claire_58 | Ecology: The basics

We live in a time of rapid change and uncertainty. The 50 year failure of the environmental movement has left us with a tangle of interconnected problems. Ecosystem destruction; freakishly high levels of pollution of the land the water and the atmosphere; and resource depletion combine to create a looming crisis of epic proportions. We are faced with increasing political and economic instability and it’s clear that there will be no large scale co-ordinated efforts to address any of it.

This blog is about what we can do, as ordinary people in families and small groups, to create lives worth living; to build a future worth having; and to be a force for renewal and regeneration in our much depleted world. I hope to provide some possibilities based on our universal human strengths and the strategies that have allowed us to thrive in the past.

If you care about this planet; the future; and your own ability to make your way in these crazy times this blog is for you.

One of the premises of this blog is that upping our game as ecologically savvy systems thinkers is essential if we are to find ways to live that promote the renewal of the ecosystems we inhabit. This post is a very abbreviated rundown of some of the key concepts in ecology. If you are already familiar with basic ecological concepts this will be a review. If you are an expert please feel free to comment for added clarity or accuracy.

An ecosystem is the interrelationships of living and non-living factors that create identifiable systems.

A system is a set of connected things or parts forming a complex whole.

a set of things working together as an interconnecting network.

Ecology is the study of the relationships between organisms and to their physical surroundings.

Systems Thinking is developing an understanding of a system by examining the linkages and interactions between the components that comprise the entirety of the system and looking for the functions or roles of the components of the system.

A component could be a plant or animal species; it could be a land mass, a waterway, or a microorganism. Any of the “living or non living factors” that make up the system are components or elements in the system.

In an ecosystem everything is connected to everything else. Each component or element exists in a relationship with all the other elements in the system. Every biological element uses resources and produces “waste”. Every biological element is a food source for another element. Animal wastes feed plants; plants feed animals; both feed micro-organisms. Microorganisms feed the soil; the soil feeds the plants. There is no discernible waste. The waste products of one species are resources for another.

The system as a whole functions to build soil, generate food resources, produce air, and purify water. All of these functions are supported by all of the elements in the system. Animals, plants, and fungi all contribute to building soil. The web of life in the soil and the plants that grow in it all contribute to purifying water. All contribute to the quality of the air.

Every species has a niche. A niche is not just where the species lives, its habitat, it’s also the role it has in the community. A species’ niche includes its physical surroundings, its behaviours, and the resources it needs to survive and reproduce. All species have behaviours or characteristics that impact the whole system.

Some species are specialists. They have a very specific niche and a defined way of making a living. Specialists are the most vulnerable to habitat degradation and increased competition. Others are more flexible and can either tolerate a wide range of conditions or have more than one strategy for making a living or reproducing. Plants in this category are usually called “weeds” but the technical term is generalists.

Some species, like fireweed, are opportunistic. Fireweed is a pioneer species. It thrives for a short period of time in the disturbed ground where there has been fire or clearcutting. It proliferates rapidly; fills all the available space; quickly uses up the available resources; then dies out leaving its seeds in the soil seed-bank to await the next disturbance.

Fireweed is the first stage in the succession of changes that take place as the damaged area slowly regenerates. Its role is to protect the soil and create conditions suitable for the next group of species, usually grasses and annual herbs, that take over the space. Succession is the pattern of changes that take place in response to disturbances culminating with the mature or climax ecosystem. At that point the rate of grown and change slow down as a new state of balance is achieved. The mature system that develops after a disturbance may not look the same as the one that preceded it.

Succession is an important concept to keep in mind. Even when undisturbed by human incursions ecosystems are dynamic. Forests that have survived as stable systems for 100’s of years still go through cycles of destruction and renewal. Nothing is static and all systems change in response to external factors.

The final concept I want to introduce is keystone species. A keystone species modifies or stabilizes the environment so that biodiversity can thrive. Salmon are a keystone species and so are beavers. Sometimes a keystone species is a predator. The story of the wolves being reintroduced in Yellowstone National Park is a great example of the powerful effects of a keystone species [https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/role-keystone-species-ecosystem/]

Humans have been keystone species many times and in many places in the past. We have many different way of making a living available to us. There are many proven ecologically sound methods of production that can support fulfilling lives us and a diversity of other species in healthy dynamic balanced ecosystems. Becoming valuable members of our ecological communities; supporting the stabilization of our ecosystems; and contributing to the regeneration of our air, water, and land is an ambitious multigenerational project but it is entirely doable.

Next: Becoming a Keystone Species