Community Ecology

Terra Madre “arabanın arka tekeri” olarak nitelendirilen mütevazı ve marjinal bir kesimin kendi önemini anlayıp birlik olma hayalinin sayfalara dökülmüş halidir. Bu insanların önemi hep göz ardı edildi. Bu insanlar zamanın gerisinde kalan, dünyanın geri kalmış bir parçası, hatta “az gelişmiş” olarak görüldü. Küçük çiftçiler ve sürdürülebilir gıda üreticileri neredeyse serseri olarak kabul edildi. Ama bu olumsuz yargı, temelinde ciddi bir hatayı barındırır, üstelik dünya ekonomik ve politik sistemi için ölümcül bir hata olma riskini taşır.

Onlar ömürlerini mücadele içinde geçiren, hiç boş vakti olmayan insanlar. Bulundukları yerden uzaklaşamazlar, hak ettiklerini her zaman kazanamazlar, didinirler, çabalarlar ve doğayla konuşurlar, onu üretken kılarlar, kendi toplumları ve diğerleri için gıda üretirler.

Bu insanlarla farklı ve değerli bir biçimde yeniden ilişki kuran gıda toplulukları kırsal ve kentsel ilişkinin yeniden tanımlanması için iyi birer laboratuvardır. Belki de böylece tekrar “satmak” için değil, “yemek” için gıda üretimine başlanabilir. Hatta yeniden gerçek gıda nicelikten, verimlilikten, homojenlikten, taşınabilir olmaktan daha önemli hale gelebilir.

Gıda toplulukları yerel ağlardan oluşan bir sistem oluşturmanın ilk adımıdır. Gıdanın yeniden “lezzetli, temiz ve adil” olduğu insani ve sürdürülebilir bir sistem. Ancak bu yolla hayatlarımıza yeniden “egemen” olabiliriz. Gıda, hayatlarımızı geri almanın anahtarıdır. Bütün dünyaya yayılan bu hareketin “çocukça” olduğunu düşünenler Slow Food’a bakıp dillerini ısırsınlar. Bu uzun bir yol ancak yavaşlık değeri bize bir kerede elde edemeyeceğimizi, daha önemli olan şeyin niyetler, açılmaya olan uyum, hafıza ve bakım olduğunu anlatır.

Carlo Petrini’nin çağrısına milyonlar el veriyor. Bir el de sen uzat.

Permakültür Bahçeleri, hayal gücünüzü harekete geçirerek, permakültürün en temel mesajını okurlara ulaştırıyor: Doğaya karşı değil onunla birlikte çalışırsak daha güzel, daha bereketli ve daha bağışlayıcı bahçeler yaratabiliriz. Toby Hemenway’in gösterdiği gibi işbirliği içinde çalışabilen ve;
Toprağın verimliliğini ve yapısını geliştirmek ve korumak,
Peyzajın içinde suyu yakalamak ve sudan tasarruf etmek,
Faydalı böcekler, hayvanlar ve insanlar için habitat sağlamak,
Mevsimsel meyveler, yemişler ve diğer gıdalar üreten yenebilir bir “orman” yaratmak
gibi çeşitli işlevler üstlenen bitkileri topluluklar şeklinde bir araya getirerek arka bahçenizde bir ekosistem yaratmak hem kolay hem de tatmin edici bir uğraştır.
Bu gözden geçirilmiş ve güncellenmiş baskıya, yetiştirme alanları çok kısıtlı olan kentte ya da banliyöde yaşayan insanlar için özel olarak tasarlanmış, kentsel permakültür üzerine yeni bir bölüm de eklenmiştir. Elinizdeki bahçe ya da tarla ne büyüklükte olursa olsun permakültürün temel ilkelerini uygulayarak orayı daha çeşitli, daha doğal, daha üretken ve daha güzel hale getirebilirsiniz.

“Permakültür Bahçeleri kesinlikle bugüne kadar yazılmış en iyi permakültür kitabı ve bugüne kadar yazılmış en iyi bahçıvanlık kitabı olmaya da aday. Herkesin kütüphanesinde bulunmalı.
Sharon Astyk
Depletion and Abundance: Life on the New Home Front’un yazarı

“Dünyaya geldiğimizde bize bir kullanma kılavuzu vermedikleri için arada bir bazı bilge kişilerin kılavuzlar yazması büyük bir hizmet.  Permakültür Bahçeleri  bunların en önemlilerinden biri ve geleceğin dünyası için kesinlikle ihtiyaç duyacağımız bir kitap.”
Bill McKibben
Deep Economy ve Hope, Human and Wild’ın yazarı

“Toby Hemenway’in Permakültür Bahçeleri adlı eseri uygulama ile vizyonerliği birleştiren, insanların rakibi değil parçası olduğu ekosistemleri güçlendirmek ve hayatta tutmak için Yeryüzü’nün simbiyotik topluluklarının doğal zekâsını kullanan bahçıvanlar ve peyzajcılar için tarihi bir dönüm noktası. Doğa ile uyum içinde nasıl yaşayabileceğimizi ve böyle yaşamak zorunda olduğumuzu gösteren muhteşem bir eser!”
Paul Stamets
Mycellium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World’ün yazarı

“Permakültür bahçeleri artık geleceğe dair hayaller değiller. Buradalar ve yaşıyorlar. Permakültür Bahçeleri  evlerinin bahçesini sağlıklı, sürüdürülebilir ve şifalı hale getirmek isteyen herkes için aydınlatıcı ve mutlaka okunması gereken bir kaynak.”
Robert Kourik
Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Lanscape—Naturally’nin yazarı

Savruk bir tüketici değil sürdürülebilir bir üretici olun. Bu muhteşem kitap size bunu nasıl yapcağınızı, harika arka bahçe ekosistemleri yaratmada ve geliştirmekte yardımcı olarak gösteriyor. Bu kitaptaki bilgileri uygulayın ve hem kendi topluluğunuzu hem de daha ötesini olumlu yönde değiştirecek bir örnek olmaya başlayın. En güzeli de bu kitapla bunu yapmanın çok kolay, ilginç ve eğlenceli olması.
Brad Lanchaster
Rainwater Harvesting  for Drylands and Beyond’un yazarı

Permakültür Bahçeleri’nde o kadar büyük bir bilgelik var ki hakkını vermek için bir düzine köşe yazısı yazmam gerek. Cesur, etkileyici, doğayı kucaklayan ve tamamen mantıklı bir gelecek vizyonu.
Justin Siskin
Los Angeles Daily News yazarı

This paper identifies two distinct types of organisational arrangements, which need to be recognised to achieve effective policies and programmes for community engagement. The differences arise from the nature of relationships in the institutional and organisational world, which are primarily vertical hierarchical, as distinct from the informal community world where the relationships are primarily horizontal peer. Lack of attention to these distinctions adversely affects the interaction of the public agencies and the community, and the community’s organisational governance and working arrangements. Using a complexity perspective, the ‘social eco-system dance’ model identifies some issues and new ways of thinking about them and of handling some of the practical challenges. This is leading to a set of managerial and organisational tools to develop new ways of working for policy making, managing, operating and participating in the community engagement process across all the sectors involved.

Aim: To assess the metacommunity structure of woody plants in the Atlantic Forest (AF), compare the structure across its different forest types and evaluate the contribution of multiple scales and environmental drivers for the total biodiversity, providing theoretical basis for efficient conservation of this important hotspot.
Location: South America, Brazilian Atlantic Forest.
Methods: We compiled the occurrence of 2,071 woody plants in 177 sites across the Brazilian AF. We assessed the elements of metacommunity structure (species coherence, turnover and boundary clumping) to identify which idealized structure (checkerboard,
nestedness, Clementsian, Gleasonian, evenly spaced or random) characterizes the AF and its forest types. We used the additive partition of diversity to determine the main spatial scales promoting biodiversity in the AF, that is local (within sites, α-diversity), regional (among sites in each forest type, β1) or geographical (between forest types, β2), and examined environmental variables driving the metacommunity of the AF and forest types using canonical ordinations.
Results: The AF and its forest types presented positive coherence, negative turnover and large boundary clumping values which best-fit
the nested subsets metacommunity structure with clumped species loss. The diversity within sites (α-diversity) and among types (β2) was higher than expected by chance. The climatic gradient driving the species composition differed in the AF. Temperature variation affected the entire AF, particularly Dense and Seasonal forests, whereas precipitation affected mostly the Mixed forest.
Main conclusions: Despite the similar structure underlying AF metacommunities, the main environmental gradient in each forest differs, highlighting ecological differences among communities at geographical scale. These differences are determinant for the
high levels of biodiversity found in the AF. Conservation efforts should encompass all the AF ecosystems, considering its unique characteristics and prioritizing species-rich sites given that they adequately represent the regional species pool.

Summary1. Calcareous grasslands are communities of high conservation value, often characterized by high plant species richness. These grasslands have experienced a major decline in area throughout Europe, principally resulting from agricultural intensification. Although they have been the focus of extensive previous research, few attempts have been made to examine the long-term dynamics of multiple communities at the landscape scale.2. To assess long-term change in the structure and composition of a calcareous grassland metacommunity, 88 extant sites first surveyed by R. Good in the 1930s were resurveyed in 2009. Values of α-, β- and γ-diversity were compared between the two surveys, using a one-way analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) and non-metric multidimensional scaling. Elements of metacommunity structure (EMS) analysis was used to identify metacommunity structure, and changes in metacommunity composition were related to plant traits.3. Analyses indicated that α-diversity increased...

Diariamente respiramos oxígeno, y la producción de éste
se la debemos en gran parte a los árboles. El agua que sale
de las tuberías proviene de algún manto freático o bien, de
algún río cuyo cauce es regulado por las raíces de las plantas
y por el ciclo del agua. Las aves y otros animales que vemos
a nuestro alrededor alguna vez surgieron en selvas, bosques
o matorrales, así como los frutos y hongos que consumimos.
El papel, la madera y el cartón, con lo que están fabricados los
utensilios escolares, provienen de algún proceso relacionado
con la extracción maderera. Los medicamentos homeópatas
y alópatas que ingerimos provienen en su mayor parte de
especies que encontramos en los bosques.

Debt and personal indebtedness have become a global problem as consumption-driven economies have spread across the world. These days, outstanding consumer debt is a normal feature of many economies and for a large number of people, the source of great mental distress. However, an understanding of personal debt requires an understanding of the complex social systems that produce poverty. This book frames credit use as a social phenomenon, and explores the dynamic interplays between consumers who need credit and credit granting institutions. By drawing upon a range of international perspectives, this book sheds much needed light on the social and psychological factors that contribute to the growth of personal debt and its associated impact on wellbeing. In so doing, the book contributes to an understanding of why more and more people are in debt, why it is causing so much harm to so many people and exactly who is benefiting from what has become the world's number one growth industry.
Edited by Serdar M. Degirmencioglu & Carl Walker.
Hardcover 9781137407788. forthcoming in June 2015.

The study examined the Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) of seven different tree species growing around electricity generating houses within the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Main campus, Samaru. Four parameters, leaf relative water content (RWC), ascorbic acid content (AA), total chlorophyll (TCH) and pH of leaf extract were used to compute the APTI of the tree species. Results indicate the order of tolerance showing Azadirachta indica (9.8) < Carica papaya (11.5) < Albizia lebbeck (14.9) < Senna siamea (17.0) <Mangifera indica (17.8) <Khaya senegalensis (19.5) < Termonalia collii (20.9). Terminalia collii, the most tolerant could act as a possible sink for air pollutants around pollution emitting sources. On the other hand, A. indica, the most sensitive of the studied species could serve as a possible indicator of air pollution.

The Invictus Wellbeing Program (IWP) is a
mental fitness and resiliency course that uses
Dr Martin Seligman’s PERMA model to help
achieve the wellbeing mandate set out in the
2008 Melbourne Declaration. This landmark
document requires all Australian schools to
foster the “social, emotional, moral, spiritual
and aesthetic development and wellbeing
of young Australians” (Barr, et al., 2008, p.
4). Schools can easily rely on the hidden
curriculum or an assortment of miscellaneous
approaches to take care of the “socialisation
process” (Kentli, 2009, p. 83) without having a
targeted approach with which to achieve the
directive set out in the Melbourne Declaration.
Through the implementation of Invictus, school
leaders are able to tangibly demonstrate both
their awareness of and engagement with the
wellbeing responsibilities implicit within a
school community.

We evaluated several factors influencing the taxonomic richness of macrophytes, benthic invertebrates, snails, and fish in a series of northern Wisconsin lakes. We chose the study lakes to decouple the potential effects of ionic strength of lake water and stream connection, two factors that are usually highly correlated and therefore have been confounded in previous studies. In addition, our study lakes covered a wide range in a variety of characteristics, including residential development, abundance of exotic species, nutrient concentrations, predator abundance, and lake size. Species richness within each of the four taxonomic groups was significantly positively related to ionic strength (as measured by specific conductance); we also found secondary associations with other variables, depending on the specific group of organisms. The relationship between richness and lake area was dependent on the specific conductance of the lake and the vagility of the organisms; less vagile groups of organisms showed stronger and steeper species–area relationships in low-conductivity lakes. Further, after variance owing to specific conductance was removed, the presence of stream connections was positively related to species richness for fish, snails, and macrophytes as well as familial richness in benthic invertebrates. Our results indicate that lakes with relatively more groundwater input have lower extinction rates for all four groups of taxa and that lakes with stream inlets and outlets have enhanced immigration rates for fish, snails, benthic invertebrate families, and macrophytes. These findings link processes of immigration and extinction of four groups of organisms of varying vagility to landscape-level hydrologic characteristics related to the glacial history of the region.

Exotic species can threaten biodiversity by disrupting ecological interactions among native species. Highly-attractive exotic species can exert a 'magnet effect' by attracting native pollinators, which may have either competitive or facilitative effects on co-flowering native plants. However, those effects may be context-dependent. We used a mistletoe-hummingbird pollination system in the Valdivian rainforest (southern Chile) to test whether the exotic tree Eucalyptus globulus (a highly attractive species to pollinators) acts as a magnet species, affecting the co-flowering native mistletoe. We compared humming-bird abundance, visitation rates, and activity patterns between native forest and abandoned E. globulus plantations. We found that hummingbirds were more abundant and visited more flowers at the plantation irrespective of E. globulus flowering. We observed a significant change of pollinator activity at the native habitat during E. globulus flowering, as hummingbirds visited mistletoe flowers more frequently early in the morning at the plantations and in the afternoon at the native forests. Our results showed that E. globulus acts as an exotic magnet species and can alter pollinator abundance and behavior. Our findings demonstrate the importance of considering local-and landscape-scale processes to understand the effects of magnet species on native plants and suggest that magnet species may influence even highly-attractive plants.

This paper discusses a couple of basic methodological problems inherent in predictive modelling as used today in mapping the location of Stone Age settlements based solely on landscape topography/bathymetry. It argues that the modelling approach employed is based on elements adopted from a type of landscape ecology that was abandoned more than 20 years ago, because it was unable to produce reasonable results, and that it can be
difficult to develop prediction methodology based on the present understanding of landscape ecology as being
extremely complex and dynamic. Furthermore, it maintains that the modelling approach currently employed in Stone Age archaeology is based on assumptions about prehistoric resource-strategic behaviour that are simplistic and out of tune with what we now know. It therefore questions whether it is possible to develop a precise and efficient predictive procedure for modelling the locations of Stone Age sites.

The Green Party should be able to outline the contours of the future ecological society and map the path leading in its direction. This means translating principles, evidence and institutional and technical capacity into programmes and policies. In addition to initiatives at the political level, there is the importance of direct experience in mobilising action at the social level. The invisibility or intangibility of a problem is a serious issue. People are motivated and will act when they can see a connection between inputs and outputs, tangible results for practical efforts. The problem is that if people do not seen or feel a problem directly, it is difficult to persuade them that a response is necessary. This points to the need to innovate practices, institutions and policy frameworks which could help create the mentalities and modalities in which people are moved to change their lives. The abstruse issue and long range goal needs to be given a practical, tangible focus, brought into the here and now as an ecological and a cognitive praxis.

The question of political solutions to the environmental crisis is not a matter of formulating the right policy in line with existing political institutions, but of establishing new rules – a new regulatory regime or framework based on new principles for the direction and social use of production, new habits. A new mode of regulation which is built on new hopes and new projects.

This report argues that policy must be based on a number of key principles - policy must be effective, evidence based, experiential, efficient, and equitable.

Birds are among the most widely studied organisms on earth and represent an important indicator group
for learning about the effects of climate change – particularly in regard to the effects of climate change on
tropical ecosystems. In this review, we assess the potential impacts of climate change on tropical birds
and discuss the factors that affect species’ ability to adapt and survive the impending alterations in habitat
availability. Tropical mountain birds, species without access to higher elevations, coastal forest birds,
and restricted-range species are especially vulnerable. Some birds may be especially susceptible to
increased rainfall seasonality and to extreme weather events, such as heat waves, cold spells, and tropical
cyclones. Birds that experience limited temperature variation and have low basal metabolic rates will be
the most prone to the physiological effects of warming temperatures and heat waves. Mostly unknown
species’ interactions, indirect effects, and synergies of climate change with other threats, such as habitat
loss, emerging diseases, invasive species, and hunting will exacerbate the effects of climate change on
tropical birds. In some models habitat loss can increase bird extinctions caused by climate change by
50%. 3.5 °C surface warming by the year 2100 may result in 600–900 extinctions of land bird species,
89% of which occur in the tropics. Depending on the amount of future habitat loss, each degree of surface
warming could lead to approximately 100–500 additional bird extinctions. Protected areas will be more
important than ever, but they need to be designed with climate change in mind. Although 92% of
currently protected areas are likely to become climatically unsuitable in a century, for example only 7
or 8 priority species’ preferred climatic envelopes are projected to be entirely lost from the African
Important Bird Area network. Networks of protected areas need to incorporate extensive topographical
diversity, cover wide elevational ranges, have high connectivity, and integrate human-dominated
landscapes into conservation schemes. Most tropical bird species vulnerable to climate change are not
currently considered threatened with extinction, often due to lack of knowledge; systematically and
regularly gathering information on the ecology, and current and future distributions of these species is
an urgent priority. Locally based, long-term tropical bird monitoring and conservation programs based
on adaptive management are essential to help protect birds against climate change.

In the last two decades, interest in species distribution models (SDMs) of plants and animals has grown dramatically. Recent advances in SDMs allow us to potentially forecast anthropogenic effects on patterns of biodiversity at different spatial scales. However, some limitations still preclude the use of SDMs in many theoretical and practical applications. Here, we provide an overview of recent advances in this field, discuss the ecological principles and assumptions underpinning SDMs, and highlight critical limitations and decisions inherent in the construction and evaluation of SDMs. Particular emphasis is given to the use of SDMs for the assessment of climate change impacts and conservation management issues. We suggest new avenues for incorporating species migration, population dynamics, biotic interactions and community ecology into SDMs at multiple spatial scales. Addressing all these issues requires a better integration of SDMs with ecological theory.

This work is Chapter 11 in the John M. Meyer and Jens M. Kersten edited volume "The Greening of Everyday Life" (Oxford University Press, 2016), pp.183-97. It builds in part upon my earlier work "Plumwood, Property, Selfhood and Sustainability" in trying to tease out the elements that are valuable in the Lockean tradition of property theory, which I identify with the idea of belonging, and distinguish these from and contrast them with the reductive and instrumentalizing aspects of that tradition, which I associate with notions of possession and the dynamics of self-validating reduction. I suggest that the predominance of the latter dynamics in modern Western lives creates what I call a "tragedy of the uncommon", in which healthy and fulfilling bonds of social belonging, experiential connection to the earth and to food production are steadily rendered distant and opaque. Against these tendencies, I set the transformative social potential of contemporary experiences of community gardens.

Moths exhibit different levels of fidelity to habitat, and some taxa are considered as bioindicators for conservation because they respond to habitat quality, environmental change, and vegetation types. In this study, we verified the effect of two phytophysiognomies of the Cerrado, savanna and forest, on the diversity distribution of moths of Erebidae (Arctiinae), Saturniidae, and Sphingidae families by using a hierarchical additive partitioning analysis. This analysis was based on two metrics: species richness and Shannon diversity index. The following questions were addressed: 1) Does the beta diversity of moths between phytophysiognomies add more species to the regional diversity than the beta diversity between sampling units and between sites? 2) Does the distribution of moth diversity differ among taxa? Alpha and beta diversities were compared with null models. The additive partitioning of species richness for the set of three Lepidoptera families identified beta diversity betw...

Move, Act, Play, Sing (MAPS) explored early childhood teaching and learning in the performing arts through community artist interventions and relational practices and pedagogies. The research developed three early childhood centre case studies where teachers, children, and parents worked together with community artists, the research team, and other colleagues to explore emergent pathways of performing arts teaching and learning. In MAPS, community artists in music, dance, and drama worked alongside teachers and children in semi-planned, open, and improvisatory pedagogical settings set up to explore the potentialities of performing arts learning and teacher responses in the centre environments and communities. The ethnographic inquiry focused on how the early childhood teachers engaged in meaningful performing arts experiences through the research process and looked at ways in which centres could engage in sustainable, ongoing performing arts teaching and learning.

Recent observations suggest fishing pressure is driving the evolution of smaller female maturation size in some fish stocks. We construct a general size-based theoretical framework to derive the rate and ultimate destination of this evolution based on life-history, community ecology and evolutionary theory. For Baltic cod (Gadus morhua), we find a maximum evolutionary rate of approximately −36 g/generation (−0.072 Haldanes) and optimum maturation size &lt;250 g (mean≈50 g). Whilst this is consistent with many previous observations, it is substantially less than observed in rapidly declining cod stocks, suggesting additional evolutionary processes may affect them. Analysis of management remedies finds only an effective ban on fishing will halt the evolution. Unable to maximise fitness, the fish will remain under evolutionary stress for the foreseeable future.

Tolka Valley Park is a regional park located on both sides of the Tolka River between Finglas and Glasnevin. The Tolka River valley is rich in plant and animal life, a haven for biodiversity within the city, and local history. But the Tolka Valley Park is also situated over a former city landfill, which creates some unique challenges to its management and design. This paper examines the impacts that a man-made wetands can have on the biodiversity of an urban landscape.

Conservation of indigenous tree species is crucial for restoration of ecosystems and provision of livelihood support functions among rural communities. However, most tree planting initiatives have promoted exotic species, ignoring native species which populations have for long depended on. This study assessed the indigenous tree species conservation and Use Values in the Kyoga plains and the highland ranges Agro Ecological Zones of Uganda. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to capture primary data from a total of 422 household heads. Data were coded and entered in SPSS statistical package (Version 16). Descriptive statistics were generated to establish the distribution of indigenous trees on farms and tree management options employed by farmers. Chi-square test at 5% probability level was used to assess whether there was any difference in indigenous tree establishment, propagation and management options in the four study districts. The Use Value index technique was used to rank and prioritize 20 indigenous tree species. Most of the local communities in Eastern highland ranges prefer planting and retaining indigenous tree species in crop fields, while deliberate tree planting in the vicinity of family compounds (homestead) was predominant in the Kyoga plains. Indigenous tree species mode of establishment, propagation and management options significantly differed across the four study sites (P<0.05). The overall tree species Use Value Indices generally correspond to the number of uses of a particular tree species and vary between 2.4 and 0.2. Our study findings show rather a narrow range between the highest and least use value, implying that communities generally valued a particular tree species for at least more than one preferred use. Local communities prefer protecting naturally growing indigenous tree seedlings than planting. They facilitate tree regeneration when the benefits of their investment are guaranteed and the economic value such trees can provide to the household. Therefore, while evaluating indigenous tree species for relative importance and use, the end objectives of such evaluation must be critically examined in light of the interest of different tree resource user groups.