A terrarium is a model of an ecosystem.
Ecosystems include both living and nonliving things. The nonliving part of an ecosystem includes water, rocks, light, air, and soil. The living part of an ecosystem includes plants and animals. The study of how living and nonliving things interact is called ecology .

The living part of an ecosystem is a
community
. Each ecosystem has its own community. A terrarium community can have small plants and animals. A desert community includes beautiful cacti and deadly scorpions.

Do you think the members of a community can be grouped further?
Communities can be divided into different populations. A population is made of only one type of organism. A terrarium ecosystem may have populations of organisms such as snails and earthworms.

Each organism’s home is called its habitat. The soil is an earthworm’s habitat.
A whale’s habitat is the ocean. A termite’s habitat is a termite nest.

• The living part of an ecosystem.
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