Questions: What Is an Ecosystem?

Question 1

Which of the following is an abiotic factor in a forest ecosystem?

• A. A mushroom growing on a log
• B. A deer drinking from a stream
• C. The temperature of the air
• D. A bird building a nest

Answer: (C)

Temperature is an abiotic (non-living) factor — it is a physical condition of the environment that affects all organisms but is not itself alive. The mushroom, deer, and bird are all biotic (living) factors. Abiotic factors include sunlight, water, temperature, soil, wind, and the chemical composition of air and water.

Question 2

An ecosystem includes primarily the living organisms in an area.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: False

An ecosystem includes both biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) components and the interactions between them. The non-living factors — sunlight, water, soil, temperature — are just as important as the organisms because they determine what can survive in that ecosystem.

Question 3

Explain the difference between a habitat and an ecosystem.

Model answer: A habitat is the specific place where an organism lives — its 'address' in nature (like a pond or a forest floor). An ecosystem is broader — it includes the habitat plus all the living organisms in the area and all the non-living factors, along with the interactions among them.

Habitat describes where; ecosystem describes the full web of what lives there, what non-living factors are present, and how everything interacts. A pond is a frog's habitat, but the pond ecosystem includes the frog, the algae it eats, the heron that eats the frog, the water, the sunlight, and all their interactions.