Discipline Of Ecology Research Articles

Ecologizar la Economía o economizar la Ecología: controversias y desafíos en torno a la valoración de los servicios de los ecosistemas

En esta presentación se aborda el divorcio entre Economía y Ecología, las implicaciones de esta separación para entender la crisis ambiental y para la búsqueda de soluciones a dicha crisis. Se hace un recorrido sintético por la historia del pensamiento económico, haciendo énfasis en la evolución del pensamiento económico y su progresivo distanciamiento de una base material y ecológica para sus reflexiones. Desde allí se presenta una serie de elementos propios de la Economía Ecológica que se proponen como parte de una estrategia para acercar las disciplinas de la Ecología y la Economía, de cara a abordar la crisis ambiental y reconociendo la necesidad de transformaciones radicales en la teoría y la práctica de la economía política.

A systematic review of transparency in the methods of expert knowledge use

AbstractThe use of expert knowledge (EK) as an alternative to empirical data is increasing in the ecological disciplines in response to the growing need for rapid decisions that are embraced by local communities and implemented under strong resource constraints. Despite this increasing use, the validity of EK as a data source is still questioned by some who label it as biased or unreliable. Transparency in the methods applied in the use of EK allows confirmation of methodological rigour and study repeatability; key steps towards promoting the acceptance of EK as a valid data source. However, the practiced levels of methodological transparency in EK use are currently unknown in the ecological disciplines.To fill this knowledge gap, we performed a systematic review of transparency in methods applied in the use of EK, focusing on research in forest ecology and management as a case study. Covering the period from 1990 to 2016, we identified 296 publications that employed EK, which were assessed for their reporting on 15 methodological criteria of EK use.Our results indicate that transparency in the use of EK is generally very low, with only three out of 15 methodological criteria addressed in more than 50% of publications. Nevertheless, overall reporting on EK methods, and the reporting of four individual methodological criteria, were positively affected by publication year, suggesting that researchers increasingly recognize the importance of transparency in the use of EK methods.Synthesis and applications. Given the growing use of expert knowledge (EK) in the ecological disciplines, there is an urgent need to further its acceptance as a valid data source. To achieve this goal, researchers need to be more diligent in following best practices and reporting on EK methods. We therefore present a proposed set of guidelines for the reporting of EK methods. However, journal editors and reviewers also can play an important role in reaching this goal by requiring authors to transparently report on EK methods, just as they would expect for the use of empirical data.

АКТУАЛЬНІ ПИТАННЯ ФОРМУВАННЯ МОТИВАЦІЇ ДО НАВЧАННЯ У СТУДЕНТІВ ХАРКІВСЬКОГО НАЦІОНАЛЬНОГО МЕДИЧНОГО УНІВЕРСИТЕТУ

Мета роботи – провести аналіз умов формування мотивації до навчання студентів Харківського національного медичного університету (далі – ХНМУ) з вивченням методичних підходів до її формування. Визначити особливості формування мотивації до навчальної діяльності студентів, які засвоюють дисципліну “Гігієна та екологія”. Окрему увагу приділити питанню факторів ризику формування навчальної мотивації іноземних студентів, які навчаються в ХНМУ.
 Основна частина. Експериментальна перевірка умов формування мотивації до пізнавальної діяльності в студентів показала низький рівень сформованості мотивації до пізнавальної діяльності в іноземних студентів, які навчаються російською мовою під час оволодіння знаннями з дисципліни “Гігієна та екологія”. Наслідком цього є нижчий бал поточної успішності студентів, що свідчить про гірший рівень засвоєння знань з дисципліни. Відповідне становище обумовлене недостатнім рівнем усвідомлення значущості набутих знань у подальшій професійній діяльності, а також недостатнім рівнем володіння мовою навчання.
 Висновки. Умови формування мотивації до пізнавальної діяльності у студентів-іноземців ХНМУ, які навчаються російською мовою, потребують удосконалення традиційних методів формування мотивації до навчання та впровадження новітніх педагогічних методик при вивченні дисципліни “Гігієна та екологія”, що сприятиме зростанню рівня засвоєння навчального матеріалу. Слід зазначити, що окремої уваги потребує загальна специфіка студентів-іноземців, яка вимагає більшої уваги викладачів до навчальних та виховних заходів.

The Social-Ecological Keystone Concept: A Quantifiable Metaphor for Understanding the Structure, Function, and Resilience of a Biocultural System

Social-ecological system theory draws upon concepts established within the discipline of ecology, and applies them to a more holistic view of a human-in-nature system. We incorporated the keystone concept into social-ecological system theory, and used the quantum co-evolution unit (QCU) to quantify biocultural elements as either keystone components or redundant components of social-ecological systems. This is done by identifying specific elements of biocultural diversity, and then determining dominance within biocultural functional groups. The “Hawaiian social-ecological system” was selected as the model of study to test this concept because it has been recognized as a model of human biocomplexity and social-ecological systems. Based on both quantified and qualified assessments, the conclusions of this research support the notion that taro cultivation is a keystone component of the Hawaiian social-ecological system. It further indicates that sweet potato cultivation was a successional social-ecological keystone in regions too arid to sustain large-scale taro cultivation, and thus facilitated the existence of an “alternative regime state” in the same social-ecological system. Such conclusions suggest that these biocultural practices should be a focal point of biocultural restoration efforts in the 21st century, many of which aim to restore cultural landscapes.

Savagery, Civilization, and Property: Theories of Societal Evolution and Commons Theory

Abstract This article argues that modern commons theory has been substantially shaped by early modern ways of thinking about the evolution of civilizations. In particular, it has hewed closely to models that gelled in the Enlightenment-era works known as “stadial theory,” by authors such as Lord Kames and Adam Smith, and passed down to the twentieth century, to theorists including Garrett Hardin, Harold Demsetz, and Elinor Ostrom. It argues that stadial thinking reached modern commons theorists largely through the disciplines of anthropology and human ecology, paying particular attention to the debate among anthropologists over aboriginal property rights, colonial and international development discourse, and neo-Malthusian conservationism. The effects of stadial theories’ influence include a belief among many that private property represents a more advanced stage of civilization than does the commons; and among others a Romantic yearning to return to an Eden of primitive and community-based commons. Thus do deep cultural attitudes, rooted in the speculative thinking of an earlier age, color today’s theories — positive and normative — of the commons.

Effects of canopy structure and species diversity on primary production in upper Great Lakes forests

Canopy structure and tree species diversity, shaped by succession, disturbance, and community composition, are linked to numerous ecosystem functions, including net primary production (NPP). Understanding of how ecosystem structural metrics are interrelated and mechanistically link to NPP, however, is incomplete. We characterized leaf area index (LAI), Simpson's index of Diversity (D', a measure of species diversity), and canopy rugosity (Rc, a measure of canopy physical complexity) in 11 forest stands comprising two chronosequences varying in establishing disturbance, and in three late successional communities. We related LAI, D', and Rc to wood NPP (NPPw), and examined whether absorption of photosynthetically active radiation and light use-efficiency (LUE) link NPPw with ecosystem structure. We found that recovery of LAI and D' was delayed following more severe establishing disturbances, but that the development of Rc was strikingly conserved regardless of disturbance, converging on a common mean value in late-successional stands irrespective of differences in leaf area index and species diversity. LAI was significantly correlated with NPPw in each stage of ecosystem development, but NPPw was only correlated with Rc in early successional stages and with D' in late successional stages. Across all stands, NPPw was coupled with LAI and Rc, (but not D') through positive relationships with light absorption and LUE. We conclude by advocating for better integration of ecological disciplines investigating structure-function interactions, suggesting that improved understanding of such relationships will require ecologists to traverse disciplinary boundaries.

Body ecology: a new philosophy through cosmotic emersiology

Body ecology is a micro-ecology. It is a discipline derived from philosophical naturism, deep ecology and holistic body-mind practices developed since 1850 in the corporeal experience of body recreation, outdoor living, and body awakening techniques using emersiology. It is because we transform the practices of individuals that ecology is transformed. This paper seeks to explain the new discipline of body ecology, and its focus on the significance of micro-situations and micro-experiences.

Fundamental training of doctors in additional vocational education

The paper presents methodology of doctors fundamental training in additional vocational education. The analysis of trends (humanization, standardization, informatization, integration, ecologization and fundamentalization) of doctors biological training development in continuous medical education has made it possible to determine how to improve physicians biological training in the aspect of solving the research problem to determine methodology of doctors fundamental training in additional vocational education. The tendency of informatization of doctors biological training is determined by intensive development of biological sciences, as well as the widespread introduction of theoretical and technological approaches into medical practice. Integration as a trend determines modernization of goals, content, forms, methods of physicians biological training in the aspect of enhancing the interrelation and interdependent integrity of physicians biological and special training. The necessity of ecological regularities understanding and scientifically grounded attitude to nature requires systemic doctors biological training and dictates introducing a wide range of biological and ecological disciplines into doctors training and development program. These disciplines can help to understand the place of man in the environment and the biosphere as a whole from the standpoint of biocentric and polycentric approaches. Fundamentalization as a tendency for physicians biological training development requires training construction on the basis of a conceptual presentation of the educational content that contributes to the deepening of theoretical, scientific and vocational training of trainees and the expansion of their vocational training profile. Standardization defines requirements for physicians training level in biological disciplines (anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, immunology, genetics, etc.) of all medical specialties as well as requirements for medical personnel ecological literacy increasing. The tendency of humanization manifests itself in openness, in understanding the social role of a person in improving doctors professional competencies, contributes to imparting a personal meaning to the acquired knowledge and determines the preservation of the individual identity.

Tweet success? Scientific communication correlates with increased citations in Ecology and Conservation.

Science communication is seen as critical for the disciplines of ecology and conservation, where research products are often used to shape policy and decision making. Scientists are increasing their online media communication, via social media and news. Such media engagement has been thought to influence or predict traditional metrics of scholarship, such as citation rates. Here, we measure the association between citation rates and the Altmetric Attention Score—an indicator of the amount and reach of the attention an article has received—along with other forms of bibliometric performance (year published, journal impact factor, and article type). We found that Attention Score was positively correlated with citation rates. However, in recent years, we detected increasing media exposure did not relate to the equivalent citations as in earlier years; signalling a diminishing return on investment. Citations correlated with journal impact factors up to ∼13, but then plateaued, demonstrating that maximizing citations does not require publishing in the highest-impact journals. We conclude that ecology and conservation researchers can increase exposure of their research through social media engagement and, simultaneously, enhance their performance under traditional measures of scholarly activity.

Infrared spectroscopic imaging studies of medicinal plants

Molecular knowledge about plant constituents and their localization is of interest for basic and applied plant sciences. Mid- and near-infrared imaging techniques have advantages over conventional methods. These technologies offer significant information for the studies on plant classification, physiology, ecology, genetics pathology and other related disciplines. This article aims to present a general perspective about infrared imaging/micro-spectroscopy in plant research.

The exploration of essential theories about regional ecology

With the integration of regional development, regional ecological environment problems are becoming more and more severe, which has attracted extensive attention of researchers. Therefore, the 589th XiangShan Science Conference was organized to discuss how to build the regional ecology disciplinary system, and how to solve the current outstanding regional environment problems. It was agreed that regional ecological protection theory has characteristics of the current times and practical value, and the construction of regional ecological discipline is imperative. Based on the features of regional ecological problems, this paper puts forward three core theories of regional ecological protection. Firstly, the theory of “the dual coupling of ecological donor-ecological receptor”, which refers to the dual relationship of the land-land coupling and human-land coupling, are based on the ecological donor and the ecological acceptor. Land-land coupling indicates the coupling of ecological donor and receptor on space in the ecological domain, and the interdependence level between the donor and receptor determines healthy development and the ecological integrity of the ecological domain; human-land coupling refers to the coupling of the economic social system and natural ecological system in the ecological domain, and the suitability of human living environment and industries determines the degree of human-land coupling in the ecological-economic system. The second theory is the “triune theory of ecological pattern-process-function”. It was argued that the pattern is the carrier of the process, and the change of pattern leads to the change of ecological process. Process is the motivation and the driving force in forming pattern, and pattern will also respond to the change of process. The interaction of ecological pattern and process will show different ecological functions. Therefore, they are mutually affected and are reciprocal causation for each other. The regional coordinated development and ecological security can only be realized by integrated pattern, continuous process and matching function between the ecological donor and receptor. The third theory is “the suitable relationship between ecological biological capacity and regional development”, which is based on the suitability among human settlements, industrial structure, distribution, scale and natural resources & environment. Therefore, the maintenance and improvement of the ecological carrying capacity has direct effect on the sustainable development of the whole ecological domain. The economic and social development in the ecological domain must be appropriate with its ecological carrying capacity in order to realize the coordination of human-land system. From the view of the interaction among the ecological donors, ecological receptors, and ecological medium in the ecological domain, regional ecology analyzes ecological pattern, process and function in the ecological domain, and emphasizes the coupling of ecological carrying capacity as well as natural, economic and social factors. Three core-theory system is the fundamental solution to solve the land-land and human-land coordination problems, and the research results will play an important role in guiding the construction of regional ecological security pattern and space optimization, regional ecological protection and improvement of ecological service function, protection and repair technologies of regional ecological governance, as well as the optimization of regional industrial structure and distribution, etc. This theory provides new epistemology and methodology for solving current regional environmental problems.

Regionalizing Flood Magnitudes using Landscape Structural Patterns of Catchments

Emerging as an important issue in the disciplines of landscape ecology and landscape hydrology which inspired it, defining the concept of landscape metrics in a hydrological context has become a challenge to both landscape planners and engineers. Accordingly, the present study addresses the relationships existing between flooding phenomena and landscape metrics (shape index, fractal dimension index, perimeter-area ratio, related circumscribing circle, and contiguity index) of land use/land cover, hydrological soil groups and geological permeability classes. A regionalization approach was adopted employing 39 select catchments (33—4800 km2 in area, 0.47—21 m3 s−1 in mean discharge), located within the southern basin of the Caspian Sea. These catchments were predominantly covered by forest (57.4%), while rangeland, farmland and urban areas accounted for 25.9%, 11.7%, and 1.6%, respectively. Class-level landscape structural metrics of land use/land cover, hydrological soil groups and geological permeability classes have then been served as inputs to stepwise multiple linear regression analysis in an attempt to explain the flood magnitudes. The regression models (0.69 ≤ r2 ≤ 0.84) suggested that the catchments’ flood magnitude could explicitly be predicted using average measure of the shape and related circumscribing circle indices for the land use/land cover classes and those of hydrologic soil groups and geological permeability classes of the catchments. This indicated that regularity (vs. irregularity) of the landscape, pedoscape, and lithoscape, as represented by the shape index as well as the circumscribing circle index (for elongation and convolution), explained 69–84% of the variation in the flood magnitudes in the catchment.

Towards a Social-Ecological Urbanism: Co-Producing Knowledge through Design in the Albano Resilient Campus Project in Stockholm

If we are to promote urban sustainability and resilience, social-ecological knowledge must be better integrated in urban planning and design projects. Due to gaps in the two cultures of thinking that are associated with the disciplines of ecology and design, such integration has, however, proven to be challenging. In mainstream practice, ecologists often act as sub-consultants; they are seldom engaged in the creative and conceptual phases of the process. Conversely, research aiming to bridge the gap between design and ecology has tended to be dominated by a relatively static and linear outlook on what the design process is, and what it could be. Further, few concrete examples of the co-production of ecological and design knowledge exist. In this paper, we give an account of a transdisciplinary design proposal for Albano Resilient Campus in Stockholm, discussing how design—seen as a process and an assemblage of artifacts—can act as a framework for co-producing knowledge and operationalizing concepts of resilience and ecosystem services. Through a design-based and action-oriented approach, we discuss how such a collaborative design process may integrate ecological knowledge into urban design through three concrete practices: (a) iterative prototyping; (b) generative matrix models; and, (c) legible, open-ended, comprehensive narratives. In the conclusion, we sketch the contours of a social-ecological urbanism, speculating on possible broader and changed roles for ecologists, designers, and the associated actors within this framework.

Great theories of species diversity in space and why they were forgotten: The beginnings of a spatial ecology and the Nordic early 20th‐century botanists

AbstractSometimes, we stumble over literature revealing that well‐known and groundbreaking theories have previously been proposed by earlier researchers. Going back to the 1920s and a group of Nordic botanists, we discovered that they had already accomplished much of what theoretical ecologists and biographers, especially Americans, did half a century later. In order to restore their legacy and understand why the work of the early spatial ecologists in Scandinavia and Finland was forgotten, we examined their publications, recalculated some of their results from their original data and compared these to the more recent independent discoveries of these theories. These Nordic early 20th‐century botanists worked with sample areas (mainlands) as well as island systems, examining spatial patterns and foreseeing or even building probabilistic approaches to species–area relationships (SARs), occupancy‐frequency distributions (OFDs) and species‐to‐genus (S/G) ratios. Many theories in spatial ecology and biogeography are linked to the SAR, such as MacArthur and Wilson's equilibrium theory of island biogeography (based on colonization and extinction), Darlington's rule of thumb, Preston's canonical hypothesis, Diamond's rules of reserve design, and Coleman's random‐placement theory. However, many of the most important SAR‐based theories—as the mathematical shape of both mainland and island SARs as well as rules of thumb, colonization rates on islands, and the random‐placement theory—had already been discovered or discussed in the 1920s by members of the Stockholm group which included the Swedes Gunnar Romell, Olof Arrhenius, Harald Kylin, and The Svedberg, and a Finn, Widar Brenner. The notion of stochastic S/G ratios and the idea that distance affects colonization rates can be traced back to another Finn, Alvar Palmgren. Great theories like these may disappear, if they are, as these, buried in obscure journals or written in languages other than English. There was also almost no audience in the 1920s and 30s, as mathematical theories were less acceptable at that time. Perhaps even more importantly, a devastating dispute (“The Great Polemic”) arose between the Stockholm group of theoretically and mathematically inclined botanists and the Uppsala group of descriptive phytosociologists. The fight, in which the Uppsala group won, was more a political and sociological than an intellectual one. As a result, not only the budding discipline of spatial ecology faded into oblivion but also the researchers were lost to science, at least to spatial ecology and biogeography, and descriptive and taxonomic approaches came to dominate Nordic ecology right up to the 1960s.

Telling the Bionarrative: a Museum of Environmental Ideas

This paper explores the history of a proposal for an ideas-based museum of ecological concepts, a ‘National Biological Centre' for Canberra in 1965, and its successors.2 The background to the proposal came from changing ideas about zoos in the 1960s, and the emerging discipline of human ecology. The mission of the centre was to explore the relations between humans, other life-forms and their physical environment through what its chief protagonist, Stephen Boyden, called a comprehensive ‘bionarrative'.3 The centre was to facilitate the understanding of biophysical and social worlds as interrelated dynamic systems. The Biological Centre was conceived as a ‘major cultural institution' for the nation, reflecting relations between science and society, and informing culture with science.4 Unlike traditional natural history museums and zoos, collections of objects (or animals) were not its primary mission. This paper considers how the 1965 proposal for the Biological Centre anticipated later ‘museums of ideas', and reviews its relevance to new twenty-first-century museums of the Anthropocene, and how museums and related institutions can shed light on the role of science in society.

Converging political ecology and environmental justice disciplines for more effective civil society actions against macro-economic risks: the case of South Africa

This paper explores the potential to converge the theory of political ecology with the environmental justice discipline as means to promote more effective civil society actions against macro-economic risks, whilst analysing the case of South Africa. Such a convergence could result in mutual benefit for both arenas that already share a commitment towards justice. Whilst political ecology has focused on theoretical perspectives, which are mostly applied in rural areas, and examined justice in a larger macro-economic framework, environmental justice has been confined to an empirical focus at a local urban level, which is unable to link local struggles to larger political economic frameworks. Additionally, both arenas generally view civil society as coherent entities that act against the state and industry. Both disciplines should re-evaluate geographic scales and reconfigure romanticised understandings of civil society actions in order to attain justice.

Cross-disciplinary links in environmental systems science: Current state and claimed needs identified in a meta-review of process models.

Terrestrial environmental systems are characterised by numerous feedback links between their different compartments. However, scientific research is organized into disciplines that focus on processes within the respective compartments rather than on interdisciplinary links. Major feedback mechanisms between compartments might therefore have been systematically overlooked so far. Without identifying these gaps, initiatives on future comprehensive environmental monitoring schemes and experimental platforms might fail. We performed a comprehensive overview of feedbacks between compartments currently represented in environmental sciences and explores to what degree missing links have already been acknowledged in the literature. We focused on process models as they can be regarded as repositories of scientific knowledge that compile findings of numerous single studies. In total, 118 simulation models from 23 model types were analysed. Missing processes linking different environmental compartments were identified based on a meta-review of 346 published reviews, model intercomparison studies, and model descriptions. Eight disciplines of environmental sciences were considered and 396 linking processes were identified and ascribed to the physical, chemical or biological domain. There were significant differences between model types and scientific disciplines regarding implemented interdisciplinary links. The most wide-spread interdisciplinary links were between physical processes in meteorology, hydrology and soil science that drive or set the boundary conditions for other processes (e.g., ecological processes). In contrast, most chemical and biological processes were restricted to links within the same compartment. Integration of multiple environmental compartments and interdisciplinary knowledge was scarce in most model types. There was a strong bias of suggested future research foci and model extensions towards reinforcing existing interdisciplinary knowledge rather than to open up new interdisciplinary pathways. No clear pattern across disciplines exists with respect to suggested future research efforts. There is no evidence that environmental research would clearly converge towards more integrated approaches or towards an overarching environmental systems theory.

Resilience as an entrepreneurial capability: integrating insights from a cross-disciplinary comparison

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine competing assumptions about the nature of resilience and selects those most appropriate for an entrepreneurial context. Assumptions are integrated into a theoretical framework highlighting how different threats require different resilience responses. Overall organizational resilience results from a portfolio of resilience capabilities.Design/methodology/approachAkin to theoretical sampling, the authors identify various theoretical insights about resilience across three disciplines of psychology, ecology and engineering. The authors use these insights to distill competing assumptions about what resilience is and evaluate those most appropriate for entrepreneurial contexts. Existing resilience literature in organization science is critiqued in terms of underlying assumptions and an alternative theoretical framework proposed based on more robust assumptions.FindingsOther disciplines point to resilience being a process that differs for different threats and as either bouncing back, absorbing shocks or bouncing forward. When imported into entrepreneurship these characteristics lead to a conceptualization of resilience as being enacted through a capability portfolio. A routine-based capability response is preferred when threats are familiar, simple, not severe and frequent, following minimal disorganization and where resource slack is available. In contrast, heuristics-based capabilities are preferred when threats are unfamiliar, complex, severe and infrequent, following serious disorganization and where resource slack is unavailable. An absorption threshold point identifies when organizations need to switch from routine-based to heuristics-based resilience capabilities.Practical implicationsBuilding resilience across a range of adverse situations requires firms to develop a portfolio of resilience capabilities. Firms must learn to match the capability required for the specific threat profile faced. This includes a mix of routinized responses for returning to stability but also more flexible, heuristics-based responses for strategic reconfiguration.Originality/valueThe paper undertakes a first of its kind cross-disciplinary conceptual analysis at the level of identifying competing assumptions about the nature of resilience. These assumptions are found to be somewhat unconscious among organization researchers, limiting the conceptual development of resilience in entrepreneurship. The authors contribute a theoretical framework based on explicit and robust assumptions, enabling the field to advance conceptually.

Editorial

The launch of a journal is always an opportunity to advance scientific knowledge, because a journal consolidates ideas and facts in a field. With this in mind, Journal of Ecoacoustics (JEA) aims to open a new season of theoretical, empirical and applied studies in Ecoacoustics, a recent ecological discipline that represents the development of bioacoustics studies into the ecological realm.

The zoon r package for reproducible and shareable species distribution modelling

Abstract The rapid growth of species distribution modelling (SDM) as an ecological discipline has resulted in a large and diverse set of methods and software for constructing and evaluating SDMs. The disjointed nature of the current SDM research environment hinders evaluation of new methods, synthesis of current knowledge and the dissemination of new methods to SDM users. The zoon r package aims to overcome these problems by providing a modular framework for constructing reproducible SDM workflows. zoon modules are interoperable snippets of r code, each carrying a SDM method that zoon combines into a single analysis object. Rather than defining these modules, zoon draws modules from an open, version‐controlled online repository. zoon makes it easy for SDM researchers to contribute modules to this repository, enabling others to rapidly deploy new methods in their own workflows or to compare alternative methods. Each workflow object created by zoon is a rerunnable record of the data, code and results of an entire SDM analysis. This can then be easily shared, scrutinised, reproduced and extended by the whole SDM research community. We explain how zoon works and demonstrate how it can be used to construct a completely reproducible SDM analyses, create and share a new module, and perform a methodological comparison study.