Unit 3 Ecology BSC2011: Comprehensive Study Notes on Ecological Foundations and Shifting Baseline Syndrome

Foundations and Definitions of Ecology

• Conceptual Definitions:

  • Haeckel (late $1800s$ - early $1900s$): Ecology is the scientific study of the relationship between organisms and their environment.

  • Andrewartha and Birch ($1954$): Ecology is the study of the distribution and abundance of organisms.

  • Odum ($1971$): Ecology is defined as "the study of the structure and function of nature." Odum and colleagues placed significant emphasis on the study of ecosystems, which includes all organisms and functional processes.

• Ecology vs. Environmentalism: It is critical to distinguish between ecology (the branch of science) and environmentalism or activism. Ecology is a scientific discipline that informs other fields such as environmental science, resource management, and conservation biology.

  • Environmental Science: Often utilizes ecological data to address human impacts on the environment, popularized by figures like Rachel Carson in works such as Silent Spring.

  • Resource Management Science: Uses ecology to manage populations and habitats, such as white-tailed deer populations, longleaf pine ecosystems, and fisheries.

  • Conservation Biology: Applies ecological principles to protect and restore biodiversity, particularly regarding species of concern like shorebirds.

• Scope and Components:

  • Ecology: A branch of science dealing with interactions between living organisms and their surroundings.

  • Biotic Components: The living factors within an environment.

  • Abiotic Components: The non-living, physical, and chemical factors within an environment (e.g., temperature, light, water moisture, soil content).

The Scientific Method in Ecology

• Research Process:

  1. Develop a research question based on observation and background research.

  2. Form a hypothesis.

  3. Make prediction(s).

  4. Design and conduct an experiment, or an observational/comparative study.

  5. Evaluate results to determine if the hypothesis is supported or not.

  6. Repeat and verify in other systems or at different temporal or spatial scales.

  7. Revise, reexamine design and logic, and ask new questions.

Multi-disciplinary Nature and Sub-disciplines

Ecology is a broad, multi-disciplinary science drawing on many other branches of science. It can be subdivided into major sub-disciplines:

• Physiological Ecology: Examines biological responses to external and internal environmental conditions, including factors such as temperature, light, and exercise.

• Behavioral Ecology: Studies the ecological and evolutionary basis for animal behavior and the role of that behavior in survival and reproduction.

• Evolutionary Ecology: Examines evolutionary responses to ecological processes and environmental changes.

• Population Ecology: Deals with the dynamics of populations and factors that affect species abundance and distribution.

• Community Ecology: Examines interactions between species in an ecological community, quantifying species diversity and processes that structure communities.

• Ecosystem and Global Ecology: Studies the flows of energy and matter within and between ecosystems.

Levels of Ecological Organization

Ecological systems are studied at various levels, ranging from the individual organism to the entire planet:

• Earth/Global Level: Includes the Biosphere, the global sum of all ecosystems.

• Biomes: Major regional or global communities, such as forests or deserts.

• Ecosystems: Biological communities of interacting organisms and their physical environment.

• Communities: Assemblages of different populations that live together in a defined area.

• Populations: Groups of individuals belonging to the same species that live in the same area.

• Organisms: Individual living things.

• Lower Biological Levels (Sub-ecological): Organs, tissues, cells, protoplasm, molecules, and atoms.

Examples of Ecological Inquiry and Specific Scales

• Global/Ecosystem Scale: A question might ask: "How will large-scale habitat destruction in the Amazon rainforest affect water flow and soil moisture in forests adjacent to clearcuts?"

• Organismal Scale (Physiology/Behavior): A query like: "How does the physiology and behavior of organisms living in the desert help them survive hot and dry conditions?" targets abiotic factors. An example is the Sidewinder Snake, which can slither at speeds up to $18\,MPH$.

• Population Scale: Inquiries include: "Is the abundance of manatees in Florida increasing or decreasing?" and "Is their distribution changing?"

• Community Scale: A study of inter-species interactions might ask: "How does the presence of wolves influence the population of elk and aspen?"

• Global Scale (Climate Change): Studying the impact of the "Doomsday Glacier" (Thwaites Glacier) in Antarctica to predict sea-level rise in Florida.

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function

• Main Components of Biodiversity:

  • Species Diversity: The variety of species.

  • Genetic Diversity: Genetic variation within species.

  • Ecosystem Diversity: The variety of habitats and ecosystems.

• Importance of Biodiversity:

  1. Ecosystem Stability and Resilience: Higher biodiversity often leads to more stable ecosystems.

  2. Ecosystem Services: Functional benefits like flood control.

  3. Food and Resource Supply: Pollination, food supply, soil health, and water health.

  4. Medicine: Many medicines are derived from plants, animals, and microbial life.

  5. Climate Regulation: Biological systems help mitigate climate fluctuations.

  6. Cultural and Economic Value: Aesthetic, spiritual, and financial significance.

Shifting Baseline Syndrome (SBS)

• Definition: Also known as Environmental Generational Amnesia, this concept was articulated by Daniel Pauly in $1995$. It describes a gradual change in the accepted norms for the condition of the natural environment due to a lack of experience, memory, or knowledge of its past condition.

• Daniel Pauly's Quote: "Each generation of fisheries scientists accepts as a baseline the stock size and species composition that occurred at the beginning of their careers… The result obviously is a gradual shift of the baseline, a gradual accommodation of the creeping disappearance of resource species."

• The Shifting Baseline Staircase: The physical environment degrades continuously, while the psychological perception of degradation "resets to zero" with every new generation. This creates a new "$100\%$ healthy" baseline that is actually a degraded state compared to previous centuries.

The Amnesia Matrix

• Generational Amnesia:

  • Mechanism: Knowledge becomes extinct because younger generations never saw past conditions.

  • The Blindspot: Failing to pass experience to the future.

  • Proof Requirements: Biological change must exist AND perceptions must show age-related differences matching data.

• Personal Amnesia:

  • Mechanism: Knowledge becomes extinct because an individual's own memory updates and overwrites past experiences.

  • The Blindspot: Believing current conditions are identical to the past.

  • Proof Requirements: Biological change must exist AND individuals must falsely believe the current degraded state is how it has always been.

Historical Erasure and the "Year Zero Fallacy"

We mistakenly define the start of our own observation as the pristine baseline. Examples include:

• Marine Extirpation: In the $1920s$, Bluefin tuna were so abundant in the Kattegat Sea that they entangled mackerel nets. Today, they are gone from the North Sea, but modern fishers do not miss them.

• Terrestrial Amnesia: The Burbot disappeared from UK rivers in $1969$, and the native Sturgeon in $1993$. Most living UK citizens have no memory of these fish.

• Landscape Transformation: In Japan, old-growth primary forests dominated $600$ years ago. By the year $2000$, almost all were transformed into planted timber forests, which represents the "new natural" landscape.

Empirical Proof of Shifting Baselines

• Gulf of California: Younger fishers name only $2$ depleted species, while older fishers name up to $10$.

• Indonesia: Younger fishers perceive significantly smaller declines in turtle, bird, and reef fish populations compared to older counterparts.

• Bolivia: Younger respondents perceive a vastly smaller number of locally extinct tree and fish species than older generations.

• Yorkshire, UK: Older residents are significantly more accurate at identifying the true abundance of common bird species from $20$ years ago.

Case Studies in Ecological Decline

• Dogger Bank (North Sea):

  • Pre-Industrial (Late $18th$ - Early $19th$ Century): Characterized by "unbelievable abundance" of cod, haddock, and whiting. Eight men could catch roughly $1$ ton of cod per hour.

  • Trawling (1840–1900): By $1860$, line fishing required $10\times$ the effort to catch the same amount of halibut as $20$ years prior. By the late $1890s$, fisheries were exhausted.

  • Collapse ($20th$ Century): Herring stocks fell from $5$ million tons in $1947$ to $1.5$ million in $1957$, collapsing by $1975$.

  • Modern Status: Cod abundance has declined by an estimated $98\%$ over the last century. Management uses the previous $10$ years as the baseline, leading to low recovery targets.

• Atlantic Northwest Cod Fishery: A mainstay of the economy since the $1800s$, it abruptly collapsed in $1993$ following overfishing from the late $1950s$.

Strategic Framework for Reversing the Syndrome

• Lifting the Baseline: By setting historical rather than recent baselines, we can define ambitious targets for recovery.

  • Zealandia (New Zealand): A $225$-hectare sanctuary in Wellington aiming to restore a pre-human ecosystem.

  • Rewilding Europe: Aimed to restore $1$ million hectares and reintroduce large native herbivores across $10$ locations by $2022$.

Questions & Discussion

• Question: What sort of factors are examined when asking how desert physiology and behavior help survival in hot and dry conditions?

  • Response: These are Abiotic factors.

• Question: Which answer correctly describes the effect(s) of the "shifting baseline syndrome"?

  • A: It impacts our understanding of true changes in population sizes over time.

  • B: The baseline for "historical" data is closely tied with the age and experience of scientists.

  • C: It can lead to faulty conclusions about the magnitude of anthropogenic effects.

  • D: All of the answers correctly describe the effects.