I have recently been learning about cool facts and tips about ecosystems which I found fascinating. It is interesting to know the fact that everything in the natural world (Earth) is connected. This is because of ecosystem, which can be defined as a community of living things (plants, animals and microbes) and non-living organisms (air, water and minerals) interacting together (Wikipedia). These things depend on each other from feeding to reproduce and interact in the same environment. It’s like existing together and sharing the same space in harmony. Isn’t that cool! Well, there are so many kinds of ecosystems everywhere! In the forest, in a field, even in your own backyard!!! We all live in an ecosystem. In this article I am going to talk to you about the recycling of matter in ecosystems. Right now you might have no idea what I’m talking about and you’ll probably want to skip to the next article but please hear me out….

What is the recycling of matter in ecosystems? Well it is a cycle that continues. For example in a nutrient cycle (ecological recycling)… a rabbit eats grass and gets the minerals and nutrients from the grass. Then the rabbit dies and decomposers such as worms, mushrooms, and maggots decompose the rabbit therefore releasing some of the rabbit’s nutrients and minerals that it got from its food into the soil. After that a plant absorbs the minerals and nutrients from the soil while it goes through photosynthesis. Then another rabbit or deer eats the grass and the cycle continues. How cool is that to know that each organism within an ecosystem has a different role to play!

Decomposers play a very important role in the recycling of matter. When a decomposer decomposes any type of waste, it turns the nutrients into non-organic supplements such as nitrogen, carbon and phosphorus (what lights up when you strike a match). Did you know that if we didn’t have decomposers we would all cease to exist? See without decomposers, no supplements go into the ground. Then plants can’t make any food so they die. Now a rabbit or deer does not have any food and then they die and so on.

There are many ways to help with the recycling of matter. You could throw out your food garbage in a compost bin instead of regular garbage. Then once the food has decomposed you can empty it in your garden because that is good for your plants- which is therefore good for the small ecosystem in your backyard- or in an ecosystem nearby such as your local forest. This is what happens probably unintentionally by the most farmers in the suburb or rural areas when everything is thrown back in their farms.

Overall, there is a lot more to be said about the recycling of matter, decomposers, and ecosystems but I’ll stop here for now. I hope you have learned something new!

Thank you for hearing me out!!

Serena Wambura