title: A large-scale perspective on ecosystems.
abstract: Interactions between ecological elements must be better understood in order to construct an ecological life support system in space. An index was devised to describe the complexity of material cyclings within a given ecosystem.  It was then applied to the cyclings of bioelements in various systems of material cyclings including the whole Earth and national economies. The results show interesting characteristics of natural and man-made systems.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biogeochemistry and Sociogeochemistry, Mitsubishi-Kasei Institute of Life Sciences, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mizutani
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry; D018534:Earth, Planet; D018504:Ecological Systems, Closed; D017753:Ecosystem; D055593:Geological Phenomena; D005844:Geology; D006801:Humans; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D010758:Phosphorus; D002244:Carbon; D009584:Nitrogen