:Analogies for Sustainable Development/Ecosystem as organism

Overview

Analogy Map

Discussion

Quote Bank

Smith & Sathmary (1995)^[1]:

“ecosystems are not individuals, separated from others, whereas ... other stages ... including sexual species, and insect colonies, do have a degree of individuality, and separateness from other entities of the same kind. For this reason, ecosystems cannot be units of selection."

Swenson & Wilson (2000)^[2]:

“Natural ecosystem selection is unlikely to occur at [large spatial scales, such as a forest, a lake]and is theoretically impossible for the whole earth, unless we are willing to speculate about between-planet selection”

“groups, communities, and ecosystems do not require discrete boundaries to be units of selection. The essential ingredient is localized interactions, such that one patch fares better than another on the basis of its properties, even when the boundaries between patches are fuzzy.”

Further Resources

References

↑ Smith, J. M., & Szathmáry, E. (1995). The Major Transitions in Evolution. New York, NY, USA: Oxford University Press.
↑ Swenson, W., Wilson, D. S., & Elias, R. (2000). Artificial ecosystem selection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 97(16), 9110–4. http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.150237597

Analogies for Sustainable Development

[1] Smith, J. M., & Szathmáry, E. (1995). The Major Transitions in Evolution. New York, NY, USA: Oxford University Press.

[2] Swenson, W., Wilson, D. S., & Elias, R. (2000). Artificial ecosystem selection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 97(16), 9110–4. http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.150237597

[1]

[2]