Start here · Essential guide
What Is an Ecosystem?
An ecosystem is a community of living things and the non-living parts of their habitat, linked by energy and nutrients. Learn how the pieces interact.
Earth and Life
How living things depend on each other and on their environment.
Start here · Essential guide
An ecosystem is a community of living things and the non-living parts of their habitat, linked by energy and nutrients. Learn how the pieces interact.
Food chains show who eats whom in a straight line; food webs show the tangled reality. See how energy flows from producers to top predators and why it thins.
Why do birds, whales, butterflies and wildebeest make huge seasonal journeys? Explore the reasons, the cues that trigger them and the open questions on navigation.
Pollination moves pollen between flowers so plants can make seeds and fruit. See how bees, flies, beetles and others do it and why many food crops depend on them.
Photosynthesis lets plants, algae and some bacteria turn light, water and carbon dioxide into sugar and oxygen. Here is how the two stages work in plain terms.
Recycling means collecting, sorting and reprocessing used materials into new products. See how it works for metal, glass, paper and plastic, and where its limits lie.
Rainforests have layered structures, huge numbers of species and a role in regional climate and carbon storage. Learn how they work and why they matter.
Extinction is a natural process, but habitat loss, invasive species, overharvesting, pollution and climate change have raised its pace. See how the pressures work.
Biodiversity is the variety of life at the level of genes, species and ecosystems. Learn why that variety helps ecosystems cope with change and supports people.
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