The book integrates all existing ecosystem theories. It argues that we are able to understand ecosystems and their reactions, provided that we use all basic systems ecology for different aspects of ecosystem properties. This second edition contains the many recently published and presented contributions on ecosystem theories, which show even more strongly that an integration of the existing ecosystem theories is needed and also possible.
Introduction - Recent Trends in Science; Do We Need a New, Holistic Ecology?; Models in Ecology; Energy and Ecology. Entropy and Ecology; Exergy and Ecology; Network and Hierarchical Concepts of Ecosystems; Utility Theory, Indirect Effect and Ascendency; Catasrophe Theory and Ecology; Chaos, Fractals and Ecology; Ecosystem Health; Development of Ecosystems; Dynamic of Ecosystems; Goal Functions; Tentative Pattern of Ecosystem Theories.
Prof. Sven Erik Jorgensen is one of the two distinguished ecologists to receive the 2004 Stockholm Water Prize for Outstanding Contributions for the World's Lakes and Wetlands, "for their pioneering development and global dissemination of ecological models of lakes and wetlands, widely applied as effective tools in sustainable water resource management". The full text of the release plus photos and background can be found at http: www.siwi.org or http://www.siwi.org/press/presrel_04_SWP_Winner_Eng.htm