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Ecosystem management and ecosystem-based management refer to the sustainable management of ecosystems and in some cases may employ the terms ecosystem health or ecosystem integrity as a goal. [77] The practice of natural resource management has evolved as societal priorities have changed and, as a consequence, the working definition of ...
An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by organisms in interaction with their environment. [2]: 458 The biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Ecosystems are controlled by external and internal factors.
Ecosystem ecology is the integrated study of living and non-living components of ecosystems and their interactions within an ecosystem framework. This science examines how ecosystems work and relates this to their components such as chemicals , bedrock , soil , plants , and animals .
The concept of biological integrity first appeared in the 1972 amendments to the U.S. Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act. [4] The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had used the term as a way to gauge the standards to which water should be maintained, but the vocabulary instigated years of debate about the implications of not only the ...
The danger of overexploitation is that if too many of a species offspring are taken, then the species may not recover. [12] For example, overfishing of top marine predatory fish like tuna and salmon over the past century has led to a decline in fish sizes as well as fish numbers. [4] Confiscated animal pelts from the illegal wildlife trade.
Human health, in its broadest sense, is recognized as having ecological foundations. [6] The term health is intended to evoke human environmental health concerns, which are often closely related (but as a part of medicine not ecology). As with ecocide, that term assumes that ecosystems can be said to be alive (see also Gaia philosophy on this ...
Health ecology (also known as eco-health) is an emerging field that studies the impact of ecosystems on human health. It examines alterations in the biological , physical , social , and economic environments to understand how these changes affect mental and physical human health.
Peter Brussard and colleagues emphasize that ecosystem management balances preserving ecosystem health while sustaining human needs. [11] As a concept of natural resource management, ecosystem management remains both ambiguous and controversial, in part because some of its formulations rest on contested policy and scientific assertions. [12]