GEOG 3020 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Venn Diagram, Spatial Scale, Paradigm Shift
Document Summary
Nature as organic creature constantly changing and with a mind of its own. Nature as divinely created orderly and stable. Nature as machine industrial revolution gave us new metaphors. Ecology: study of processes that influence the distribution and abundance of organisms and the interactions amongst organisms and their environment. Emphasis on harmony, balance and stability in nature (marsh 1864) Ecosystem: ecological community together with its physical environment functioning as a unit. Equilibrium: occurs when all parts of the system are in balance and thus stable. Succession and climax: gradual process of change in species composition until mature stable state is reached: human impact on a separate pristine nature in equilibrium we focus on the stability as the normal" state. Informed models of resource management and conservation agenda (i. e. msy, fire suppression, national parks) Focus on change instead of stability (paradigm shift) In part a reaction to the failure of many resource management policies based on assumption of equilibrium.
