Welcome to this deck on ecosystems, a fundamental topic in the 'Living World' section of your AQA GCSE Geography paper. We'll explore what an ecosystem is, its living and non-living parts, and how they all depend on each other. We'll also look at food chains, nutrient cycles, and large-scale global ecosystems called biomes.

First, what is an ecosystem? An ecosystem is a natural system made up of plants, animals, and the environment. The key idea is the interaction between all these parts. Ecosystems can be tiny, like a rock pool, or vast, like a forest. For your exam, you need to be confident with this definition.

Every ecosystem has two types of components. The first are the living parts, which are called biotic components. This includes all the plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria. Think 'bio' like in 'biology', the study of life.

The second type of components are the non-living parts, called abiotic components. This includes things like the soil, water, sunlight, temperature, and climate. These abiotic factors have a huge influence on which biotic things can live in that ecosystem.