What is a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment called?

An ecosystem is a community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment, interacting as a system. The term ecosystem was coined in 1935, though ecosystems have been around as long as living things. "Eco" is a spin-off from the word "ecology" and describes anything having to do with the environment and our relation to it. And "system" comes from the Greek word "systema" or "organized body, whole."

Ecosystems are dynamic entities — they are subject to periodic disturbances and are in the process of recovering from some past disturbance. Ecosystems in similar environments that are located in different parts of the world can end up doing things very differently simply because they have different pools of species present.