1. What makes up an ecosystem?
1.1. Ecosystems are made up of around 3 levels of organization beyond the biosphere (more on that later) and the ecosystem itself.
1.1.1. Communities are considered any populations of two or more species within the same geographical area during the same time period
1.1.2. A population is a group of individuals that belong to the same species, that are also in the same area and are able to reproduce with one another - (ruling out hybrids?)
1.1.2.1. Regarding hybrids, they are often the result of two different interbreeding species who pass on different genes onto their offspring and often make them sterile and bearing different behaviors and appearances when compared to both species.
1.1.3. Finally, there is the organism, which is the individuals itself
1.2. Above ecosystems lie the biosphere and biomes;
1.2.1. Biomes are large ecological areas with similar climates and temperatures to each other - tropical, for example, which often lead to similar species or the potential of migration within areas, or could have entirely different ecosystems alltogether
1.2.2. Biospheres, however, are any and all organisms along spheres and the interactables around them
1.3. What happens when species spread out; leave their ecosystems and enter another?
1.3.1. Speciation is the process by which new species form. It occurs when groups in a species become reproductively isolated and diverge. In allopatric speciation, groups from an ancestral population evolve into separate species due to a period of geographical separation.
2. What is the food web?
2.1. The food web is the interconnectivity between food chains and the knowledge behind who-eats-who in an environment
2.1.1. How biodiversity is maintained in ecosystems is a central issue in ecology. According to the evolutionary theory, heritable variations between individuals are important for the generation of species diversity, linking both intra and interspecific variations
2.1.2. The present food web model shows that intraspecific variations via natural selection also play crucial roles in maintaining the stability of large communities with diverse species.
3. What are ecosystems?
3.1. Ecosystems are geographic areas where animals, plants, and other organisms are able to live in, as well as landscapes and weather, which together create a kind of bubble of life.
3.1.1. Abiotic and Biotic factors
3.1.1.1. Abiotic factors are anything that are not biological, just physical - they aren't alive. These factors consist of: Rocks, mountains, humidity, and temperature to name a few.
3.1.1.2. Biotic factors on the other hand consist of anything that is biological, living. These can be plants, animals, and other organisms as established beforehand.
3.2. Ecosystems all have variables which depend on eachother both directly on indirectly.
3.2.1. These variables, such as animals or even plants (for example) will react to temperature changes or shifts in the food web, which will result in: adaptation, migration, or extinction. Of course, this is without considering human interference and conservation, but what would happen if everything is left to its own devices.
4. What is biodiversity? What are its components?
4.1. The term biodiversity regards the variety of earth in all of its levels, encompassing topics as broad as genes all the way to ecosystems. It also covers the factors regarding evolution, ecology, and the processes of life development.
4.1.1. Biodiveristy can also be viewed through three different levels / lenses
4.1.1.1. Genetic diversity
4.1.1.1.1. Such diversity explains the variety of inherited genetic traits in species - as well as having 3 different sources: mutation, recombination, and gene immigration.
4.1.1.2. Ecosystem diversity
4.1.1.2.1. As predicted, ecosystem diversity is just as it sounds. It covers the notion regarding the variations in the ecosystems within a geographical location and its impact on humans' existence and the enviroment.
4.1.1.3. Species diversity
4.1.1.3.1. Species diversity however, aims to measure the number of species and their abundance in every specific location