Comments on: Biodiversity Loss and Cascading Effects

By: Jones

Jones — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 02:10:31 +0000

I have a particular idea about this topic that intrigues me, but I have no way of exploring it, other than through speculation.
As has been noted, the introduction of an invasive (another term that probably has its roots in a social construction of nature) can greatly disrupt the dominant relationships in an ecosystem, with unforeseen consequences reverberating throughout the whole of the system. But, on the other hand, a disrupted ecosystem provides opportunities for evolutionary adaptations to take place; evolution is dependent on a changing environment. Ecosystems and their organisms can experience rapid evolutionary change after the introduction of an alien species, since the new species can open up previously unavailable niches. Perhaps as we destroy ecosystems, and place a number of species at risk of extinction, we are also facilitating an outburst of adaptive evolution and creation that would otherwise not occur. Just as we can’t predict what will be lost when an alien species is introduced, we can’t predict what will be gained, if anything.

By: merle

merle — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 02:51:42 +0000

I want to take up this important question about the limits or frontiers separating (and also constituting) two adjacent ''beings'', where ''being'' must be taken here in a very broad sense to refer to any unitary entity we might want to refer to. I think we must realize that the problem of determining where one ''being'' ends and another begins does not arise only when we try to determine the exact line separating two ecosystems. It also arises if I try to determine with precision where my body ends and another begins, where my body ends and my environment begins, where an electromagnetic field ends and another begins, and so forth. This problem arises everywhere because we are responsible for dividing up the world as we do. It does not have to entail that our distinctions are arbitrary, but I will not go into this highly technical debate. For our purpose, I think it would be helpful first to realize that all disciplines have to face this problem and second to inquire at how they manage to deal with it.

By: Culture Kid

Culture Kid — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:11:49 +0000

I find this an interesting post because it once again brings up questions of scale – this time, the proper scale for an ecological study. We’ve had many, many discussions regarding this contentious topic throughout our class, and this post demonstrates the fact that perhaps until recently, we only attributed the complications of scale to research involving humans – that is. And while the problems and ramifications of introduced species are indeed associated with humans, the chains of causality are more indirect than, for example, Line Gordon’s discussion of interruptions to global water systems from agriculture. Thus where does an ecosystem – directly or indirectly anthropogenic – begin and end? This question is becoming ever more central in an era of globalizing modernity and consequent environmental degradation.