ecosystem
part of speech
noun (an ecosystem, ecosystems)
meaning for a pupil
1) An ecosystem is all the living things in one place — plants, animals, fungi and tiny germs — together with the non-living things around them, like water, soil, air and sunlight, all affecting each other. tree →
2) (figurative) An ecosystem is a group of things or companies that work closely together, like apps, phones and computers made to work together. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons pupils study ecosystems such as ponds, forests, coral reefs, deserts and the Australian bush; they learn about food chains, producers, consumers and decomposers, and how one change (pollution, a new species) affects the whole system. In everyday talk «tech ecosystem» means products that work together. Phrases: «a balanced ecosystem», «damage the ecosystem», «marine ecosystem».
examples
- A pond is a small ecosystem. tree →
- The Great Barrier Reef is a huge ecosystem. tree →
- Rabbits harmed the Australian ecosystem when they spread. tree →
- Every living thing in an ecosystem depends on others. tree →
- Pollution can damage the whole ecosystem. tree →
- We built a mini ecosystem in a jar. tree →
- Removing wolves changed the ecosystem of Yellowstone. tree →
- My phone and tablet are part of the same ecosystem. tree →
note
Countable: an ecosystem (use «an» because it starts with a vowel sound). Pronounced «EE-koh-sis-tem». An ecosystem includes non-living parts; a «habitat» is just the home of one kind of living thing; a «community» is only the living things.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «ecosystem» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.