Human economic networks are parts of ecosystem networks, Part 1
The quote and diagram came from Patten, B.C., Witkamp, M., 1967. Systems analysis of Cesium kinetics in terrestrial microcosms. Ecology 48, 813–824.
The first two slides and a lot of the info in this post came from John Baez: Theoretical Physics in the 21st Century
So that means (paradoxical? (not)) if humans dump their “wastes” into their surrounding ecosystems, they will go somewhere, and be used or eaten by something. But the humans might not like the results.
Like their excess nitrogen fertilizers feeding algae blooms in the Caribbean and killing off the shrimp which the humans wanted to eat. (But the algae were happy...) Or their excess carbon emissions causing global warming such that the tropics will become uninhabitable in their lifetimes, thus triggering massive human and animal migrations to cooler regions, with probable wars and more pandemics from zoonotic diseases like the current coronavirus. (But the viruses are happy...)
In Part 2, we'll try to make this a happier story for the humans (and shrimp, but maybe not the algae and viruses...)