Biocoenosis : the expression of “mutualism” in the biosphere A biocoenosis can be defined as a community (the etymological meaning of the suffix –coenosis) of living beings (the prefix bio-) belonging to different species and associated by way of inter-species interdependence or mutualism that can be studied and modelled, as in the classic representations of […]
The term biome, coined in the United States in the 1910 to 1920s following work by English-language ecologists (Carpenter, Forbes, Shelford, Clements), exemplifies an ecological trend that does not solely focus on knowledge of plant communities. Animal communities and their trophic relationships with plant communities (phyto-coenoses) are also taken into account in an “ecology of […]
According to François Ramade (2002), the biosphere can be defined “in the simplest manner as the region on the planet where life is possible, and where all living beings are found”. This concept, alongside that of the ecosystem, has given ecology its dimension as a global science of the environment. Curiously, geographers have not made […]