1. Towards an applied metaecology
- Author
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Schiesari, Luis, Matias, Miguel G., Prado, Paulo Inacio, Leibold, Mathew A., Albert, Cecile H., Howeth, Jennifer G., Leroux, Shawn J., Pardini, Renata, Siqueira, Tadeu, Brancalion, Pedro H. S., Cabeza, Mar, Coutinho, Renato Mendes, Felizola Diniz-Filho, Jose Alexandre, Fournier, Bertrand, Lahr, Daniel J. G., Lewinsohn, Thomas M., Martins, Ayana, Morsello, Carla, Peres-Neto, Pedro R., Pillar, Valerio D., Vazquez, Diego P., Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (Brasil), National Science Foundation (US), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Academy of Finland, Agence Nationale de la Recherche (France), Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), Global Change and Conservation Lab, Mar Cabeza-Jaimejuan / Principal Investigator, Biosciences, and Arctic Microbial Ecology
- Subjects
METACOMMUNITIES ,META-ECOSYSTEMS ,Ecology ,Metaecosystem ,CONSERVATION ,Conservation ,Metacommunity ,DISPERSAL ,CONNECTIVITY ,Applied ecology ,1181 Ecology, evolutionary biology ,PATTERNS ,STREAMS ,BIODIVERSITY ,Metapopulation ,SCALE ,RESTORATION - Abstract
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. We thank FAPESP (grants 2014/10470-7 to AM, 2013/04585-3 to DL, 2013/50424-1 to TS and 2015/18790-3to LS), CNPq (Productivity Fellowships 301656/2011-8 to JAFDF,308205/2014-6 to RP, 306183/2014-5 to PIP and 307689/2014-0 to VDP), the National Science Foundation (DEB 1645137 toJGH), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada (SJL,PPN), and the Academy of Finland (grants 257686 and 292765 toMC) for support. This work contributes to the Labex OT-Med (no.ANR-11-LABX-0061), funded by the French government throughthe A*MIDEX project (no. ANR-11-IDEX-0001-02).
- Published
- 2019