ABSTRACT
Because these abiotic and biotic components function as a whole, communities and ecosystems have properties in addition to the properties of their component parts. These are known as emergent properties (i.e., properties that are apparent when the group is viewed as a whole that are not apparent, or even predictable, when looking at the individual species). Because emergent properties are characteristic of the system behaving as a unit, they do not reside in any individual species. Rather, they have meaning only with reference to the community and ecosystem levels of organization and include properties such as coevolution, trophic structure, biodiversity, and stability. Even when the constituent populations of a community change over time and space, the emergent properties of the community are maintained.
