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BIODIVERSITY and BIODIVERSITY
Our goal is to preserve our native flower meadows.
the habitats of the ecosystem earth
An ecosystem is the interaction between different living beings and their defined habitat.
An ecosystem consists of a biotope, the habitat of organisms, and a biocenosis, the community of plants and animals. An ecosystem includes both inanimate (abiotic) and living (biotic) components.
Biotope and biocenosis cannot exist separately from each other, since every community of living beings needs a habitat. At the same time, an area only becomes a habitat when animals, plants and fungi settle there.
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PRO-NATUR is committed to REGIONAL NATURE CONSERVATION.
They form over 70% of the earth's surface"aquatic" ecosystems. These will be in
"Navy" (salt water)with the habitats oceans, coral reefs, mangrove swamps, etc. as well
"Lymnic" (freshwater)eg rivers, lakes, ponds, etc. subdivided.
Almost 30% of the earth's surface is made up of land and its"terrestrial" habitatscovered
Forests, meadows, hedgerows, moors, the tundra, grass and scrubland, steppes, deserts, etc.
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Source: Studyflix - learning portal
However, ecosystems are also described by certain properties, namely according to:
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size and outer limits
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openness
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complexity
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dynamics
size and outer limits
Ecosystems have different sizes. There is no minimum size or maximum size.
Depending on the habitat and environmental conditions, the boundaries can be fluid or sharp.
For example, the forest ecosystem (trees, forest dwellers, cooler air temperature) often borders directly on itEcosystem meadow (flowers, grasses, insects, warmer air temperature).
openness
Ecosystems are open to the outside. Living things can move and interact between ecosystems. Closed ecosystems do not exist in nature.
For example, a bird can easily fly from the forest ecosystem to the adjacent meadow ecosystem. This leads to an exchange of substances and a flow of energy between the ecosystems.
dynamics
Ecosystems have to constantly adapt to internal and external changes, so they are dynamic. The settlement of a new animal or plant species would be an internal influence on the habitat, human intervention in the habitat would be an external influence.
Complexity
Another characteristic of ecosystems is that they are very complex. There are countless connections between the inhabitants of the ecosystem (biocenosis) and their environment (biotope), some of which are difficult to define. This creates a complex network between animals, plants and fungi and their environment.
The material cycle of ecosystems
In every ecosystem different organisms live together, which are dependent on each other for their survival. Various substances, such as carbon or nitrogen, are passed on from living being to living being in the material cycle.
Accordingly, the living beings in an ecosystem are divided into the following three 'roles':
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producers('Producers'): They include all plants and algae that carry out photosynthesis.
They produce organic, energy-rich biomass from inorganic, low-energy nutrients in the soil with the help of sunlight. These are, for example, leaves, roots or blades of grass.
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consumers ('Consumer'): They absorb the organic substances in order to use them as building materials or energy-supplying substances. They are therefore dependent on the producers. At these will
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1st order consumers (herbivores): insects, mice, rabbits or deer
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2nd order consumers (carnivores): foxes or birds of prey distinguished.
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decomposers('Decomposer'): All waste produced, such as excretions, plant remains or animal carcasses, are decomposed by the decomposers - worms, microbes, bacteria.
In this way, inorganic substances are formed again from the organic substances.
The plants or algae (producers) then use the inorganic substances again to produce biomass. This closes the material cycle.
Ecological balance and disturbance of ecosystems
An ecosystem is in ecological balance if the species living in it do not change or change very little over a longer period of time.
But if the habitat is damaged by internal or external changes, then the ecosystem gets out of balance. There is a temporary or permanent change in the biocenosis,the community of plants and animals.
Reasons for this are, for example:
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Cyclical fluctuations: e.g. the flooding of alluvial forests
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Natural influences: catastrophes such as forest fires or the climate crisis
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Human Impacts: Deforestation, land conversion, pollution, destruction, soil sealing