A unit that is a smaller version of something larger; in Meadian philosophy, child play was a microcosm of later adult behaviors.
a form of symbolism that uses a small thing to depict something on a larger scale
a miniature version of a larger object or entity
A small system that is representative of a larger system.
A laboratory-scale model used to understand the interactive relationships between microbial populations and the roles played by microbial populations within ecosystems.
A diminutive, representative system analogous to a larger system in composition, development, or configuration. As used in biodegradation treatability studies, microcosms are typically constructed in glass bottles or jars.
the smaller parts (i.e. particles, quantum mechanics, relativity theory) a representative system analogous to a larger system (Berry and Swimme pg. 114)
Artificial test system that simulates major characteristics of the natural environment for the purposes of ecotoxicological assessment: such a system would commonly have a terrestrial phase, with substrate, plants and herbivores, and an aquatic phase, with vertebrates, invertebrates and plankton. The term "mesocosm" implies a more complex and larger system than the term "microcosm" but the distinction is not clearly defined SN experimentalmodel ecosystem
A community or other unity that is an epitome of a larger unity such as an atom, and a stellar system.
A tiny, often microscopic segment of an ecosystem represented by a specialized community of organisms. (The organisms in a patch of moss on a rock face.)