Page:Niger Delta Ecosystems- the ERA Handbook, 1998.djvu/43

What is the Environment? #

Thus, for instance, within the Ecosystem of a forest, one can define sub-Ecosystems according to soils and drainage, and so on to the sub-Ecosystems of individual trees or even of individual leaves.

As with the landscapes they describe, Ecosystems change. They are the dynamic workshops where plant and animal species co-evolve.

3.6 TERMS USED IN THE DESCRIPTION OF ECOSYSTEMS

Now here is some necessary terminology with which you will have to become familiar for a further exploration of ecology.

3.6.1 A NATURAL ECOSYSTEM

An Ecosystem largely determined by the natural environment (e.g. a mangrove creek), as opposed to one that is largely determined by mankind (e.g. an oil-palm plantation), and within which there is a dynamic relationship between living things and the rest of their environment.

3.6.2 AN ECOZONE

An area within a biome that has characteristic Ecosystems, such as the alluvial tropical rainforests of the Niger Delta.

3.6.3 A SUB-ECOZONE

One of the parts into which an ecozone can be broken for the purposes of study, such as a ridge-top cultured forest on Akassa Island.

3.6.4 AN ECOTONEECOZONE [sic]

The transitional zone between one Ecosystem and another, such as the banks of a river.

3.6.5 A SPECIES

All the plant or animal individuals which can successfully reproduce with each other.

3.6.6 SPECIES POPULATION

The number of individuals of a species found in a given area.

3.6.7 SPECIES DIVERSITY

The number of species in a given area.

3.6.8 BIODIVERSITY

Another word for species diversity. 41