Ecostructure

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The term "Ecostructure", "ECO-Structure" or "Eco-Structure" is a neologism, and in some cases a commercial name or an abbreviation of a technical jargon expression, that can have at least five meanings:

• As a description of natural eco-systems from the point of view of their role in supporting human settlement, by making an analogy with humanly built and designed infrastructure
• As an abbreviation of the term "ecological structure", the description of kinds and proportions of organisms in natural communities, and their spacial distribution in a limited area
• As a trade name of various private companies, websites or magazines involved in Green construction or Green buildings
• As a partnership between EMC, CISCO and Oracle to share a common IT infrastructure blueprint
• As an abbreviation for "echo structure", a medical term describing the pattern of echogenicity of biological structures undergoing ultrasound examination

Ecology as infrastructure

The term was coined and defined by Stuart Brand in the Fall 1992 edition of the Whole Earth Review:

Meanwhile a famous global problem, the deteriorating natural environment, is gradually being re-understood in economic terms. America is finally becoming alarmed about the decay of its engineered infrastructure -- highways, water systems, communications systems, and even the education system. In the same way, the whole world is worried about the natural infrastructure -- soils, aquifers, fishable waters, forests, biodiversity, and even the atmosphere. The natural systems are priceless in value and nearly impossible to replace, but they're cheap to maintain. All you have to do is defend them. The natural and engineered infrastructures together constitute the world's economic infrastructure -- the ecostructure

According to Andrew Lemer's website, he simultaneously and independantly coined the term:

"Ecostructure as a word and concept was published and seemingly coined independently in 1992 by Andrew Lemer (in the Journal of the American Planning Association) and Stewart Brand (in Whole Earth Review). Others have subsequently adapted the term to their own purposes.".

MATRIX LLC (pres. Andrew Lemer) defines ecostructure as follow:

"The discovery, development, and application of environmentally advantageous practices that support human settlement for a sustainable high quality of life. The concept of "ecostructure" includes cultural, social, and economic elements as well as technological-- places, institutions, physical facilities, and related services that have come to be called infrastructure. These elements provide the underlying structure and essential support for our economy and society."

In 1999, prof. Haiki Tane defines ecostructure in analogy to infrastructure:

" The key structures sustaining settled landscapes are both geospatial:

• Infrastructures: These are the networks of roads, railways, telecommunications, social services, utilities, facilities and buildings. They are designed and built by architects, engineers, surveyors, technicians and politicians.
• Ecostructures: These are the networks linking sites, habitats and landscape ecosystems into catchment ecosytems. They are mapped and studied by biogeographers, catchment ecologists and environmental designers. It may help to visualize infrastructure as engineering networks and systems built of concrete and steel and natural ecostructures as habitats and ecosystems."

The same year the term was used in a paper titled "Infrastructure, suprastructure and ecostructure : a portfolio of sustainable growth potentials" by Peter Nijkamp to describe the role of an attractive natral environment in determining geographical patterns of economic growth.

• Note that in the Brand/Lemer definitions, the term ecostructure includes both built infrastructure and natural systems that support human settlement, whereas in the Tane/Nijkamp definitions, ecostructure only refers to the natural systems.

Ecological structure

"Eco-structure" is sometimes used as an abbreviation of the ecological concept "ecological structure", the description of kinds and proportions of organisms in natural communities, and their spacial distribution in a limited area.

In an 2009 article in Science magazine, Erik Stokstad explains the origin of the concept:

Having studied Mount Chimborazo and nearby peaks for months, in 1805, Alexander von Humboldt assembled the first comprehensive treatise—Essay on the Geography of Plants—on how vegetation varies with altitude, climate, soil, and other factors. The work was a groundbreaking exploration of the physical underpinnings of ecological structure: what determines the species that make up a community and their relative abundance.

In the same article, he provides an example of the concept:

Species abundance and composition—i.e., structure—may be the salient feature of a biological community. A tropical rainforest, for example,is physically dominated by tall, broad-leafed trees with several layers of trees underneath adapted to lower light. Woody vines and epiphytesdangle from the branches, and shade tolerant shrubs dot the forest floor. Even though the particular species vary from place to place, wet tropical forests still exist as recognizable entities on four continents. A combination of physical and biological forces organizes species into these predictable communities.

Businesses, websites or publications related to green construction

• Eco-Structure: A magazine published by Hanley-Wood LLC., about "Advancing the green building movement through environmental performance and sustainable design"

• ECO STRUCTURES Australia is a manufacturer of pre-fabricated modular Eco Kit Tents, Eco Kit Cabins and Eco Kit Villas:

• A Canadian website which appears to be a news directory of "Green" construction projects

EMC, CISCO and Oracle common IT infrastructure blueprint

• A partnership between EMC, CISCO and Oracle to share a common IT infrastructure blueprint, as described in the following article:

"The ECOstructure alliance comprises engineering personnel and products from each company and is dedicated toward ongoing testing and validation of existing and new e-business solutions based on the Oracle Internet Platform; EMC's Symmetrix Enterprise Storage systems and software; and the Cisco 7000 Series routers, Catalyst 6000 family switches, Cisco LocalDirector, Cisco Content Engine and the Cisco Secure PIX firewall. ECOstructure is part of Oracle's E-Business Continuity program of highly available, securely managed computing solutions."

Ultrasound jargon: The pattern of echogenicity

When organs are examined by ultrasound, the degree to which various structures reflect the ultrasound waves back to the transducer is referred to as the “echogenicity” of the structure. "Hyperechoic" structures appear brighter and "hypoechoic" structures appear darker. The pattern of hyperechoic and hypoechoic structures is referred to as the "echo structure" or the "ecostructure" of the organ.