Search

Copyright of Revue Française de Sociologie is the property of Presses de Sciences Po and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article offers information on the significance of ecotype and ecosystem's diversity of functions. According to the author, that there are three statements that can be addressed to the ecosystem and ecotype and the function of ecosystem including the organisms' adjustment to their corresponding habitat, the synchronous natural selection of the diverseness of ecotype among the different kinds of creatures, and the eco-genetic gradients' selection in the various types of ecosystem in different geographic locations.

The article discusses the steady state character of an ecosystem. The author observes that on first thought it might be felt that no ecological system would display steady state conditions, but it must be understood that an important item is the time constant of the system. He states that the earth as a whole is also a steady state ecosystem with insignificant amounts of export and import of matter, but with sufficient amounts of energy flow. It is stated that in a steady state ecosystem, some of the energy acquired from light is wasted and the rest is exported.

The article focuses on the report from the U.S. House Subcommittee on Science, Research, and Development on the International Biological Program (IBP) in 1968. Recommendations were made by the report for both immediate and long-range action by the government, industry and the academic community. The four major problems in the U.S. IBP effort include the loose structure and organization of the IBP administrative agency and an inadequate and unrealistic mode of funding. The report concluded that ecological understanding is both an international and national problem.