Thanks. That was a good ending to my weekend. On Sun, Oct 25, 2009 at 8:35 PM, Gary A. Beluzo <[email protected]> wrote:
> > This is a response to my autopoietic forest posts sent to me by Jacob > Dyer. He said I could share it with the group, I think I should so > here it is below. > > 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 > > > > > Begin forwarded message: > > > Dear Gary, > > > > I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts (and Lee's as well) > > regarding forest ecosystems. I am currently a research assistant > > working at Purdue University with Dr. Michael Saunders (Hardwood > > Silviculture) and will be transferring in a few months to work with > > Drs. Tony D'Amato and John Bradford at University of Minnesota. This > > discussion thread has brought up many points that I hope to be > > researching as part of my Ph.D. studies - namely, how does the level > > of complexity in the system influence resilience and resistance to > > climate change. I won't get into the details about my potential > > studies (afterall, I am still 10 months out from starting), however, > > this brings up a good point about how we view forest, and for that > > matter, science. There really needs to be a shift in our perspective > > in deciphering the system from a deterministic, reductionist > > standpoint to a more dynamic, systems (i.e. relational) standpoint. > > Forest are complex adaptive systems, and to view them as the sum or > > their parts is totally incorrect (see Puettmann et al. 2009). As Lee > > pointed out, his coming to grips with the neighborhood concept of > > forest stand dynamics really starts to peg this down. We just need > > to realize that spatial and temporal scales are fairly tightly > > coupled. I was thinking about this earlier, and if we want to look > > at the resilience of a system on the order of days, we need to think > > in terms of small spatial scales and fast processes (undoubtedly > > these processes will have a limited extent in the effect - although, > > if we accept quantum theory, that can change a lot of this). > > Likewise, if we want to observe phenomena at large scales, we need > > to think on longer time scales - it may take some processes many > > millenia to play out over very large areas. Addtionally, we need to > > incorporate system memory into all of these relationships - both at > > the small, short scale and the large, long scale. I am just curious > > what you think about all of this, in terms of using systemics to > > think about forests. I personally think we would be fools not to be > > using this approach in the future of our research endeavours. > > > > Anyhow, my mind was really spinning after reading the posts and I > > needed to get this down. Your thoughts are greatly appreciated. > > Feel free to share this with the ENTS group if you see the value in > > doing so. > > > > Have a great weekend! > > > > Jacob H. Dyer > > > > > > Jacob H. Dyer, Research Assistant > > Department of Forestry and Natural Resources > > Purdue University > > G068 Pfendler Hall > > 715 W. State Street > > West Lafayette, IN 47907-2061 > > Cell: 608-669-1355 > > Fax: 765-494-9461 > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
