Re: [ECOLOG-L] Humans in the definition of ecosystems

[Joe Poston]

I am confused by the original question. The CBD definition does not  
exclude humans. Nor does it refer only to pristine areas. And I do not  
agree that a general definition of something as broad as ecosystem  
should single out humans or any other species.


Joe Poston
High Point NC USA

On Jun 25, 2010, at 11:20 PM, Warren W. Aney a...@coho.net wrote:

Instead of looking for recent, confounded definitions, I prefer to  
go back

to simpler, classical definitions such as:
Any area of nature that includes living organisms and nonliving  
substances

interacting to produce an exchange of materials between the living and
nonliving parts is an ecological system or ecosystem.  (Odum,  
Fundamentals

of Ecology, 1953)
That definition would cover an ant-colonized crack in my driveway,  
the urban
system I live in, and the pristine (almost) wilderness that contains  
my

footprints.

Warren W. Aney
Senior Wildlife Ecologist
9403 SW 74th Ave
Tigard, OR  97223
(503) 539-1009
(503) 246-2605 fax

-Original Message-
From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news
[mailto:ecolo...@listserv.umd.edu] On Behalf Of Fabrice De Clerck
Sent: Friday, 25 June, 2010 08:21
To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Humans in the definition of ecosystems

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

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

[ECOLOG-L] Nonparametric repeated measures analysis?

[Joe Poston]

I'm looking for some help with data analysis. Briefly, here is the
experimental design. My student wanted to know if the appearance of a
recycling container would affect the likelihood that a person would place a
recyclable bottle in that container. So, she designed two types of
containers (experimental and control) and placed them in 46 classrooms in a
nearby high school (21 control and 25 expt -- a few control rooms became
unavailable as the experiment progressed). For 6 weeks she has counted the
number of bottles in each room.

I had intended to compare the effect of these two treatments over time with
a Repeated Measures ANOVA. Unfortunately, none of the data transformations
I've tried will normalize the data, so I've settled on Friedman's test as
the nonparametric alternative to RM ANOVA. However, I'm having trouble
convincing my SPSS software to compare expt with control groups. It seems
only to compare the repeated measures (weeks) x location (room). Any
suggestions on how to perform the analysis to compare the effect of the type
of container would be appreciated!

We will next swap containers for 6 weeks, so that each room will have
experienced both types of containers. Suggestions on how to add this to the
analysis would also be appreciated.

Cheers,

Joe Poston
Salisbury, NC
USA