ECOSYSTEM AND LANDSCAPES - A CRITICAL COMPARATIVE APPRAISAL

Ecosystems and landscapes are the two major spatial units for ecological research and practice, but their definitions and meanings are va gue and ambiguous. Examining critically the meaning and complexity of both terms from a holistic landscape ecological systems view, the confusing applications of the ecosystem c oncept could be avoided by conceiving ecosystems as functional interacting systems, chara cterized for the flow of energy, matter and information between organisms and their abiotic environment. As functional systems they are intangible with vaguely defined borders. O n the other hand, landscapes should be recognized as tangible, spatially and temporally we ll defined ecological systems of closely interwoven natural and cultural entities of the Tot al Human Ecosystem. Ranging from the smallest discernable landscape cell or ecotope to t he global ecosphere, they serve as the spatial and functional matrix and living space for all organisms, including humans, their populations and their ecosystems. Both are medium-numbered complex ecological systems. However, the organized complexity of ecosystems is based solely on the monodimensional complexity of material processes of flow of energy/matter and biophysical information. But the organized complexity of landscapes is multidime nsional and multifunctional, dealing not only with the functional dimensions of natural bio-ecolo gical processes and the natural biophysical information, but also with the cognitiv e mental and perceptual dimensions, transmitted by cultural information and expressed i n the closely interwoven natural and cultural landscape.