Ecology of Ecosystems

● Yeraldin Lopez Alvarez TAPH

Life in an ecosystem is often about competition for limited resources, a

characteristic of the theory of natural selection. Competition in communities (all
living things within specific habitats) is observed both within species and among
different species. The resources for which organisms compete include organic
material from living or previously living organisms, sunlight, and mineral
nutrients, which provide the energy for living processes and the matter to make up
organisms’ physical structures. Other critical factors influencing community
dynamics are the components of its physical and geographic environment: a
habitat’s latitude, amount of rainfall, topography (elevation), and available species.
These are all important environmental variables that determine which organisms
can exist within a particular area.

II

An ecosystem is a community of living organisms and their interactions with their

abiotic (non-living) environment. Ecosystems can be small, such as the tide pools
found near the rocky shores of many oceans, or large, such as the Amazon
Rainforest in Brazil.

Desarrollo:

1. What's the structure of the first paragraph: Deductive or

inductive?

In the first paragraph, a deductive text can be found, since it focuses on the reader
understanding from the largest or most complicated to the smallest and simplest,
thus achieving the beginning with a general topic and then going to a specific one.
2. - Underline the main idea of the first or second paragraph: Se
subraya la idea principal de color azul en el primer parrafo
3. - What textual elements are in the text? Is there a descriptive
textual element? Is there a definition? Any other?
The text begins by giving a general definition of ecosystems, describing some of
their characteristics, indicating the competition between habitats and indicating
why, in the second paragraph it describes the environment, its shape and some
sizes.
 4. Take out two sentences and explain their parts of speech
(grammatical functions)

Life in an ecosystem is often about competition for limited resources, a

characteristic of the theory of natural selection.

Other critical factors influencing community dynamics are the components of its
physical and geographic environment: a habitat’s latitude, amount of rainfall,
topography (elevation), and available species.

Adjective: limited, environment, available

Verb: compete

5. -list some unknown words and infer their meaning based on the
context.

sunlight: No vivos

environmental: pertenecientes