In ecology, an ecosystem is a combination of all the living and non-living elements of an area. Ecosystems are the smallest level of organization in nature that incorporates both living and nonliving factors. They can range in scale from a wide geographical area such as the Sahara Desert to something small as a puddle. The term microecosystem may be used to describe a very small (often closed) ecosystem.

In general terms an ecological system can be thought of as an assemblage of organisms (plant, animal and other living organisms—also referred to as a biotic community or biocoenosis) living together with their environment (or biotope), functioning as a loose unit. That is, a dynamic and complex whole, interacting as an "ecological unit."

Early conceptions of this unit showed a structured functional unit in equilibrium of energy and matter flows between its constituent elements. Others considered this vision limited, and preferred to understand an ecosystem in terms of cybernetics. From this view an ecological system is a functional dynamic organization, or what was also called steady state. Steady state is understood as the phase of an ecological system's evolution when the organisms are "balanced" with each other and their environment. This balance is achieved through various types of interactions, such as predation, parasitism, mutualism, commensalism, competition, and amensalism. Introduction of new elements, whether abiotic or biotic, into an ecosystem tend to have a disruptive effect. In some cases, this can lead to ecological collapse and the death of many native species. The branch of ecology that gave rise to this view has become known as Systems Ecology. The abstract notion of ecological health attempts to measure the robustness and recovery capacity for an ecosystem; that is, how far the ecosystem is away from steady state.

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Currently reading ArabCrunch.NET | The Technology Ecosystem Community at: http://bit.ly/1E2MVB
zakwanhaj (zakwan alhajjar) Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:45:49 -0000
Currently reading ArabCrunch.NET | The Technology Ecosystem Community at: http://bit.ly/1E2MVB
Invaluable insights from meeting with IDC on Canada's Developer ecosystem and application development market
GladstoneGrant (Gladstone Grant) Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:45:28 -0000
Invaluable insights from meeting with IDC on Canada's Developer ecosystem and application development market
@swardley have you got a total ecosystem cost plus where the costs fall and who bears them. Why they are willing to do so.
Thabo99 (Thabo Mophiring) Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:40:27 -0000
@swardley have you got a total ecosystem cost plus where the costs fall and who bears them. Why they are willing to do so.
@swardley the facebook ecosystem works precisely because the apps are non-critical. Of those apps there are probably a 100 poke, superpokes
Thabo99 (Thabo Mophiring) Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:36:11 -0000
@swardley the facebook ecosystem works precisely because the apps are non-critical. Of those apps there are probably a 100 poke, superpokes
Banking on a PhD 'Ecosystem' to Drive New Economies, a New York Times article, Dec 1 http://snipurl.com/tjdq3 RT @chrisjhorn
NovaUCD (NovaUCD) Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:35:57 -0000
Banking on a PhD 'Ecosystem' to Drive New Economies, a New York Times article, Dec 1 http://snipurl.com/tjdq3 RT @chrisjhorn
@swardley you have yet to propose how gov it can run as an ecosystem. Not even the private sector has figured that out beyond web 2.O
Thabo99 (Thabo Mophiring) Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:34:47 -0000
@swardley you have yet to propose how gov it can run as an ecosystem. Not even the private sector has figured that out beyond web 2.O

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