Systems ecology is an interdisciplinary field of ecology, taking a holistic approach to the study of ecological systems, especially ecosystems.^{[citation needed]} Systems ecology can be seen as an application of general systems theory to ecology. Central to the systems ecology approach is the idea that an ecosystem is a complex system exhibiting emergent properties. Systems ecology focuses on interactions and transactions within and between biological and ecological systems, and is especially concerned with the way the functioning of ecosystems can be influenced by human interventions. It uses and extends concepts from thermodynamics and develops other macroscopic descriptions of complex systems.

Systems ecology seeks a holistic view of the interactions and transactions within and between biological and ecological systems. Systems ecologists realise that the function of any ecosystem can be influenced by human economics in fundamental ways. They have therefore taken an additional transdisciplinary step by including economics in the consideration of ecological-economic systems. In the words of R.L. Kitching:

Gil Friend (born March 4, 1949 in Brooklyn, New York) is a business consultant, author, system ecologist, and strategist in sustainable business, clean technology, and communications. He is widely considered one of the founders of the sustainability movement, and was named by the International Society of Sustainability Professionals to their first Sustainability Hall of Fame, acknowledging “those people that have contributed the most to the emerging field of sustainability” (along with Ray Anderson, Amory Lovins, Karl-Henrik Robert and Bob Willard).

Friend holds an M.S. degree in Systems Ecology from Antioch University, has a black belt in Aikido, and is a seasoned practitioner of “The Natural Step” environmental management system.

He is coauthor of "Biofuels Development and Soil Productivity" (1982); and has contributed chapters to several books, including "Worldchanging: A User’s Guide to the 21st Century", "Sustainable Enterprise Report", "Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook", "Sustainable Food Systems", and "Stepping Stones".

Elinor Ostrom (née Awan; born August 7, 1933) is an American political economist. She was awarded the 2009 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, which she shared with Oliver E. Williamson, for "her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons." She was the first, and to date, the only woman to win the prize in this category. Her work is associated with the new institutional economics and the resurgence of political economy.

Ostrom lives in Bloomington, IN, and is on the faculty of both Indiana University and Arizona State University. She holds a Distinguished Professor at Indiana University and is the Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Political Science and Co-Director of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University in Bloomington, as well as Research Professor and the Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Institutional Diversity at Arizona State University in Tempe. Ostrom also serves as a lead researcher for the Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Collaborative Research Support Program (SANREM CRSP), managed by Virginia Tech and funded by USAID.

Eugene Pleasants Odum (September 17, 1913 - August 10, 2002) was an American scientist known for his pioneering work on ecosystem ecology. He wrote the first ecology textbook: Fundamentals of Ecology.

Life depends on adequate conditions of food, water, and shelter from inclement elements and also that weather, geological, and biological factors (among others) are involved in the web of life that affords this environment. In the 1940s and 1950s, "ecology" was not yet a field of study that had been defined as a separate discipline. Even professional biologists seemed to Odum to be generally under-educated about how the Earth's ecological systems interact with one another. Odum brought forward the importance of ecology as a discipline that should be a fundamental dimension of the training of a biologist.

Son of the sociologist, Howard W. Odum, and brother of Howard T. Odum, E.P. Odum credited his father for imparting to him a holistic approach to looking at things. When contemplating his advanced education, he rejected both the University of Michigan and Cornell University, as he did not feel that this holism was embodied in their approach to their biology departments. Instead, he chose the Graduate Department of Zoology at the University of Illinois where he earned his doctorate degree. He had one son William with his wife Martha. Odum was very proud of Martha's accomplishment as an artist. She often painted landscapes when traveling with her husband across the US and overseas. Sadly, their son William died in his 40s, but not before making important contributions to science while a faculty member at the University of Virginia.