ecosystem means the system where live, the set of physical, chemical and biological characteristics that influence the existence of an animal or plant species.
It is a natural unit consisting of a non-living part (water, atmospheric gases, mineral salts and solar radiation) and living portion (plants and animals, including microorganisms) that interact or relate to each other, forming a system stable. Ecosystems are divided into terrestrial ecosystems and aquatic ecosystems.
It is considered as the set of all organisms (biocenosis) that inhabit a certain living space (ecotope), with the totality of inanimate factors in that space. Several similar ecosystems form a biome.
Biotic factors are the effects of different populations of animals, plants and bacteria on each other and abiotic factors are external factors such as water, sun, soil, ice, wind. In a given location, whether it is cerrado vegetation, riparian forest, caatinga, Atlantic forest or forest Amazon, for example, to all the relationships of organisms among themselves, and with their environment is called ecosystem.
There are also agroecosystems that act on an agricultural population. The alteration of a single element can cause changes in the entire system, and the existing balance may be lost, the set of all ecosystems in the world forming the biosphere.
Types of Consumers in an Ecosystem
Within an ecosystem there are several types of consumers, which together form a food chain. The types of consumers are divided into:
primary consumers: These are the animals that feed on the producers, that is, the herbivorous species;
Secondary consumers: These are animals that feed on herbivores, the first category of carnivorous animals;
Tertiary consumers: They are the large predators such as sharks, killer whales and lions, which capture large prey, being considered the top predators in the chain;
Decomposers: These are the organisms responsible for decomposing organic matter, transforming it into mineral nutrients that become available again in the environment.
Brazilian ecosystems
Brazil, being a vast country in its extension, has several ecosystems, such as:
- Amazon rainforest;
- Atlantic forest;
- Thick;
- Caatinga
- Fields;
- wetland
- Resting bars;
- Mangroves.
Within the aforementioned categories, there are specific ecosystems, such as the Araucaria Forest, Cocais Forest (located between the Amazon forest and the Caatinga), Ombrophilous Forest (dense, open and mixed), Seasonal Forest (semi-deciduous and deciduous), etc.
