Human ecosystem

Human ecosystems are human-dominated ecosystems of the Anthropocene era that are viewed as complex cybernetic systems by conceptual models that are increasingly used by ecological anthropologists and other scholars to examine the ecological aspects of human communities in a way that integrates multiple factors such as economics, sociopolitical organization, psychological factors, and physical factors related to the environment.

A human ecosystem has three central organizing concepts: human environed units (an individual or group of individuals), environment, interactions and transactions between and within the components. The total environment in human ecosystems have been described in three components: natural, human-constructed, and human behavioral. While this framework is commonly considered, scholars argue that it reflects an anthropocentric perspective by centering human activity within the environment. Different human communities conceptualize the environment in ways that reflect their individual cultural values with the non-human world. For example, Indigenous scholars such as Kyle Powys Whyte describe the environment not as separate from the human, but as a large network of reciprocal relationships among humans, non-humans, and the land. Expanding its definition to include multiple cultural perspectives can provide a more comprehensive understanding of human ecosystems. Which is important because these environments furnish the resources and conditions necessary for life and constitute a life-support system.