For example, some experts wouldn't be happy with a niche definition not defining the extremes of heat and cold, dryness and wetness, sun and shade, and other climatic factors the particular organism tolerates. They'd also want to know about the organism's reproductive cycle, and the season and time of day when it's active. In short, every aspect of a plant or animal's existence can determine its niche. The Herring Gull's habitat is along coasts, especially in harbors and around garbage dumps, and also on lakes and rivers. The habitat of beech trees is moist, deciduous forest, and the above fish's habitat is its shallow, freshwater lake.
Some important habitats are forests, grasslands, deserts, and marshes.
It's the non-living environment of these organisms, such as soil, our fish's water, light, heat, etc. You can see from the above that the boundaries of an ecosystem are not precisely defined. Lakes and their shores constitute ecosystems, as does the entire Eastern Deciduous Forest, which mantles much of Eastern North America and contains many lakes. The earth's largest ecosystem is the outer shell of the whole earth with its oceans and atmosphere. This latter ecosystem is also known by the name of the biosphere .