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Poorter L, Amissah L, Bongers F, Hordijk I, Kok J, Laurance SGW, Lohbeck M, Martínez-Ramos M, Matsuo T, Meave JA, Muñoz R, Peña-Claros M, van der Sande MT. Successional theories. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2023; 98:2049-2077. [PMID: 37455023 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12995] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2023] [Revised: 06/28/2023] [Accepted: 06/29/2023] [Indexed: 07/18/2023]
Abstract
Succession is a fundamental concept in ecology because it indicates how species populations, communities, and ecosystems change over time on new substrate or after a disturbance. A mechanistic understanding of succession is needed to predict how ecosystems will respond to land-use change and to design effective ecosystem restoration strategies. Yet, despite a century of conceptual advances a comprehensive successional theory is lacking. Here we provide an overview of 19 successional theories ('models') and their key points, group them based on conceptual similarity, explain conceptual development in successional ideas and provide suggestions how to move forward. Four groups of models can be recognised. The first group (patch & plants) focuses on plants at the patch level and consists of three subgroups that originated in the early 20th century. One subgroup focuses on the processes (dispersal, establishment, and performance) that operate sequentially during succession. Another subgroup emphasises individualistic species responses during succession, and how this is driven by species traits. A last subgroup focuses on how vegetation structure and underlying demographic processes change during succession. A second group of models (ecosystems) provides a more holistic view of succession by considering the ecosystem, its biota, interactions, diversity, and ecosystem structure and processes. The third group (landscape) considers a larger spatial scale and includes the effect of the surrounding landscape matrix on succession as the distance to neighbouring vegetation patches determines the potential for seed dispersal, and the quality of the neighbouring patches determines the abundance and composition of seed sources and biotic dispersal vectors. A fourth group (socio-ecological systems) includes the human component by focusing on socio-ecological systems where management practices have long-lasting legacies on successional pathways and where regrowing vegetations deliver a range of ecosystem services to local and global stakeholders. The four groups of models differ in spatial scale (patch, landscape) or organisational level (plant species, ecosystem, socio-ecological system), increase in scale and scope, and reflect the increasingly broader perspective on succession over time. They coincide approximately with four periods that reflect the prevailing view of succession of that time, although all views still coexist. The four successional views are: succession of plants (from 1910 onwards) where succession was seen through the lens of species replacement; succession of communities and ecosystems (from 1965 onwards) when there was a more holistic view of succession; succession in landscapes (from 2000 onwards) when it was realised that the structure and composition of landscapes strongly impact successional pathways, and increased remote-sensing technology allowed for a better quantification of the landscape context; and succession with people (from 2015 onwards) when it was realised that people and societal drivers have strong effects on successional pathways, that ecosystem processes and services are important for human well-being, and that restoration is most successful when it is done by and for local people. Our review suggests that the hierarchical successional framework of Pickett is the best starting point to move forward as this framework already includes several factors, and because it is flexible, enabling application to different systems. The framework focuses mainly on species replacement and could be improved by focusing on succession occurring at different hierarchical scales (population, community, ecosystem, socio-ecological system), and by integrating it with more recent developments and other successional models: by considering different spatial scales (landscape, region), temporal scales (ecosystem processes occurring over centuries, and evolution), and by taking the effects of the surrounding landscape (landscape integrity and composition, the disperser community) and societal factors (previous and current land-use intensity) into account. Such a new, comprehensive framework could be tested using a combination of empirical research, experiments, process-based modelling and novel tools. Applying the framework to seres across broadscale environmental and disturbance gradients allows a better insight into what successional processes matter and under what conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lourens Poorter
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, PO Box 342, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Lucy Amissah
- Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, PO Box UP63, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana
| | - Frans Bongers
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, PO Box 342, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Iris Hordijk
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, PO Box 342, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Jazz Kok
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, PO Box 342, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Susan G W Laurance
- Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science (TESS), James Cook University, 14-88 McGregor Rd, Smithfield, 4878, Queensland, Australia
| | - Madelon Lohbeck
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, PO Box 342, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Miguel Martínez-Ramos
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia, CP 58190, Michoacán, Mexico
| | - Tomonari Matsuo
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, PO Box 342, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Jorge A Meave
- Departamento de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, 04510, Mexico
| | - Rodrigo Muñoz
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, PO Box 342, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Marielos Peña-Claros
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, PO Box 342, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Masha T van der Sande
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, PO Box 342, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
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Thum CC, Dahlan R, Wong YJ. Using the modified socio-ecological model to address stigma against non-suicidal self-injury among adolescents in Malaysia. Front Psychiatry 2023; 14:1204704. [PMID: 37398591 PMCID: PMC10307976 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1204704] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2023] [Accepted: 06/02/2023] [Indexed: 07/04/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Chern Choong Thum
- Hospital Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Rahima Dahlan
- Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia
| | - Yen Jun Wong
- School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia, Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
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Li Y, Ke Q, Zhang Z. Millennial Evolution of a Karst Socio-Ecological System: A Case Study of Guizhou Province, Southwest China. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2022; 19:15151. [PMID: 36429871 PMCID: PMC9691231 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph192215151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2022] [Revised: 11/14/2022] [Accepted: 11/15/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The dynamic changes in socio-ecological system (SES) have exerted increasing pressures on the natural environment, leading to observable changes in terrestrial surface structure. Therefore, understanding the historical evolution mechanism of social ecosystems is crucial for the future sustainable management of karst regions. However, detailed quantitative analyses of karst socio-ecological system at a long-term scale are lacking. Here, we applied a comprehensive research framework for the SES of karst region to visually analyze the evolution of karst SES over the past 1000 years in Guizhou Province, defining five evolution stages of the karst SES. Concurrently, we characterized the interactive effects of drivers on karst socio-ecological system during every evolutionary stage, and then assess major influences between these stages. Despite rocky desertification as the main effect of karst SES driven by many indicators, the quantitative analysis indicated that human-dominated land-use change explained the expansion of rocky desertification. Although effective implementation of relevant policies partly compensated for increased environmental pressures, continued structure and function shifts in local ecosystem can challenge progress towards sustainability in karst region. Our findings provide scientific references for managers and policymakers to assist them to identify how environmental issues emerged in karst areas and how they should be addressed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yetong Li
- Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
- State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Qihua Ke
- Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
- State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Zhuodong Zhang
- Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
- State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
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Receveur A, Poulet L, Dalmas B, Gonçalves B, Vernay A. Citizen science: How to extend reciprocal benefits from the project community to the broader socio-ecological system. Quant Plant Biol 2022; 3:e20. [PMID: 37077983 PMCID: PMC10095897 DOI: 10.1017/qpb.2022.16] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2021] [Revised: 06/13/2022] [Accepted: 08/24/2022] [Indexed: 05/02/2023]
Abstract
Quantitative plant biology is a growing field, thanks to the substantial progress of models and artificial intelligence dealing with big data. However, collecting large enough datasets is not always straightforward. The citizen science approach can multiply the workforce, hence helping the researchers with data collection and analysis, while also facilitating the spread of scientific knowledge and methods to volunteers. The reciprocal benefits go far beyond the project community: By empowering volunteers and increasing the robustness of scientific results, the scientific method spreads to the socio-ecological scale. This review aims to demonstrate that citizen science has a huge potential (i) for science with the development of different tools to collect and analyse much larger datasets, (ii) for volunteers by increasing their involvement in the project governance and (iii) for the socio-ecological system by increasing the share of the knowledge, thanks to a cascade effect and the help of 'facilitators'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aurore Receveur
- OFP/FEMA, Pacific Community, 95 Promenade Roger Laroque, BP D5, 98848 Nouméa, New Caledonia, France
- CESAB-FRB, 5 Rue de l'École de Médecine, 34000, Montpellier
| | - Lucie Poulet
- Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont Auvergne INP, CNRS, Institut Pascal, France
| | - Benjamin Dalmas
- Computer Research Institute of Montreal, Montreal, QC H3N 1M3, Canada
| | - Barbara Gonçalves
- Université Clermont Auvergne, Centre Michel de l'Hospital, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Antoine Vernay
- Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, ENTPE, UMR 5023 LEHNA, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France
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Gherheș V, Cernicova-Buca M, Fărcașiu MA, Palea A. Romanian Students' Environment-Related Routines during COVID-19 Home Confinement: Water, Plastic, and Paper Consumption. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2021; 18:8209. [PMID: 34360502 PMCID: PMC8346065 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18158209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2021] [Revised: 07/23/2021] [Accepted: 07/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The disruptive force of the COVID-19 pandemic is lessening in power and plans are being made for the postcrisis period, among which increasing the sustainability of higher education is of significant importance. The study aims at establishing students' existing environment-related routines during their home confinement, as a basis for applying green measures to campus living once academic life is resumed with the physical presence of students. The collected data rely on self-reported information provided by 816 students from Politehnica University of Timisoara (Romania), collected via an online, anonymous survey. The novelty of the approach is that household environment-related routines are investigated during a crisis period, with the possibility to build upon the results to implement tailored measures to encourage or diminish environmentally relevant consumption by young, highly skilled individuals. The students display a moderate awareness of environmental issues and indicate consumption routines that may be steered towards an increased sustainability-conscious campus life, through the combined intervention of the university, city administration, and stakeholder involvement. The findings are used to explore the possible directions for action towards increasing or contributing to the territorial sustainability in the socio-ecological context of Timisoara, the largest university city in the western part of Romania via educational, managerial and policy interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vasile Gherheș
- Department of Communication and Foreign Languages, Politehnica University of Timisoara, 300006 Timisoara, Romania; (M.A.F.); (A.P.)
| | - Mariana Cernicova-Buca
- Department of Communication and Foreign Languages, Politehnica University of Timisoara, 300006 Timisoara, Romania; (M.A.F.); (A.P.)
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Salom A, Suárez ME, Destefano CA, Cereghetti J, Vargas FH, Grande JM. Human-Wildlife Conflicts in the Southern Yungas: What Role do Raptors Play for Local Settlers? Animals (Basel) 2021; 11:ani11051428. [PMID: 34067506 PMCID: PMC8156693 DOI: 10.3390/ani11051428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2021] [Revised: 04/29/2021] [Accepted: 04/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Wildlife persecution due to human-wildlife conflict has become a serious concern for biodiversity conservation, especially for many endangered species. In this context, conservation approaches need to consider the socio-ecological dimensions of each particular situation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the existence, extent and social characteristics of Human-Raptor Conflicts (HRC) in the Southern Yungas region in northwestern Argentina. We conducted 115 semi-structured interviews in 21 sites and analyzed attitudes and associations between sociodemographic variables and the existence of HRC. Forty percent of interviewees showed negative attitudes towards raptors, mainly with those species considered livestock predators rather than poultry predators. A total of 11 species were regarded as conflictive because of predation on domestic animals, of which Andean condors showed the highest conflict. The only socio-demographic factor affecting conflicts was livestock and poultry rearing, independently of age, gender and occupation of interviewees. The fact that only 8.7% of interviewees reported taking direct actions towards conflictive species indicates a relatively peaceful coexistence of people with raptors. Nevertheless, negative attitudes towards Andean condor together with their extreme susceptibility to any increase in non-natural mortality indicate the need of an integral conservation approach to tackle future threats for this species' conservation in the area.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amira Salom
- Laboratorio de Ecología y Conservación de Vida Silvestre, Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas (CADIC-CONICET), Bernardo Houssay 200, Ushuaia 9410, Argentina
- Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Intendente Güiraldes 2160, Buenos Aires C1428EGA, Argentina
- The Peregrine Fund, 5668 West Flying Hawk Lane, Boise, ID 83709, USA; (F.H.V.); (J.M.G.)
- Correspondence:
| | - María Eugenia Suárez
- Grupo de Etnobiología, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, e Instituto de Micología y Botánica (INMIBO), Universidad de Buenos Aires, CONICET-UBA, Intendente Güiraldes 2160, Buenos Aires C1428EGA, Argentina;
| | - Cecilia Andrea Destefano
- Área de Agroecología, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Av. San Martín 4453, Buenos Aires C1417, Argentina;
| | | | - Félix Hernán Vargas
- The Peregrine Fund, 5668 West Flying Hawk Lane, Boise, ID 83709, USA; (F.H.V.); (J.M.G.)
| | - Juan Manuel Grande
- The Peregrine Fund, 5668 West Flying Hawk Lane, Boise, ID 83709, USA; (F.H.V.); (J.M.G.)
- Colaboratorio de Biodiversidad, Ecología y Conservación (ColBEC), INCITAP (CONICET-UNLPam), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (FCEyN), Universidad Nacional de La Pampa (UNLPam), Avda, Uruguay 151, Santa Rosa 6300, Argentina
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Maldonado AD, Morales M, Aguilera PA, Salmerón A. Analyzing Uncertainty in Complex Socio-Ecological Networks. Entropy (Basel) 2020; 22:e22010123. [PMID: 33285898 PMCID: PMC7516428 DOI: 10.3390/e22010123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2019] [Revised: 01/10/2020] [Accepted: 01/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Socio-ecological systems are recognized as complex adaptive systems whose multiple interactions might change as a response to external or internal changes. Due to its complexity, the behavior of the system is often uncertain. Bayesian networks provide a sound approach for handling complex domains endowed with uncertainty. The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of the Bayesian network structure on the uncertainty of the model, expressed as the Shannon entropy. In particular, three strategies for model structure have been followed: naive Bayes (NB), tree augmented network (TAN) and network with unrestricted structure (GSS). Using these network structures, two experiments are carried out: (1) the impact of the Bayesian network structure on the entropy of the model is assessed and (2) the entropy of the posterior distribution of the class variable obtained from the different structures is compared. The results show that GSS constantly outperforms both NB and TAN when it comes to evaluating the uncertainty of the entire model. On the other hand, NB and TAN yielded lower entropy values of the posterior distribution of the class variable, which makes them preferable when the goal is to carry out predictions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana D. Maldonado
- Data Analysis Research Group, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain
- Correspondence:
| | - María Morales
- Department of Mathematics, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain; (M.M.); (A.S.)
| | - Pedro A. Aguilera
- Department of Biology and Geology, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain;
| | - Antonio Salmerón
- Department of Mathematics, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain; (M.M.); (A.S.)
- Department of Mathematics and Center for the Development and Transfer of Mathematical Research to Industry (CDTIME), University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain
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Kininmonth S, Bergsten A, Bodin Ö. Closing the collaborative gap: Aligning social and ecological connectivity for better management of interconnected wetlands. Ambio 2015; 44 Suppl 1:S138-48. [PMID: 25576288 PMCID: PMC4289001 DOI: 10.1007/s13280-014-0605-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Understanding how governance structures align to ecological processes in a landscape is critical for effective management of ecological resources. Ecological resources are not independent from each other, instead they are interconnected, and their well-being is often critically dependent on upholding ecological connectivity, especially in times of change and disturbances. Coordination and collaboration among managing actors, each managing their own piece of the puzzle, is therefore essentially a requirement for effective management. We present a conceptual model that includes ecological resources, managing and coordinating actors, along with an explicit representation on how all these entities are connected to each other. We apply this model to 25 municipalities that manage 408 wetlands in central Sweden. The study shows a good social and ecological alignment, however with a high prevalence for coordination through third parties. We discuss this pattern emergence, its potential implications, and examine which municipalities adopt these coordinating functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stuart Kininmonth
- Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Kräftriket 2B, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Arvid Bergsten
- Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Kräftriket 2B, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Örjan Bodin
- Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Kräftriket 2B, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
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Moon K, Adams VM, Januchowski-Hartley SR, Polyakov M, Mills M, Biggs D, Knight AT, Game ET, Raymond CM. A multidisciplinary conceptualization of conservation opportunity. Conserv Biol 2014; 28:1484-1496. [PMID: 25381959 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.12408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2014] [Accepted: 08/20/2014] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
An opportunity represents an advantageous combination of circumstances that allows goals to be achieved. We reviewed the nature of opportunity and how it manifests in different subsystems (e.g., biophysical, social, political, economic) as conceptualized in other bodies of literature, including behavior, adoption, entrepreneur, public policy, and resilience literature. We then developed a multidisciplinary conceptualization of conservation opportunity. We identified 3 types of conservation opportunity: potential, actors remove barriers to problem solving by identifying the capabilities within the system that can be manipulated to create support for conservation action; traction, actors identify windows of opportunity that arise from exogenous shocks, events, or changes that remove barriers to solving problems; and existing, everything is in place for conservation action (i.e., no barriers exist) and an actor takes advantage of the existing circumstances to solve problems. Different leverage points characterize each type of opportunity. Thus, unique stages of opportunity identification or creation and exploitation exist: characterizing the system and defining problems; identifying potential solutions; assessing the feasibility of solutions; identifying or creating opportunities; and taking advantage of opportunities. These stages can be undertaken independently or as part of a situational analysis and typically comprise the first stage, but they can also be conducted iteratively throughout a conservation planning process. Four types of entrepreneur can be identified (business, policy, social, and conservation), each possessing attributes that enable them to identify or create opportunities and take advantage of them. We examined how different types of conservation opportunity manifest in a social-ecological system (the Great Barrier Reef) and how they can be taken advantage of. Our multidisciplinary conceptualization of conservation opportunity strengthens and legitimizes the concept.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katie Moon
- Institute for Applied Ecology/Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra, Bruce, ACT, 2601, Australia.
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Golubiewski N. Is there a metabolism of an urban ecosystem? An ecological critique. Ambio 2012; 41:751-64. [PMID: 22262347 PMCID: PMC3472014 DOI: 10.1007/s13280-011-0232-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2010] [Revised: 09/18/2011] [Accepted: 12/21/2011] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
The energy and material flows of a city are often described as urban metabolism (UM), which is put forward as a way to link a city's ecology and economy. UM draws parallels to the biology of individual organisms, yet the analogy is misapplied. In striving to be interdisciplinary, UM makes this organismic comparison rather than identifying the city as an ecosystem, thereby ignoring developments in ecological theory. Using inappropriate rhetoric misdirects researchers, which influences scientific investigation-from problem statements to interpretations. UM is valuable in quantifying the city's use of natural resources but does not achieve a comprehensive, integrated analysis of the urban ecosystem. To realize an interdisciplinary, perhaps transdisciplinary, understanding of urban ecology, researchers need to emphasize the essential tenets of material flows analysis, view the city as an ecosystem, and use language that properly reflects current knowledge, theory, and conceptual frameworks in the foundational disciplines.
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Pape R, Löffler J. Climate change, land use conflicts, predation and ecological degradation as challenges for reindeer husbandry in northern Europe: what do we really know after half a century of research? Ambio 2012; 41:421-34. [PMID: 22451266 PMCID: PMC3390574 DOI: 10.1007/s13280-012-0257-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2011] [Revised: 10/26/2011] [Accepted: 01/31/2012] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
Reindeer grazing has been entitled as ecological keystone in arctic-alpine landscapes. In addition, reindeer husbandry is tightly connected to the identity of the indigenous Sámi people in northern Europe. Nowadays, reindeer husbandry is challenged in several ways, of which pasture degradation, climate change, conflicting land uses and predation are the most important. Research on reindeer-related topics has been conducted for more than half a century and this review illuminates whether or not research is capable to match these challenges. Despite its high quality, traditional reindeer-related research is functionally isolated within the various disciplines. The meshwork of ecology, socio-economy, culture and politics, however, in which reindeer husbandry is embedded by various interactions, will remain unclear and difficult to manage, if actors and relationships are kept separate. We propose some targets for new integrative research approaches that incorporate traditional knowledge and focus on the entire human-ecological system 'reindeer husbandry' to develop solutions for its challenges.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roland Pape
- Department of Geography, University of Bonn, Meckenheimer Allee 166, 53115 Bonn, Germany
| | - Jörg Löffler
- Department of Geography, University of Bonn, Meckenheimer Allee 166, 53115 Bonn, Germany
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