Blackwell Reference Online

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The ecosystem is the central unifying concept in many versions of the science of ecology, but the meaning of the term remains controversial, and a few authors (e.g., Sagoff, 2003) question whether it marks any clear or non-arbitrary distinction at all. The following definitions will do as a fairly uncontroversial starting point: The terms “ecology” and “economics” themselves come from the Greek root oikos, meaning “household.” Ecology is the branch of biology that deals with the ways in which living organisms organize themselves into dynamic structures that facilitate the exchange of energy, materials, and information between themselves and the larger physical and biological environments in which such structures are situated; while ecosystems themselves are, loosely speaking, the structures in question.This chapter will begin with observations on the meaning and scope of ecology itself. It will then outline the ways in which ecosystems can be understood from a number of perspectives: the ecosystem as the descriptive unit of the working field biologist; the history of the concept of the ecosystem; the ecosystem as a dissipative structure; the ecosystem as symbiotic association; the ecosystem in evolutionary theory; and skeptical views according to which the ecosystem is little more than a descriptive convenience. The applications of these conceptions to environmental ethics and the ... log in or subscribe to read full text