Ecosystem ecology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ecosystem ecology is the study of the movement of energy and matter through ecosystems. It is one of the fundamental disciplines of ecology. Ecosystem ecology operates at a scale above that of communities but it is defined more by subject matter than by scale.

Ecosystem ecology deals with locally defined ecosystems which exchange matter and energy with their surroundings. Ecosystem ecology concerns itself with such areas as nutrient cycling (especially the carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles), Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) and Net Primary Productivity (NPP), trophic dynamics and food chains.

[edit] Reference

• Odum, E.P. and Barrett, G.W. 2005. Fundamentals of Ecology (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

[edit] See also

• Biogeochemistry
• Community ecology
• Landscape ecology
• Systems ecology