Noun

(en noun)

A system formed by an ecological community and its environment that functions as a unit.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01

, author=Donald Worster , title=A Drier and Hotter Future , volume=100, issue=1, page=70 , magazine= citation , passage=Phoenix and Lubbock are both caught in severe drought, and it is going to get much worse. We may see many such [dust] storms in the decades ahead, along with species extinctions, radical disturbance of ecosystems , and intensified social conflict over land and water. Welcome to the Anthropocene, the epoch when humans have become a major geological and climatic force.}}

The interconnectedness of organisms (plants, animals, microbes) with each other and their environment.

(business, marketing) A set of interconnected products and services.

Noun

(en noun)

(biology) The living organisms of a region.

* {{quote-journal, 2009, date=February 6, Andrew Z. Krug et al., Signature of the End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction in the Modern Biota, Science citation

, passage=Although the broad macroevolutionary consequences of mass extinctions are well known (as in the dinosaurs-mammals changeover), their long-term effects on the temporal and spatial dynamics of clades and biotas are rarely investigated. }}