The forest has many parts that, when considered together, make up the forest ecosystem. An ecosystem is all the organisms in a given area, interacting with each other and with their environment. Because each part of the ecosystem - such as animals, plants, insects, soil, climate, sunlight, water - is constantly changing, the whole forest continues to change. The forest ecosystem is dynamic.

As parts of the ecosystem interact together, complex cycles of material and energy result. For instance, there are nutrient cycles of carbon and nitrogen, a water or hydrological cycle, and an energy cycle (food web). Many of the components and processes of the forest ecosystem may go unnoticed but are important nonetheless. For example, thousands of fungi and microorganisms live in the soil and play a critical role in breaking down leaf litter and dead wood and making those nutrients available to growing trees and other plants.

All of the relationships in a forest change over time as trees grow and mature. Trees themselves change the environment for other plants and for wildlife by providing shade. This pattern of change is referred to as forest succession.

A forest ecosystem consisting of living components and
non-living parts (the environment).

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