Ecosystems provide a way of understanding our world, by exploring the systems that link living organisms to their environment. People are an important component of ecosystems at all scales, and human activity can affect them in both constructive and destructive ways. To manage them effectively, we need to understand the way they work and how they change. This book explores the nature of dynamic ecosystems covering ecological zones such as tropical and temperate forests, grasslands, deserts, wetlands and oceans. Examining the British Isles, it shows how various ecosystems link to each other and can be managed, and concludes with a section on conservation and management at the local and global scales, developing an all-embracing concept of ecology and sustainability.