Middle School Life Science: Introduction to Ecology - Ecosystems — Flashcards

An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscape, work together to form a bubble of life. Ecosystems contain biotic or living, parts, as well as abiotic factors, or nonliving parts. Biotic factors include plants, animals, and other organisms.
An important concept associated with the ecosystem is the niche. A species' niche is the role that the species plays in its ecosystem. This role includes all the ways that the species interacts with the biotic and abiotic factors in the ecosystem. A major aspect of any niche is how the species obtains energy and matter. For example, grass obtains energy from sunlight and uses it to convert carbon dioxide and water to sugar by photosynthesis. Deer get matter and energy by consuming and digesting grass (and other plants). Each of these species has a different and distinctive niche.    
Another important aspect of a species' niche is its habitat. Habitat is the physical environment in which a species lives and to which it has adapted. The main features of a habitat are abiotic factors such as temperature and rainfall.    
These factors influence the adaptations of the organisms that live there.    
A given habitat may contain many different species. However, each species in the same habitat must have a different niche. Two different species cannot occupy the same niche in the same habitat at the same time. What do you think would happen if two species were to occupy the same niche in the same habitat? The two species would compete for everything they needed in the environment. One species might outcompete and replace the other. Or both species might evolve different specializations so they could fill slightly different niches.