ECOLOGICAL EMERGENCES WITHIN THE MULTI-INDIVIDUAL LEVEL OF SYSTEMIC ORGANISATION

Abstract

The ecological emergences arise owing to the integration of organisms into hierarchically ranked systemic units into the multi-individual level of organisation i.e., population, species and biocoenosis and ecosystem (the latter including in addition the abiotic environment). The ecological emergences of the multi-individual level encompass both general and systemic unit-specific forms in terms of structures, relationships, processes, information and variability. The most important effect of the different ecological emergences is the initiation of the process of production, consumption and decomposition of biomass and necromass, which ensures the amount of energy and matter needed for the negentropic functioning of all living systems. For each form of general ecological emergence, an example involving plant systems is given.