which describe the propensity of such energy flows through the trophic, or 'energy availing' levels of ecological networks. In systems ecology the principles of ecosystem energy flows or "ecosystem laws" (i.e. principles of ecological energetics) are considered formally analogous to the principles of energetics. Ecological humanities Ecological humanities aims to bridge the divides between the sciences and the humanities, and between Western, Eastern and Indigenous ways of knowing nature. Like ecocentric political theory, the ecological humanities are characterised by a connectivity ontology and a commitment to two fundamental axioms relating to the need to submit to ecological laws and to see humanity as part of a larger living system. Ecosystem ecology Ecosystem ecology is the integrated study of biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems and their interactions within an ecosystem framework. This science examines how ecosystems work and relates this to their components such as chemicals, bedrock, soil, plants, and animals. Ecosystem ecology examines physical and biological structure and examines how these ecosystem characteristics interact. The relationship between systems ecology and ecosystem ecology is complex. Much of systems ecology can be considered a subset of ecosystem ecology. Ecosystem ecology also utilizes methods that have little to do with the holistic approach of systems ecology. However, systems ecology more actively considers external influences such as economics that usually fall outside the bounds of ecosystem ecology. Whereas ecosystem ecology can be defined as the scientific study of ecosystems, systems ecology is more of a particular approach to the study of ecological systems and phenomena that interact with these systems. Industrial ecology Industrial ecology is the study of industrial processes as linear (open loop) systems, in which resource and capital investments move through the system to become waste, to a closed loop system where wastes become inputs for new processes. See also Agroecology Earth system science Ecosystem ecology Ecological literacy Emergy Energy flow (ecology) Energy Systems Language Holism in science Holon (philosophy) Holistic management Landscape ecology Antireductionism Biosemiotics Ecosemiotics MuSIASEM References Bibliography Gregory Bateson, Steps to an Ecology of Mind, 2000. Kenneth Edmund Ferguson, Systems Analysis in Ecology, WATT, 1966, 276 pp. Efraim Halfon, Theoretical Systems Ecology: Advances and Case Studies, 1979. J. W. Haefner, Modeling Biological Systems: Principles and Applications, London., UK, Chapman and Hall 1996, 473 pp. Richard F Johnston, Peter W Frank, Charles Duncan Michener, Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 1976, 307 pp. Jorgensen, Sven E., "Introduction to Systems