| Definition: | | - An ecosystem is the dynamic and interrelating complex of plant and animal communities and their associated non-living environment.
- The physical and climactic features and all the living and dead organisms in an area that are interrelated in the transfer of energy and material.
- An interacting complex of a community and its environment functioning as an ecological unit in nature. Differs from "system" in being a more rigorous definition that encompasses and requires assumptions of energetics, ecological interactions, species adaptations and so forth.
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