Systems Ecology, as an area of study, is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of ecological systems
that focuses on interactions and transformations within and among biological systems. A key
component of the discipline is recognition of the large effect of humans on most of the earth’s
ecosystems. The goal of the program is to produce scholars who have a fundamental, interdisciplinary
understanding of interactions of physical, chemical and biological factors affecting ecological systems
across spatial and temporal scales and the factors affecting coupled natural and human systems.
Because ecosystems are often extremely complex, the approach to systems ecology increasingly
depends on computational and analytic tools that allow for a synthetic understanding of processes and
responses that influence ecosystems and humans. In addition, this type of synthesis requires crossdisciplinary thinking because relevant problems and questions often transcend traditional disciplinary
boundaries