Other ecologists hold that a strategic approach can help one understand the workings of an ecosystem by relating their properties to the number of species in the community. The tactical approach is called systems ecology and is based on Lotka's idea that ecosystems can be represented by a set of mathematical equations describing the ongoing interactions of the components. Systems ecologists use mathematical analogies in an attempt to understand the dynamic behavior of ecosystems. Once again, E.P. Odum has influenced the course of modern ecology, in this case, with his early studies utilizing the strategic approach to understand ecosystems. Odum has studied the processes involved in ecological succession .
Succession involves the changes that occur in communities over time.
Hence, ecosystems can be understood strategically by understanding their successional changes. Cowles did early studies of ecological succession in the Indiana dunes area approximately 100 years ago. Ecosystems are complex and the complexity can be difficult to study.