Stabilité, diversité et maturité des écosystèmes : notions applicables aux sociétés humaines

Human societies have developed and develop at the expense of natural ecosystems in which man has acquired a privileged place. The notion of the stability of ecosystems is often associated with those of diversity and maturity. How can these notions of diversity, stability and maturity be applied to the most artificial ecosystems created by man ? Natural ecosystems develop towards greater energy efficiency, expenditure of energy per biomass present being constantly reduced. In anthropo-ecosystems, however, expenditure of energy per person is constantly increasing. In various ways man constantly increases and accelerates the flow of energy through his ecosystem, tending both to simplify and to concentrate the production elements which may give rise to various imbalances. The inter-specific diversify of primitive ecosystems is replaced by an intra-specific diversity of the dominant species — man. This diversity within human societies is linked to the complexity of their organization and can only be maintained by an increase in the energy flow. The stability of the global ecosystems is therefore today linked to this increase in energy being maintained.