ABSTRACT
In the first phase, mathematical system theory applied to ecology was understood as dynamic statistical ecology (Thomann, 1967; Pielou, 1969; Patil et al., 1971). Data analysis and ecosystems modelling were carried out by use o f statistics and time series analysis methods. Later on, in a second phase, mathematical ecology shifted more to systems analysis. This was facilitated by the understanding o f ecosystems as parts o f higher units, thus allowing a more generalised theoretical description (Patten, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1976; Innis and O ’Neill, 1979; Halfon, 1979; Odum, 1983; Allen and Hoekstra, 1992; Jorgensen, 1992 and Patten and Jorgensen, 1995). The notions of ecosystems as linear or non-linear, time-independent or time-dependent, spatial, multidimensional, static or dynamic, distributed or lumped, digital or analogous, and other types o f mathematical descriptions are theoretically founded, developed and used independently from each other in different ecological disciplines. However, in most cases these special spatio-temporal systems exhibit the same mathematical structural behaviour, they overlap each other, or they are special cases o f the same theoretical system. From the present point o f view there are some differences within the formal structures o f general systems descriptions. But there is some evidence that they may be reconciled in the future.
