The ecosystem

An ecosystem is a collection of living organisms in one habitat. Together, the different species (populations) of the habitat come together to form a community.

Each member of the community finds the environment (light, temperature, humidity) that helps it to exist. They then make home there.

The more species that live in a habitat, the more bio-diverse the habitat is. Biologists who want to understand how bio-diverse an area is use different tools to take a sample.

In a wood, they might use sweep nets to capture insects in the grass and pitfall traps for beetles and slugs for example.

Let's look at the ecosystem in a typical English wood. There is probably an oak tree somewhere, with birds sitting on the branches. But what's happening down below? Well, among the leaves, there will be squirrels that collect acorns, and bees that get pollen and nectar. On the trunk, there will be insects, caterpillars and larvae and underground, near the roots, there will be decomposers like earthworms. The earthworms eat the dead leaves and old acorns.