Celebrating the ecosystem'sthree-quarter century:Introduction to a VirtualSpecial Issue on Sir ArthurTansley's ecosystem concept

摘要

Ecosystem ecology has played a central role in our understanding of the natural world, and the importance of plantsas the organisms that define the amount and flow of energyentering the ecosystem demonstrates the essential role ofplant science in our understanding of how ecosystems function. New Phytologist has a tradition of publishing originalresearch papers and reviews focused on the interfacebetween plant and ecosystem science. But there is anadditional reason for the collection in this Virtual SpecialIssue (www.newphytologist.com/virtualissues), which is thecommemoration of the publication of a seminal paper bySir Arthur Tansley (1935) (the founding Editor of NewPhytologist and after whom the Tansley Reviews are named),which was fundamental in establishing the ecosystemconcept in biological studies. And so, three quarters of acentury on we celebrate the ecosystem concept, with a seriesof New Phytologist publications that span the range from thegene to the globe, from the tropics to the tundra, with aneye on the visionary influence of Sir Arthur Tansley onmodern ecosystem science.