Abstract:
An ecosystem is a natural system consisting of all plants, animals and microorganisms
(biotic factors) in an area functioning together with all the non-living physical (abiotic)
factors of the environment. Eco systems can be diversified and in order to understand
what makes each ecosystem unique, we need to look at the biotic and abiotic factors
within them. How the term ecosystem can be defined and the role of mankind will be
elaborated in the first part of this paper with special reference to scholastic ideas and
lexical resources. The stability of all dynamic processes in an ecosystem is caused by
the interaction between biotic and abiotic factors since an ecosystem is a constitution
of them. Mainly interactions in an ecosystem can be classified into two major parts as
interaction between biotic and biotic factors and interaction between biotic and abiotic
factors. As the second part of this paper interaction between mankind and the ecosystem
will be discussed through Western perspectives and current scientific research. The
balance of nature is a theory that proposes that ecological systems are usually in a stable
equilibrium (homeostasis), which is to say that a small change in some particular
parameter (the size of a particular population, for example) will be corrected by some
negative feedback that will bring the parameter back to its original "point of balance"
with the rest of the system. How alternations of an ecosystem are caused by human
unethical interferences and applicability of sustainable development will be argued in
the third part of this paper, utilizing modern environmental crisis and environmental
policies. As the major result of this paper, it can be emphasized that a country has to
utilize ecofriendly means and sustainable development to preserve the ecosystem. The
paper concludes by suggesting how to utilize sustainable development as an ecofriendly
means and what kind of role should be played by mankind towards that objective.
