Anthroposystem

The term anthroposystem is used to describe the anthropological analogue to the ecosystem. In other words, the anthroposystem model serves to compare the flow of materials through human systems to those in naturally occurring systems. As defined by Santos, an anthroposystem is "the orderly combination or arrangement of physical and biological environments for the purpose of maintaining human civilization...built by man to sustain his kind." The anthroposystem is intimately linked to economic and ecological systems as well.

Both the anthroposystem and ecosystem can be divided into three groups: producers, consumers, and recyclers. In the ecosystem, the producers or autotrophs consist of plants and some bacteria capable of producing their own food via photosynthesis or chemical synthesis, the consumers consist of animals that obtain energy from grazing and/or by feeding on other animals and the recyclers consist of decomposers such as fungi and bacteria.

In the anthroposystem, the producers consist of the energy production through fossil fuels, manufacturing with non-fuel minerals and growing food; the consumers consist of humans and domestic animals and the recyclers consist of the decomposing or recycling activities (i.e. waste water treatment, metal and solid waste recycling).

The ecosystem is sustainable whereas the anthroposystem is not. The ecosystem is a closed loop in which nearly everything is recycled whereas the anthroposystem is an open loop where very little is recycled. In contrast to the ecosystem, the anthroposystem's producers and consumers are significantly more spatially displaced than those in the ecosystem and thus, more energy is required to transfer matter to a producer or recycler. Currently, a large majority of this energy comes from non-renewable fossil fuels.

...
Wikipedia