This book has nine authors. The basic outline of the book was formulated during a oneweek brainstorming meeting on the Danish island of Møn in June 2005. All nine authors have written parts of the book and have reviewed the contributions of the other authors. The book is therefore a joint effort resulting from close teamwork. I am the first author because the idea to produce a book about ecosystem theory and systems ecology was initiated by me based on a brainstorming meeting with system ecologists. I edited this book with Brian Fath after all the authors had exchanged ideas and reviewed the ten chapters. Brian Fath is therefore considered the second editor of the book. Bai Lian Li (Larry) participated in the brainstorming meeting in Møn and he contributed significantly to the outline of ideas making up the final book. However, due to his engagement with the Eco-summit 2007 in China, he was unable to contribute written material for the book. He is, however, working on a Chinese edition of the book, which we all consider of great importance as China during the last few years has shown an increased interest in environmental problems. This Chinese interest for environmentally sound management is expected to accelerate in the coming years, which makes a Chinese edition of this book even more important. Bernie Patten and Enzo Tiezzi were unable to attend the brainstorming meeting, but they both contributed written material and comments on the
chapters.