Joe and Andrew: Here is a reply to an article (on creating old growth forests) that was published in an author's blog two years ago..It nicely outlines what I mean by the phrase "autopoietic forest".
Gary A. Beluzo says: October 5, 2007 at 9:39 pm I coined the phrase “autopoietic forest” after thinking about what distinguishes natural forests (systems) from MANaged forests (systems). Over the past several years I have given several multimedia presentations to clarify my views. Autopoiesis refers to a living system at the level of cell, organism, ecossytem, or biosphere in which the system is created from within, that is, the system is "self created and self maintained". The autopoietic forest is an ecosystem that has resulted from the collective genetic wisdom of closely coupled biota interacting with the environment, co-evolving. Autopoietic forests are dynamic, complex systems wherein the processes of the system are controlled/maintained primarily by many species interacting with their environment. A MANaged system on the other hand is one whose evolutionary trajectory has been disrupted and is now maintained consciously by a single species for the economic benefit of that species. These MAN-aged systems are greatly simplified (in both physical habitat and functional niche) and are managed according to linear cause and effect , understanding generally referred to as silviculture or "agriculture with trees". The problem with using the political (not scientific) term “old growth forest” to preserve natural systems is that an old growth forest is simply a temporal snapshot in a shifting mosaic of vegetation. IF preservation is based solely on the defintion of “old growth” then it is inevitable that ALL old growth forests will eventually be disturbed and return to earlier successive seres, disqualifying them for preservation. We need to focus more on the “autopoietic” nature of the forest; its degree of naturalness. There are folks in Europe that are working on developing criteria to assess degree of naturalness on a ontinuum that runs from natural (i.e. no human disturbance) to artificial (e.g. a tree plantation), in large part because their natural forests are nearly gone. IF the forest is not being MANaged and is therefore regulated by natural processes resulting from the interaction of many species and the environment then we can say the system is “natural”; unequivocably it is these "autopoietic forests" that should be set aside for preservation. Gary A. B eluzo Professor of Environmental Science Division of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Holyoke Community College 303 Homestead Avenue Holyoke, MA 01040 [email protected] http://www.hcc.edu/forest Reply Gary Gary A. Beluzo Professor of Environmental Science Division of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Holyoke Community College 303 Homestead Avenue Holyoke, MA 01040 [email protected] 413 552-2445 On Oct 17, 2009, at 7:07 AM, Joseph Zorzin wrote: > That's one of Gary Beluzo's favorite terms and he's one of the few > people who understands it and uses it (he may have coined the term) > so I'm sure he'll elaborate. I have a sense of the meaning and I > kinda like it- I believe for Gary, it's what happens in old growth > forests- to what extent it may be a useful principle in any sort of > managed forest is the 60 million dollar question. > > In particular, the question is interesting regarding forests managed > for old growth structures, as described in that brochure. > Joe > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Andrew Joslin > To: [email protected] > Sent: Friday, October 16, 2009 1:56 PM > Subject: [ENTS] Re: "Restoring Late-Successional Forest Structure"??? > > > Joe, can you get me (us) up-to-speed on the term "autopoietic" as > applied to forest ecology? It sounds like you mean self-regenerating > or > self-maintaining, not sure though. > -AJ > > Joseph Zorzin wrote: > > check out > > http://www.masswoods.net/images/stories/pdf/forest_mgr_guide_ls_structure_web.pdf > > > > comments? > > > > Gary Beluzo? What say ye about this? Those restored pseudo semi old > > growth forests won't be autopoietic? > > > > Joe > > > > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
