8.2.1—Urban ecosystems
- Syllabus
- First assessment 2026
- Objective
- 8.2.1
- Level
- HL
Sort the City Into Living and Non-living Parts
An urban ecosystem combines living components—plants, animals, microbes and people—with non-living conditions such as soil, water, air, climate, topography and built surfaces.
Classify by whether the feature is alive, then explain the interaction. Humans are biotic; roads and buildings are abiotic stores even though people design them.
A street tree is biotic; compacted soil and hot pavement are abiotic conditions that limit its roots and water supply.
Both: plants are biotic, while roof material, water and heat are abiotic conditions interacting with them.
Do not classify by who built or manages something; classify living versus non-living first.