ecosystem
English
Etymology
From eco- + system. Coined by English botanist Arthur Tansley in 1935 in a paper titled "The Use and Abuse of Vegetational Concepts" in the journal Ecology.[1]
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈiːkəʊˌsɪstəm/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈikoʊˌsɪstəm/
- Hyphenation: eco‧sys‧tem
Noun
ecosystem (plural ecosystems)
- A system formed by an ecological community and its environment that functions as a unit.
- 2012 January, Donald Worster, “A Drier and Hotter Future”, in American Scientist[2], volume 100, number 1, page 70:
- Phoenix and Lubbock are both caught in severe drought, and it is going to get much worse. We may see many such [dust] storms in the decades ahead, along with species extinctions, radical disturbance of ecosystems, and intensified social conflict over land and water. Welcome to the Anthropocene, the epoch when humans have become a major geological and climatic force.
- The interconnectedness of organisms (plants, animals, microbes) with each other and their environment.
- (business, marketing) A set of interconnected products and services.
Hypernyms
Translations
system of an ecological community and its environment
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Further reading
References
- ^ Arthur Tansley (1935 July) “The Use and Abuse of Vegetational Concepts”, in Ecology[1], volume 16, number 3, archived from the original on 2016-10-06:
- Our natural prejudices force us to consider the organisms (in the sense of the biologist) as the most important parts of these systems, but certainly the inorganic “factors” are also parts – there could be no systems without them, and there is constant interchange of the most various kinds within each system, not only between the organisms but between the organic and the inorganic. These ecosystems, as we may call them, are of the most various kinds and sizes.