Chapters 10 through 12 represent additional steps toward fully holistic management; however the progress is of a different kind from that of the previous two sections. Rather than substantiate principles, the progress represented in this section involves a different kind of thinking, to apply the principles substantiated in the first two sections. Progress toward holism is achieved, in part, by asking every management question we can possibly ask. By carrying out management based on carefully chosen patterns that match those questions, we bring the field of macroecology to the realm of management – adding to the interdisciplinary nature of science brought to management. Management based on carefully chosen patterns accomplishes a key step toward holism. This is achieved through the infinitely integral nature of such patterns – no detail is left out. In taking this approach, management is reality-based to include not only individual species, ecosystems, and the biosphere, but all systems.

As such, this final section represents a substantial shift from the progress accomplished in current management practices. It represents a different kind of progress; it is not so much an extension of current advances as it is an alternative – an alternative that fully embraces holism by being pattern-based rather than being based on stakeholder opinion. Among the factors taken into account in pattern-based management is the diversity of evolutionary forces at play in natural systems.