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Introduction to ecosystems
Introduction to ecosystems

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1 Define an ecosystem

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Figure 2

You should now be able to provide definitions of the key terms you have encountered in the previous video. Begin to construct your personal glossary of them, which you can keep by you as you study.

Building your own glossary is an effective way of consolidating your learning. We have provided a Glossary template [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]   which you can use to build your own if you choose. There are already a few entries in the Glossary, to give you a feel for the sort of definitions that you should be including. But whatever method you choose for collecting together terms and definitions, by the end of your study of ecosystems you should have a working document that you can add to if you study other science subjects.

To formulate a working definition of an ecosystem you may have to use some of the terms you have added to your glossary. Is the following definition a suitable one to work with?

An ecosystem is a set of organisms and abiotic components linked by processes of energy transfer and cycling of materials.