems in a state suitable for a normal homo sapiens life, disputes continue. Most agree on the idea that the optimal solution is to limit consumption. True, how to reach it is a big question.