Working from the notion of the individual as an agent mediating between society and the environment, human ecology is defined as a combination of community, culture, economy and politics, with influencing factors of demands, values, perceptions and interactions seen as impacting and affecting the natural environment over time.
Ecosystems maintain their adaptability and resiliency to change through the diversity of species. Just as genetic diversity increases the pool of potential responses to ecosystem conditions, cultural diversity and diversified economies in human ecosystems can provide perspectives and cultural strengths and tools to help the overall community find appropriate solutions to its problems. For this reason, the development and expression of cultural and economic diversity in human ecosystems should be encouraged by local governments.
In both the human economy and the natural world, the steps of assembling materials, processing and distribution are accompanied by two further considerations: the natural resource base, and waste. In economics, these concerns have seldom been accounted for. In the study of ecology, however, the limitations these impose are often observed and sometimes explained as the "law of the minimum" and the "law of tolerance."
The United States Forest Service has embarked on a new ecosystem management paradigm that recognizes humans as a part of the landscape. Not only is it important for forestry professionals to understand the biological life cycles of tree, plant and animal species and their interaction within an ecosystem, but also how humans influence and impact on the environment. To fully implement the ecosystem approach the Forest Service has linked with other federal agencies to form an Interagency Ecosystem Management Task Force. Fifteen federal agencies and departments including the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Justice, and Science and Technology have collaboratively developed an eight-part framework to guide their agencies in supporting the ecosystem approach.