Definition of "ecosystem" []

• An ecological community together with its environment, functioning as a unit. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "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."
• "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."
• "But the FCC said last year that a "healthy broadband ecosystem" is only possible if other devices can do the same thing."