Search

The measurement of deposition gives information about the load to which the ecosystem is subjected. The balances discussed allow to judge the carrying capacity of the ecosystem; this judgement can be supplemented by the knowledge of other state variables of the ecosystem as given elsewhere. Knowledge of the load and of the carrying capacity allows conclusions about consequences. Our investigations are directed to detect effects of the different stress factors acting on the ecosystem, including climate, biomass utilization and choice of tree species. These investigations have already given considerable information about the interaction of the various stress factors, including air pollutants. This information has been presented in several papers (e.g. ULRICH et al. 1979, ULRICH 1983a and b). Thus we have done precisly what ZIMMERMEYER demands but he seems not to recognize this. The only environmental factor for forests which has been changed is the “chemical climate” by air pollution. There is therefore no doubt that this change is the driving force for a development in the ecosphere which is characterized not only by tree and forest die-back, but also by the acidification of waters and by the disappearence of species at an increasing rate. The data about load, carrying capacity and visible damage are more than enough to claim a rapid and considerable reduction of air pollution to avoid a possible ecological catastrophe.

The technology of modern weapons, especially nuclear weapons, poses a critical threat to the health of all people. In addition to the unprecedented risk of massive destruction to living things and to the ecosphere, the resources used in production of these arsenals cause an economic threat to the health of populations even if the weapons are never used. Medical and social scientists have a responsibility to work for the prevention of nuclear war and the reversal of the arms race. This may imply an obligation to work towards the prevention of war in general. Professional responsibility in this regard is based on (1) special expertise, (2) influence in society and (3) the symbolic power of the values of life, health and human dignity.The parameters of the social responsibility of medical and social science professionals with regard to the threat of nuclear war are outlined. Several questions are raised in order to promote further discussion. Does nuclear war present a unique moral imperative? What is social responsibility? Is there a special social responsibility for medical and social scientists? What is the relevance of special expertise? The author asserts that nuclear war is a political disease that must be prevented through political involvement.

The big picture Recently at the South Pole a group of scientists, diplomats, academics, international lawyers, journalists and environmentalists had the opportunity to view a graph of the increase in carbon dioxide levels during the past 20 years – over 25%, in a straight line. The data on which that graph is based underpins the so-called greenhouse effect theory. This chapter is founded on the belief that it is important to keep Antarctica in perspective, against the backdrop of other developments in the world community, when determining policies for its future. For example, if scientists such as those responsible for a 1984 study by the US National Academy of Science are right about the implications of a continued build-up of carbon dioxide levels and the theory of the greenhouse effect, temperatures on earth will rise by 2 or 3 deg C during the next 75 years. That could cause the west Antarctic ice sheet to melt, raising the ocean levels by a significant – even radical – degree. What energy policy would it be prudent for world leaders to follow? If those scientists who are concerned about the phenomenon of acid rain are correct that it will continue to bankrupt various components of the global ecosphere, and that its primary cause is the increased burning of fossil fuels in vehicles, power plants and smelters, the question arises as to the conservative approach which the world community should take concerning continued reliance on such energy sources.

With Lindeman’s great discovery a new epoch began. Ecology, up to that time regarded as the last nature reserve for lovers of butterflies and birds, suddenly was able to cope with modern scientific disciplines. Exact measurement and exact quantification of results were now possible, as well as the inclusion of these results into one grand framework. So ecology was accepted, especially when the problems of the ecosphere became obvious. The huge success of the International Biological Program (IBP) and the popularily of ecology even among molecular biologists are not the least results of Lindeman’s discovery.

This chapter discusses the problem of resources. All those elements of the earth which are useful or necessary to man can be considered as resources, and a resource process takes place when they are extracted and used by man and returned as wastes. This resource process is a basic and central theme in geography for three reasons. The extraction, use, and disposal of resources constitute a major component of the ecological system in which man interacts with the physical environment. It is found that since resources are not evenly distributed over the earth's surface, their movement constitutes a major component of the spatial system in which man interacts with man. The resource process draws both these systems together into a single system of human activity over the earth's surface. The nature and intensity of this activity is dependent upon the cultural and technical levels of different societies, but human activity is having an increasing impact on the four basic components of the ecosphere.

The purpose of this paper is to give a basic consideration for introducing a mathematical formulation of biorobots for simulation studies of ecosphere with an intension to give light to some essential features of learning and intelligent controls, as illustrated in Figure 5.2 in Section 5.

Publisher Summary This chapter describes resource studies in the energy project of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). One of the main tasks of the IIASA Energy Project is to compare the various long-term energy options or alternatives, such as nuclear fission, nuclear fusion, solar, geothermal, and carbon, that is, coal, conventional and non-conventional hydrocarbons, such as oil shales, tar sands, and heavy oil, and to analyze their embedding in the various spheres of human interest, such as the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the ecosphere, and the sociosphere. After some limiting values have been elaborated, two main tools are used for such studies and comparisons generally applied to model societies. For energy resource production, the main emphasis is given to large-scale mining problems including ecology, materials demand, energy expenses, water resources, land use, and risk assessment to the identification of systems effects of harvesting energy resources on a broad scale. Regarding world energy trade, which is mainly concerned with the physical availability of energy commodities, exploration studies are being performed on the methodology for assessing the formation and possible weighting factor of producer and/or consumer coalitions, and scenarios are run to estimate the effects of possible conservation policies of producers.

Where will human beings end up if they have no ethics, no strong rules of conduct, to guide human activities in the ecosphere? What happens when we do not have agreed-upon standards for treatment of all living things? The answer is abundantly clear to us as we look around Earth in all directions—;up and down as well as across land and water and back over the centuries of time. Western Man, especially, has predicated action upon an exploitative ethic towards the ecosphere, as I prefer to call the biosphere: ‘the world is my plum to pluck, eat, enjoy, consume—;as I see fit.’ A few enclaves can be found where people have exercised a different attitude and ethic, and their way of life has usually been equated with primitiveness and regarded as a problem.

There are reasons to be concerned about the stability of the ecosphere. The extinction of species, the accumulation of toxic trace elements, the acidification of forest soils and of waters, and the forest decline indicate changes in parts of the ecosphere which are far from the centers of industrial activities. It will be shown that the changes mentioned have one common denominator: they can ail be expressed as storage changes (e. g., of species, of nutrients, of chemical compounds, of acids and bases, of organic matter) and thus reflect changes in the balance of matter of the ecosphere. To judge such changes, an appropriate theory on the stability of the ecosphere is necessary. In the following the attempt is made to base a theory of ecosystem stability on the matter balance of ecosystems. This requires first an appropriate definition of the ecosystem.

Deterioration of wood is caused by a host of organisms including fungi, bacteria, insects, and marine organisms. The most common example of biodeterioration in the ecosphere is wood decay caused by fungi, the subject of this review. Decay is an interactive process of many steps leading to the structural degradation of wood and the nourishment of decay organisms and their ecological associates. Analytical techniques for understanding wood decay may be as dynamic as the decay process itself.

A model of a man-machine-environment complex is presented in which it is shown that each man-machine system defines for itself an operational environment from within the ecosphere. It is pointed out that this model has application to all design for human use, and to operation of man-machine systems. Its specific application to recreation is shown in relation to three areas—considerations of system safety in recreation; responsibilities and liabilities of manufacturers of recreational equipment; and responsibilities of researchers, human factors engineers, and those who supply manufacturers with operational design data. It is argued that safety management requires an epidemiological rather than a therapeutic or piecemeal approach, and that until safety is considered systematically as an objective in the design and operation of a man-machine-environment complex, recreational or otherwise, we cannot attain the optimal.

The prerequisite for teaching the Total Human Ecosystem is the creation of a conceptual ecological framework with clear definition of man’s position in the organic world, based on the following principles: 1. The hierarchic organization of nature and the living world as open systems or “holons” with increasing complexity through emerging qualities with biocybernetic feedback controls for their self-regulation. 2. Ecosystems as the basic functional units of nature, integrating live-space with living units and driven by inputs of energy/material/information. 3. Distinction between “bio-ecosystems”, maintained by solar energy, autotrophic organisms and bio-physical information, and “techno-ecosystems”, man-made and maintained by fossil energy, artifacts, and cultural information. 4. The dichotomic position of modern man between the biosphere and the technosphere — as largest, global bio- and techno-ecosystems — and the need for their integration in the ecosphere within the Total Human Ecosystem, as the highest level and the landscape as its concrete, spatial ecosphere entities.

Amongst the many odd definitions given to crop production is “the science of trying to obtain the maximum share out of the various crop pests.” To accomplish this, man has used many techniques the most efficient of which has been so far the application of chemicals. The advancement of human knowledge in the field of chemistry has enabled man to develop a wide variety of pesticide chemicals ranging from the simple inorganic to the modern complex organic ones by which he can control to a variable degree almost any pest. By extensively using the organic pesticides tremendous improvements have been accomplished not only in food, fodder and fiber production but also in human health.

Publisher Summary It seems logical to concentrate the search for extraterrestrial life on relatively primitive types of microbial life. It is possible to imagine, especially from what we already know about environmental conditions on the planets in our solar system, that life on Mars, for example, might be limited to such relatively primitive forms. On the other hand, it is difficult to imagine an ecology in which only highly organized macroorganisms exist. Such a situation could not provide for the necessary degradation of complex biochemicals and recycling of components. Regardless of the level of biological development in any ecosphere, it would seem that microorganisms would be essential if the life process were to be sustained. Because the prime source of energy required to sustain life for evolutionary periods is the sun, photosynthetic forms seem essential in any extraterrestrial population. They may or may not be accompanied by other forms of autotrophs or by heterotrophs. Finally, it is likely that microorganisms will be widespread over the planet.

The “ecospheric formulas” which the present author announced at the congresses of the I. A.F. in the years 1957 – 1961 have been applied to the new Schwarzschild theory of the evolution of the sun. As a result of the transformation of the sun in the next 6 billion years, the sun’s ecosphere will gradually move away to Saturn’s orbit, and conditions will become favorable to organic life on the surface of the outer planets. The necessity will thus arise for mankind to migrate from the Earth successively to planets farther away from the sun. After the next billion years, there will follow a relatively fast retreat of the ecosphere, which will cause the freezing of the entire planetary system and the decay of life in the solar system.

The distribution of mercury in the ecosphere of Lake Erie was monitored using a highly sensitive and reliable neutron activation analysis procedure. A variety of samples from the fauna and flora of the lake as well as those from its immediate environment were analyzed for their mercury content. The results of this survey indicate a widespread distribution of mercury in air particulates; coal samples of the region; sediments, plankton/algae and fish samples from the lake; and in the brain tissues of long-time residents of the Lake Erie Basin.

In this paper we introduce the concept of ‘islands of sustainability’. The basic assumption is that the development towards sustainability can be introduced starting from sustainable islands'. An island is an area where sustainability is reached at a local or regional level. Exchange activities within the regional network and with the environment are key points in creating an island of sustainability. One of the main theses is that the concept of sustainability addresses not only the interactions between the economic system and the ecosphere, but also structural aspects of the anthropogenic system, such as the economic diversity and economic connectedness. Hence, sustainability is linked to the complexity of the regional network. In order to attain sustainability the intensity, the speed, and comprehensiveness of internal and external interactions, as well as the connectedness of the regional network, have to be changed. In this paper we examine the regional system. The structure, elements, interactions, and boundaries of the regional system are discussed in detail. This systems analysis is the basis of the definition of islands of sustainability. Once we reach sustainable development within islands, we then turn our discussion to the change of the whole unsustainable economic system. Islands of sustainability can be seen as ‘troublemakers’ which infiltrate the whole unsustainable system and act as cells of development.

CITATION: Latombe, G., et al. 2021. Mechanistic reconciliation of community and invasion ecology. Ecosphere, 12(2):e03359, doi:10.1002/ecs2.3359.

THE term biosphere was defined by J. B. Lamarck as the rough total of the matter of all living beings. The tenor of the term has greatly altered since. By biosphere, modern biologists mean the part of the Earth's crust (lithosphere and hydrosphere) and of the lower parts of the Earth's atmosphere (troposphere) where life is present, together with the living organisms themselves. Accordingly, the biosphere consists of living and non-living components. It is the total complex of soil, water, air and living organisms that forms a complete ecosystem. Many authorities even go a step further. They define the biosphere as “the space of our planet that is taken up by living beings” or as “that part of the Earth's crust, of its hydrosphere and atmosphere, that builds the environment for life” (compare Suess). Here, the biological components fall into the background and the notion biosphere has changed from biological into geobiochemical1.

The attention of physicians is being drawn to the issue of nuclear weapons and nuclear war, creating controversy about whether a political concern is appropriate for health care professionals. The use of nuclear weapons would incur human death and injury on a scale both unprecedented and unimaginable, and possibly damage the ecosphere far beyond the weapons' immediate effects. Medical supplies and facilities would be nonexistent; no meaningful medical response would be possible. A physician's responsibility to prevent nuclear war is based on the imperative to prevent a devastating incurable disease that cannot be treated. Such an imperative is consistent with the historic tradition of the social responsibility of health professionals, and can be justified by philosophical argument.