A depauperate ecosystem can be defined as an ecosystem that lacks species richness or species diversity.
This leads to significantly low biodiversity often due to a lack of necessary resources to support life.
As a result, depauperate ecosystems often exhibit less complexity by having fewer predators and competing species.
[2] Islands are often an example of depauperate ecosystems because they exhibit lower species diversity and lex complex food webs than continental ecosystems.
This can make colonization of depauperate ecosystems more difficult as the colonizing species can exhibit drastic trophic level alterations.