Complexity Theory and Measuring Complexity of Ecosystems in a Landscape

Complexity is an elusive term in ecology that is often used in different ways to describe the state of an ecosystem. Many authors have claimed that an ecosystem is a prototypical complex system. Interactions between organisms lead to complexity in ecosystems while interactions between organisms and their environment also contribute to this complexity. An ecosystem tends towards greater complexity via the process of self-organization, which draws the system away from the two extremes of order and disorder to a state of maximal complexity. Natural disturbance events may cause an ecosystems state to tend towards greater disorder, whereas human intervention can move the system state towards greater order. Today, lack of adequate knowledge about complexity in ecosystems has led to destruction of many ecosystems such that their rehabilitation and restoration has become very hard. For this reason, the preset study aimed to explain the concept of complexity as one of the important attributes in ecosystems and enhance knowledge of experts and managers on environment. We used the temporal, spatial, structure and tempo-spatial measures adapted to describe the complexity of ecosystems. It is argued that if appropriate measures are developed and validated for ecosystems, ecological complexity could become a key ecological indicator.