Hi Wayne,
The way to understand "ecosystem function" is to first clarify the
question. Put in a different way the question is: "What do ecosystems
actually do? As organisms are required to answer this question you also
need to ask: What do organisms do individually and collectively? As
noted in my earlier note on this thread the answers are easier for
organisms (make food, release oxygen, recycle stuff, etc.), but the
answers get more complex for ecosystems (see Table 3 again). And, what
have organisms and ecosystems done over the millennium of evolution to
have caused the Earth's Ecosphere to become the unlikely marvel that it is?
Matt Chew's comments (below), provide another example of muddying of the
waters about the meaning of this useful term. Talking about "centrisms"
is philosophy, not science/ecology.
Ted
On 10/3/2012 10:47 PM, Wayne Tyson wrote:
Ecolog:
I still want to know what "ecosystem function" is. Just a simple
definition, no more, no less.
WT
----- Original Message ----- From: "Matt Chew" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2012 11:54 PM
Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Visualizing functional diversity
This has been an interesting conversation. Ecological functions entail
putative benefits to some population or individual. It doesn't have
to be
a human population, so it doesn't have to be anthropocentric, but that is
the second most common centrism. Biocentrism and ecocentrism are
generally
proxies for the most common one: idiocentrism. Biocentrism and
ecocentrism
involve benefits to things that benefit the author of the argument. If
this seems dubious, how many times have you seen discussions of
"functions"
without benefits, such as "the function of mass extinction" or "the
function of acid precipitation"? That suggests ecosystem function and
ecosystem service are fundamentally identical concepts. Processes are
more
benefits-equivocal than functions. A designed system (e.g., a farm)
includes processes more and less beneficial from various points of
reference, but has a designed function benefiting the farmer. An
accumulated system (e.g., an ecosystem) likewise includes processes but
lacks a designer or a function—if your metaphysics will allow.
Matthew K Chew
Assistant Research Professor
Arizona State University School of Life Sciences
ASU Center for Biology & Society
PO Box 873301
Tempe, AZ 85287-3301 USA
Tel 480.965.8422
Fax 480.965.8330
[email protected] or [email protected]
https://cbs.asu.edu/people/chew-0<http://cbs.asu.edu/people/profiles/chew.php>
http://asu.academia.edu/MattChew
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