Biome vs. Ecosystem

Main Difference

The main difference between biome and ecosystem is that biome is a large regional community primarily determined by its climate conditions, whereas the ecosystem is a part of the biome.

Difference Between Biome and Ecosystem

Comparison Chart

Biome vs. Ecosystem

Ecology is the study of the association of animals (organisms) to their environment. Biome and ecosystem are its two different terms. Biome refers to a broader geographical area. On the other hand, ecosystem refers to a small geographical region. A biome is a broad geographical area with the distinct plant, climate, and animal species whereas, ecosystem refers to the biotic and abiotic components that interact with each other in a given area. The difference between ecosystem and biome lies within their definitions. A biome is an ecological term that is greatly influenced by the climatic factors like ice, rainfall, snow, and temperature while, the ecosystem is that ecological factor which is not strongly influenced by climatic factors such as snowfall, ice, and temperature. A biome has a great diversity of animal and plant species on the flip side; the ecosystem has a less diversity of animals and plants species as compared to a biome because of its smaller geographical area. Biome will have trophic levels in the sense that there will be plants, animals, primary producers, and consumers in it. Trophic levels are also important in an ecosystem because almost all the members of the ecosystem interact with each other through food webs and food chains. The number of food webs in a biome is much greater than in an ecosystem because a biome by its definition has a much larger geographical area.

What is Biome?

A biome is a large regional community determined by its climate conditions. There is a distinct climate of each biome that decides the types of animals and plants found in that biome. That is the reason; different biomes have different types of animals and plants species. The species of one biome may not live in the climate of other biomes. Biomes which are located at lower latitudes are wetter and warmer than those of that biome which are located at higher latitudes. A biome may have several ecosystems because of similar climatic conditions. For example, an aquatic biome may have ecosystems like kelp forests, coral reefs, etc. A biome can be aquatic (water-based) and terrestrial (land-based). The terrestrial biomes include desert, coniferous forest, temperate deciduous forest, tundra, rain forest, etc. On the other hand, the aquatic biomes include Open Ocean, estuary, gulf, continental shelf water, lotic freshwater, lentic freshwater, etc.

What is Ecosystem?

An ecosystem refers to the biotic and abiotic components that interact with each other in a given area. Biotic factors include organisms, plants, animals, etc., and abiotic factors contain sunlight, temperature, weather, soil, water, climate, etc. The biotic components interact with each other through many processes like parasitism, symbiosis, predation, competition, etc., and with their abiotic components. This interaction maintains the flow of energy and matter in an ecosystem.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it is summarized that biome and ecosystem are the two ecological terms that describe the dispersal of species in their environments. They maintain the flow of energy in the environment.