ecosystem

Etymology

From eco- + system. Coined by English botanist Arthur Tansley in 1935 in a paper titled "The Use and Abuse of Vegetational Concepts" in the journal Ecology.

noun

1. A system formed by an ecological community and its environment that functions as a unit.
   Phoenix and Lubbock are both caught in severe drought, and it is going to get much worse. We may see many such [dust] storms in the decades ahead, along with species extinctions, radical disturbance of ecosystems, and intensified social conflict over land and water. Welcome to the Anthropocene, the epoch when humans have become a major geological and climatic force. 2012-01, Donald Worster, “A Drier and Hotter Future”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 2012-01-26, page 70
2. The interconnectedness of organisms (plants, animals, microbes) with each other and their environment.
3. (by extension) A network of interconnected people, organisations, products or services that resembles a natural ecosystem due to the complex interdependencies.
   The company’s ecosystem mainly comprises its supply chain, customers, end consumers and competitors.
   It The Kashmir Files] is being described by the leftist “liberal” ecosystem as a movie that peddles bigotry against Muslims. 2022-03-21, Rahul Shivshankar, “The real reason why the Left eco-system has launched a scurrilous attack on the movie Kashmir Files”, in Times of India
   There is a certain duality in how the Hindutva ecosystem is pushing the anti-hijab discourse into the mainstream. 2022-02-17, Angshuman Choudhury, Suraj Gogoi, “Hijab ban: How some liberals are sleepwalking into the trap set by Hindutva nationalists”, in Scroll.in