On planet Earth, no living thing is an island. This identifies the world's ecosystems as it explains the flow of energy and the cycling of matter within them. Terms such as biosphere and biome, biotic and abiotic, autotrophs (producers) and heterotrophs (consumers), and the food web are defined, and ecology and conservation as fields of study are explored. Rainforests serve as a timely and powerful example of the interdependence of life at the global level--and the devastating worldwide effects of deforestation
