Ecosystems

The study and management of ecosystems represents the most dynamic field of contemporary ecology. Ecosystem research bridges fundamental ecology, environmental ecology and environmental problem-solving.

The scope of ecosystem science extends from bounded systems such as watersheds to spatially complex landscapes, to the Earth itself, and crosses temporal scales from seconds to millennia. Ecosystem science has strong links to other disciplines including landscape ecology, global ecology, biogeochemistry, aquatic ecology, soil science, hydrology, ecological economics and conservation biology. Studies of ecosystems employ diverse approaches, including theory and modeling, long-term investigations, comparative research and large experiments.