Concept

Ecosystem

Overview

An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by organisms in interaction with their environment, where the biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows.

Ecosystems are controlled by external and internal factors. External factors—including climate—control the ecosystem's structure, but are not influenced by it. By contrast, internal factors control and are controlled by ecosystem processes; these include decomposition, the types of species present, root competition, shading, disturbance, and succession. While external factors generally determine which resource inputs an ecosystem has, their availability within the ecosystem is controlled by internal factors. Ecosystems are dynamic, subject to periodic disturbances and always in the process of recovering from past disturbances. The tendency of an ecosystem to remain close to its equilibrium state, is termed its resistance. Its capacity to absorb disturbance and reorganize, while undergoing change so as to retain essentially the same function, structure, identity, is termed its ecological resilience.

Ecosystems can be studied through a variety of approaches—theoretical studies, studies monitoring specific ecosystems over long periods of time, those that look at differences between ecosystems to elucidate how they work and direct manipulative experimentation. Biomes are general classes or categories of ecosystems. However, there is no clear distinction between biomes and ecosystems. Ecosystem classifications are specific kinds of ecological classifications that consider all four elements of the definition of ecosystems: a biotic component, an abiotic complex, the interactions between and within them, and the physical space they occupy. Biotic factors are living things, such as plants, while abiotic factors are non-living components, such as soil. Plants allow energy to enter the system through photosynthesis, building up plant tissue. Animals play an important role in the movement of matter and energy through the system, by feeding on plants and one another. They also influence the quantity of plant and microbial biomass present. By breaking down dead organic matter, decomposers release carbon back to the atmosphere and facilitate nutrient cycling by converting nutrients stored in dead biomass back to a form that can be readily used by plants and microbes.

Ecosystems provide a variety of goods and services upon which people depend, and may be part of. Ecosystem goods include the "tangible, material products" of ecosystem processes such as water, food, fuel, construction material, and medicinal plants. Ecosystem services, on the other hand, are generally "improvements in the condition or location of things of value". These include maintenance of hydrological cycles, cleaning air and water, the maintenance of oxygen in the atmosphere, crop pollination, and opportunities for research. Many ecosystems become degraded through human impacts, such as soil loss, air and water pollution, habitat fragmentation, water diversion, fire suppression, and introduced species and invasive species. These threats can lead to abrupt transformation of the ecosystem or to gradual disruption of biotic processes and degradation of abiotic conditions of the ecosystem. Once the original ecosystem has lost its defining features, it is considered "collapsed". Ecosystem restoration can contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

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So that the organs are qualitatively differentiated from each other, in a way analogous to that by which the entire organism is qualitatively differentiated from things around it. Evidently this selective assimilation illustrates the general truth, set forth and illustrated in _First Principles_, that like units tend to segregate. It illustrates, moreover, the further aspect of this general truth, that the…
Herbert Spencer, The Principles of Biology, Volume 1
Close in meaning to Ecosystem; the term itself is not named.
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For the surrounding plants absorb different amounts of various substances from the soil, and thus greatly affect the nourishment and even the life of the individuals of any particular species. These will also be shaded and otherwise affected by the nature of the surrounding plants. Moreover, seeds often lie dormant in the ground, and those which germinate during any one year will often have been matured during very…
Charles Darwin, The Effects of Cross & Self-Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom
Close in meaning to Ecosystem; the term itself is not named.
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Every plant speaks to us first of all of its home, of the climate, and the nature of the ground in which it has grown. Therefore, even those who have had little practice easily tell whether an exotic plant belongs to the tropical or the temperate zone, and whether it grows in water, in marshes, on mountain, or on moorland. Besides this, however, every plant expresses the special will of its species, and says…
Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Idea
Close in meaning to Ecosystem; the term itself is not named.
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Philosophers who discussed Ecosystem

Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar

Related ideas

Opposing perspectives

Aesthetics

Place in the tradition

Part of Aesthetics.

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