The Eco System Concept

The holistic concept of ecosystem has gained wide acceptance as a key tool for the study of ecology.A a type of general system it is capable of including the activities of man within its purview.The ecosystem framework suggests a synthetic focus upon an organized unit in which transactions of production,distribution,consumption and material recycling are structured and function.Thus the ecosystem conceptually unites the biology,behavior,organization and functioning of man,other animals,plants and inorganic components within a single framework in which the interaction of the components may be studied.Utilization of the concept of ecosystem shifts emphasis from specific one to one relationships  to the nature and functioning of the holistic system.The structure and functional interrelations  of an ecosystem emerge from the study  of circular exchanges betwen living and non living components energy and information transactions.The study of ecosystems that include man seeks to understand the structure and functioning of this systematic whole composed of linked subsystems.

Human ecosystemic studies  thus are the meeting ground for all the disciplines concerned with man.Anthropology the coordinating science  should benefit greatly from the application of the ecosystem concept.With its aid the ambitious goal of anthropology may be more closely approached.