ECOSYSTEMS

In nature, plants and animals live in ecosystems - communities in which each part contributes to and affects the lives of the other parts. In a balanced ecosystem, each plant and animal species has enough food, water, and habitat (place to live).

In a balanced ecosystem, the predators have enough prey, and the prey have enough predators. When one part of an ecosystem dies out or becomes too scare, the plants and animals that depend on its function in the environment get out of balance, too. If honeybees disappear, for example, the plants that need bees for flower pollination won't be able to produce seeds. If predators such as ladybugs become scarce, the insect the normally prey on - aphids - will become so numerous that they will seriously injure or even kill the plants on which they feed.