A New Ecology presents an ecosystem theory based on the following ecosystem properties: physical openness, ontic openness, directionality, connectivity, a complex dynamic for growth and development, and a complex dynamic response to disturbances. Each of these properties is developed in detail to show that these basic and characteristic properties can be applied to explain a wide spectrum of ecological obsevations and convections. It is also shown that the properties have application for environmental management and for assessment of ecosystem health. * Demonstrates an ecosystem theory that can be applied to explain ecological observations and rules * Presents an ecosystem theory based upon a systems approach * Discusses an ecosystem theory that is based on a few basic properties that are characteristic for ecosystmes

A New Ecology: Systems Perspective

Science & Math

Fath, Brian D.

Ulanowicz, Robert E.

Bastianoni, Simone

Marques, Joao C.

Müller, Felix

Patten, Bernard D.

Tiezzi, Enzo

Jørgensen, Sven Erik

Nielsen, S. Nors

Biological Sciences

Elsevier Science

A New Ecology: Systems Perspective, Second Edition, gives an overview of the commonalities of all ecosystems from a variety of properties, including physical openness, ontic openness, directionality, connectivity, a complex dynamic for growth and development, and a complex dynamic response to disturbances. Each chapter details basic and characteristic properties that help the reader understand how they can be applied to explain a wide spectrum of current ecological research and environmental management applications.

Nielsen, Soeren Nors

The author's vision is that the concepts of growth and development apply in a rigorous way to ecosystems, as well as to organisms. He describes ecosystems in terms of their networks of "who eats whom", and, using the pattern of connections and the strengths of the interactions, derives indices that quantify both system growth and development. The result is what is called the "principle of increasing ecosystem ascendency", which provides a preferred direction for system development, in stark contrast to the conventional neo-Darwinian theory of evolution.

Growth and Development: Ecosystems Phenomenology

iUniverse

"What in the ever-loving blue-eyed world do these [U1ano wicz's] innocuous comments on thermodynamics have to do with ecology!" Anonymous manuscript reviewer The American Naturalist, 1979 "The germ of the idea grows very slowly into something recognizable. It may all start with the mere desire to have an idea in the first place. " Walt Kelly Ten Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Years with Pogo, 1959 "It all seems extremely interesting, but for the life of me it sounds as if you pulled it out of the air," my good friend Ray Lassiter exclaimed to me after enduring about 20 minutes of my enthusiasm for the newly formu lated concept of "ascendency" in ecosystems. "It wasn't," I replied, "but it would take a book to show you where it came from. " If such was the reaction of someone usually sympathetic to my manner of thinking, what could I expect from those who viewed biological devel opment in the traditional way? After all, I was suggesting that it is possi ble to quantify the growth and development of an entire ecosystem. Fur thermore, I was maintaining that this development was not entirely determined by events and entities at smaller scales, and yet could influ ence these component processes and structures. To be sure, mine was only the latest of many challenges to straight reductionism, but, like everyone else with a new idea, I thought mine was special.

Springer

A collegiate course in philosophy emphasizing material and mechanical foundations for the creation of the world shook Robert E. Ulanowicz's youthful faith to its core. Having difficulty accepting a purely secular and meaningless worldview, Ulanowicz persisted in searching for clues to give meaning to the nature of the cosmos and the evolution of life as we know it. Reaching adulthood in the midst of his career in ecology, his work with networks of connected living processes convinced him that the importance of processes eclipses the subsidiary role that classical thermodynamics had assigned to them. Rather, Ulanowicz discovered what he considers the origins of phenomena that had been considered subjective and outside the purview of physics. The First Incarnation / Hope in Reality stands alone in that it introduces theoretical ecosystems' results to enrich the dialogue between science and religion. In this work, Ulanowicz deconstructs the prevailing view among many scientists that all causality issues from below via the universal force laws of physics at micro-scales and propagates up the hierarchy of life. Though these laws are not violated, they lose their powers to determine outcomes at larger scales and can only constrain against impossible outcomes. Agency must be added to the foundations of evolutionary theory, and this reformation provides rationale for believers to regard agency as an action of a Creator. Ulanowicz is a graduate of the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and received his PhD in chemical engineering from The Johns Hopkins University. He spent his career as a theoretical ecologist at the University of Maryland's Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, specializing in ecological network analysis. Ulanowicz received the 2007 Ilya A Prigogine Medal for excellence in ecosystem dynamics and has published three books on the philosophy of ecosystem theory and 216 publications in refereed scientific journals (including twelve essays in journals on science and religion).

The First Incarnation: Hope in Reality

Religion & Spirituality

Religious Studies

Xulon Press

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