NREM 612 Context: Historical and Ecological. “Quiz”

NREM 612

Context: Historical and Ecological

“Quiz”

Historical Context

3. Model of land use transitions (& degradation) over time

(Foley et al. 2005)

• Different parts of world in different stages• Not all areas move linearly thru transitions• Some stay in stage one for long period or move rapidly bet. stages

I. Historical Context of Human Induced Degradation

A. 21,000 BC: bow & arrow replace spear, central Asian hunters Europe, Siberia, & N America (Montgomery 2007)

1. Hunter-gatherers small degr. footprint due to low pop density, low growth rates, mobility

Q: How did HGs degrade ecosystems?

caused fires

hunted larger species to extinction

etc.

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Hunting scene from 4th millennium BC (Hillel 2006)


2. 8,500 BC ~ HG global pop. of 4 million (Tillman et al. 2002)

a. Overharvesting of large-bodied spp. is an ancient & persistent signature (Western 2001)



B. ~ 7,500 BC: Ag. develops in Mesopotamia, China, Mesoamerica (Montgomery 2007)

a. Shorter birth interval, < 4 yrs vs > 4 yrs (previously mother shifting camp can only carry 1 baby, inter > 4 years)

b. Plants & animals cultivated @ higher densities in ag vs wild ecos. (Diamond 2002)

c. Specialization

1. Ag settlements supported ↑ pop growth. Why?

C. 6,000 BC: Cattle first domesticated in Greece/Balkans (quickly spread to Middle East, Europe, India)

1. Animal husbandry ↑ food prod., ↑ land conversion, ↑ manure for fertilization

D. Repeating story: HG societies conquered by Ag. societies (Diamond 2002)

1. ↑ population & land conversion ↑ degradation

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(Foley et al. 2005)


Alteration of the landscape through clearing

Ancient & modern centers of agriculture. Trends?

• Ag arose where valuable domesticable crops were native, other areas proved more productive when domesticates introduced (Diamond 2002). Exception?

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E. Europe: Deforestation, Erosion

a. 900 BC-250 AD: Greek, Roman writers comment on deforestation

i. Plato wrote of erosion of mtns. of Attica, ruin of farms, villages

b. 1180-1220 AD: St. Francis of Assisi witnessed deforestation & voiced concern for nature

i. Patron Saint of animals & environment


F. 1750 AD - Industrial Revolution: Global pop. 800 million

1. Western societies transform from Ag. to Industrial

i. Demographic shift: migration to cites


(Foley et al. 2005)


Urbanization and small farms increasing


2. AG society: Pop. lived among fields that sustained them

i. Nutrients returned to soil

3. Urbanizing society:

i. Nutrients drawn from field to cities

ii. Wastes leave via streams to coasts/sea, not returned to soil


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“The improvements to be made in cultivation & in the augmentations that earth is capable of receiving in the article of productiveness, cannot, as yet, be reduced to any limits of calculation. Myriads of centuries of still increasing population may pass away, & the earth be yet found sufficient for the support of its inhabitants.”

William Godwin in Political Justice, 1793

4. Potential for unlimited food production


5. 1850 widespread use of steam power fueled by coal

i. engines, ships, trains Transportation Revolution

ii. ↑ in atmospheric CO2 concentrations


“I believe, then, that the cod fishery, herring fishery, pilchard (sardine) fishery, mackerel fishery, and probably all great sea fisheries, are inexhaustible; that is to say, that nothing we do seriously affects the number of the fish. And any attempt to regulate these fisheries seems consequently, from the nature of the case, to be useless.”

T. Huxley in 1883

6. Inexhaustible fisheries & ocean resources

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Model of land use transitions (& degradation) over time

(Foley et al. 2005)


Exhausted natural ecosystems


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G. New attitude emerges

1. 1850-1900: Poets Wordsworth, Blake, Emerson expressed interest in env.

a. Saw “industrial man” as corrupter of nature

2. 1872: U.S. estab. Yellowstone as world’s 1st National Park

a. New concept, way to protect env. for future gen.


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3. J. Muir & T. Roosevelt

a. Muir (1838-1914 i. co-founds Sierra Club ii. Advocate for wilderness &

Yosemite & Sequoia NPs

b. TR (1858-1919): “Conservation President”

i. 1901-09: estab. 5 NPs, 4 National Monuments,

protected part of Grand Canyon

4. 1915 AD End of Ind. Rev., Global pop. = 1.8 billion


(Foley et al. 2005)


•Protected areas created•Agriculture intensified


H. 1910-1920 Haber & Bosch?

1. Synthesized NH4 from N2 + H2 a. Haber: invented process; 1918 Nobel Prize b. Bosh: upscaled it; 1931 Nobel

2. Facilitates ag intensificationa. humanity no longer relies only on

natural sources of Nb. Coastal eutrophication starts to

exponentially

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I. U.S. 1930s: Dust Bowl/Dirty 30s1. Dust storms formation of SCS in 1933, S&W Cons. Districts

a. Black Sunday 4/14/1933

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J. 1945 Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO)

1. Becomes agency of UN 1946 a. HQ in Rome

2. Purpose: food security for all (consults, provides funding, collects data)a. focuses on dvping countries, combats degr.

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K. 1950s-Present: Green Revolution: global pop. 2.4 billion

1. ↑ in ag production due to what main factors?

2. Green Rev driven by . . .

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a. fertilization

b. irrigation

c. hybridization / genetic modification

d. mechanization

. . . fossil fuel energy, env. cost


(Foley et al. 2005)


•Green revolution maxed out agriculture•Natural ecosystems bottomed out


L. 1960s/70s: Environ. Movement & Cons. Biol.

1. 1962 Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

a. publicizes effects of chemicals on birds & fish

2. Mar. 21, 1970?

3. Gaia hypothesis (Lovelock 1979) earth as ecosystem; role of ocean, atmo, organic proccesses controlling clim; global biochemical homoeostasis

a. 1st Earth Day

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a. Establishes principles for optimum use of world's land resources, for improvement of their productivity, & for conservation for future generations

b. Calls for commitment of gov’t, internat. orgs, & land users to manage for long-term

c. Calls for land-use policies which create incentives for participation in soil conservation

M. 1982: World Soils Charter (U.N.)


N. 1992: UNCED Rio

1. Earth Summit: U.N. Conf. on Environment & Development

2. Addressed 3 issues:

a. Climate change

b. Biological diversity

c. Desertification

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II. Current “Human-Dominated Ecosystems” Concept : management should be done with ecological principles for the sustainable use of natural resources

II. Current “Human-dominated Ecosystem” Concept

A. “The ecosystem approach is fundamental in managing Earth’s resources because it addresses the interactions that link biotic systems, of which humans are an integral part, with the physical systems on which they depend” Chapin et al. 2002

1. Sustainable use of resources in an era of increasing population and consumption and large, rapid global environmental change

2. Ecological context provides a holistic view of managed systems, interacting biotic and abiotic components in a single integrated system

From Chapin et al. 2002

B. Ecosystems1. Are at steady state when outputs balance inputs over time, accept variation

as a normal aspect, but the system shows no trend over time.

2. Long term, directional changes in the environment and climate caused by humans results in directional changes in ecosystem properties and loss of steady state

3. “Sustainable” use of resources generally defined as usage < renewal

4. Understanding how a system works before a disturbance is fundamental to predicting and controlling degradation



From Vitousek 1994

C. Impact of Human Activities

“Overall, any clear dichotomy between between pristine ecosystems and human-altered areas that may have existed in the past has vanished, and ecological research should account for this reality” Vitousek 1994, MacAurthur Award Lecture



1. State factors set the boundaries of ecosystem development

a) Climate most strongly influences ecosystem characteristics – biomes

b) Parent material determines the starting point for soil development and properties, incl fertility

2. Interactive factors both control and are controlled by ecosystem characteristics

a) Acquisition of resources depletes their abundance

b) Human activities increasingly have an enormous impact on all ecosystem properties

3. Impact of human activities even affects state factors

D. Ecosystem Development


From Vitousek et al. 1997

1. Transformation of land for food, fiber, and goods production is the most direct and substantial alteration of ecosystems

2. Land use change drives species extinction and loss of biodiversity

3. Most major ecosystem controls (climate, soil, water, disturbance regime, functional groups of organisms) are being altered on a global scale by humans

4. Humans cause directional change, novel conditions, and positive feedbacks that impact the stability and resilience required to maintain ecosystems


E. Alteration of Ecosystems


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Focus of Special Issue of Science in 1997

What did you think of the Vitousek et al. 1997 paper?


B. Characteristics of human dominated (HDEs) compared to natural ecosystems (NEs)

Fill in this table w/ a partner based on Vitousek paper & your knowledge

HDEs NEsresource extraction

chemical use

imports of non-solar energyfood webs

habitat/landscape

soils

hydrology

disturbance regimes (fire, flooding, buffalo migration, etc.)

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HDEs NEsresource extraction high low-none

chemical use heavy low-none

imports of non-solar energy

high low-none

food webs simple complex

habitat/landscape homogeneous heterogeneous

soils disturbed/homogeneous

undisturbed/heterogeneous

hydrology modified/regulated

unmodified/unregulated

disturbance regimes (fire, flooding, buffalo migration, etc.)

reduced-absent active

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4141

(NASA)

2000s: Advances in Remote Sensing & GIS, RE & EBM

1. RS & GIS improve monitoring of environ. @ various scales


2. Explosive growth of Rest. Ecol. & EBM in 2000s

a. Economic growth based on exploitation ↓; growth based on restoration ↑ (Cunningham 2002)

b. Restoration = spirit & business of 21st cent.?

c. Fed. & state agencies, NGOs shift from sectoral, single-species mgmt. to ecosystem-based mgmt

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(Foley et al. 2005)


NREM 612 Context: Historical and Ecological. “Quiz”

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