Types Of Ecosystems

Broadly, various types of ecosystems are either aquatic or terrestrial. They all have their unique properties which can support life. Members of any ecosystem depend on one another for survival and therefore it is also important to protect the ecosystem against any form pollution as it can only deprive member so f a given ecosystem life.

Aquatic ecosystem

This is the largest ecosystem which provides home for both living and non-living organisms. Just as the name suggests, this types of ecosystem major consist of water. It support very many lives such all aquatic animals such as fish and aquatic plants.

It can be classified as either fresh water ecosystem or marine ecosystem.

Marine ecosystem

This is the largest ecosystem on the earths’ it forms about 70 percent of earth’s space. It forms home for very may living organism including some of the largest mammals on the surface of the earth; whale. This types of ecosystems contain a lot of dissolved minerals and hence are mostly salty.

They are also divided into sub ecosystems depending on the climatic conditions and the depth of the water level. Not all parts of the marine ecosystem can support life as regions with inadequate amounts of dissolved oxygen cannot support life.

Fresh water ecosystems

Fresh water ecosystem can also be divided into slow moving or still water and fast moving water. They support different life but not all fresh water ecosystems support life. These water bodies are referred to as fresh water ecosystems since they have very little amounts of dissolved minerals and some of them have outlets which helps to maintain the dissolved mineral contents.

Terrestrial ecosystem

It consist of grassland, desert, forest and mountainous ecosystems. Each of these ecosystems have their own unique features which enables them to support specific type of life.

Grassland ecosystem; they can be classified as either temperate or savannah grassland. They are made up of either tall or short grass with very many scattered trees.

Mountain ecosystem; these types of ecosystems are found in the mountainous regions. The climatic conditions vary as one moves up the mountain and therefore it support a wide range of life. In most cases, the highest point of very high mountains rarely support life as it is made up of snow.

Desert ecosystem; it covers a larger part of the terrestrial ecosystem and it’s steadily spreading due to human being’s malicious activities. These type of ecosystem are characterized with very low temperatures during the night and higher temperatures during the day.

It rarely receives rainfall and therefore living organisms found in these regions have special features which makes them to survive in these harsh environments.

Forest ecosystem; there is a high population of both plants and animals in these types of ecosystem due to the favorable climatic conditions. It can be divided into tropical evergreen forests, tropical deciduous forests, taiga, temperate deciduous forest and temperate evergreen forests.

One worrying factor is that most of these types of ecosystems are rapidly changing due to climatic changes in which human beings are playing a major role in destroying valuable ecosystem by use of various hazardous products.