Biosphere

thumb|A false color composite of global oceanic and terrestrial photoautotroph abundance, from September 2001 to August 2017. Provided by the [[SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and ORBIMAGE.]]

pathway by which a chemical element or molecule moves through both biotic and abiotic compartments of Earth

artificial closed ecological system

substance produced by life processes; it may be either constituents, or secretions, of plants or animals

planetary closed ecological system

Macroecology is a subfield in ecology that uses a methodological approach that investigates the empirical patterns and mechanistic processes by which the particulate components of complex ecological systems generate emergent structures and dynamics Unlike traditional ecology, which focuses on local and small-scale interactions, macroecology seeks to identify general emergent patterns within and across spatial and temporal scales.