Biotope

A biotope is an area of uniform environmental conditions providing a living place for a specific assemblage of plants and animals.

[1] It is an English loanword derived from the German Biotop, which in turn came from the Greek bios (meaning 'life') and topos ('place').

In his book General Morphology (1866), which defines the term "ecology", he stresses the importance of the concept of habitat as a prerequisite for an organism's existence.

Haeckel also explains that with one ecosystem, its biota is shaped by environmental factors (such as water, soil, and geographical features) and interaction among living things; the original idea of a biotope was closely related to evolutional theory.

Since the 1970s the term "biotope" has received great attention as a keyword throughout Europe (mainly Germany) for the preservation, regeneration, and creation of natural environmental settings.

For example, a biotope might be a neighbouring park, a back garden, potted plant, a terrarium or a fish tank on a porch.

It is commonly emphasised that biotopes should not be isolated (although there are exceptions, such as manmade closed ecological systems which are specifically designed for no exchange of materials with the outside world).

In the stretch method, the centre of the network would be large green tracts of land: a forest, natural park, or cemetery.

For example, an ornamental flower bed may be considered a biotope (though a rather small one) since it enhances the experience of daily life.

They consider, for example, the regional lie of the land, climate, wind direction, soil, ground water, type of biotope, distribution of animals and plants, inhabitants' welfare and competition with development projects.

An example of one South American biotope type might be "Forest creek tributary of Rio Negro near Barcelos, Brazil" with many branches, twigs, roots, dead leaves, light sandy substrate, tannin-stained water and subdued lighting with floating plants, along with Nannostomus eques, Paracheirodon axelrodi, Hemigrammus bleheri, and Dicrossus filamentosus.

These closed ecosystems are often made by hobbyists who enjoy the idea of having an entire ecosystem on their windowsill, or by those interested in studying the viability of small scale, closed loop ecological systems for the purpose potentially creating life support systems.