134
B
ritish biologist Arthur
Tansley was the first to
insist that communities
of organisms in a particular area
had to be seen in a wider context,
including the nonliving elements
of that area. Tansley argued that
in a given region, all the living
organisms and their geophysical
environment together form a single,
interactive entity. Borrowing a
concept from engineering, he saw
the network of interactions as a
dynamic, physical system. On the
suggestion of his colleague Arthur
Clapham, he coined the word
“ecosystem” to describe it.IN CONTEXT
KEY FIGURE
Arthur Tansley
(1871–1955)BEFORE
1864 George Perkins Marsh,
an American conservationist,
publishes Man and Nature,
which hints at the concept
of ecosystems.1875 Austrian geologist
Eduard Suess proposes
the term “biosphere.”AFTER
1953 American ecologists
Howard and Eugene Odum
develop a “systems approach”
to studying the flow of energy
through ecosystems.1956 American ecologist
Paul Sears highlights
the role of ecosystems
in recycling nutrients.1970 Paul Ehrlich and Rosa
Weigert warn of potentially
destructive human
interference in ecosystems.ALL ORGANISMS
ARE POTENTIAL
SOURCES OF
FOOD FOR OTHER
ORGANISMS
THE ECOSYSTEM
US_134-137_The_Ecosystem.indd 134 12/11/18 6:24 PM