Definitions for "Ecological processes"
The biological, chemical and physical processes that take place within an ecosystem (e.g. carbon cycling, nutrient assimilation).
The metabolic functions of ecosystems—energy flow, elemental cycling, and the production, consumption, and decomposition of organic matter.
Processes which play an essential part in maintaining ecosystem integrity. Four fundamental ecological processes are the cycling of water, the cycling of nutrients, the flow of energy, and biodiversity (as an expression of the process of evolution).