BioConcepts

biosystemBiosystem (ger.)

• 1) Organized system with the ability to reproduce; it exists on various levels of the organic hierarchy, especially on sub-individual levels such as the chromosomes, cells, and tissues.  
  category wholeness

  1907

  wir [sprechen] von Biosystemen oder Teilsystemen und fassen hiermit jene morphologischen Formgebilde zusammen, welche, sei es im fertigen Zustand oder in der Anlage, teilungs- oder spaltungsfähig sind, gleichviel ob solche Systeme freilebenden Personen entsprechen oder nicht.

  Heidenhain, M. (1907). Plasma und Zelle, 1. Abt. Allgemeine Anatomie der lebendigen Masse, 1. Lief. Die Grundlagen der mikroskopischen Anatomie, die Kerne, die Centren und die Granulalehre: 86.

• 2) A biological system (in any of various senses). (OED 2011)
  
  category ecosystem

  1939

  Versteht man unter „Lebenseinheit“ jedes ganzheitliche System, in das Organismen eingehen, also jedes Biosystem, so ist die Biocoenose dem Einzelorganismus (und Tierstock) gegenüber eine Lebenseinheit höherer Ordnung.

  Thienemann, A. (1939). Grundzüge einer allgemeinen Ökologie. Arch. Hydrobiol. 35, 267-285: 275.

  1942

  The ecological system composed of the ‘biocenosis + biotop’ has been termed the holocoen by Friedrichs (’30) and the biosystem by Thienemann (’39).

  Lindeman, R.L. (1942). The trophic-dynamic aspect of ecology. Ecology 23, 399-417: 399.
  

  1979

  There are systems of a kind B such that, for every member b of B, (i) b is composed of chemical and biochemical (hence metabolizing) subsystems; (ii) b incorporates some of the biomolecules it synthesizes (rather than releasing them to its environment); (iii) the possible activities of b include (a) the rearrangement, assembly, and dismantling of components; (b) the replacement of nonfunctional components and the removal or neutralization of some chemicals; (c) the capture and storing of free energy (in ATP molecules, glycogen, and fat) for future consumption; (iv) b can adjust to some environmental changes; (v) b is a component of some supersystem (organism) or else of some population of systems of the same kind; (vi) some of the subsystems of b are capable of reproducing parts of b; (vii) some of the subsystems of b control some of the processes occurring in b in such a way that a fairly constant inner environment (milieu intérieur) is maintained in the system; (viii) all of the control systems in b are interconnected by signals (diffusion of chemicals, propagating chemical reactions, electrical signals, etc.) and so constitute a signal or information network; (ix) one of the control systems of b (its genetic system or genome) is composed of nucleic acid molecules, is unique to b, and controls the development and the reproduction of b; (x) the descendants of b are similar to b but may possess some new traits of their own (by mutation or gene recombination); (xi) b competes in some respects with other systems of the same species as well as of other species, and cooperates with the same or others in some other respects; (xii) b descends proximately or remotely from biochemical systems devoid of some of the properties listed above, and its nucleic acid molecules keep traces (hence some record) of the ancestry of b; (xiii) b lasts, as a member of B, for a limited time lapse. The name of the B’s should come as no surprise: DEFINITION 3.1 The systems B referred to by Postulate 3.2 are called biosystems or living things.

  Bunge, M. (1979). Treatise on Basic Philosophy, vol. 4. Ontology II: A World of Systems: 79-80.

  1982

  biosystem Ecosystem q. v.    

  Lincoln, R.J., Boxshall, G.A. & Clark, P.F. (1982). A Dictionary of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics: 34.

  1984

  Ökosystem: eine sich aus abiotischen und biotischen Faktoren des Ökotops bzw. von Geosystem und Biosystem aggregierende Funktionseinheit der hochkomplexen realen Umwelt, die somit einen Ausschnitt aus der Geobiosphäre bildet, der ein sich selbst regulierendes Wirkungsgefüge darstellt, dessen stets offenes stoffliches und energetisches System sich in einem dynamischen Gleichgewicht befindet

  Leser, H. (1984). Zum Ökologie-, Ökosystem- und Ökotopbegriff. Natur Landsch. 59, 351-357: 356.