In
the 20th century, as microbiologists investigated the “Cycle
of Life” at the microbial level, others did the same
on a macroscopic scale. Thermodynamics had much to say about
the ecological role of lakes, forests, and even Mother Earth.
From this perspective, Yale University’s G. Evelyn Hutchinson
founded ecosystem ecology. In the hands of his colleague Lynn
Margulis it became symbiogenesis and the Gaia Theory.