Flowers as Food Sources and the Cost of Outcrossing

Function and structure are dual aspects of ecosystems. A structural approach emphasizes the components, examining their nature, number, distribution, and pattern. A functional approach, on the other hand, focuses on interactions and on the dynamics and stability of the system. The mutual dependence of structure and function permeates biological thinking at every level, and much of biological research attempts to understand living systems by elucidation of the interdependence of structure and function. Ecology, in particular, has been defined as the study of the structure and function of ecosystems (Odum 1962).