Glossary

Ecology, or ecological science, is the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of living organisms and how the distribution and abundance are affected by interactions between the organisms and their environment. The environment of an organism includes both physical properties, which can be described as the sum of local abiotic factors as a climate and geology, as well as the other organisms that share its habitat.

Biosphere is the part of the Earth and its atmosphere in which living organisms exist or that is capable of supporting life. The biosphere is defined as the areas of the Earth’s surface and atmosphere capable of supporting organic life, so covers land and sea alike.

An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving (abiotic), physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight.

Evolution (or more specifically biological or organic evolution) is the change over time in one or more inherited traits found in populations of individuals.

Biotic components are the living things that shape an ecosystem. A biotic factor is any living component that affects another organism, including animals that consume the organism in question, and the living food that the organism consumes. Each biotic factor needs energy to do work and food for proper growth. Biotic factors include human influence.

Biotic components usually include:

• Producers, i.e. autotrophs: e.g. plants; they convert the energy (from the sun, or other sources such as hydrothermal vents) into food.

• Consumers, i.e. heterotrophs: e.g. animals; they depend upon producers for food.

• Decomposers, i.e. detritivores: e.g. fungi and bacteria; they break down chemicals from producers and consumers into simpler form which can be reused.

Abiotic components are non-living chemical and physical factors in the environment which affect ecosystems. Abiotic phenomena underlie all of biology. Abiotic factors, while generally downplayed, can have enormous impact on evolution. Abiotic components are aspects of geodiversity. They can also be recognised as "abiotic pathogens"

From the viewpoint of biology, abiotic influences may be classified as light or more generally radiation, temperature, water, the chemical surrounding composed of the terrestrial atmospheric gases, as well as soil. The macroscopic climate often influences each of the above. Not to mention pressure and even sound waves if working with marine, or deep underground.

Biocenosis. A group of organisms in a self-sufficient community which occupy a small niche or biotope and coexist under external environmental conditions necessary for their survival. Biocenosis can be divided into fitocenosis (grouping of plant species), zoocenosis (animal species), microcenosis (microorganisms), and agrobiocenosis (cultivated fields and their environment)

Biotope. An independent space of variable size with a unique ecology and environmental conditions necessary for survival of the species constituting the biocenose.

Biome. A community of plants and animals living together in a particular climate. Ecological communities of living things, such as microorganisms, plants and animals; the communities form as a result of the physical surroundings, including the land, air, and water of an area. For example, deserts, grasslands, and tropical rainforests are biomes.

Classification of Ecosystem. Existing on the Earth ecosystems are diverse. In ecosystems there are types and classification. Allocate mikroekosistemy (for example, the trunk rotting wood), mezoekosistemy (forest, pond, etc.), makroekosistemy (continents, oceans, etc.) and the global - the biosphere. Large terrestrial ecosystems are called biomes.

Components of an Ecosystem. An ecosystem comprises of two basic components:

1) Abiotic components

2) Biotic components 

In terms of structure in the ecosystem is isolated:

• climatic conditions that determines the temperature, humidity, light regime and other physical characteristics of the environment;

• inorganic substances are included in the cycle;

• organic compounds that bind biotic and abiotic parts of the cycle of matter and energy;

• producers - organisms that create the primary production;

• makrokonsumenty or fagotrofy - heterotrophs, feeding on other organisms or large particles of organic matter;

• mikrokonsumenty (saprotrophs) - heterotrophs, mainly fungi and bacteria that break down dead organic matter, mineralizing it, thus returning to cycling. The last three components form the biomass of the ecosystem. In terms of ecosystem functioning are the following functional blocks of the organisms (other than autotrophs):

• biofagi - organisms that eat other living organisms

• saprophagous - organisms feeding on dead organic matter

Ecosystem function is the capacity of natural processes and components to provide goods and services that satisfy human needs, either directly or indirectly. By following this definition, ecosystem functions are conceived as a subset of ecological processes and ecosystem structures. Each function is the result of the natural processes of the total ecological sub-system of which it is a part. Natural processes, in turn, are the result of complex interactions between biotic (living organisms) and abiotic (chemical and physical) components of ecosystems through the universal driving forces of matter and energy.

Ecosystem services are ecologically mediated functional processes essential to sustaining healthy human societies. Water provision and filtration, production of biomass in forestry, agriculture, and fisheries, and removal of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere are examples of ecosystem services essential to public health and economic opportunity. Nutrient cycling is a process fundamental to agricultural and forest production.