what is odum and clark definition about eco system
Answers
Answer:
Explanation:
Ecosystems are living and nonliving components of an area that include the habitat and the physical and chemical environment. The classic definition of an ecosystem was stated in 1953 by Odum: any unit that includes all organisms (i.e., community) in a given area interacting with the physical environment so that a flow of energy leads to a clearly defined structure, biotic diversity, and materials cycles. [INDIRA - I don't have a reference for this, because it came from Sharon's modules. Should we just take it out?]
What do we mean by "ecological balance," "balance of nature," or "ecosystem stability"? Balance and stability in this context are different from a static condition in which there is no change. Nature is continuously changing, and especially over periods of thousands of years, changes substantially. In his book, Discordant Harmonies, Daniel Botkin writes, "...every thousand years a substantial change occurred in the vegetation of the forest, reflecting in part changes in the climate and in part the arrival of species that had been driven south during the ice age and were slowly returning."2 The forest he is referring to is in the western region of northern Minnesota and southern Ontario, which Botkin studied in detail.