An ecosystem consists of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving, physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water, and sunlight.^[1] It is all the organisms in a given area, along with the nonliving (abiotic) factors with which they interact; a biological community and its physical environment.^[1] The entire array of organisms inhabiting a particular ecosystem is called a community In biological terms, a community is a group of interacting species sharing an environment. In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks, and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness.^[1] In a typical ecosystem, plants Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. They include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The scientific study of plants, known as botany, has identified about 350,000 extant species of plants, defined as seed plants, bryophytes, ferns and fern allies. As of 2004, and other photosynthetic Photosynthesis is a process that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight. Photosynthesis occurs in plants, algae, and many species of bacteria, but not in archaea. Photosynthetic organisms are called photoautotrophs, since they can create their own food. In plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, organisms In biology, an organism is any contiguous living system . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimuli, reproduction, growth and development, and maintenance of homoeostasis as a stable whole. An organism may either be unicellular (single-celled) or be composed of, as in humans, many trillions of cells grouped into are the producers that provide the food.^[1] Ecosystems can be permanent or temporary. Ecosystems usually form a number of food webs Food chains and food webs are representations of the predator-prey relationships between species within an ecosystem or habitat.^[2]

Ecosystem is a functional unit consisting of living things in a given area, non-living chemical and physical factors of their environment, linked together through nutrient cycle and energy flow.^{[citation needed]}

1. Natural
   1. Terrestrial ecosystem
   2. Aquatic ecosystem An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem located in a body of water. Communities of organisms that are dependent on each other and on their environment live in aquatic ecosystems. The two main types of aquatic ecosystems are marine ecosystems and freshwater ecosystems
      1. Lentic A lentic ecosystem is the ecosystem of a lake, pond or swamp. Included in the environment are the biotic interactions and the abiotic interactions (physical and chemical), the ecosystem of a lake, pond or swamp.
      2. Lotic A lotic ecosystem is the ecosystem of a river, stream or spring. Included in the environment are the biotic interactions as well as the abiotic interactions (physical and chemical), the ecosystem of a river, stream or spring.
2. Artificial, environments created by humans.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Etymology 3 Examples of ecosystems 3.1 Biomes 4 Classification 5 Ecosystem services 6 Ecosystem legal rights 7 Function and biodiversity 8 The study of ecosystems 8.1 Ecosystem dynamics 8.2 Ecosystem ecology 9 See also 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links

Overview

Central to the ecosystem concept is the idea that living organisms In biology, an organism is any contiguous living system . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimuli, reproduction, growth and development, and maintenance of homoeostasis as a stable whole. An organism may either be unicellular (single-celled) or be composed of, as in humans, many trillions of cells grouped into interact with every other element in their local environment The biophysical environment is the symbiosis between the physical environment and the biological life forms within the environment, and includes all variables that comprise the Earth's biosphere. The biophysical environment can be divided into two categories: the natural environment and the built environment, with some overlap between the two. Eugene Odum, a founder of ecology Ecology is the scientific study of the distributions, abundance and relations of organisms and their interactions with the environment. Ecology includes the study of plant and animal populations, plant and animal communities and ecosystems. Ecosystems describe the web or network of relations among organisms at different scales of organization, stated: "Any unit that includes all of the organisms (ie: the "community") in a given area interacting with the physical environment so that a flow of energy leads to clearly defined trophic structure, biotic diversity, and material cycles (i.e.: exchange of materials between living and nonliving parts) within the system is an ecosystem."^[3] The human ecosystem concept is then grounded in the deconstruction of the human/nature biotype and the premise that all species are ecologically integrated with each other, as well as with the abiotic constituents of their biology Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy.

Etymology

The term ecosystem was coined in 1930 by Roy Clapham Arthur Roy Clapham, CBE FRS , was a British botanist to mean the combined physical and biological components of an environment. British ecologist Arthur Tansley Sir Arthur George Tansley was an English botanist who was a pioneer in the science of ecology. From the start, he was much influenced by the Danish plant ecologist Eugenius Warming. He championed the term ecosystem in 1935 and ecotope in 1939. He was one of the founders of the British Ecological Society, and editor of the Journal of Ecology for later refined the term, describing it as "The whole system, … including not only the organism-complex, but also the whole complex of physical factors forming what we call the environment".^[4] Tansley regarded ecosystems not simply as natural units, but as mental isolates.^[4] Tansley later^[5] defined the spatial extent of ecosystems using the term ecotope Ecotopes are the smallest ecologically-distinct landscape features in a landscape mapping and classification system. As such, they represent relatively homogeneous, spatially-explicit landscape functional units that are useful for stratifying landscapes into ecologically distinct features for the measurement and mapping of landscape structure,.

Examples of ecosystems

• agro-ecosystems The term agroecology can be used in multiple ways, as a science, as a movement and as a practice. Broadly stated, it is the study of the role of agriculture in the world. Agroecology provides an interdisciplinary framework with which to study the activity of agriculture. In this framework, agriculture does not exist as an isolated entity, but as
• Agroecosystem An agroecosystem is the basic unit of study for an agroecologist. It is somewhat arbitrarily defined as a spatially and functionally coherent unit of agricultural activity, and includes the living and nonliving components involved in that unit as well as their interactions
• Aquatic ecosystem An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem located in a body of water. Communities of organisms that are dependent on each other and on their environment live in aquatic ecosystems. The two main types of aquatic ecosystems are marine ecosystems and freshwater ecosystems
• Chaparral Chaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate and wildfire. Similar plant communities are found in the four other Mediterranean climate regions around the world, including the
• Coral reef Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Corals are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters containing few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, and are formed by polyps that live together in groups. The polyps secrete a hard carbonate exoskeleton which provides support
• Desert A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Deserts are defined as areas with an average annual precipitation of less than 250 millimetres per year, or as areas where more water is lost by evapotranspiration than falls as precipitation. In the Köppen
• Forest A forest is an area with a high density of trees. There are many definitions of a forest, based on the various criteria. These plant communities cover approximately 9.4% of the Earth's surface (or 30% of total land area), though they once covered much more (about 50% of total land area), in many different regions and function as habitats for
• Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is the last remaining large, nearly intact ecosystem in the northern temperate zone of the Earth and is partly located in Yellowstone National Park. Conflict over management has been controversial, and the area is a flagship site among conservation groups that promote ecosystem management. The Greater Yellow Ecosystem
• Human ecosystem Human ecosystems are complex cybernetic systems that are increasingly being used by ecological anthropologists and other scholars to examine the ecological aspects of human communities in a way that integrates multiple factors as economics, socio-political organization, psychological factors, and physical factors related to the environment
• Large marine ecosystem Large marine ecosystems are regions of the world's oceans, encompassing coastal areas from river basins and estuaries to the seaward boundaries of continental shelves and the outer margins of the major ocean current systems. They are relatively large regions on the order of 200,000 km² or greater, characterized by distinct bathymetry, hydrography,
• Littoral zone The littoral zone refers to that part of a sea, lake or river that is close to the shore. In coastal environments the littoral zone extends from the high water mark, which is rarely inundated, to shoreline areas that are permanently submerged. It always includes this intertidal zone and is often used to mean the same as the intertidal zone
• Lotic A lotic ecosystem is the ecosystem of a river, stream or spring. Included in the environment are the biotic interactions as well as the abiotic interactions (physical and chemical)
• Marine ecosystem Marine ecosystems are among the largest of Earth's aquatic ecosystems. They include oceans, salt marsh and intertidal ecology, estuaries and lagoons, mangroves and coral reefs, the deep sea and the sea floor. They can be contrasted with freshwater ecosystems, which have a lower salt content
• Pond Ecosystem
• Prairie Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type. Temperate grassland regions include the Pampas of Argentina, and the steppes of Eurasia
• Rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750–2000 mm . The monsoon trough, alternately known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating Earth's tropical rain forests
• Riparian zone A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a stream. Plant communities along the river margins are called riparian vegetation, characterized by hydrophilic plants. Riparian zones are significant in ecology, environmental management, and civil engineering because of their role in soil conservation, their biodiversity, and
• Savanna A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses. Some classification systems[which?] also recognize a
• Steppe A steppe in physical geography refers to a biome region characterised by grassland plain without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. The prairie (especially the shortgrass and mixed prairie) is an example of a steppe, though it is not usually called such. It may be semi-desert, or covered with grass or shrubs or both, depending on the
• Subsurface Lithoautotrophic Microbial Ecosystem Subsurface Lithoautotrophic Microbial Ecosystems, or "SLIMEs" , are defined by Edward O. Wilson as "unique assemblages of bacteria and fungi that occupy pores in the interlocking mineral grains of igneous rock beneath Earth's surface."
• Taiga Taiga , also known as the boreal forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests. Covering most of inland Canada, Alaska, Sweden, Finland, inland Norway, much of Russia (especially Siberia), as well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States (northern Minnesota, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, northern Wisconsin, Upstate New
• Tundra In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine tundra, and Antarctic tundra
• Urban ecosystem This is the growth in the urban population and the supporting built infrastructure has affected both urban environments and also on areas which surround urban areas. These include semi or 'peri-urban' environments that fringe cities as well as agricultural and natural landscapes

A freshwater Freshwater or fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Freshwater is characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term specifically excludes seawater and ecosystem in Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (in English, "Grand Canary") is an island of the Canary Islands. Located in the Atlantic Ocean about 150 kilometers (~93 miles) off the northwestern coast of Africa and about 1350 km (~838 miles) from Europe. Gran Canaria is the second most populous island of the Canary Islands after Tenerife, an island of the Canary Islands The Canary Islands (pronounced /kəˈnɛəriː ˈaɪləndz/, colloquially also known as the Canaries; Spanish: Islas Canarias, pronounced [ˈislas kaˈnarjas]; 28°06′N 15°24′W / 28.1°N 15.4°W .

Biomes

Map of Terrestrial biomes Biome are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. Biomes are defined by factors such as plant structures , leaf types (such as broadleaf and needleleaf), plant spacing (forest, woodland, savanna), and classified by vegetation. Main article: Biome Biome are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. Biomes are defined by factors such as plant structures , leaf types (such as broadleaf and needleleaf), plant spacing (forest, woodland, savanna), and

Biomes Biome are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. Biomes are defined by factors such as plant structures , leaf types (such as broadleaf and needleleaf), plant spacing (forest, woodland, savanna), and are a classification of globally similar areas, including ecosystems, such as ecological communities Another usage difference is whether a community is defined based on evolutionary taxonomy and biogeography, or based on function and behavior regardless of genetic relationships. For example, a plant community of the first type might be called "oak-hickory forests", while one of the second type might be called "temperate deciduous of plants Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. They include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The scientific study of plants, known as botany, has identified about 350,000 extant species of plants, defined as seed plants, bryophytes, ferns and fern allies. As of 2004, and animals Animals are a major group of mostly multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and independently. All animals are also, soil organisms The soil is home to a large proportion of the world's genetic diversity. The linkages between soil organisms and soil functions are observed to be incredibly complex. The interconnectedness and complexity of this soil ‘food web’ means any appraisal of soil function must necessarily take into account interactions with the living communities and climatic Climates encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elements in a given region over long periods of time. Climate can be contrasted to weather, which is the present condition of these same elements and their variations over periods up to two weeks conditions.^{[citation needed]} Biomes are in part defined based on factors such as plant structures (such as trees, shrubs and grasses), leaf types (such as broadleaf and needleleaf), plant spacing (forest, woodland, savanna) and climate.^{[citation needed]} Unlike ecozones An ecozone or biogeographic realm is the largest scale biogeographic division of the Earth's land surfaces, based on the historic and evolutionary distribution patterns of terrestrial plants and animals. Ecozones represent large areas of the Earth's surface where plants and animals developed in relative isolation over long periods of time, and are, biomes are not defined by genetic, taxonomic or historical similarities. Biomes are often identified with particular patterns of ecological succession Ecological succession, a fundamental concept in ecology, refers to more or less predictable and orderly changes in the composition or structure of an ecological community. Succession may be initiated either by formation of new, unoccupied habitat or by some form of disturbance (e.g. fire, severe windthrow, logging) of an existing community and climax vegetation.

A fundamental classification of biomes is:

1. Terrestrial (land) biomes
2. Freshwater biomes
3. Marine biomes

Classification

Summer field in Belgium (Hamois). The blue flower is Centaurea cyanus and the red one a Papaver rhoeas. The High Peaks Wilderness Area in the 6,000,000-acre (2,400,000 ha) Adirondack Park is an example of a diverse ecosystem. Flora of Baja California Desert, Cataviña region, Mexico.

Ecosystems have become particularly important politically, since the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) - ratified by 192 countries - defines "the protection of ecosystems, natural habitats and the maintenance of viable populations of species in natural surroundings"^[6] as a commitment of ratifying countries. This has created the political necessity to spatially identify ecosystems and somehow distinguish among them. The CBD defines an "ecosystem" as a "dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit".

With the need of protecting ecosystems, the political need arose to describe and identify them efficiently. Vreugdenhil et al. argued that this could be achieved most effectively by using a physiognomic-ecological classification system, as ecosystems are easily recognizable in the field as well as on satellite images. They argued that the structure and seasonality of the associated vegetation, or flora, complemented with ecological data (such as elevation, humidity, and drainage), are each determining modifiers that separate partially distinct sets of species. This is true not only for plant species, but also for species of animals, fungi and bacteria. The degree of ecosystem distinction is subject to the physiognomic modifiers that can be identified on an image and/or in the field. Where necessary, specific fauna elements can be added, such as seasonal concentrations of animals and the distribution of coral reefs.

Several physiognomic-ecological classification systems are available:

• Physiognomic-Ecological Classification of Plant Formations of the Earth: a system based on the 1974 work of Mueller-Dombois and Heinz Ellenberg^[7], and developed by UNESCO. This classificatie "describes the above-ground or underwater vegetation structures and cover as observed in the field, described as plant life forms. This classification is fundamentally a species-independent physiognomic, hierarchical vegetation classification system which also takes into account ecological factors such as climate, elevation, human influences such as grazing, hydric regimes and survival strategies such as seasonality. The system was expanded with a basic classification for open water formations".^[8]
• Land Cover Classification System (LCCS), developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).^[9]
• Forest-Range Environmental Study Ecosystems (FRES) developed by the United States Forest Service for use in the United States.^[10]

Several aquatic classification systems are available, and an effort is being made by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network (IABIN) to design a complete ecosystem classification system that will cover both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

From a philosophy of science perspective, ecosystems are not discrete units of nature that simply can be identified using the most "correct" type of classification approach.^{[citation needed]} In agreement with the definition by Tansley ("mental isolates"), any attempt to delineate or classify ecosystems should be explicit about the observer/analyst input in the classification including its normative rationale.

Two Giant Sequoias, Sequoia National Park. Note the large fire scar at the base of the right-hand tree; fires do not kill the trees but do remove competing thin-barked species, and aid Giant Sequoia regeneration.

Ecosystem services

Main article: Ecosystem services

Ecosystem services are “fundamental life-support services upon which human civilization depends,”ⁱ and can be direct or indirect. Examples of direct ecosystem services are: pollination, wood and erosion prevention. Indirect services could be considered climate moderation, nutrient cycles and detoxifying natural substances.

The services and goods an ecosystem provides are often undervalued as many of them are without market value^[11]. Broad examples include:

• regulating (climate, floods, nutrient balance, water filtration)
• provisioning (food, medicine, fur)
• cultural (science, spiritual, ceremonial, recreation, aesthetic)
• supporting (nutrient cycling, photosynthesis, soil formation).^[12]

Ecosystem legal rights

Ecuador's new constitution of 2008 is the first in the world to recognize legally enforceable Rights of Nature, or ecosystem rights.^[13]

The borough of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania passed a law giving ecosystems legal rights. The ordinance establishes that the municipal government or any Tamaqua resident can file a lawsuit on behalf of the local ecosystem.^[14] Other townships, such as Rush, followed suit and passed their own laws.^[15]

This is part of a growing body of legal opinion proposing 'wild law'. Wild law, a term coined by Cormac Cullinan (a lawyer based in South Africa), would cover birds and animals, rivers and deserts.^[16][17]

Function and biodiversity

Savanna at Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania. The side of a tide pool showing sea stars (Dermasterias), sea anemones (Anthopleura) and sea sponges in Santa Cruz, California. See also: Biodiversity

From an anthropocentric point of view, some people perceive ecosystems as production units that produce goods and services, such as wood by forest ecosystems and grass for cattle by natural grasslands. Meat from wild animals, often referred to as bush meat in Africa, has proven to be extremely successful under well-controlled management schemes in South Africa and Kenya. Much less successful has been the discovery and commercialization of substances of wild organism for pharmaceutical purposes. Services derived from ecosystems are referred to as ecosystem services. They may include

1. facilitating the enjoyment of nature, which may generate many forms of income and employment in the tourism sector, often referred to as eco-tourisms,
2. water retention, thus facilitating a more evenly distributed release of water,
3. soil protection, open-air laboratory for scientific research, etc.

A greater degree of species or biological diversity - commonly referred to as Biodiversity - of an ecosystem may contribute to greater resilience of an ecosystem, because there are more species present at a location to respond to change and thus "absorb" or reduce its effects. This reduces the effect before the ecosystem's structure is fundamentally changed to a different state. This is not universally the case and there is no proven relationship between the species diversity of an ecosystem and its ability to provide goods and services on a sustainable level: Humid tropical forests produce very few goods and direct services and are extremely vulnerable to change, while many temperate forests readily grow back to their previous state of development within a lifetime after felling or a forest fire. Some grasslands have been sustainably exploited for thousands of years (Mongolia, Africa, European peat and mooreland communities).

The study of ecosystems

Forest on San Juan Island

Ecosystem dynamics

Loch Lomond in Scotland forms a relatively isolated ecosystem. The fish community of this lake has remained unchanged over a very long period of time.^[18]

Introduction of new elements, whether biotic or abiotic, into an ecosystem tend to have a disruptive effect. In some cases, this can lead to ecological collapse or "trophic cascading" and the death of many species within the ecosystem. Under this deterministic vision, the abstract notion of ecological health attempts to measure the robustness and recovery capacity for an ecosystem; i.e. how far the ecosystem is away from its steady state.

Often, however, ecosystems have the ability to rebound from a disruptive agent. The difference between collapse or a gentle rebound is determined by two factors—the toxicity of the introduced element and the resiliency of the original ecosystem.

Ecosystems are primarily governed by stochastic (chance) events, the reactions these events provoke on non-living materials and the responses by organisms to the conditions surrounding them. Thus, an ecosystem results from the sum of individual responses of organisms to stimuli from elements in the environment. The presence or absence of populations merely depends on reproductive and dispersal success, and population levels fluctuate in response to stochastic events. As the number of species in an ecosystem is higher, the number of stimuli is also higher. Since the beginning of life organisms have survived continuous change through natural selection of successful feeding, reproductive and dispersal behavior. Through natural selection the planet's species have continuously adapted to change through variation in their biological composition and distribution. Mathematically it can be demonstrated that greater numbers of different interacting factors tend to dampen fluctuations in each of the individual factors.

Spiny forest at Ifaty, Madagascar, featuring various Adansonia (baobab) species, Alluaudia procera (Madagascar ocotillo) and other vegetation.

Given the great diversity among organisms on earth, most ecosystems only changed very gradually, as some species would disappear while others would move in. Locally, sub-populations continuously go extinct, to be replaced later through dispersal of other sub-populations. Stochastists do recognize that certain intrinsic regulating mechanisms occur in nature. Feedback and response mechanisms at the species level regulate population levels, most notably through territorial behaviour. Andrewatha and Birch^[19] suggest that territorial behaviour tends to keep populations at levels where food supply is not a limiting factor. Hence, stochastists see territorial behaviour as a regulatory mechanism at the species level but not at the ecosystem level. Thus, in their vision, ecosystems are not regulated by feedback and response mechanisms from the (eco)system itself and there is no such thing as a balance of nature.

If ecosystems are governed primarily by stochastic processes, through which its subsequent state would be determined by both predictable and random actions, they may be more resilient to sudden change than each species individually. In the absence of a balance of nature, the species composition of ecosystems would undergo shifts that would depend on the nature of the change, but entire ecological collapse would probably be infrequent events.

Arctic tundra on Wrangel Island, Russia.

The theoretical ecologist Robert Ulanowicz has used information theory tools to describe the structure of ecosystems, emphasizing mutual information (correlations) in studied systems. Drawing on this methodology and prior observations of complex ecosystems, Ulanowicz depicts approaches to determining the stress levels on ecosystems and predicting system reactions to defined types of alteration in their settings (such as increased or reduced energy flow, and eutrophication.^[20]

In addition, Eric Sanderson has developed the Muir_web, based on experience on the Mannahatta project. This graphical schematic shows how different species are connected to each other, not only regarding their position in the food chain, but also regarding other services, ie provisioning of shelter, ... ^[21][22]

See also: Relational order theories, as to fundamentals of life organization

Ecosystem ecology

Ecosystem ecology is the integrated study of biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems and their interactions within an ecosystem framework. This science examines how ecosystems work and relates this to their components such as chemicals, bedrock, soil, plants, and animals. Ecosystem ecology examines physical and biological structure and examines how these ecosystem characteristics interact.

See also

	Earth_sciences portal
	Ecology portal
	Environment portal
	Weather portal
	Sustainable Development portal

• Biodiversity
• Biodiversity Action Plan
• Biogeochemical cycle
• Biome
• Biocoenosis
• Biosphere
• Biosphere 2
• Business ecosystem
• Carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems
• Earth Science
• Ecological economics
• Ecological yield
• Ecology
• Ecoregion
• Ecosystem diversity
• Ecosystem ecology
• Ecosystem engineer
• Ecosystem management
• Ecosystem model
• Ecosystem services
• Ecosystem valuation
• Ecotope
• Edge effect
• Eugene Odum
• Food chain
• Global warming
• Invasive species
• Landscape ecology
• Leopold Report
• Natural environment
• Natural landscape
• Natural resource
• Nature
• Push–pull technology
• Software ecosystem
• Sustainability
• Sustainable development

References

Sea urchins like this purple sea urchin can damage kelp forest ecosystems by chewing through kelp holdfasts Tundra in Greenland

1. ^ ^{a b c d} ”Biology Concepts & Connections Sixth Edition”, Campbell, Neil A. (2009), page 2, 3 and G-9. Retrieved 2010-06-14.
2. ^ (1996) Geosystems: An Introduction to Physical Geography. Prentice Hall Inc.
3. ^ Odum, EP (1971) Fundamentals of ecology, third edition, Saunders New York
4. ^ ^{a b} Tansley, AG (1935) The use and abuse of vegetational terms and concepts. Ecology 16, 284-307.
5. ^ Tansley, AG (1939) The British islands and their vegetation. Volume 1 of 2. Cambridge University Press, United. Kingdom. 484 pg.
6. ^ United Nations Environment Programme. Convention on Biological Diversity. June 1992. UNEP Document no. Na.92-78. Reprint
7. ^ Möller-Dombois & Ellenberg: "A Tentative Physiognomic-Ecological Classification of Plant Formations of the Earth".
8. ^ Map of the ecosystems of Central America, WICE 2005. Retrieved 30 August 2008.
9. ^ Antonio Di Gregorio & Louisa J.M. Jansen (2007). Land Cover Classification System (LCCS): Classification Concepts and User Manual. Retrieved 30 August 2008.
10. ^ Garrison, George A.; Bjugstad, A. J.; Duck, D. A.; Lewis, M. E.; and Smith, D. R. (1977) Vegetation and environmental features of forest and range ecosystems (Forest Service Handbook Number 465) United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., OCLC 3359594
11. ^ Costanza, R.; d'Arge, R.; de Groot, R.; Farber, S.; Grasso, M.; Hannon, B.; et al. (1997). [http://www.uvm.edu/giee/publications/Nature_Paper.pdf "The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital"]. Nature 387: 253–260. doi:10.1038/387253a0. http://www.uvm.edu/giee/publications/Nature_Paper.pdf.
12. ^ Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Biodiversity Synthesis. World Resources Institute, Washington, DC. [1]
13. ^ The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund: about the New Constitution 2008 The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, Retrieved 2009-09-07
14. ^ Tamaqua Law Recognizes Rights of Nature
15. ^ Rush Township Strips Sludge Corporation "Rights"
16. ^ On Thin Ice
17. ^ Earthly rights
18. ^ Adams, C.E. (1994). "The fish community of Loch Lomond, Scotland : its history and rapidly changing status". Hydrobiologia 290 (1-3): 91–102. doi:10.1007/BF00008956. http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=3302548.
19. ^ Andrewatha, HG and LC Birch (1954) The distribution and abundance of animals. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL
20. ^ Robert Ulanowicz (1997). Ecology, the Ascendant Perspective. Columbia Univ. Press. ISBN 0-23-110828-1.
21. ^ Muir web
22. ^ Muir web definition

Further reading

• Boer, P.J. den, and J. Reddingius. 1996. Regulation and stabilization paradigms in population ecology. Population and Community Biology Series 16. Chapman and Hall, New York. 397 pg.
• Dame R., Olenin S. 2005. The Comparative Roles of Suspension-Feeders in Ecosystems. Springer. Dordrecht. 360 p.
• Ecological Society of America, Ecosystem Services, 25 May 2007
• Ehrlich, Paul; Walker, Brian “Rivets and Redundancy”.BioScience.vol.48.no.5. May 1998. pp. 387. American Institute of Biological Sciences.
• Grime, J.P. "Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function: The Debate Deepens." Science Vol. 277. no. 533029 August 1997 pp. 1260–1261. 25 May 2007
• Groom, Martha J., and Gary K. Meffe. Principles of Conservation Biology. 3. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, Inc, 2006.
• Lawton, John H., What Do Species Do in Ecosystems?, Oikos, December, 1994. vol.71, no.3.
• Lindeman, R.L. 1942. The trophic-dynamic aspect of ecology. Ecology '23': 399-418.
• Patten, B.C. 1959. An Introduction to the Cybernetics of the Ecosystem: The Trophic-Dynamic Aspect. Ecology 40, no. 2.: 221-231.
• Ranganathan, J and Irwin, F. (2007, May 7). Restoring Nature's Capital: An Action Agenda to Sustain Ecosystem Services
• The state of the nation's ecosystems: measuring the lands, waters, and living resources... (2002) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. 270 p. ISBN 0-521-52572-1;
• Vreugdenhil, D., Terborgh, J., Cleef, A.M., Sinitsyn, M., Boere, G.C., Archaga, V.L., Prins, H.H.T., 2003, Comprehensive Protected Areas System Composition and Monitoring, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. 106 pg.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ecosystems

Look up ecosystem in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• The Economics of Natural and Manmade hazards to Ecosytems (NOAA)
• The Ecosystem (Spanish language)
• Bering Sea Climate and Ecosystem (Current status)
• Arctic Climate and Ecosystem (Current status)
• Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005)
• Teaching about Ecosystems
• The State of the Nation's Ecosystems (U.S.)
• Ecosystem Services from Ecological Society of America
• Ecotron - An Ecological research project studying ecosystems and organisms in the context of environmental changes
• Texas A&M University - Dept. of Ecosystem Science and Management
• Texas AgriLife Extension - Dept. of Ecosystem Science and Management

Modelling ecosystems - trophic components General Abiotic component · Behaviour · Biogeochemical cycle · Biomass · Biotic component · Carrying capacity · Competition · Ecosystem · Ecosystem ecology · Ecosystem model · Keystone species · List of feeding behaviours · Metabolic theory of ecology · Productivity Producers Autotrophs · Chemosynthesis · Chemotrophs · Foundation species · Mixotrophs · Myco-heterotrophy · Mycotroph · Organotrophs · Photoheterotrophs · Photosynthesis · Photosynthetic efficiency · Phototrophs · Primary nutritional groups · Primary production Consumers Apex predator · Bacterivore · Carnivores · Chemoorganotroph · Generalist and specialist species · Herbivores · Heterotroph · Heterotrophic nutrition · Mesopredator release hypothesis · Omnivores · Predation Decomposers Chemoorganoheterotrophy · Decomposition · Detritivores · Detritus Microorganisms Bacteriophage · Lithoautotroph · Lithotrophy · Microbial food web · Microbial loop · Microbial metabolism · Phage ecology Food webs Cold seeps · Hydrothermal vents · Intertidal · Kelp forests · Lakes · North Pacific Subtropical Gyre · Rivers · San Francisco Estuary · Soil · Tidal pool Trophic effects Ascendency · Bioaccumulation · Biomagnification · Cascade effect · Competitive exclusion principle · Copiotrophs · Dominance · Ecological efficiency · Ecological network · Ecological pyramid · Ecological succession · Energy quality · Energy Systems Language · f-ratio · Feed conversion ratio · Feeding frenzy · Mesotrophic soil · Oligotroph · Paradox of the plankton · Trophic cascade · Trophic level · Trophic mutualism · Trophic state index Defense/counter Antipredator adaptations · Herbivore adaptations to plant defense · Plant defense against herbivores Modelling ecosystems - other components Population ecology Abundance · Allee effect · Depensation · Ecological yield · Effective population size · Intraspecific competition · Logistic function · Malthusian growth model · Maximum sustainable yield · Overexploitation · Population cycle · Population dynamics · Population modeling · Population size · Predator–prey equations · Resilience · Small population size · Stability Species Biodiversity · Density-dependent inhibition · Ecological effects of biodiversity · Ecological extinction · Endemic species · Flagship species · Gradient analysis · Indicator species · Introduced species · Invasive species · Latitudinal gradients in species diversity · Minimum viable population · Occupancy-abundance relationship · Population viability analysis · Rapoport's rule · Relative abundance distribution · Relative species abundance · Species diversity · Species homogeneity · Species richness · Species distribution · Species-area curve · Umbrella species Species interaction Antibiosis · Biological interaction · Commensalism · Ecological facilitation · Interspecific competition · Mutualism Landscape ecology Cross-boundary subsidy · Ecocline · Ecotone · Ecotype · Disturbance · Edge effect · Foster's rule · Habitat fragmentation · Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis · Island biogeography · Landscape epidemiology · Landscape limnology · Metapopulation · Patch dynamics · Source–sink dynamics Habitats Ecological niche · Ecological trap · Ecosystem engineer · Environmental niche modelling · Niche differentiation Other components Assembly rules · Bateman's principle · Bioluminescence · Community ecology · Ecological collapse · Ecological debt · Ecological deficit · Ecological energetics · Ecological indicator · Ecological threshold · Ecosystem diversity · Emergence · Kleiber's law · Liebig's law of the minimum · Marginal value theorem · Thorson's rule Other Allometry · Balance of Nature · Biological data visualization · Biogeography · Constructal theory · Ecocline · Ecological economics · Ecological footprint · Ecological forecasting · Ecological humanities · Ecological stoichiometry · Ecopath · Ecosystem based fisheries · Endolith · Evolutionary ecology · Functional ecology · Industrial ecology · Macroecology · Microecosystem · Natural environment · Systems ecology · Theoretical ecology List of ecology topics

Hierarchy of life Biosphere > Ecosystem > Community (Biocoenosis) > Population > Organism > Organ system > Organ > Tissue > Cell > Organelle > Molecule (Macromolecule · Biomolecule) > Atom

The Dynamic Earth Continents Africa • Antarctica • Asia • Europe • North America • Australia • South America Oceans Arctic Ocean • Atlantic Ocean • Indian Ocean • Pacific Ocean • Southern Ocean Dynamic Earth Earth science • Future of the Earth • Geological history of Earth • Geology • History of the Earth • Plate tectonics • Structure of the Earth Natural Environment Biome • Ecology • Ecosystem • Nature • Wilderness Related Articles Earth Day • Geology of solar terrestrial planets • Solar System • World Category · Portal

Elements of nature Universe Space · Time · Matter · Energy Earth Earth science · Geology · History of the Earth · Geological history of Earth · Future of the Earth · Structure of the Earth · Plate tectonics Weather Earth's atmosphere · Climate · Meteorology Environment Ecology · Ecosystem · Wilderness Life Hierarchy of life · Origin of life · Life on Earth · Eukaryota (Plants/Flora, Animals/Fauna, Fungi, Protista) · Prokaryote (Archaea, Bacteria) · Virus · Evolutionary history of life · Biology Category · Portal

Systems and systems science Systems categories Systems theory · Systems science · Systems scientists (Conceptual · Physical · Social) Systems Biological · Complex · Complex adaptive · Conceptual · Database management · Dynamical · Economical · Ecosystem · Formal · Global Positioning System · Human anatomy · Information systems · Legal systems of the world · Systems of measurement · Metric system · Multi-agent system · Nervous system · Nonlinearity · Operating system · Physical system · Political system · Sensory system · Social structure · Solar System · Systems art Theoretical fields Chaos theory · Complex systems · Control theory · Cybernetics · Living systems · Sociotechnical systems theory · Systems biology · System dynamics · Systems ecology · Systems engineering · Systems psychology · Systems science · Systems theory Systems scientists Russell L. Ackoff · William Ross Ashby · Béla H. Bánáthy · Gregory Bateson · Richard E. Bellman · Stafford Beer · Ludwig von Bertalanffy · Murray Bowen · Kenneth E. Boulding · C. West Churchman · George Dantzig · Heinz von Foerster · Jay Wright Forrester · George Klir · Edward Lorenz · Niklas Luhmann · Humberto Maturana · Margaret Mead · Donella Meadows · Mihajlo D. Mesarovic · James Grier Miller · Howard T. Odum · Talcott Parsons · Ilya Prigogine · Anatol Rapoport · Claude Shannon · Francisco Varela · Kevin Warwick · Norbert Wiener · Anthony Wilden

Categories: Ecosystems | Biological systems | Superorganisms | Symbiosis | Systems ecology

 

 

See Also:

 

What Links Here:

 

Recently Viewed Pages:

• Plant Pathology: Blogs
• Diphacinone: Blogs
• For Specific Crops: Blogs
• Ryanodine: Blogs
• Business and Economy: Blogs
• Calcium Phosphide: Blogs
• Soil Steam Sterilization: Blogs
• Pest Control: Encyclopedia
• Agriculture: Encyclopedia
• Pest Control: Answers

 

Most Popular Pages:

• Convulsant: Blogs
• For Specific Crops: Blogs
• Ancient Egypt: Blogs
• Diphacinone: Blogs
• Plant Pathology: Blogs
• Difethialone: Blogs
• Calcium Phosphide: Blogs
• Soil Steam Sterilization: Blogs
• Ecosystem: Web Search
• Business and Economy: Blogs

Related 'Ecosystem' Searches:

related terms:	Ecosystem Services	Organisms	Ecosystem	Biomes
	Aquatic Ecosystem	Ecosystems	Ecosystem Ecology	Community
	Ecological Classification	Environment	Living	Biological Diversity

---

top user searches:	►

---

or search for "Ecosystem" in:		Web:		The Entire Web	Related Sites	Web Directories
		This Site:		Page Titles	Karr Network Sites*
		News:		Headlines	Weather	Events	Blogs
		Reference:		Encyclopedia	Dictionary	eTexts	Quotes
				Local Map	Answers
		Multimedia:		Images	Videos
		People:		Discussion Groups	Social Networking
		Shopping:		General Merch.	Consumer Opinion	Auctions	Classifieds

 

---

The Entire Web Web Directories Related* Sites Karr Network Sites* Page Titles Headlines Weather Events Blogs Encyclopedia Dictionary eTexts Quotes Answers Local Map Videos Images Social Networking Discussion Groups General Items Auctions Classifieds Consumer Opinion

Sitemap News Dictionary Encyclopedia Blogs Answers Videos Images Shopping Directory More…