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Systems Ecology is a transdiscipline which studies ecological systems, or ecosystems. As an environmental science, systems ecology has also been associated with the notion of field physiology which applies the concept of metabolism as understood in physiology and bioenergetics to 'the field', like a 'field' of wheat for example. Like Systems biology, systems ecology seeks a holistic view of the interactions and transactions within and between biological and ecological systems. Moreover, systems ecologists realise that the function of any ecosystem can be influenced by human economics in fundamental ways. They have therefore taken an additional transdisciplinary step by including economics in the consideration of ecological-economic systems.
The strategy of systems ecology
As a mode of scientific enquiry a central feature of Systems Ecology is the general application of the principles of energetics to all systems at any scale. Perhaps the most notable proponent of this view was Howard T. Odum - sometimes considered the father of ecosystems ecology. In this approach the principles of energetics constitute ecosystem principles. Reasoning by formal analogy from one system to another enables the Systems Ecologist to see principles functioning in an analogous manner across system-scale boundaries.
The fourth of these principles, the principle of maximum power efficiency, takes central place in the analysis and synthesis of ecological systems. The fourth principle suggests that the most evolutionarily advantageous system function occurs when the environmental load matches the internal resistance of the system. The further the environmental load is from matching the internal resistance, the further the system is away from its sustainable steady state. Therefore the Systems Ecologist engages in a task of resistance and impedance matching in Ecological engineering, just as the Electronic engineer would do.
Summary of ecological system metabolism
The image to the right is a summary of relationships between the storage quantity Q, the forces X, N, and the outflows J, resistance R, conductivity L, time constants T, and transfer coefficients k of ecosystem metabolism. The transfer coefficient "k", is also known as the metabolic constant.
"All these relationships are automatically implied by the energy circuit symbol ". H.T.Odum (1994, p. 26)
See also
- Energetics
- Energy Systems Language
- Emergy
- Ecological Economics
- Ecological energetics
- Ecological humanities
- Holism in science
References
- H.T.Odum (1994) Ecological and General Systems: An Introduction to Systems Ecology. University Press of Colorado, Niwot, CO.
"Systems ecology"