Photo: Chihuahuan Desert, Big Bend National Park. © 2017Delena Norris-Tull
Ecologically based successional management
Summaries of the research and commentary by Dr. Delena Norris-Tull, Professor Emerita of Science Education, University of Montana Western, September 2020.
James, et al., 2010, reported that “A holistic, ecologically based, invasive plant management (EBIPM) framework that integrates ecosystem health assessment, knowledge of ecological processes, and adaptive management into a successional management model has recently been proposed. However, well-defined principles that link ecological processes that need to be repaired to tools and strategies available to managers have been slow to emerge, thus greatly limiting the ability of managers to easily apply EBIPM across a range of restoration scenarios.” They conducted a research review to “synthesize current knowledge of the mechanisms and processes that drive plant community succession… Using the core concepts of successional management that identify site availability, species availability, and species performance as three general drivers of plant community change, we detail key principles that link management tools used in EBIPM to the ecological processes predicted to influence the three general causes of succession.”
I refer you to James, et al., 2010, for an excellent summary of the research on the principles that can guide restoration projects: analysis of (1) site availability: disturbance characteristics; (2) species availability: propagule dispersal and propagule pressure; and (3) species performance: resource availability, ecophysiology, life history, stress, and interference.
A systems approach to resource management
“In exercising our responsibility for management, we must be able to integrate and interrelate all parts of the system” (Dahl, 1996, p.59).
Dahl (1996) points to the failure of current Western economics theory in solving the problems of Nations. And he describes the necessity of integrating ecology and economics, if we are to have a reasoned theory of sustainable development. “The great failure of economics as it is applied today is that it deals with only that part of the human system that is traded or marketed… (M)any things cannot be measured in monetary terms, like human satisfaction, … safe neighbourhoods, or the privilege of breathing clean air” (p.9-10).
“The present economic definitions of development lead to some surprisingly illogical results… If a factory produces air pollution, the damage caused to human health, or to forests from acid rain, is not counted as a cost because the factory owner does not have to pay… However, the increased work for doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies to treat the illnesses caused by the pollution counts as economic activity and therefore as development and increases GNP… Gross National Product measures economic activity regardless of whether it is constructive or destructive, making it a poor measure of development… Only now are some significant attempts being made to reflect the negative side of development more realistically, and to incorporate environmental factors into net measures… as in the UNDP Human Development Reports and the new System of National Accounts adopted by the United Nations in 1993” (Dahl, 1996, p. 10-11).
Dahl (1996, p. 38-39) states that, “Because many human settlements started as agricultural centres and market towns, much urban growth has taken place on the most productive agricultural land…. In a rational land-use policy… the best soils should be reserved for intensive agriculture, poorer soils allocated to grazing, and steeper slopes to forestry, with housing, industry and urban development concentrated largely on otherwise unusable land.”
Dahl, 1996, in The Eco Principle: Ecology and Economics in Symbiosis, describes an extension of systems theory called eco. He defines an eco as “any natural or man-made functional system with internal integrity and distinct features and behavior enclosed within clear boundaries” (page 47). Any eco incorporates all of the following: limits, content, energy, material flux, dynamics, information, and communications.
For example, a grassland prairie has a definable size and shape determined by a set of specific characteristics; it contains a wide variety of species (including bacteria, plants, and animals), soils, and minerals; its members obtain energy from the sun, the earth, and from other organisms; materials flow into and out of the grassland (e.g., oxygen, water, and carbon dioxide); it is a highly complex, dynamic system; the organisms and non-organic materials in the grassland each is structured in such a way that they carry vast amounts of information (e.g., DNA and cellular structure help define the characteristics of each species; the mineral make-up of the soil defines the soil type and structure); and members within the grassland communicate between each other and outside the system (from the cellular level of organization, all the way up to the organismal and inter-organismal levels).
“It is the information content that is the most critical characteristic of an eco, but this has not been given enough attention in systems theory. This information on the organization and integration of the eco is the critical factor determining its value or ‘wealth,’ a wealth that has been largely missed in economics” (Dahl, 1996, p. 48).
“While the tendency to increase complexity and efficiency over time seems to be a natural characteristic of ecos, it results from a set of conflicting processes. In a constant environment, the most efficient ecos present will come to dominate, specializing for maximum efficiency… and monopolizing resources…Variability in the environment can alternately favour ecos with different characteristics, or perhaps smaller and more flexible ones, increasing diversity. However, extreme variability tends to select for a few resistant ecos that can adapt to a wide range of conditions but are less efficient in any of them. The pressures from interactions with other ecos can also increase the evolutionary pressure on ecos, selecting those with certain characteristics and eliminating others… The length of time they have been operating is also important, since the process of perfecting an eco is a slow one, and seldom goes to completion before conditions change” (Dahl, 1996, p. 54-55).
References:
Links to additional Agricultural Best Practices:
Links to more Innovative Solutions:
Ecologically based successional management
Summaries of the research and commentary by Dr. Delena Norris-Tull, Professor Emerita of Science Education, University of Montana Western, September 2020.
James, et al., 2010, reported that “A holistic, ecologically based, invasive plant management (EBIPM) framework that integrates ecosystem health assessment, knowledge of ecological processes, and adaptive management into a successional management model has recently been proposed. However, well-defined principles that link ecological processes that need to be repaired to tools and strategies available to managers have been slow to emerge, thus greatly limiting the ability of managers to easily apply EBIPM across a range of restoration scenarios.” They conducted a research review to “synthesize current knowledge of the mechanisms and processes that drive plant community succession… Using the core concepts of successional management that identify site availability, species availability, and species performance as three general drivers of plant community change, we detail key principles that link management tools used in EBIPM to the ecological processes predicted to influence the three general causes of succession.”
I refer you to James, et al., 2010, for an excellent summary of the research on the principles that can guide restoration projects: analysis of (1) site availability: disturbance characteristics; (2) species availability: propagule dispersal and propagule pressure; and (3) species performance: resource availability, ecophysiology, life history, stress, and interference.
A systems approach to resource management
“In exercising our responsibility for management, we must be able to integrate and interrelate all parts of the system” (Dahl, 1996, p.59).
Dahl (1996) points to the failure of current Western economics theory in solving the problems of Nations. And he describes the necessity of integrating ecology and economics, if we are to have a reasoned theory of sustainable development. “The great failure of economics as it is applied today is that it deals with only that part of the human system that is traded or marketed… (M)any things cannot be measured in monetary terms, like human satisfaction, … safe neighbourhoods, or the privilege of breathing clean air” (p.9-10).
“The present economic definitions of development lead to some surprisingly illogical results… If a factory produces air pollution, the damage caused to human health, or to forests from acid rain, is not counted as a cost because the factory owner does not have to pay… However, the increased work for doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies to treat the illnesses caused by the pollution counts as economic activity and therefore as development and increases GNP… Gross National Product measures economic activity regardless of whether it is constructive or destructive, making it a poor measure of development… Only now are some significant attempts being made to reflect the negative side of development more realistically, and to incorporate environmental factors into net measures… as in the UNDP Human Development Reports and the new System of National Accounts adopted by the United Nations in 1993” (Dahl, 1996, p. 10-11).
Dahl (1996, p. 38-39) states that, “Because many human settlements started as agricultural centres and market towns, much urban growth has taken place on the most productive agricultural land…. In a rational land-use policy… the best soils should be reserved for intensive agriculture, poorer soils allocated to grazing, and steeper slopes to forestry, with housing, industry and urban development concentrated largely on otherwise unusable land.”
Dahl, 1996, in The Eco Principle: Ecology and Economics in Symbiosis, describes an extension of systems theory called eco. He defines an eco as “any natural or man-made functional system with internal integrity and distinct features and behavior enclosed within clear boundaries” (page 47). Any eco incorporates all of the following: limits, content, energy, material flux, dynamics, information, and communications.
For example, a grassland prairie has a definable size and shape determined by a set of specific characteristics; it contains a wide variety of species (including bacteria, plants, and animals), soils, and minerals; its members obtain energy from the sun, the earth, and from other organisms; materials flow into and out of the grassland (e.g., oxygen, water, and carbon dioxide); it is a highly complex, dynamic system; the organisms and non-organic materials in the grassland each is structured in such a way that they carry vast amounts of information (e.g., DNA and cellular structure help define the characteristics of each species; the mineral make-up of the soil defines the soil type and structure); and members within the grassland communicate between each other and outside the system (from the cellular level of organization, all the way up to the organismal and inter-organismal levels).
“It is the information content that is the most critical characteristic of an eco, but this has not been given enough attention in systems theory. This information on the organization and integration of the eco is the critical factor determining its value or ‘wealth,’ a wealth that has been largely missed in economics” (Dahl, 1996, p. 48).
“While the tendency to increase complexity and efficiency over time seems to be a natural characteristic of ecos, it results from a set of conflicting processes. In a constant environment, the most efficient ecos present will come to dominate, specializing for maximum efficiency… and monopolizing resources…Variability in the environment can alternately favour ecos with different characteristics, or perhaps smaller and more flexible ones, increasing diversity. However, extreme variability tends to select for a few resistant ecos that can adapt to a wide range of conditions but are less efficient in any of them. The pressures from interactions with other ecos can also increase the evolutionary pressure on ecos, selecting those with certain characteristics and eliminating others… The length of time they have been operating is also important, since the process of perfecting an eco is a slow one, and seldom goes to completion before conditions change” (Dahl, 1996, p. 54-55).
References:
- Dahl, A.L. (1996). The Eco Principle: Ecology and Economics in Symbiosis. Oxford: George Ronald Publisher.
- James, J.J., Smith, B.S., Vasquez, E.A., Sheley, R.L. (2010). Principles for ecologically based invasive plant management. Invasive Plant Science and Management, 3: 229-239. DOI: 10.1614/IPSM-D-09-00027.1
Links to additional Agricultural Best Practices:
- Perennial Crops, Intercropping, beneficial insects
- Soil Solarization
- Natural Farming
- Permaculture
- Organic Farming
- Embedding Natural Habitats
- Conservation Tillage
- Crop Rotation
- Water Use Practices
- Tree Planting: Pros & Cons
Links to more Innovative Solutions: