The Concept of the Natural System and Its Importance for the Development of Integrated Research on the Natural Environment

The development of the concept of an areal natural unit as a result of the needs of the economic practice and the popularisation of the general systems theory. Ecosystems and geosystems. Hierarchy of the natural system. Topological and chorological units. The issue of a universal natural unit. Applications. The influence of the concept under discussion on the development of the integrated research on the natural environement.