ABSTRACT
Adapting these ideas to ecology and taking a system’s approach, and thus taking an holistic view to environmental questions, a new problem arises. The investigated systems are so complex that the temptation to return to reductionistic fundamentals becomes nearly overwhelming. Consequently, there is a greater need to reduce the complexity we have to face when confronted with ecosystemic interactions as far as possible. Although this task is one focal purpose of theories, not all theoretical focal approaches are able to cover it. An extraordinary suitable concept to fulfil these demands of complexity reduction is hierarchy theory. It is not only designed in an aggregating manner, suggesting rules for integration, it is also a most suitable approach to close the conceptual gaps between top-down-techniques and bottom-up-conceptions. Furthermore, the hierarchical construction o f the theory is obliging our way of thinking and classifying.
