Novel ecosystem

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Novel ecosystems are human-built, modified, or engineered niches of the Anthropocene. They exist in places that have been altered in structure and function by human agency. Novel ecosystems are part of the human environment and niche (including urban, suburban, and rural), they lack natural analogs, and they have extended an influence that has converted more than three-quarters of wild Earth [ citation needed ]. These anthropogenic biomes include technoecosystems that are fuelled by powerful energy sources (fossil and nuclear) including ecosystems populated with technodiversity, such as roads and unique combinations of soils called technosols. Vegetation associations on old buildings or along field boundary stone walls in old agricultural landscapes are examples of sites where research into novel ecosystem ecology is developing.

Contents

Overview

Human society has transformed the planet to such an extent that we may have ushered in a new epoch known as the anthropocene . The ecological niche of the anthropocene contains entirely novel ecosystems that include technosols, technodiversity, anthromes, and the technosphere. These terms describe the human ecological phenomena marking this unique turn in the evolution of Earth's history. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] The total human ecosystem (or anthrome) describes the relationship of the industrial technosphere to the ecosphere.

Technoecosystems interface with natural life-supporting ecosystems in competitive and parasitic ways. [1] [6] [7] Odum (2001) [8] attributes this term to a 1982 publication by Zev Naveh: [5] "Current urban-industrial society not only impacts natural life-support ecosystems, but also has created entirely new arrangements that we can call techno-ecosystems, a term believed to be first suggested by Zev Neveh (1982). These new systems involve new, powerful energy sources (fossil and atomic fuels), technology, money, and cities that have little or no parallels in nature." [8] : 137  The term technoecosystem, however, appears earliest in print in a 1976 technical report [9] and also appears in a book chapter (see [10] in Lamberton and Thomas (1982) written by Kenneth E. Boulding). [11]

Novel Ecosystems

A novel ecosystem is one that has been heavily influenced by humans but is not under human management. A working tree plantation doesn't qualify; one abandoned decades ago would.

Marris 2009 [12] : 450 

Novel ecosystems "differ in composition and/or function from present and past systems". [13] Novel ecosystems are the hallmark of the recently proposed anthropocene epoch. They have no natural analogs due to human alterations on global climate systems, invasive species, a global mass extinction, and disruption of the global nitrogen cycle. [13] [14] [15] [16] Novel ecosystems are creating many different kinds of dilemmas for terrestrial [17] and marine [18] conservation biologists. On a more local scale, abandoned lots, agricultural land, old buildings, field boundary stone walls or residential gardens provide study sites on the history and dynamics of ecology in novel ecosystems. [12] [19] [20] [21]

Anthropogenic biomes

Anthropogenic biomes tell a completely different story, one of “human systems, with natural ecosystems embedded within them”. This is no minor change in the story we tell our children and each other. Yet it is necessary for sustainable management of the biosphere in the 21st century. [22] : 445 

Ellis (2008) [22] identifies twenty-one different kinds of anthropogenic biomes that sort into the following groups: 1) dense settlements, 2) villages, 3) croplands, 4) rangeland, 5) forested, and 6) wildlands. These anthropogenic biomes (or anthromes for short) create the technosphere that surrounds us and are populated with diverse technologies (or technodiversity for short). Within these anthromes the human species (one species out of billions) appropriates 23.8% of the global net primary production. "This is a remarkable impact on the biosphere caused by just one species." [23]

Noosphere

Noosphere (sometimes noösphere) is the "sphere of human thought". [24] The word is derived from the Greek νοῦς (nous "mind") + σφαῖρα (sphaira "sphere"), in lexical analogy to "atmosphere" and "biosphere". [25] Introduced by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin 1922 [26] in his Cosmogenesis". [27] Another possibility is the first use of the term by Édouard Le Roy, who together with Chardin was listening to lectures of Vladimir Vernadsky at Sorbonne. In 1936 Vernadsky presented on the idea of the Noosphere in a letter to Boris Leonidovich Lichkov (though, he states that the concept derives from Le Roy).

Technosphere

The technosphere is the part of the environment on Earth where technodiversity extends its influence into the biosphere. [4] [5] [28] "For the development of suitable restoration strategies, a clear distinction has to be made between different functional classes of natural and cultural solar-powered biosphere and fossil-powered technosphere landscapes, according to their inputs and throughputs of energy and materials, their organisms, their control by natural or human information, their internal self-organization and their regenerative capacities." [29] The weight of Earth's technosphere has been calculated as 30 trillion tons, a mass greater than 50 kilos for every square metre of the planet's surface. [30]

Technoecosystems

The concept of technoecosystems has been pioneered by ecologists Howard T. Odum and Zev Naveh. Technoecosystems interfere with and compete against natural systems. They have advanced technology (or technodiversity) money-based market economies and have a large ecological footprints. Technoecosystems have far greater energy requirements than natural ecosystems, excessive water consumption, and release toxic and eutrophicating chemicals. [1] [5] [8] [29] Other ecologists have defined the extensive global network of road systems as a type of technoecosystem. [3]

Technoecotypes

"Bio-agro- and techno-ecotopes are spatially integrated in larger, regional landscape units, but they are not structurally and functionally integrated in the ecosphere. Because of the adverse impacts of the latter and the great human pressures on bio-ecotopes, they are even antagonistically related and therefore cannot function together as a coherent, sustainable ecological system." [29] : 136 

Technosols

Technosols are a new form of ground group in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB). [31] Technosols are " mainly characterised by anthropogenic parent material of organic and mineral nature and which origin can be either natural or technogenic." [32] : 537 

Technodiversity

Technodiversity refers to the varied diversity of technological artifacts that exist in technoecosystems. [2] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biome</span> Community of organisms associated with an environment

A biome is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader term than habitat and can comprise a variety of habitats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biosphere</span> Global sum of all ecosystems on Earth

The biosphere, also known as the ecosphere, is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also be termed the zone of life on Earth. The biosphere is virtually a closed system with regard to matter, with minimal inputs and outputs. Regarding energy, it is an open system, with photosynthesis capturing solar energy at a rate of around 130 terawatts per year. By the most general biophysiological definition, the biosphere is the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. The biosphere is postulated to have evolved, beginning with a process of biopoiesis or biogenesis, at least some 3.5 billion years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecosystem</span> Community of living organisms together with the nonliving components of their environment

An ecosystem consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the system through photosynthesis and is incorporated into plant tissue. By feeding on plants and on one another, animals play an important role in the movement of matter and energy through the system. They also influence the quantity of plant and microbial biomass present. By breaking down dead organic matter, decomposers release carbon back to the atmosphere and facilitate nutrient cycling by converting nutrients stored in dead biomass back to a form that can be readily used by plants and microbes.

The noosphere is a philosophical concept developed and popularized by the Russian-Ukrainian Soviet biogeochemist Vladimir Vernadsky, and the French philosopher and Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Vernadsky defined the noosphere as the new state of the biosphere and described as the planetary "sphere of reason". The noosphere represents the highest stage of biospheric development, that of humankind's rational activities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human ecology</span> Study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments

Human ecology is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments. The philosophy and study of human ecology has a diffuse history with advancements in ecology, geography, sociology, psychology, anthropology, zoology, epidemiology, public health, and home economics, among others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biosphere 2</span> Artificial closed ecological system located in Oracle, Arizona

Biosphere 2 is an American Earth system science research facility located in Oracle, Arizona. Its mission is to serve as a center for research, outreach, teaching, and lifelong learning about Earth, its living systems, and its place in the universe. It is a 3.14-acre (1.27-hectare) structure originally built to be an artificial, materially closed ecological system, or vivarium. It remains the largest closed ecological system ever created.

The Omega Point is a theorized future event in which the entirety of the universe spirals toward a final point of unification. The term was invented by the French Jesuit Catholic priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955). Teilhard argued that the Omega Point resembles the Christian Logos, namely Christ, who draws all things into himself, who in the words of the Nicene Creed, is "God from God", "Light from Light", "True God from True God", and "through him all things were made". In the Book of Revelation, Christ describes himself thrice as "the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end". Several decades after Teilhard's death, the idea of the Omega Point was expanded upon in the writings of John David Garcia (1971), Paolo Soleri (1981), Frank Tipler (1994), and David Deutsch (1997).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Landscape ecology</span> Science of relationships between ecological processes in the environment and particular ecosystems

Landscape ecology is the science of studying and improving relationships between ecological processes in the environment and particular ecosystems. This is done within a variety of landscape scales, development spatial patterns, and organizational levels of research and policy. Concisely, landscape ecology can be described as the science of "landscape diversity" as the synergetic result of biodiversity and geodiversity.

The Anthropocene is a proposed geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth's geology and ecosystems, including, but not limited to, anthropogenic climate change.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecosystem diversity</span> Diversity and variations in ecosystems

Ecosystem diversity deals with the variations in ecosystems within a geographical location and its overall impact on human existence and the environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biogeochemistry</span> Study of chemical cycles of the earth that are either driven by or influence biological activity

Biogeochemistry is the scientific discipline that involves the study of the chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes and reactions that govern the composition of the natural environment. In particular, biogeochemistry is the study of biogeochemical cycles, the cycles of chemical elements such as carbon and nitrogen, and their interactions with and incorporation into living things transported through earth scale biological systems in space and time. The field focuses on chemical cycles which are either driven by or influence biological activity. Particular emphasis is placed on the study of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, iron, and phosphorus cycles. Biogeochemistry is a systems science closely related to systems ecology.

Ecology is a new science and considered as an important branch of biological science, having only become prominent during the second half of the 20th century. Ecological thought is derivative of established currents in philosophy, particularly from ethics and politics.

The anthroposphere is that part of the environment that is made or modified by humans for use in human activities and human habitats. It is one of the Earth's spheres. The term was first used by nineteenth-century Austrian geologist Eduard Suess. The contemporary concept of the technosphere was first proposed as a concept by American geologist and engineer Peter Haff, of Duke University. It has been estimated that as of 2016 the total weight of the anthroposphere - that is, human generated structures and systems - was 30 trillion tons.

Universal evolution is a theory of evolution formulated by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Julian Huxley that describes the gradual development of the Universe from subatomic particles to human society, considered by Teilhard as the last stage.

Total human ecosystem (THE) is an eco-centric concept initially proposed by ecology professors Zeev Naveh and Arthur S. Lieberman in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthropogenic biome</span>

Anthropogenic biomes, also known as anthromes, human biomes or intensive land-use biome, describe the terrestrial biosphere (biomes) in its contemporary, human-altered form using global ecosystem units defined by global patterns of sustained direct human interaction with ecosystems. Anthromes are generally composed of heterogeneous mosaics of different land uses and land covers, including significant areas of fallow or regenerating habitats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nutrient cycle</span> Set of processes exchanging nutrients between parts of a system

A nutrient cycle is the movement and exchange of inorganic and organic matter back into the production of matter. Energy flow is a unidirectional and noncyclic pathway, whereas the movement of mineral nutrients is cyclic. Mineral cycles include the carbon cycle, sulfur cycle, nitrogen cycle, water cycle, phosphorus cycle, oxygen cycle, among others that continually recycle along with other mineral nutrients into productive ecological nutrition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erle Ellis</span> American environmental scientist

Erle Christopher Ellis is an American environmental scientist. Ellis's work investigates the causes and consequences of long-term ecological changes caused by humans at local to global scales, including those related to the Anthropocene. As of 2015 he is a professor of Geography and Environmental Systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County where he directs the Laboratory for Anthroecology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institute of Ecotechnics</span> Educational, training, and research charity

The Institute of Ecotechnics is an educational, training and research charity with a special interest in ecotechnology, the environment, conservation, and heritage. With its U.K. headquarters in London, England and its U.S. affiliate in Santa Fe, NM, the institute was founded to "develop and practice the discipline of ecotechnics: the ecology of technics, and the technics of ecology."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Multifunctional landscape</span> Type of landscape

Multifunctional landscapes are composed of lands used for multiple different purposes, including agriculture, forestry, settlements, recreation, conservation and restoration. With different parts of the landscape sustaining people and other species, multifunctional landscapes are heterogenous mosaics of lands used for agriculture and settlements that also include significant areas of habitats and regenerating ecosystems.

References

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