Biology 2485B Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Ecosystem Ecology, Extinction Vortex, Water Cycle
12 Jan 2018
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Document Summary
Environmental systems: our environment consists of complex networks of inter-linked systems (relationship among living and between living and non-living) Systems are networks of relationships: system: network of relationships among parts, elements, or components that interact with and influence one another through the exchange of energy, matter, or information, ex. Key traits of (some) systems: emergent properties (in all), feedback loops, homeostasis, resistance, resilience. If you fell but got back up/recovered = resilience. Steady state: stable condition of dynamic equilibrium: the state itself may change over time, even while the system maintains its ability to stabilize conditions internally, ex. Earth has experienced changes in the composition of the atmosphere over time; yet life has adapted, and. Complex systems have multiple subsystems: difficult to determine where one system ends and another begins, systems may exchange energy, matter, and information with other systems, and they may contain or be contained within other systems, ex.
