ecosystem

IPA: ˈikoʊsɪstʌm

A system formed by an ecological community and its environment that functions as a unit.
The interconnectedness of organisms (plants, animals, microbes) with each other and their environment.
(by extension) A network of interconnected people, organisations, products or services that resembles a natural ecosystem due to the complex interdependencies.

Examples of "ecosystem" in Sentences

If Europeans were whales, biologists would be alarmed that their ecosystem is not healthy.
University of South Florida's Ernst Peebles said the oil on the floor "is undermining the ecosystem from the bottom up."
But the FCC said last year that a "healthy broadband ecosystem" is only possible if other devices can do the same thing.
These days the Newfoundland ecosystem is being altered by over browsing from the more than 750,000 moose that call the Rock home.
In fact, the term ecosystem refers to a self-organizing and self-regulating interaction of independent organisms; it is not a checklist of the local flora and fauna.
The first step to recovery of the Gulf marine ecosystem is to identify all sources of past, present and future environmental degradation, including fully understanding the long-term impacts of the BP oil disaster.
Ongoing research projects include: evaluating the ‘insurance value’ of biodiversity in the provision of ecosystem services; creating a framework for understanding how ecosystem structure, function and process relate to the literature’s use of the term ecosystem services; global scale mapping and valuation of ecosystem services using GIS land cover maps and environmental economic valuation techniques.