Microecosystem

Microecosystems can exist in locations which are precisely defined by critical environmental factors within small or tiny spaces.

Such factors may include temperature, pH, chemical milieu, nutrient supply, presence of symbionts or solid substrates, gaseous atmosphere (aerobic or anaerobic) etc.

## Contents

* 1 Some examples
* 1.1 Pond microecosystems
* 1.2 Animal gut microecosystems
* 1.3 Soil microecosystems
* 1.4 Terrestrial hot-spring microecosystems
* 1.5 Deep-sea microecosystems
* 1.6 Closed microecosystem
* 2 References

## Some examples

### Pond microecosystems

These microecosystems with limited water volume are often only of temporary duration and hence colonized by organisms which possess a drought-resistant spore stage in the lifecycle, or by organisms which do not need to live in water continuously. The ecosystem conditions applying at a typical pond edge can be quite different from those further from shore. Extremely space-limited water ecosystems can be found in, for example, the water collected in bromeliad leaf bases and the "pitchers" of Nepenthes.[1]

### Animal gut microecosystems

These include the buccal region (especially cavities in the gingiva), rumen, caecum etc. of mammalian herbivores or even invertebrate digestive tracts. In the case of mammalian gastrointestinal microecology, microorganisms such as protozoa, bacteria, as well as curious incompletely defined organisms (such as certain large structurally complex Selenomonads, Quinella ovalis "Quin's Oval", Magnoovum eadii "Eadie's Oval", Oscillospira etc.) can exist in the rumen as incredibly complex, highly enriched mixed populations, (see Moir and Masson images [2]). This type of microecosystem can adjust rapidly to changes in the nutrition or health of the host animal (usually a ruminant such as cow, sheep, goat etc.); see Hungate's "The Rumen and its microbes 1966). Even within a small closed system such as the rumen there may exist a range of ecological conditions: Many organisms live freely in the rumen fluid whereas others require the substrate and metabolic products supplied by the stomach wall tissue with its folds and interstices. Interesting questions are also posed concerning the transfer of the strict anaerobe organisms in the gut microflora/microfauna to the next host generation. Here, mutual licking and coprophagia certainly play important roles.

### Soil microecosystems

A typical soil microecosystem may be restricted to less than a millimeter in its total depth range owing to steep variation in humidity and/or atmospheric gas composition. The soil grain size and physical and chemical properties of the substrate may also play important roles. Because of the predominant solid phase in these systems they are notoriously difficult to study microscopically without simultaneously disrupting the fine spatial distribution of their components.

### Terrestrial hot-spring microecosystems

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These are defined by gradients of water temperature, nutrients, dissolved gases, salt concentrations etc. Along the path of terrestrial water flow the resulting temperature gradient continuum alone may provide many different minute microecosystems, starting with thermophilic bacteria such as Archaea "Archaebacteria" (100 °C (212 °F) or more), followed by conventional thermophiles (60–100 °C (140–212 °F)), cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) such as the motile filaments of Oscillatoria (30–60 °C (86–140 °F)), protozoa such as Amoeba, rotifers, then green algae (0–30 °C (32–86 °F)) etc. Of course other factors than temperature also play important roles. Hot springs can provide classic and straightforward ecosystems for microecology studies as well as providing a haven for hitherto undescribed organisms.

### Deep-sea microecosystems

The best known contain rare specialized organisms, found only in the immediate vicinity (sometimes within centimeters) of underwater volcanic vents (or "smokers"). These ecosystems require extremely advanced diving and collection techniques for their scientific exploration.

### Closed microecosystem

One that is sealed and completely independent of outside factors, except for temperature and light. A good example would be a plant contained in a sealed jar and submerged under water. No new factors would be able to enter this ecosystem.

## References

1. ↑ "Pond ecosystem". https://www.caryinstitute.org/news-insights/2-minute-science/pond-ecosystem.
2. ↑ Moir, R.J. & Masson, M.J. (1952). "An illustrated scheme for the microscopic identification of the rumen micro-organisms of sheep". J. Path. Bact. 64 (2): 343–350. doi:10.1002/path.1700640210. PMID 14946656.

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* e

Ecology: Modelling ecosystems: Trophic components

General|

* Abiotic component
* Abiotic stress
* Behaviour
* Biogeochemical cycle
* Biomass
* Biotic component
* Biotic stress
* Carrying capacity
* Competition
* Ecosystem
* Ecosystem ecology
* Ecosystem model
* Keystone species
* List of feeding behaviours
* Metabolic theory of ecology
* Productivity
* Resource

Producers|

* Autotrophs
* Chemosynthesis
* Chemotrophs
* Foundation species
* Mixotrophs
* Myco-heterotrophy
* Mycotroph
* Organotrophs
* Photoheterotrophs
* Photosynthesis
* Photosynthetic efficiency
* Phototrophs
* Primary nutritional groups
* Primary production

Consumers|

* Apex predator
* Bacterivore
* Carnivores
* Chemoorganotroph
* Foraging
* Generalist and specialist species
* Intraguild predation
* Herbivores
* Heterotroph
* Heterotrophic nutrition
* Insectivore
* Mesopredators
* Mesopredator release hypothesis
* Omnivores
* Optimal foraging theory
* Planktivore
* Predation
* Prey switching

Decomposers|

* Chemoorganoheterotrophy
* Decomposition
* Detritivores
* Detritus

Microorganisms|

* Archaea
* Bacteriophage
* Environmental microbiology
* Lithoautotroph
* Lithotrophy
* Microbial cooperation
* Microbial ecology
* Microbial food web
* Microbial intelligence
* Microbial loop
* Microbial mat
* Microbial metabolism
* Phage ecology

Food webs|

* Biomagnification
* Ecological efficiency
* Ecological pyramid
* Energy flow
* Food chain
* Trophic level

Example webs|

* Cold seeps
* Hydrothermal vents
* Intertidal
* Kelp forests
* Lakes
* North Pacific Subtropical Gyre
* Rivers
* San Francisco Estuary
* Soil
* Tide pool

Processes|

* Ascendency
* Bioaccumulation
* Cascade effect
* Climax community
* Competitive exclusion principle
* Consumer-resource systems
* Copiotrophs
* Dominance
* Ecological network
* Ecological succession
* Energy quality
* Energy Systems Language
* f-ratio
* Feed conversion ratio
* Feeding frenzy
* Mesotrophic soil
* Nutrient cycle
* Oligotroph
* Paradox of the plankton
* Trophic cascade
* Trophic mutualism
* Trophic state index

Defense,
counter|

* Animal coloration
* Antipredator adaptations
* Camouflage
* Deimatic behaviour
* Herbivore adaptations to plant defense
* Mimicry
* Plant defense against herbivory
* Predator avoidance in schooling fish

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Ecology: Modelling ecosystems: Other components

Population
ecology|

* Abundance
* Allee effect
* Depensation
* Ecological yield
* Effective population size
* Intraspecific competition
* Logistic function
* Malthusian growth model
* Maximum sustainable yield
* Overpopulation in wild animals
* Overexploitation
* Population cycle
* Population dynamics
* Population modeling
* Population size
* Predator–prey (Lotka–Volterra) equations
* Recruitment
* Resilience
* Small population size
* Stability

Species|

* Biodiversity
* Density-dependent inhibition
* Ecological effects of biodiversity
* Ecological extinction
* Endemic species
* Flagship species
* Gradient analysis
* Indicator species
* Introduced species
* Invasive species
* Latitudinal gradients in species diversity
* Minimum viable population
* Neutral theory
* Occupancy–abundance relationship
* Population viability analysis
* Priority effect
* Rapoport's rule
* Relative abundance distribution
* Relative species abundance
* Species diversity
* Species homogeneity
* Species richness
* Species distribution
* Species-area curve
* Umbrella species

Species
interaction|

* Antibiosis
* Biological interaction
* Commensalism
* Community ecology
* Ecological facilitation
* Interspecific competition
* Mutualism
* Parasitism
* Storage effect
* Symbiosis

Spatial
ecology|

* Biogeography
* Cross-boundary subsidy
* Ecocline
* Ecotone
* Ecotype
* Disturbance
* Edge effects
* Foster's rule
* Habitat fragmentation
* Ideal free distribution
* Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis
* Island biogeography
* Landscape ecology
* Landscape epidemiology
* Landscape limnology
* Metapopulation
* Patch dynamics
* r/K selection theory
* Resource selection function
* Source–sink dynamics

Niche|

* Ecological niche
* Ecological trap
* Ecosystem engineer
* Environmental niche modelling
* Guild
* Habitat
* Marine habitats
* Limiting similarity
* Niche apportionment models
* Niche construction
* Niche differentiation

Other
networks|

* Assembly rules
* Bateman's principle
* Bioluminescence
* Ecological collapse
* Ecological debt
* Ecological deficit
* Ecological energetics
* Ecological indicator
* Ecological threshold
* Ecosystem diversity
* Emergence
* Extinction debt
* Kleiber's law
* Liebig's law of the minimum
* Marginal value theorem
* Thorson's rule
* Xerosere

Other|

* Allometry
* Alternative stable state
* Balance of nature
* Biological data visualization
* Ecocline
* Ecological economics
* Ecological footprint
* Ecological forecasting
* Ecological humanities
* Ecological stoichiometry
* Ecopath
* Ecosystem based fisheries
* Endolith
* Evolutionary ecology
* Functional ecology
* Industrial ecology
* Macroecology
* Microecosystem
* Natural environment
* Regime shift
* Systems ecology
* Urban ecology
* Theoretical ecology

List of ecology topics

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