Disturbance, equilibrium, and environmental variability: What is ‘Natural’ vegetation in a changing environment?

Abstract

To most early ecologists, the ‘natural’ ecosystem was the community that would be reached after a long period without large-scale disturbance (fire, windstrom, etc.). More recently, it has been realized that in most areas some type of large-scale disturbance is indigenous, and must be included in any realistic definition of ‘naturalness’. In some areas an equilibrium may exist in which patchy disturbance is balanced by regrowth, but in others equilibrium may be impossible because (1) individual disturbances are too large or infrequent; (2) ephemeral events have long-lasting disruptive effects; and/or (3) climate changes interrupt any movement toward equilibrium that does occur. Examples of non-equilibrium ecosystems include the African savannas, the Big Woods of Minnesota, the lodgepole pine forests of Yellowstone National Park, and possibly the old-growth Douglas-fir forests of the Pacific Northwest. Where an equilibrium does not exist, defining the ‘natural’ vegetation becomes much more challenging, because the vegetation in any given area would not be stable over long periods of time even without man's influence. In many areas it may be unrealistic to try to define the natural vegetation for a site; one must recognize that there are often several communities that could be the ‘natural’ vegetation for any given site at any given time.