Abstract
Research on ecosystems began in the field of limnology. Initially, therefore, only aquatic ecosystems were examined. The cycling of material in these aquatic systems, which can be represented as is thought of as being generally applicable. It is, however, not possible simply to extend this to terrestrial systems, which are far more complex in their structure. In terrestrial systems there are two parallel cycles, a short cycle and a long; in the short cycle, which is quantitatively the more important, consumers play a relatively minor role.
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© 1985 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Walter, H., Breckle, SW. (1985). Terrestrial Ecosystems and Their Special Features. In: Ecological Systems of the Geobiosphere. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-02437-9_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-02437-9_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-02439-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-02437-9
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