Read Ecosystems as Components and Processes
An ecosystem combines living communities with the physical environment and the processes that connect them.
Living-system questions are solved by matching a structure or organism to its function, process and stated condition.
Separate structure and function
Species composition and vertical stratification are structural features. Productivity, decomposition, energy flow and nutrient cycling are functions. Natural grasslands, ponds, estuaries and lakes can be self-regulating; croplands and aquaria depend on human management.
Set the boundary
A tree with its organisms, a forest or a river can be studied as an ecosystem when biotic and abiotic parts interact. Earth receives and releases energy but recycles most nutrients within its system boundaries.
OlympIQ exam lens
- ✓Structure: species composition, stratification.
- ✓Function: productivity, decomposition, energy/nutrient flow.
- ✓Natural ecosystems can self-regulate.
- ✓Earth is open for energy and approximately closed for nutrients.
A purely abiotic object is not by itself a complete ecosystem.
Ready to try the pattern?
100% coverage across the 5 linked questions.
Practise 5 linked questions