noun · academic
ecosystem
UK/ˈiːkəʊˌsɪstəm/US/ˈikoʊˌsɪstəm/EC·o·sys·tem
a community of living things interacting with their physical environment
Examples
“Coral reefs support a rich marine ecosystem.”
“When one species disappears, the whole ecosystem can be affected.”
“Scientists study ecosystems to understand biodiversity and balance.”
Band 8 sentence
“Protecting key ecosystems is essential for maintaining biodiversity and the services they provide to humanity.”
Collocations
- marine ecosystem
- fragile ecosystem
Word family
Common mistakes
The ecology of the forest was destroyed→The ecosystem of the forest was destroyed
many ecosystem→many ecosystems
Say it for a higher band
5nature→6environment→7+ecosystem
Synonyms
ecological community
Easily confused
ecology
“She studied ecology at university but worked on restoring a damaged ecosystem afterwards.”
Related words
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In Environment & Climate
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