The connection between single species and ecosystems

Slobodkin, L.B. (1994) The connection between single species and ecosystems. In: Sutcliffe, D.W. (ed.) Water quality & stress indicators in marine and freshwater systems: linking levels of organisation. Ambleside, UK, Freshwater Biological Association, pp. 75-87. (FBA Special Publications,4)

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Abstract

Ecosystem level models are motivated by some combination of scientific and practical concerns. Those models motivated by practical concerns are likely to bear little historical relation to previous models. Mechanisms of interaction between particular species and their ecosystems vary enormously. Some species literally construct their own ecosystems. Others have more or less complex and important interactions with other species so that their presence or absence may alter the ecosystem. Prior information about the natural history of particular species can make ecosystem investigations quicker, cheaper, and more effective. The optimal resource for preparing to deal with the unlimited diversity of questions asked of ecologists would be a large' computerized databank of natural history observations for as many species as possible.

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