Gary- While I am not in the business of coining words, I think our thoughts on these matters 'son sympaticos'...words I would throw into this mileau would (no surprise I am sure) be 'resilience' and 'disturbace' (the role of...). Mas tarde, Don
Sent from Don's iPhone 3GS... On Oct 24, 2009, at 8:21 PM, "Gary A. Beluzo" <[email protected]> wrote: > 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 (s > ystems). Over the past several years I have given several multimedia > presentations to clarify my views. Autopoiesis refers to a living s > ystem at the level of cell, organism, ecossytem, or biosphere in whi > ch the system is created from within, that is, the system is "self c > reated and self maintained". The autopoietic forest is an ecosystem > that has resulted from the collective genetic wisdom of closely cou > pled biota interacting with the environment, co-evolving. Autopoieti > c forests are dynamic, complex systems wherein the processes of the > system are controlled/maintained primarily by many species interacti > ng with their environment. A MANaged system on the other hand is one > whose evolutionary trajectory has been disrupted and is now maintai > ned consciously by a single species for the economic benefit of that > species. These MAN-aged systems are greatly simplified (in both phy > sical habitat and functional niche) and are managed according to lin > ear cause and effect , understanding generally referred to as silvic > ulture or "agriculture with trees". > The problem with using the political (not scientific) term “old grow > th 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 the > m 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 dist > urbance) to artificial (e.g. a tree plantation), in large part becau > se 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 a > side 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] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
