What are Environment and Ecosystem?
Last Updated :
31 May, 2023
Difference Between Environment and Ecosystem: The environment is the surrounding area, whereas the ecosystem is the interaction between the environment and living species. The environment is the place in which living beings exist. The ecosystem is the community in which biotic and abiotic factors interact. Both environment and ecosystem correlate with each other.
What is Environment?
An environment is everything that surrounds us, including both living and non-living objects such as soil, water, animals, and plants that adapt to their environment. It is nature’s contribution that contributes to the sustenance of life on earth. The environment has an impact on a person’s growth and development. It has an impact on the person’s behavior, body, mind, and heart. The environment provides a wide range of products and services essential to maintain life. Each resource is important and valuable on its own. A plot of land, for example, can be developed into a park, or housing society. Shopping center, and so on.
It can also be converted into a waste disposal place. The environmental conditions have deteriorated recently due to human activity, modernization, and industry. The results of environmental imbalance include deforestation, air pollution, acid rain, and soil erosion, which all have an impact on the survival of living things. It is crucial to protect the environment, act to preserve it, and maintain its health.
What is Ecosystem?
The ecosystem is the ecological structural and functional unit. It is a community in which the living and non-living components of the environment are constantly in contact. It is defined as the series of interactions that occur between living creatures and their surroundings. It might be modest or large. It might be a desert oasis or a vast ocean stretching for thousands of kilometers. It is in charge of ensuring environmental stability.
An ecosystem can be aquatic, meaning it resides in water, or terrestrial, meaning it exists on land. Forests, grassland, tundra, and desert are examples of land-based ecosystems. An aquatic ecosystem might be freshwater or saltwater. In an ecosystem, all biotic and abiotic components are interconnected. It is always in the form of a continuous evolution.
Difference Between Environment and Ecosystem.
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It is defined as the surrounding in which living beings live.
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It defines as the community of biotic and abiotic factors.
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| Component |
It consists of physical components. |
It consists of biological components. |
| Function |
It provides the condition to live. |
It provides the relation between the components of life. |
| Types |
It can be micro and macro. |
It can be aquatic and terrestrial. |
| Examples |
Air, land and water are examples of the environment. |
Ponds, lakes, forests, oceans, etc are examples of ecosystems. |
| Discovery |
Thomas Carlyle coined the term environment. |
Sir Arthur G. Tansley coined the term ecosystem. |
Conclusion
Environment and ecosystem are two sides of the same coin. Despite their distinctions, both are essential to all living things on Earth. Environment resources have a variety of functions in human well-being. It has both instrumental and fundamental properties. We gain from its presence in both ways. The environment sustains life, promotes physical and mental well-being, and provides spiritual joy.
FAQs on Environment and Ecosystem
Q1: How does ecology differ from environment and ecosystem?
Answer:
Ecology is the study of interactions that occurs within an ecosystem or habitat between organisms and their surroundings. A biosphere ecosystem is a fundamental unit of the environment. An environment is a collection of ecosystems.
Q2: Why is the environment important?
Answer:
The environment is an essential part of our lives and it supports life on earth. Forests, rivers and soils give us the food we eat, the breathing air, and the water used for the irrigation of crops.
Q3: What are the functions of the ecosystem?
Answer:
The environment serves the folloeing purposes: It governs critical ecological processes, sustains living systems, and provides stability.
Q4: Who is the father of the ecosystem?
Answer:
Eugene Odum is known as the father of the ecosystem.