Complex Adaptive Systems: Use and Analysis of Complex Adaptive Systems in Ecosystem Science: Overview of Special Section

Abstract

Ecologicalsystemsarecomplexassemblagesofinter-acting organisms embedded in an abiotic environ-ment.Complexityarisesfrominterspecificandintra-specific interactions among individuals or agents,interactions across trophic levels, and the interac-tions of organisms with the abiotic environmentover space and time. In addition, interactions canrange from strong and direct to weak and diffuseand are modified by both positive and negativefeedback with the environment. In our effort tounderstand pattern formation at the community orecosystem level, we are confronted with the daunt-ing array of processes that function across differentspatial and temporal scales. We are thus forced toaddress the question of how these different levels oforganization can be integrated, or how mechanismsand patterns at one level of organization can beunderstood in terms of processes operating at adifferent level of organization.The goal of this