What Makes a Successful Ecosystem?

Scientists have long understood ecosystems and their components, but it is only recently that the success of an ecosystem was fully understood, reports Web magazine ScienceDaily.com. To fully understand ecosystem success, though, it is necessary to garner knowledge of ecosystem cycles and components. According to Dave McShaffrey with Marietta College, most ecosystem cycles receive starting energy from the sun before individual ecosystem components utilize this energy.

Ecosystem Producers

• The sun is the first stage of energy, but ecosystem producers are the first stage of ecosystem life, says McShaffrey. Ecosystem producers are typically plants or other organisms that photosynthesize--derive energy directly from the sun. Plants take energy from the sun and use this energy to generate starches and sugars necessary for their survival. In turn, ecosystem consumers take energy from the consumption of ecosytem producers.

Ecosystem Consumers

• Ecosystem consumers are the second stage of ecosystem life, reports McShaffrey. Ecosystem consumers include herbivores, omnivores and carnivores that consume either ecosystem producers or animals that consume ecosystem producers. While ecosystems can survive without consumers, most ecosystems have consumer populations. The death of ecosystem consumers and producers brings about the next stage in the ecosystem cycle.

Ecosystem Decomposers

• According to McShaffrey, ecosystem decomposers are the third and final stage in ecosystem life; however, ecosystem producers can skip consumers and move straight to decomposers. Most ecosystem decomposers are microorganisms--bacteria, fungi, algae, etc.--that break down the remains of producers and consumers and leave only inorganic nutrients behind for future ecosystem producer use.

Inorganic Nutrient Pools

• Pools of inorganic nutrients are left after ecosystem decomposers have finished their role in the ecosystem cycle. This final stage of the ecosystem cycle provides vitamins and minerals that future ecosystem producers will utilize in combination with energy obtained from the sun to continue the cycle and provide food for consumers and decomposers alike.

Successful Ecosystems

• Successful ecosystems utilize the ecosystem cycle in combination with evolution to generate future organisms that adapt readily, reports ScienceDaily.com. The movement of species through ecosystem environments significantly affects productivity and biodiversity. Species that move from harsh environment to harsh environment adapt as generalized species that do not flourish in any environment, and species that do not spread only stagnate. Successful ecosystems are created when species spread just enough to evolve highly specialized regional traits.