Systems Ecology
Howard T. Odum - father of ecosystems ecology
The 4 Laws of Ecology (Barry Commoner from book entitled The Closing Circle)
1. Everything is connected to everything else
●There is one ecosphere for all living organisms. What aects one aects all.
2. Everything must go somewhere
●There is no waste in nature. Any waste produced in one ecological process is recycled in
another.
3. Nature knows best
●“The absence of a particular substance in nature is often a sign that it is incompatible
with the chemistry of life.”
4. There is no such thing as a free lunch
●There are consequences for every action.
●System
○organization that functions in a particular way
○set of interacting interdependent entities forming an integrated whole
○comprised of clearly defined elements, links, and boundaries
○Elements or structures; interconnections or interactions; function or purpose
●Ecological units are also systems.
○example: ecosystem ecology (interactions of populations with one another and
with their physical environs)
●Ecosystem as a unit is a complex level of organization; must be studied as a whole
●Tools and processes in systems ecology are dierent from conventional phases of
ecology because of the complexity of the total ecosystem as compared with a segment
of it
●Systems approach
○repeated cycles of data collection, analysis, computational modelling and
prediction, which is usually followed by further cycles wherein the model’s
predictions are tested and the model continuously refined
●Systems Ecology
○Study of the development, dynamics, and disruption of ecosystems
○Uses mathematical modelling, computation; based on systems theory
○interdisciplinary field of ecology; subset of Earth system science; uses holistic
approach in studying ecosystems
○Basis of the complexity of ecosystems and their emergent properties
○Ecology + mathematical sciences + computational sciences + systems theory
○2 phases:
■theoretical
■analytical, experimental
