Living components of an ecosystem are producers, consumers and decomposers. Producers create energy. Plants convert their own energy from the sun into food for consumers--animals who use the energy. When plants and animals die, decomposers break down and convert detritus into organic matter. The resulting soil provides suitable environs for plant growth, continuing the energy cycle.
Non-living components of an ecosystem are soil, sand, the atmosphere, sun, rocks and water. The complex interaction of these components creates oxygen, carbon dioxide, water and the structural habitats necessary for the living components to create and sustain life.
Sustainability means maintenance and continued existence. It also means to supply necessities and generally to provide necessities from below. Ecosystem sustainability refers to identifying humans as living components of ecosystems, oftentimes the major producers, consumers and decomposers. For instance, human activities put inordinate amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that affect all ecosystem levels, including our global ecosystem. Specifically, global warming is changing ecosystem boundaries; warmer and wetter ecosystems are migrating north; drier ecosystems are developing in the south. Incorporating humans into the energy cycle when making management decisions is sound science and policy to adapt to climate change and achieve ecosystem sustainability.
The more complex the ecosystem, the more sustainable. Key components of ecosystem sustainability include species diversity and healthy habitat structures interwoven at many levels. A strong bottom layer to the energy cycle is also a key component to sustainability.
Ocean acidification is a phenomenon in which increased carbon dioxide makes the ocean environs more acidic, eating away at coral reefs and the shells of calciferous plankton, which are food sources at the bottom of the food chain. The result is decreased habitat and species diversity and an inability to provide necessities from below.
Understanding ecosystem complexity and interrelationships is very important for sustainable management, especially in dealing with the impacts of global warming.