ecosystem

Term: ecosystem

Origin: Anc Greek

οίκος/ecos(=house) οίκος>σοίκος/soicos>σάκος/sacos(=protection)

σύστημα/systema(=union) > συνίστημι/synistimy(=to unite, to compine)

Coined:

in 1930 by British botanist Roy Clapham (1904 - 1990) in order to describe the combined physical and biological components of an environment. Five years  later (1935) the term was refined by British ecologist Arthur Tansley (1871 – 1955) who refered to ecosystem as:  "The whole system, … including not only the organism-complex, but also the whole complex of physical factors forming what we call the environment. The modern definition of the term is due to American ecologist "Eugene Pleasants Odum (1913-2002), who defined ecosystems as: "Any unit that includes all of the organisms (ie: the "community") in a given area interacting with the physical environment so that a flow of energy leads to clearly defined trophic structure, biotic diversity, and material cycles (ie: exchange of materials between living and nonliving parts) within the system is an ecosystem

Definition:

An ecosystem is environment consisting of all the organisms and the abiotic environment within which the organisms live.

Sources

• Odum, E. P. 1971. Fundamentals of Ecology. Third edition. W. B. Saunders, Philadelphia.
• ."Tansley, AG "The use and abuse of vegetational terms and concepts". Ecology 16 (3): 284–307,  (1935).