Citation:

Campbell, Dan, T. Cai, AND T. Olsen. Ecosystem Health: Energy Indicators. Chapter n/a, Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences. ELSEVIER, AMSTERDAM, Holland, , 1-12, (2014).

Impact/Purpose:

This article is an update of our original article in the Encyclopedia of Energy, and it was written on request. The original article had global impact, facilitating the birth of a new research field in P.R. China.

Description:

Just as for human beings health is a concept that applies to the condition of the whole organism, the health of an ecosystem refers to the condition of the ecosystem as a whole. For this reason, the study and characterization of ecosystems is fundamental to establishing accurate measures of ecosystem health. By definition, the idea of health is closely related to the optimal functioning of an organism or other entity. This idea can be applied to ecosystems, economies, and other organized systems in general and not simply to living organisms. Health is more than the simple absence of disease; rather it is a state that reflects the overall well-being of the system, whether it is a human organism, an ecosystem, or the economy of a nation. In the years from 2004, the date of this article’s first publication to the present (2014), ideas of ecosystem health expressed in the original article have been advanced by basic research on emergy, eco-exergy, and ascendency. In addition, research on emergy and ecosystem health has generated a whole new genre of ecosystem health studies focused on urban ecosystems. The body of work on emergy indicators of urban ecosystem health has been largely developed by scientists in the People’s Republic of China, who are confronted by the problems and benefits derived from a rapidly urbanizing nation. This work has its antecedent in the studies on urban metabolism carried out in Taiwan and P.R. China.

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