ABSTRACT
The first sign of progress toward any goal is recognition that the goal is worthy of the effort. A decade ago, applying the concept of health beyond the individual and population level was deemed foolhardy. Ecologists in particular were adamant that ecosystems were not organized as organisms. Thus the concept of health, which applied to individuals and, later, populations, was inappropriate for ecosystems. They were partly right; indeed, ecosystems are not organized in the same manner as organisms. Ecosystems are not superorganisms. Ecosystems do, however, have organization, structure, and function. They constitute another level above that of populations — but below that of landscapes and biomes — in the biological hierarchy from cells to the biosphere. Thus, ecologists were wrong to assume that, because ecosystems are not organized in the same manner as organisms, the concept of health had no application to this level.
