[Henderson's] n. community of different spe­cies interdependent on each other, together with their non-living environment, which is relatively self-contained in terms of energy flow, and is distinct from neigh­bouring communities. Different types of ecosystem are defined by the collection of organisms found within them, e.g. forest, soil, grassland. Continuous ecosystems covering very large areas, such as the northern coniferous forest or the steppe grassland, are known as biomes.