Otros
Towards an applied metaecology
Fecha
2019-10-01Registro en:
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation, v. 17, n. 4, p. 172-181, 2019.
2530-0644
10.1016/j.pecon.2019.11.001
2-s2.0-85076265345
Autor
Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
CSIC
University of Florida
McGill University
University of Alabama
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)
University of Helsinki
Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC)
Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG)
Université du Québec à Montréal
Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)
EAWAG Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Argentine Institute for Dryland Research
Institución
Resumen
The complexity of ecological systems is a major challenge for practitioners and decision-makers who work to avoid, mitigate and manage environmental change. Here, we illustrate how metaecology – the study of spatial interdependencies among ecological systems through fluxes of organisms, energy, and matter – can enhance understanding and improve managing environmental change at multiple spatial scales. We present several case studies illustrating how the framework has leveraged decision-making in conservation, restoration and risk management. Nevertheless, an explicit incorporation of metaecology is still uncommon in the applied ecology literature, and in action guidelines addressing environmental change. This is unfortunate because the many facets of environmental change can be framed as modifying spatial context, connectedness and dominant regulating processes - the defining features of metaecological systems. Narrowing the gap between theory and practice will require incorporating system-specific realism in otherwise predominantly conceptual studies, as well as deliberately studying scenarios of environmental change.