multiecosystem

Multiecosystem is a concept used to describe landscapes in which two or more distinct ecological systems—such as forests, wetlands, rivers, or urban green spaces—exist in proximity and interact across boundaries. The term highlights that ecological processes and services do not stop at the borders of a single ecosystem, but rather flow across ecosystem boundaries through material transfers, species movements, and ecological functions.

In a multiecosystem context, ecosystems exchange energy, nutrients, and organisms via edges and connectors like rivers, floodplains, corridors, and human-made features. These interactions can create ecotones with unique communities and can enhance overall resilience by distributing risk and buffering disturbances, though they can also introduce conflicts over land use and resource needs.

Management approaches emphasize landscape-scale planning, connectivity restoration, and safeguarding key interfaces. Strategies may include preserving habitat corridors, restoring degraded interfaces, coordinating across jurisdictions, and integrating biodiversity, water, and climate objectives into policy and land management.

Measurement relies on indicators of cross-ecosystem flux, connectivity, and ecosystem services. Examples include studies of nutrient flows from agricultural fields to wetlands, migratory pathways, and the cumulative provision of services such as water purification, pollination, and flood control.

Challenges include data gaps, complexity, governance fragmentation, and competing land-use pressures. The multiecosystem concept supports research on resilience, sustainability, and adaptive management in rapidly changing landscapes.