Summary and Conclusions
14
Because the ideas presented in this book may be
either unfamiliar or complex, or both, the seminal points deserve stressed reiteration.
1. More and more, a growing realization
reveals that natural resources do not exist in
isolation but interact with each other. Understanding this has led to a shifting focus to a
more holistic approach of managing whole
ecosystems in which there is a distinctive
association of causally interconnected
features, as when certain vegetation and
soil types occur together with certain types
of climate.
2. Ecosystems occur on many scales that are
nested within each other. The boundaries are
open and permeable, leading to interaction,
or linkage, between systems. Ecosystems
related by geography are not necessarily
related by taxonomic properties. Examples
include landscapes of spruce forests and
glacially scoured lakes. These are not solely
terrestrial or aquatic systems, but geographical ecosystem units. Because of these
linkages, modification of one system affects
surrounding systems. There is need to consider connections between systems, because
systems are linked to form larger systems.
Altering larger systems may affect smaller
within. From our knowledge of the larger
systems, we can much better understand the
smaller systems where we must predict the
outcome of land use and natural resource
development.
3. The fundamental question facing all ecological mappers is: how are the boundaries of
different size systems to be determined? To
screen out the effects of disturbance and
succession, they should be based on factors
important in controlling, or causing, the ecosystem pattern at varying scales rather than
what is there now so that relatively permanent boundaries can be identified to allow
ecosystems to be recognized regardless of
the status of the system.
4. Delineating ecosystem units involves
analyzing, on a scale-related basis, the
controlling factors that cause, or differentiate, ecosystem patterns at various scales, and
then use significant changes in controls as
boundaries. Climate, as a source of energy
and water, acts as the primary control for
ecosystem distribution. As the types of
climate change so do the ecosystems. The
most important climatic factor determining
ecosystem boundaries is climatic regime,
defined as the seasonality of temperature
and moisture. As the climatic regime
changes, so do the hydrologic and erosion
cycles and the life cycles of the biota.
Controls over the climatic effect change
with scale. At the global level, or macroscale, ecosystem patterns are controlled
by the macroclimate related to variation in
latitude and the character of the surface.
Global variation in macroclimate forms the
world’s ecoclimatic zones, also known as
R.G. Bailey, Ecoregions, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4939-0524-9_14, # Springer Science+Media, LLC 2014
137
14
Because the ideas presented in this book may be
either unfamiliar or complex, or both, the seminal points deserve stressed reiteration.
1. More and more, a growing realization
reveals that natural resources do not exist in
isolation but interact with each other. Understanding this has led to a shifting focus to a
more holistic approach of managing whole
ecosystems in which there is a distinctive
association of causally interconnected
features, as when certain vegetation and
soil types occur together with certain types
of climate.
2. Ecosystems occur on many scales that are
nested within each other. The boundaries are
open and permeable, leading to interaction,
or linkage, between systems. Ecosystems
related by geography are not necessarily
related by taxonomic properties. Examples
include landscapes of spruce forests and
glacially scoured lakes. These are not solely
terrestrial or aquatic systems, but geographical ecosystem units. Because of these
linkages, modification of one system affects
surrounding systems. There is need to consider connections between systems, because
systems are linked to form larger systems.
Altering larger systems may affect smaller
within. From our knowledge of the larger
systems, we can much better understand the
smaller systems where we must predict the
outcome of land use and natural resource
development.
3. The fundamental question facing all ecological mappers is: how are the boundaries of
different size systems to be determined? To
screen out the effects of disturbance and
succession, they should be based on factors
important in controlling, or causing, the ecosystem pattern at varying scales rather than
what is there now so that relatively permanent boundaries can be identified to allow
ecosystems to be recognized regardless of
the status of the system.
4. Delineating ecosystem units involves
analyzing, on a scale-related basis, the
controlling factors that cause, or differentiate, ecosystem patterns at various scales, and
then use significant changes in controls as
boundaries. Climate, as a source of energy
and water, acts as the primary control for
ecosystem distribution. As the types of
climate change so do the ecosystems. The
most important climatic factor determining
ecosystem boundaries is climatic regime,
defined as the seasonality of temperature
and moisture. As the climatic regime
changes, so do the hydrologic and erosion
cycles and the life cycles of the biota.
Controls over the climatic effect change
with scale. At the global level, or macroscale, ecosystem patterns are controlled
by the macroclimate related to variation in
latitude and the character of the surface.
Global variation in macroclimate forms the
world’s ecoclimatic zones, also known as
R.G. Bailey, Ecoregions, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4939-0524-9_14, # Springer Science+Media, LLC 2014
137