On the website http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/genbio/virtual_labs/BL_02/BL_02.html you can use the virtual lab to model an ecosystem.
First of all you have to choose the climate zone in which you want to model your ecosystem. The range goes from "Hot Dessert" until "Antarctic Ocean Shore". Of course, every climate zone has different species, but usually are the communities quite similar to each other. That's why there can be a general range of species for each major climate zone. Below you can see the "Deciduous Forrest Ecosystem" that I have been working on as an example.
First of all you have to choose the climate zone in which you want to model your ecosystem. The range goes from "Hot Dessert" until "Antarctic Ocean Shore". Of course, every climate zone has different species, but usually are the communities quite similar to each other. That's why there can be a general range of species for each major climate zone. Below you can see the "Deciduous Forrest Ecosystem" that I have been working on as an example.
Of course, you should also try this model out with another climate zone which can give you a totally different range of species. I choose the "Antarctic Ocean Shore" which gave me following value:
Due to the cold temperatures and the months without light it is usually impossible for plants to grow. This means that there has to be a different producer. In this ecosystem it is Phytoplankton which shows that almost every animal in the Antarctica has to live close to the sea.