Emerging Ecosystems
UNESCO/MAB-SCOPE Project
Contacts:
Ian Douglas (UK), Richard
Hobbs (Australia), Salvatore Arico (UNESCO-France)
New combinations
of species and altered ecosystem processes arise through human action,
environmental change, and the impacts of the deliberate and inadvertent
introduction of species from other parts of the world. UNESCO/MAB-
and SCOPE initiated discussions of a novel ecological theory of “Emerging
Ecosystems”, i.e. ecosystems presenting novel ecological properties
that result from global change and heavy human modification of existing
ecosystems.
A first workshop
was convened in 2002 (Granada, Spain) to explore the Emerging Ecosystems
(EE) concept, provide examples of such systems, and discuss the implications
of embracing this idea in terms of ecological theory and directions
for future research. The workshop defined an emerging ecosystem as “an
ecosystem whose species composition and relative abundance have not
previously occurred at a particular locality within a given biome".
The following key characteristics were observed:
- Novelty: new
species combinations, with the potential for changes in ecosystem
functioning.
- Human agency:
emerging ecosystems are the result of deliberate or inadvertent human
action.
A second UNESCO/MAB-SCOPE
workshop in May 2003 (Brasilia, Brazil) dealt specifically with how
socio-economic systems interrelate with emerging ecosystems.
“Novel
ecosystems: theoretical and management aspects of the new ecological
world order”, synthesising
the results of this exploratory project, has been published in Global
Ecology and Biogeography. This link is an electronic version of an article
published in Global Ecology and Biogeography: complete citation information
for the final version of the paper, as published in the print edition
of Global Ecology and Biogeography, is available on the Blackwell Synergy
online delivery service, accessible via the journal's website at http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/GEB
or http://www.blackwell-synergy.com.
This PDF file may not be offered for commercial sale or for any systematic
external distribution by a third party (e.g. a listserve or database
connected to a public access server).
SCOPE and UNESCO-MAB are currently considering how best to build on
the results of the workshops and identify policy and management implications
for the use of policy-makers and practitioners.
Last
updated 25 January 2006