The life and surroundings that create a coral reef ecosystem are diverse. Coral reefs consist of various corals, crustaceans, turtles, fish and sharks. Each component of a coral reef is dependent on another to survive. It is not so commonly known that the salt-tolerant mangrove trees that line tropical coastlines are vital to the survival of the greater coral reef ecosystems around the world. Their complex and deep-running root systems stabilize the shoreline while providing nutrients and filtering pollutants. Many animals that are raised in mangrove trees also find their main source of food in the coral reef as well as a new habitat and an area for spawning.
While most people associate a desert with a hot climate, a desert can actually be hot or cold. What determines its label as a desert is the fact that there is very little rainfall. Animals and organisms in a desert ecosystem are able to survive with little water. Animals such as roadrunners get their water from their food -- such as lizards, snakes and insects. Some of the roadrunner's prey and other inhabitants, such as tortoises, get their water from cacti and other plants. Cacti are excellent conservers of water, storing it for months and slowing their growth to conserve more if necessary.
An estimated half of the world's animal species live in a rain forest ecosystem. An estimated quarter of the world's medicine is derived from plants growing in a rain forest ecosystem. With that said there are still large amounts of rain forests all over the world that have not been researched by scientists. The biggest threat to the inhabitants -- such as gorillas, tigers and parrots and their ecosystem -- of the rain forests is man. Farming techniques involving burning large areas of the rain forest are the focus of many environmental groups.
With three quarters of the world's surface covered by ocean, the marine ecosystem is extensive. It is also the ecosystem that is home to the largest and smallest of creatures -- the tiny plankton and the great blue whale. Many countries rely on fish for protein, an essential part of a human diet. This, unfortunately, can lead to overfishing in some areas. Reducing the food available to larger marine life means they risk starvation themselves if they are unable to migrate elsewhere. Migration elsewhere would consequently have an impact on another region of the marine ecosystem.
