For a few years now, folks have been up in arms trying to come up with a universally accepted definition for Ecosystem Based Management - a goal about as realistic as an episode of Laguna Beach. At best, it's a theoretical approach, so instead of debating what it means, we should be asking how to implement strategies that incorporate the broad principles of this concept. At the '07 Society for Conservation Biology conference next month, I'll be speaking about just that - moving from theory to practice. Allow me to elaborate..
The green and blue planet where we live is a very complicated place. Interactions among species and landscapes impact ecosystems in countless, often unexpected ways. What fascinates me most is that seemingly disparate localized patterns are increasingly connected and predictable as you scale out in space and time. Like an impressionist painting, it might not make sense up close where all the brush strokes are uneven and the colors don't mix, but step back and you find Hidden Order.
Keeping complexity in mind, consider EBM. Unfortunately, academia is already inundated with unfriendly acronyms, making it easy to overlook this reasonably good idea. Now traditional management practices have taken a single species approach where scientists study the life history characteristics of one animal and incorporate data into models to predict a maximum sustainable yield (MSY). EBM is different because it includes as many system interactions as possible. Sounds reasonable, right? Simply put, it focuses on cumulative effects of complex relationships and also addresses the human component. Socioeconomic pressures are emphasized so that new initiatives are practical in the real world. It's a holistic scheme rather than dealing with individual species piecemeal. So tell me, does this sound like a novel idea or yet another buzz word for the same old management strategy?
And with that, I'm off to Africa..
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It depends - on how it is put into practice, so I look forward to hearing more about what you are presenting at SCB. Overall, it is part of a group of new buzzwords that in practice, put a new hat on much of the same old stuff. But implementing any of it would require a major institutional overhaul. I could give a number of examples but, for the sake of brevity, how on earth could a bureaucratic agency ever truly carry out "adaptive ecosystem management." But the institutional overhaul argument goes well beyond government agencies...
Ms Kirshenbaum, a close and fair numerical statement of the carbon debt you personally incur by your flight to S. Africa is computed at two pounds CO2 per passenger mile. Your round trip is at least 13,000 air miles or more. This computes to THIRTEEN TONS of CO2 for this one trip. I ask you, is your personal travel so important that it demands such destructive behavior?
Ecosystem based management, indeed! Is this a personal problem or an overwhelming social issue?
Sounds ambitious bordering on unrealistic to think that you can "manage" entire ecosystems. Limiting the range of human inputs is probably a more attainable goal.
To determine the effects of different human inputs and who benefits from them is a daunting enough task.
Make sure to post updates about the SCB meeting! I am president of my university's chapter, but couldn't come up with the funds to attend the conference this year, plus it is scheduled right in the middle of my REU internship timetable...I still hate that I'll miss it. The EBM topic sounds really fascinating, do you have citations for any publications on it? I hope you have a great time in Africa, I'll look forward to hearing about the meeting!
EBM is a great idea, but hard to make real. So I'm interested in moving to practice. In the ocean? How, what are your examples? Or is your talk theoretical?
I hope you don't expect it to work where single species management isn't working well. If people are overfishing, because of a lack of political will, then EBM won't help. EBM might actually make things worse because there are more loopholes in EBM and more ready excuses for ignoring scientific advice.
Anne-Marie, I was also an REU once upon a time. It's a great way to get undergrads involved in research. I did a large scale review of Marine Protected Areas at the Mus of Nat History in NY (which was actually my second choice spot at the time bc I wanted to work on a primate project). Go figure, the experience up and turned me into a marine biologist. Glad to hear you're involved.
Mark, I don't see EBM as a substitution for single-species management. Instead, its principles (see the Arkema et al., 2007) outline an approach to how we should be managing systems. The biggest hurdle is that because funding is involved, decision makers want to know 'what' Ecosystem Based Management is exactly, when in reality, it incorporates a way of thinking about Complex Adaptive Systems.
As far as political will, EBM in practice should include human behavior and associated externalities. While Lance is right that there's no way we're able to understand, let alone manage, entire systems, it's by no means a panacea.. but hey, it's a reasonably good starting point.
Gerald,
I'm so glad you brought this up bc I nearly forgot to mention one of the most exciting aspects of SCB this year - offsetting our carbon impact.
"Global climate change is the most important issue of our time, and SCB simply must walk the talk and put our money where our mouth is."
Registration fees increased by $20(US) for those of us from developed countries and $5 from developing countries. To offset the carbon impact of the '07 meeting, SCB is developing a project to restore degraded landscape on a World Heritage Area (Baviaanskloof, the third largest natural area in South Africa).
"The project would store carbon, benefit biodiversity, and (by employing local people to restore native vegetation) alleviate poverty in the project area, with long term sustainability through ecotourism. Most carbon would be stored in an indigenous succulent evergreen plant which has been demonstrated to store carbon efficiently in a low rainfall system, with high resistance to loss from wildfire and decomposition."
I think it may be the first professional organization in ecology, conservation, or management of natural resources to take responsibility for our carbon footprint. More on this precedent-setting initiative here.
Am I the only one who has noticed that this is the first post Sheril has done under her own name, logged-in and all?
Sweet.
Sheril, for your trip, I will leave you some Toto lyrics, not because they are in any way relevant but just because I think you need an eighties soundtrack.
Deep stuff.
Sheril R. Kirshenbaum,
You've been tagged!