ecosystem complexity
nounEcosystem complexity is how many different living things live in a place and how they all connect to each other.
The rainforest has high ecosystem complexity because it is full of many plants, animals, and insects that depend on one another.
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OTHER MEANINGS
2. The number and variety of species and the many ways they interact within a natural community.
Scientists measured ecosystem complexity by counting species and mapping their feeding relationships.
3. The intricate network of energy flow and nutrient cycling that keeps an environment balanced.
Removing one predator can change ecosystem complexity by shifting how energy moves through the food web.
4. The degree to which an environment's parts are linked, making it hard to predict what happens when one part changes.
High ecosystem complexity means a small change, like losing a bee species, can affect many other organisms.