caa a22 4500 445383720 CHVBK 20180317143025.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170323e20111101xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10021-011-9466-2 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10021-011-9466-2 The Ecosystem in Practice: Interest and Problems of an Old Definition for Constructing Ecological Models [Elektronische Daten] [Jacques Gignoux, Ian Davies, Shayne Flint, Jean-Daniel Zucker] Since its inception, the ecosystem concept has been widely used in ecology and is increasingly finding application within other disciplines. In more recent times within ecology, however, it has been suggested the term is now obsolete. We argue that three problems lie at the heart of these criticisms, namely the physics-biology duality problem, the boundary problem and the abstraction problem. The physics-biology duality problem (how to grapple with systems that follow the laws of both physics and biology) is addressed by modern computer science techniques originating from simulation and software engineering. The boundary problem (how to find the limits of an ecosystem in the real world) is solved by a powerful assumption of Tansley, that the ecosystem is an ad hoc construct on the part of an observer for a particular purpose. The abstraction problem (can models of an ecosystem at different levels of detail produce the same outcomes) has no general solution, but can be improved upon by using scaling techniques and standards to facilitate model comparisons. We demonstrate that Tansley's (Ecology 16:284-307, 1935) definition is still relevant to modern ecology almost as is. Tansley's ecosystem is a multi-disciplinary, recursive, scale-independent and observer-dependent object. These properties closely match those of complex systems as defined in mathematics and computer sciences. From Tansley's definition, we propose a formal description of the concepts and relations linked to the ecosystem definition, as an ontology that can serve as a basis for future discussion, modelling and conceptual work. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 2011 ecosystem definition nationallicence ontology nationallicence complex system nationallicence hierarchy nationallicence landscape nationallicence abstraction nationallicence Gignoux Jacques Biogéochimie et Écologie des Milieux Continentaux, CNRS UMR 7618, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 46 rue d'Ulm, 75230, Paris cedex 05, France aut Davies Ian Fenner School of Environment and Society, ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, The Australian National University, 0200, Canberra, ACT, Australia aut Flint Shayne School of Computer Science, College of Engineering and Computer Science, The Australian National University, 0200, Canberra, ACT, Australia aut Zucker Jean-Daniel Unité de Modélisation Mathématique et Informatique des Systèmes Complexes, UMI 209, IRD France Nord, 32 av. Henri Varagnat, 93143, Bondy cedex, France aut Ecosystems Springer-Verlag 14/7(2011-11-01), 1039-1054 1432-9840 14:7<1039 2011 14 10021 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-011-9466-2 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-011-9466-2 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Gignoux Jacques Biogéochimie et Écologie des Milieux Continentaux, CNRS UMR 7618, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 46 rue d'Ulm, 75230, Paris cedex 05, France aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Davies Ian Fenner School of Environment and Society, ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, The Australian National University, 0200, Canberra, ACT, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Flint Shayne School of Computer Science, College of Engineering and Computer Science, The Australian National University, 0200, Canberra, ACT, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Zucker Jean-Daniel Unité de Modélisation Mathématique et Informatique des Systèmes Complexes, UMI 209, IRD France Nord, 32 av. Henri Varagnat, 93143, Bondy cedex, France aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Ecosystems Springer-Verlag 14/7(2011-11-01), 1039-1054 1432-9840 14:7<1039 2011 14 10021 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer