A history of the ecosystem concept in ecology: more than the sum of the parts

Abstract

The ecosystem concept-the idea that flora and fauna interact with environment to form an ecological complex-has long been central to public perception of ecology and to increasing awareness of environmental degradation. In this book an eminent ecologist explains ecosystem concept, tracing its evolution, describing how numerous American and European researchers contributed to its evolution, and discussing explosive growth of ecosystem studies. Golley surveys development of ecosystem concept in late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and discusses coining of term ecosystem by English ecologist Sir Arthur George Tansley in 1935. He then reviews how American ecologist Raymond Lindeman applied concept to a small lake in Minnesota and showed how biota and environment of lake interacted through exchange of energy. Golley describes how a seminal textbook on ecology written by Eugene P. Odum helped to popularize ecosystem concept and how numerous other scientists investigated its principles and published their results. He relates how ecosystem studies dominated ecology in 1960s and became a key element of International Biological Program biome studies in United States-a program aimed at the betterment of mankind specifically through conservation, human genetics, and improvements in use of natural resources; how a study of watershed ecosystems in Hubbard Brook, New Hampshire, blazed new paths in ecosystem research by defining limits of system in a natural way; and how current research uses ecosystem concept. Throughout Golley shows how ecosystem concept has been shaped internationally by both developments in other disciplines and by personalities and politics.