 Natural versus artificial ecosystems An ecosystem can be defined as a large, highly interconnected area of the planet that is composed of several different biotic and abiotic components. A good example of an ecosystem would be an entire forest or a mountain range. In this video, we will look at the difference between natural and artificial ecosystems. Natural ecosystems have been around as long as the planet itself. A natural ecosystem is made up of all the plants, animals and environmental features in an area. Generally, natural ecosystems have what are called autothonous resource inputs. It is just a scientific way of saying that most, if not all, of the components found within an ecosystem are indigenous or native to that area. All of these components interact through various nutrient and energy cycles to create large and incredibly complex webs. Sometimes, these webs contain over 100 different components and span thousands of kilometers. So overall, natural ecosystems consist of many species of plants and animals and have long and complex food webs and have high genetic diversity. They are also naturally sustainable. Artificial ecosystems have been created or altered by humans and are not necessarily found in nature. Farms are an example of an artificial ecosystem. Based on the complexity of natural ecosystems, how many components do you think artificial ecosystems have? Pause and have a think. If you guess somewhere between 5 and 10, you're pretty close to the average. In contrast to natural ecosystems, artificial ecosystems are often designed to be very simple. Artificial ecosystems may only contain a few, three or four, different components and usually require elecithinous or external resource inputs, i.e. they contain species and inputs that are not native. As a result of their simplicity, an artificial ecosystem cannot function like its natural counterpart and there is incomplete nutrient recycling. Hence, extra resources are required for the ecosystem to continue functioning. Genetic diversity is very low in artificial ecosystems and food webs are very simple or even incomplete due to killing of pest species. Another important difference between natural and artificial ecosystem is the time scale used to measure the activity within each ecosystem. For example, water cycling in natural ecosystems generally requires decades or centuries for the water to complete a full cycle and return to the designated starting point. In an artificial ecosystem, on the other hand, the entire water cycle may only take a few weeks or months before it's returned to its starting point. The massive difference in time scale is due to both the small size and relative simplicity of artificial ecosystems. They are easier to control and can easily be designed for high productivity. The productivity in natural ecosystems is much more variable and depends on the environment. So, from this video, you should know some crucial differences between natural and artificial ecosystems. Most importantly, natural ecosystems are much more complex and diverse, whereas artificial ecosystems are much simpler and can be easily controlled for high productivity.