Link Centre Dictionary

ecosystem

eco·sys·tem

UK/ˈiːkəʊˌsɪstəm/ US/ˈikoʊˌsɪstəm/ uncommon

noun

1.

a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their physical environment

Origin

From eco- + system. Coined by English botanist Arthur Tansley in 1935 in a paper titled The Use and Abuse of Vegetational Concepts in the journal Ecology.

Phrases

  • ecosystem engineer

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.