...well in my opinion that definition is not necessarily specist, unless
you do not consider humans as animals, as they obviously are.
James, would you please add some details to the problems with the part
"interacting as a functional unit"?
Ecosystems (once spatially and temporally - and arbitrarily - defined)
can be described in terms of structures and functions... can't they? I
agree, as Ricklefs (2008) points out, that understanding ecological and
evolutionary processes and mechanisms of comunities often requires a
wider perspective at regional to global level, and not at the level of
local assemblages, but this seems to me to be another question.
After all, it is perfectly feasible to observe ecological and
evolutionary processes observing populations of bacteria in a relatively
very limited space and time interval, treating a simple Petri dish as
your "ecosystem".
Cheerio,
Gianluca
Gianluca Polgar, PhD
Evolutionary ecologist
University of Malaya,
Institute of Biological Sciences
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
www.mudskipper.it
Il 26/06/2010 19.49, James J Roper ha scritto:
Not only that, but if you have read Ricklefs 2008, the Disintegration of
the Ecological Community (Am. Nat 172:741 - DOI: 10.1086/593002), you
might even realize that THAT ecosystem definition leaves a lot to be
desired, especially the part "interacting as a functional unit."
Cheers,
Jim
Fabrice De Clerck wrote on 25-Jun-10 12:20:
Dear Friends,
An environmental economist colleague of mine is disappointed with the CBD
definition of ecosystems which gives the impression that only pristine areas
are ecosystems. Can anyone point us to a more recent definition of ecosystems
that explicitly includes humans as an integral part of the definition?
Here is the original question:
The CBD defines ecosystems as a dynamic complex of plant, animal and
micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a
functional unit.
I find this boring, as it leaves us humans, as special animals, out of the
picture. When you read it, it is easy to think of pristine environments. Has
there been any reaction or correction of this definition? I need an
authoritative quote that balances the CBD´s
All reactions welcome, and citations welcome!
Fabrice
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Fabrice DeClerck PhD
Community and Landscape Ecologist
Division of Research and Development
CATIE 7170, Turrialba, Costa Rica 30501
(506) 2558-2596
fadecle...@catie.ac.cr
Adjunct Research Scholar
Tropical Agriculture Programs
The Earth Institute at Columbia University
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