• A Community of living organisms (plants, animals and microbes) together with the nonliving components (soil, rock, water, air) of the environment, interacting together as a system.
 They influence each other

habitat ecosystem
• area an organism lives in (and is adapted to).
• An environment with all living organisms as well as non living components
• Also includes the interactions different organisms have with one another and with the nonliving components of the ecosystem

• List examples of living and non-living components of a forest ecosystem.
living
Moose
Deer
Fox mouse
Trees
Plants
Insects
Worms
Mushrooms
….
Non-living
Rocks
Soil
Sand
Rain
Cave
Air
Sun light

• Which interactions between the different components of the ecosystems can you think of?

Interactions between components of forest ecosystem
– Mouse eats plants, plant seeds and mushrooms
– Fox eats mouse
– Moose and deer eat plants and tree bark
– Plants and trees use the energy of the sun
– Worms and mushrooms decompose dead plants and animals
– everything living needs rain
– Rain washes out minerals from soil
– Soil influences plant growth

by night by day
Both share the same habitat and the same food source, but each has their own ecological niche due to different hunting
behaviour.

• Role and space that a species occupies in an ecosystem.
Includes what it does, what it eats, who eats it where it lives, what resources it consumes, what waste it produces …

• Ecological niche by daily rhythm
 hunting by day vs. by night

Warbler species use different parts of the tree for nesting and feeding
 Each has its own ecological niche

• Ecological niche by habitat
 warblers use different parts of the tree as their habitat.

• Ecological niche by diet
 sundew catches insects to be able to grow on poor soils.

scavenger
Bats hunt by night
Wood pecker picks insects out of bark