2 results
7 - Evolution of the Systems Ecology Paradigm in Managing Ecosystems
- Edited by Robert G. Woodmansee, Colorado State University, John C. Moore, Colorado State University, Dennis S. Ojima, Colorado State University, Laurie Richards, Colorado State University
-
- Book:
- Natural Resource Management Reimagined
- Published online:
- 25 February 2021
- Print publication:
- 11 March 2021, pp 202-244
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
The systems ecology paradigm (SEP) emerged in the late 1960s at a time when societies throughout the world were beginning to recognize that our environment and natural resources were being threatened by their activities. Management practices in rangelands, forests, agricultural lands, wetlands, and waterways were inadequate to meet the challenges of deteriorating environments, many of which were caused by the practices themselves. Scientists recognized an immediate need was developing a knowledge base about how ecosystems function. That effort took nearly two decades (1980s) and concluded with the acceptance that humans were components of ecosystems, not just controllers and manipulators of lands and waters. While ecosystem science was being developed, management options based on ecosystem science were shifting dramatically toward practices supporting sustainability, resilience, ecosystem services, biodiversity, and local to global interconnections of ecosystems. Emerging from the new knowledge about how ecosystems function and the application of the systems ecology approach was the collaboration of scientists, managers, decision-makers, and stakeholders locally and globally. Today’s concepts of ecosystem management and related ideas, such as sustainable agriculture, ecosystem health and restoration, consequences of and adaptation to climate change, and many other important local to global challenges are a direct result of the SEP.
6 - Emergence of Cross-Scale Structural and Functional Processes in Ecosystem Science
- Edited by Robert G. Woodmansee, Colorado State University, John C. Moore, Colorado State University, Dennis S. Ojima, Colorado State University, Laurie Richards, Colorado State University
-
- Book:
- Natural Resource Management Reimagined
- Published online:
- 25 February 2021
- Print publication:
- 11 March 2021, pp 140-201
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
Fundamental knowledge about the processes that control the functioning of the biophysical workings of ecosystems has expanded exponentially since the late 1960s. Scientists, then, had only primitive knowledge about C, N, P, S, and H2O cycles; plant, animal, and soil microbialinteractions and dynamics; and land, atmosphere, and water interactions. With the advent of systems ecology paradigm (SEP) and the explosion of technologies supporting field and laboratory research, scientists throughout the world were able to assemble the knowledge base known today as ecosystem science. This chapter describes, through the eyes of scientists associated with the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL) at Colorado State University (CSU), the evolution of the SEP in discovering how biophysical systems at small scales (ecological sites, landscapes) function as systems. The NREL and CSU are epicenters of the development of ecosystem science. Later, that knowledge, including humans as components of ecosystems, has been applied to small regions, regions, and the globe. Many research results that have formed the foundation for ecosystem science and management of natural resources, terrestrial environments, and its waters are described in this chapter. Throughout are direct and implicit references to the vital collaborations with the global network of ecosystem scientists.