Question

Crop field, forest, aquarium, lake – classify these into natural and artificial ecosystems. Give four reasons to consider a garden as an ecosystem.

Answer 1

Hint: An ecosystem very simply is the interactions between the organisms that inhabit it, and their physical environment. These are dynamic entities and can change over time with weather and other agents.

Complete Answer:
- Natural ecosystems form due to the interactions between the organisms that inhabit it, and these are dependent on each other. If one of the other components of an ecosystem is wiped out, the balance would be disturbed, and the ecosystem would change and possibly even be destroyed.
- Artificial ecosystems are created by man, and maintained by man. The survival of the ecosystem is dependent on certain external components provided by man, not on completely on the interactions between the organisms within the ecosystem.
- Forests and lakes are natural ecosystems, while crop fields and aquariums are artificial.
A crop field is dependent on weeding to remove plants that would affect growth of the crop, as well the addition of fertiliser. In an aquarium, food for the fish is provided externally, as is the oxygenation of the water.
- A garden is an ecosystem. It may initially be created by human action, but gardens potentially can maintain themselves. Firstly, a garden consists of several species of plants, which have different requirements for light, space, and nutrition, unlike a crop field.
- Secondly, in a garden there are a number of animals that live among the plants, eating parts of the plants and producing fertiliser in the form of waste.
- Similarly, insects and microbes help aerate the soil and decompose waste to make it usable by the plants. A garden can also be arranged in such a way, that it can have its own water source and not be dependent on daily watering.

Note: After the initial planning and care of the newly created garden, as time progresses it can survive as a fairly self-sustaining mini ecosystem, with flowers, insects, a water body, animals, birds, all interacting with each other.