What do you need in a ecosystem?

Question

do you need a predator and a prey like a food chain?

Answer 1

in short you will need a cycle of life...

this means you will need plants to convert c02 to o2
you will need animals that convert 02 to c02
these 2 need to be balanced.

then ofcourse our animals will need food. some animals eat plants, but you will need animals that eat animals aswell.
on top of that you will need fungi and bacteria to convert the animal waste, or dead anymals, back to nutrients for the plants.

so: plants feed animals, animals feed animals and make poo, fungi and bacteria convert the poo to soil and plants grow on the soil again. <-- this also needs to be balanced.

on top of that you will ofcourse need enough of both animals and plants to ensure a healthy genepool capable of reproducing without inbreeding. on top of that you will need a vast diversity in species to ensure animals can switch to alternatives, and get the right forms of neutrition.

on top of that ofcourse you will need weather to regulate the temperatures and plant reproduction. water plants etc. keep any reptilians warm. mamals cool etc.

Answer 2

No, you need something that eats plants and something that converts the waste of the first eater to things used by plants. Goldfish or minnows, snails, and algae or higher level plants can be sealed in a container and with sunlight will live for months. Predator and prey live on top of this cycle, usually the lowest level of prey being a plant eater.

Answer 3

ecosystem is the system where all living organisms live together and affecting each other and affecting on the environment
ecosystem contains producers & consumer
consumer are the organisms which feed on other organisms and can't make their own food and they divided into 1ry,2ry&3rd consumer:
1ry consumer is the consumer which eats only green plants like sheeps.
2ry which can feed on both animal or plant {omnivorous} like human.
3rd which can feed only on meat of other animal and they are the top carnivorous like lions.