An ecosystem is a place and the living things that live there. Ecosystems can vary in size, from small pond ecosystems containing frogs and snails, to large savannah ecosystems with grasses, trees, zebras, and lions. In ecosystems, plants produce their own food through photosynthesis, while herbivores eat plants and carnivores eat other animals or herbivores, forming a food chain. Ecosystems include interactions between living and non-living elements.

1. Ecosystems

2. Plants and animals live together
• Plants need water and sunlight to survive.
• Some plants need a lot of
water, they grow in wet places.
• Others, like palm trees,
only need a little, they grow
in dry places.
• It is the same for animals.

3. What is an ecosystem?
• An ecosystem is a place and the living
things that live there.
ECOSYSTEM
LIVING THINGS NON-LIVING THINGS
Animals and plants Soil, rocks, water

4. Big ecosystems
• Some ecosystems are big, like the
savannah.
• Grasses, bushes and
trees live on the
savannah.
• There also many
animals like zebras,
gnu, hyenas or lions.

5. Small ecosystems
• Others ecosystems are small, like a pond.
• In a pond we can find many animals like
frogs, dragonflies or snails.
• There are also water plants.

6. Food in an ecosystem
• Plants make their own food.
• Herbivorous animals eat leaves,plants,
fruits.
• Carnivorous animals eat other animals.
• This is a food chain.

7. Other interactions
• Some plants live on other plants.
• Many birds build their nests in trees.
• Many animals like zebras or sardines, live
in groups to defend themselves or to find
food.

8. Forests are ecosystems
• The biggest plants are trees but there are
also bushes and grasses.
• Insects are the biggest group of
invertebrates. Spiders or worms are also
invertebrates.
• There are also vertebrates
like owls, rabbits or deers.

9. The sea is an ecosystem
• Seaweed is the most common plant in the
sea.
• Many invertebrates, like
jellyfish or
mussels, live
in the sea.
• Fish are the biggest group or vertebrates
but there are also mammals, like dolphins
or whales and reptiles like turtles.

10. • The sea is the biggest ecosystem in the
Earth.
• There are three main zones in the sea:
- The coast
- The high sea
- The deep sea