Hijacking ecology

Economy of nature

One of the required introductory courses in my university studies of ecology was economics, a seemingly unrelated field. But economics of nature accurately describes the ecologist's concern. Budding ecologists had to study economics because it embodies concepts and theories of how energy and resources move through a complex system. The whims of nature are similar.

But economists can only study history, build models to explain it and make reasonable predictions. They can't foretell the future with certainty.

It is just as difficult to study ecosystems and interpret the discoveries. Biology is generally a loose and intricate science. Ecology touches the extreme.

Science might attempt to understand a wetland, for example. But does the system end at the shoreline, the high water mark, or the top of the watershed in distant hills? Each step encompasses an indefinite multitude of living organisms. To understand how they are related, one must begin studying two species. With each additional participant, the equation becomes exponentially complex.

Fuzzy and complex

Yet it is this very complexity that society calls upon the ecologist to study. If we build a resort on this shoreline, how will it affect endangered species in a delicate habitat nearby? The study can hardly begin to fathom the impact on, say, a threatened songbird with important breeding grounds several kilometers inland.

Biodiversity: the abundance of different species of living organisms in a habitat. Though unproven, it is widely accepted as an indicator of environmental health. Ecosystem breakdown is always marked by a loss of biodiversity.

But increasingly, evidence suggests that all species are interrelated. The impact of a local loss is global. As human development degrades ecosystems and biodiversity declines, ecologists must scramble to understand the dynamics of a plummeting stock market. It is a fuzzy science, and deals in generalities, but it must answer questions about the future of life itself.

Ecology studies simple relationships—between an ant and a lichen perhaps—and from the data, tries to develop hypotheses about more complex relationships involving insectivores and herbivores that prey on them. This study is itself fascinating. But the internet uncovers little about these modest endeavours. The research is cloaked in scientific jargon and politics.

Eco agenda vs. eco fact

Most people with the fascination and passion to mine these resources do so with an environmentalist motive.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to save whales, or life itself, from widespread destruction. But these endeavours are just as

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