Ecosystem ecology

How does what lies beneath our feet, and what comes from the sky above, determine what lies beyond—across landscapes, and in the future?  Space-time fluxes of organisms, water, energy, solutes, solids, gases, and momentum drive Earth’s life support systems.  These seven ecosystem currencies are exchanged, transferred and transformed, one to another.  Massively altered by humans over the last fifty years, these fluxes determine whether receiving ecosystems persist or unravel.  Twentieth century ecosystem science produced foundational concepts and discoveries, but much work remains to understand and predict ecosystem dynamics clearly enough to guide us towards a wiser relationship with Earth.