A shift from ecosystem to noosystem: an indispensable need of the hour

Ecosystem, which lays the basis for defining ecology, has always been viewed as an integrated unit of plants, animals and microbes interacting reciprocally with the biotic, abiotic and climatic factors composing their environment so that there is flow of energy, recycling of nutrients and display of regulatory functions. This kind of interpretation, however, is not adequate enough to understand the total systems dynamics. Considering the importance of integration of social, economic and cultural perspectives of human life with the conventional concept of ecosystem there was the milestone setting inception of the concept of ‘noosystem'that paved the pathway to the genesis of such disciplines as environmental science, conservation biology, restoration ecology and deep ecology. The present work reviews all such perspectives so as to consolidate our concern with noosystem in general and deep ecology in particular