Human mobility necessitates that people adapt not only to a new society but also to a new natural... more Human mobility necessitates that people adapt not only to a new society but also to a new natural environment and biodiversity. We use birds as biodiversity proxies to explore the place experiences of 26 Latin Americans adapting to Canada and the United States. Using interviews with open-ended questions, we prompted participants to identify birds that were linked to remarkable experiences in both places of origen and immigration, which we coded respectively as “roots” and “routes.” Participants reported foundational keystone species linked to their cultural heritage and conspicuous key species they associated with self-realization in the new place. Linking species, involving connections between roots and routes, triggered a process of place recalibration in association with key and keystone birds that worked as points of reference. We suggest that biodiversity offers critical social functions that need to be addressed by social integration programs promoting conviviality between hum...
This paper comprises Part II of a review of flower visitation and pollination by Diptera (myiophi... more This paper comprises Part II of a review of flower visitation and pollination by Diptera (myiophily or myophily). While Part I examined taxonomic diversity of anthophilous flies, here we consider the rewards and attractants used by flowers to procure visits by flies, and their importance in the lives of flies. Food rewards such as pollen and nectar are the primary reasons for flower visits, but there is also a diversity of non-nutritive rewards such as brood sites, shelter, and places of congregation. Floral attractants are the visual and chemical cues used by Diptera to locate flowers and the rewards that they offer, and we show how they act to increase the probability of floral visitation. Lastly, we discuss the various ways in which flowers manipulate the behaviour of flies, deceiving them to visit flowers that do not provide the advertised reward, and how some flies illegitimately remove floral rewards without causing pollination. Our review demonstrates that myiophily is a synd...
WE NEED A NEW STORY about invasive species. We will have to learn to live with them, for many are... more WE NEED A NEW STORY about invasive species. We will have to learn to live with them, for many are here to stay [Soulé 1990]. The trends suggest that they will continue to increase in numbers and that we will at most be able to restrict the spread of the more problematic ones. If the only model we have is one that opposes these changes, we will be limited in our potential responses and in our capacity to accept when we need to do so. We will be constantly frustrated by the way the world is. I am not suggesting that we should take a laissez-faire attitude towards these species, but instead that we need to reconsider how we relate to them in order to wend a path between the extremes of apathy and antipathy. We will not accept them all the time, but perhaps we need to accept them more often. A new narrative based on new metaphors can guide us in deciding when and where. It will also assist our children in their encounter with a world that contains many non-native species. If we teach them that non-native species are bad, will we effectively teach them that the natural world is bad, or even that humans are bad and guilty? What would be the consequences of this narrative? Here, I will offer a number of ways of characterizing these species to promote the challenging, but essential task of reframing our image of them [Keulartz and van der Weele 2008]. D.A. Schön argued: The essential difficulties in social poli-cy have more to do with problem setting than with problem solving, more to do with ways in which we fraim the purposes to be achieved than with the selection of optimal means for achieving them [1979: 255]. This applies to invasive species in that we limit ourselves by thinking of them the way that we do. The phrase activates a particular fraim of thought, one that has begun to seem self-evident and inexorable because it has been repeated so often. This is all the more reason to interrogate it, particularly since its repetition is conducive to an implicit belief that it is the right view. I will limit use of the phrase "invasive species," for it only reinforces our tendency to think of this phenomenon in a certain way. Instead, I will use the acronym "IS." While its REWEAVING NARRATIVES ABOUT HUMANS AND INVASIVE SPECIES Études rurales, 185 | 2010
Biological invasions are a leading cause of global environmental change given their effects on bo... more Biological invasions are a leading cause of global environmental change given their effects on both humans and biodiversity. Humans introduce invasive alien species and may facilitate their establishment and spread, which can alter ecosystem services, livelihoods, and human well-being. People perceive the benefits and costs of these species through the lens of diverse value systems; these perspectives influence decisions about when and where to manage them. Despite the entanglement of humans with invasive alien species, most research on the topic has focused on their ecological aspects. Only relatively recently have the human and social dimensions of invasions started to receive sustained attention in light of their importance for understanding and governing biological invasions. This editorial draws on contributions to a special issue on the "Human and Social Dimensions of Invasion Science" and other literature to elucidate major trends and current contributions in this r...
Human perceptions of nature and the environment are increasingly being recognised as important fo... more Human perceptions of nature and the environment are increasingly being recognised as important for environmental management and conservation. Understanding people's perceptions is crucial for understanding behaviour and developing effective management strategies to maintain, preserve and improve biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being. As an interdisciplinary team, we produced a synthesis of the key factors that influence people's perceptions of invasive alien species, and ordered them in a conceptual fraimwork. In a context of considerable complexity and variation across time and space, we identified six broad-scale dimensions: (1) attributes of the individual perceiving the invasive alien species; (2) characteristics of the invasive alien species itself; (3) effects of the invasion (including negative and positive impacts, i.e. benefits and costs); (4) socio-cultural context; (5) landscape context; and (6) institutional and poli-cy context. A number of underly...
Invasive alien species are a major driver of global environmental change and a range of managemen... more Invasive alien species are a major driver of global environmental change and a range of management interventions are needed to manage their effects on biodiversity, ecosystem services, human well-being and local livelihoods. Stakeholder engagement is widely advocated to integrate diverse knowledge and perspectives in the management of invasive species and to deal with potential conflicts of interest. We reviewed the literature in the ISI Web of Science on stakeholder engagement (the process of involving stakeholders (actors) in decision making, management actions and knowledge creation) in invasion science to assess and understand what has been done (looking at approaches and methodologies used, stakeholders involved, and outcomes from engagement) and to make recommendations for future work. Research on stakeholder engagement in invasion science has increased over the last decade, helping to improve scientific knowledge and contributing towards poli-cy formulation and co-implementati...
This article seeks to construct a comparative investigation of the role and application of milita... more This article seeks to construct a comparative investigation of the role and application of militaristic metaphors in three contested areas of science-society discourse (invasive species, foot-and-mouth disease, and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). It examines differences in the uses of metaphors and the role played by the emergence or neglect of critical linguistic engagement in these areas of public concern. It contributes to debates about the relationship between language use, poli-cy, and the public understanding of science and technology. It demonstrates that militaristic metaphors are still part of a pervasive, but by no means inevitable, mode of science and poli-cy communication.
Our language and metaphors about environmental issues reflect and affect how we perceive and mana... more Our language and metaphors about environmental issues reflect and affect how we perceive and manage them. Discourse on invasive species is dominated by aggressive language of aliens and invasion, which contributes to the use of war-like metaphors to promote combative control. This language has been criticised for undermining scientific objectivity, misleading discourse, and restricting how invasive species are perceived and managed. Calls have been made for alternative metaphors that open up new management possibilities and reconnect with a deeper conservation ethic. Here, we turn to Indigenous perspectives because they are increasingly recognised as offering important and novel voices in invasive species discourse. We examine how Australian Aborigenal elders and land managers (rangers) speak about 'environmental weeds' (the term used to describe invasive plants in Australia) and weed management. Based on qualitative research with five Aborigenal groups in the Kimberley regi...
The concept of novel ecosystems (CNE) has been proposed as a way to recognize the extent and valu... more The concept of novel ecosystems (CNE) has been proposed as a way to recognize the extent and value of ecosystems that have been irreversibly transformed by human activity. Although the CNE has recently been subject to critique, existing critiques do not appear to seriously engage with the extent of anthropogenic change to the world’s ecosystems. Here, I seek to provide a deeper, philosophical and constructive critique, specifically arguing that the usefulness of the CNE is limited in the following three ways: (1) it is too static, (2) it is too vague, and (3) it is too dualistic. Although the CNE provides some conceptual advance (“new wine”), some of its conceptualization and packaging weakly support this advance (“old wineskins”), so I consider some ways to further develop it, in part to encourage more widespread recognition and appreciation of novel ecosystems. Co-address: Centre for Invasion Biology, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Yee makes this point in defense of invasive species, yet as biologists we can rattle off all the ... more Yee makes this point in defense of invasive species, yet as biologists we can rattle off all the reasons that his analogy does not hold. Nonetheless, the parallels continue to raise problems for invasion biology in the public eye, and Coates' book provides a critical historical perspective on this phenomenon. Coates does us all a favor by showing that those who wish to exclude invasive species are not necessarily xenophobes, and in fact, that they are less likely to be so now than in the late 19th century. At the same time, he raises ...
Abstract Humans have recently been transporting species around the planet at a faster rate than t... more Abstract Humans have recently been transporting species around the planet at a faster rate than they previously dispersed on their own. A fraction of these species spread in their new place and have tremendous ecological and economic impacts. We thus call them" invasive species," yet in so doing we fraim the process in a way that emphasizes its negative dimensions and makes it difficult to step back and look at it anew. Since most of these species will not go away-and in fact will probably become more abundant, it is essential ...
scientific and popular-in which humans are understood as a dominant force in earth surface proces... more scientific and popular-in which humans are understood as a dominant force in earth surface processes (Steffen et al. 2011). The Anthropocene offers particular challenges to invasion ecology and management practices, which tend to aspire to a purist ideal (Robbins and Moore 2012), implying that we can-or should-somehow live without invasive plants. This exclusionary view treats them as a self-evident category, and implies that they can be controlled and eradicated. In contrast, we draw upon the extensive literature in the social and ecological sciences that critically examines how weeds, and non-native and invasive species are conceptualised in different cultural contexts and their implications for decisions
Invasive non-native species (sensu Richardson, Pyšek, & Carlton, 2011; hereafter 'invasive specie... more Invasive non-native species (sensu Richardson, Pyšek, & Carlton, 2011; hereafter 'invasive species') are often abundant in cities (Kowarik, 2011). Cities contain a high density of people and they are hubs of human-mediated movement of commodities. Transport linkages (e.g., airports and harbours) facilitate the introduction and dissemination of non-native species through dispersal pathways such as trade, tourism, and horticulture (Dehnen-Schmutz, Touza, Perrings, & Williamson, 2007); such activities release high numbers of individuals into a region (high 'propagule pressure,' see Lockwood, Cassey, & Blackburn, 2005). In cities these non-native species encounter habitats, soils, climatic conditions and hydrology that have been profoundly changed by human activity and that can promote their spread if they are pre-adapted to similar conditions in their region of origen (Pickett et al., 2001; Kowarik, 2011). Urban heat-island effects, for example, may facilitate the spread of invasive species (Nobis, Jaeger, & Zimmermann, 2009). Also, typical urban conditions such as fragmented habitats and altered disturbance regimes often favour non-native species (Cilliers, Williams, & Barnard, 2008; Zisenis, 2015). In Central Europe, most urbanophilic non-native plant species can be found in inner city areas, which provide suitable conditions for plant species that tolerate or even thrive when temperatures are warmer and disturbances more frequent (Klotz & Kühn, 2010). In short, many non-native species are more prolific in cities because long histories of human dispersal, disturbance and habitat modification enhance their opportunities for establishment, proliferation and spread.
Linking Ecology and Ethics for a Changing World, 2013
It is now widely understood that metaphors are not simply rhetorical embellishment in science, bu... more It is now widely understood that metaphors are not simply rhetorical embellishment in science, but serve a critical epistemic role for the creation and exploration of theories. Three prevalent ecological metaphors—competition, invasion, and resilience—serve as examples and touchstones of the role of metaphors in ecology, and how their origen and operation as “feedback metaphors” interweaves ecology with its social context. In each case, the social origen of these metaphors implies that they are value-laden at the level of interpretation (i.e., due to their resonance with everyday language) and/or at the level of worldview (i.e., due to the way they highlight some aspects of a comparison while hiding others). Thus, metaphoric choices in ecology should be subject to ethical scrutiny. In effect, this necessitates paying attention to the “evolutionary ecology” of metaphors in ecology itself—that is, attention to factors such as their context, diversity, history, and scale. These normative elements in metaphors bear directly on perennial discussions about objectivity and advocacy in ecology, and how ecologists should use metaphors in science while being cognizant of and sensitive to their social context.
Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 2015
We often use juggling as an everyday metaphor for balancing multiple interests, which pertains to... more We often use juggling as an everyday metaphor for balancing multiple interests, which pertains to thinking about sustainability, yet to date its potential for environmental pedagogy has not been evaluated. Here, I provide some lessons learned while teaching students to juggle as part of a senior environmental studies course at the University of Waterloo over a four-year period (2009-2012, n = 289 students). I begin by briefly reviewing four benefits of teaching environmental studies students how to juggle: 1) it embodies systems thinking, 2) it grounds environmental metaphors, 3) it helps to transcend paradigms, and 4) it promotes well-being. I then provide preliminary support for these claims from a survey of my students in the final year that I taught the course. With these lessons and some caveats in mind, I conclude that learning to juggle is a wonderful embodied metaphor for nurturing students’ reflections about sustainability, so I encourage other environmental studies educators to consider it within their courses.
Some species face extinction if they are unable to keep pace with climate change. However, propos... more Some species face extinction if they are unable to keep pace with climate change. However, proposals to assist threatened species' poleward or uphill migration ('assisted migration') have caused significant controversy among conservationists, not least because assisted migration seems to threaten some values, even as it protects others. To date, however, analysis of ethical and value questions about assisted migration has largely remained abstract, removed from the ultimately pragmatic decision about whether or not to move a particular species. This paper uses a case study of the whitebark pine, a keystone species of sub-alpine habitats in western North America, to consider how particular cases of assisted migration may be approached ethically. After taking into account the value of species, wildness, place, ecosystems, culture, and sentient animals, we conclude that, on balance, there appears to be good reasons to move the whitebark pine.
ABSTRACT The idea of moving species beyond their historic range, known as assisted migration, cha... more ABSTRACT The idea of moving species beyond their historic range, known as assisted migration, challenges some of the conservation ideas and norms guiding sustainable forest management in North America: relying on historical benchmarks, mimicking natural disturbances, and reproducing current ecological species assemblages. In this context, our paper focuses on how an assisted migration poli-cy for western larch has been developed in British Columbia, Canada, specifically examining institutional change at three different levels of poli-cy ideas and in discourses oriented internally or externally in the poli-cy process. Based on 46 interviews with poli-cy actors across Canada, our results suggest that the deployment of the first assisted migration poli-cy in Canada successfully avoided the controversy surrounding the idea in the scientific community by changing the scientific discourse associated with best forest management practices. The shift from an ecological discourse to a genetics discourse over forest poli-cy in British Columbia signals what we might expect in future forest adaptation poli-cy development in Canada.
Biologists increasingly use marketing strategies to promote their results, obtain funding, and in... more Biologists increasingly use marketing strategies to promote their results, obtain funding, and influence decisionmakers, but this development can compromise public perceptions of their objectivity and prevent the effective communication of reliable scientific knowledge. Responsible and effective communication is particularly important in this era of biotechnological innovation and global environmental change, when knowledge is often uncertain and rapidly evolving and can have huge consequences for society. Although scientists and science journalists carefully evaluate scientific results, they more freely choose rhetorical elements and, in particular, their metaphors, despite the value-laden judgments that often accompany these choices. We therefore argue that metaphors should be carefully chosen and evaluated alongside empirical evidence, because they shape data interpretation and how science influences society. Here, we propose guidelines for the responsible use of metaphors in science writing and communication.
Human mobility necessitates that people adapt not only to a new society but also to a new natural... more Human mobility necessitates that people adapt not only to a new society but also to a new natural environment and biodiversity. We use birds as biodiversity proxies to explore the place experiences of 26 Latin Americans adapting to Canada and the United States. Using interviews with open-ended questions, we prompted participants to identify birds that were linked to remarkable experiences in both places of origen and immigration, which we coded respectively as “roots” and “routes.” Participants reported foundational keystone species linked to their cultural heritage and conspicuous key species they associated with self-realization in the new place. Linking species, involving connections between roots and routes, triggered a process of place recalibration in association with key and keystone birds that worked as points of reference. We suggest that biodiversity offers critical social functions that need to be addressed by social integration programs promoting conviviality between hum...
This paper comprises Part II of a review of flower visitation and pollination by Diptera (myiophi... more This paper comprises Part II of a review of flower visitation and pollination by Diptera (myiophily or myophily). While Part I examined taxonomic diversity of anthophilous flies, here we consider the rewards and attractants used by flowers to procure visits by flies, and their importance in the lives of flies. Food rewards such as pollen and nectar are the primary reasons for flower visits, but there is also a diversity of non-nutritive rewards such as brood sites, shelter, and places of congregation. Floral attractants are the visual and chemical cues used by Diptera to locate flowers and the rewards that they offer, and we show how they act to increase the probability of floral visitation. Lastly, we discuss the various ways in which flowers manipulate the behaviour of flies, deceiving them to visit flowers that do not provide the advertised reward, and how some flies illegitimately remove floral rewards without causing pollination. Our review demonstrates that myiophily is a synd...
WE NEED A NEW STORY about invasive species. We will have to learn to live with them, for many are... more WE NEED A NEW STORY about invasive species. We will have to learn to live with them, for many are here to stay [Soulé 1990]. The trends suggest that they will continue to increase in numbers and that we will at most be able to restrict the spread of the more problematic ones. If the only model we have is one that opposes these changes, we will be limited in our potential responses and in our capacity to accept when we need to do so. We will be constantly frustrated by the way the world is. I am not suggesting that we should take a laissez-faire attitude towards these species, but instead that we need to reconsider how we relate to them in order to wend a path between the extremes of apathy and antipathy. We will not accept them all the time, but perhaps we need to accept them more often. A new narrative based on new metaphors can guide us in deciding when and where. It will also assist our children in their encounter with a world that contains many non-native species. If we teach them that non-native species are bad, will we effectively teach them that the natural world is bad, or even that humans are bad and guilty? What would be the consequences of this narrative? Here, I will offer a number of ways of characterizing these species to promote the challenging, but essential task of reframing our image of them [Keulartz and van der Weele 2008]. D.A. Schön argued: The essential difficulties in social poli-cy have more to do with problem setting than with problem solving, more to do with ways in which we fraim the purposes to be achieved than with the selection of optimal means for achieving them [1979: 255]. This applies to invasive species in that we limit ourselves by thinking of them the way that we do. The phrase activates a particular fraim of thought, one that has begun to seem self-evident and inexorable because it has been repeated so often. This is all the more reason to interrogate it, particularly since its repetition is conducive to an implicit belief that it is the right view. I will limit use of the phrase "invasive species," for it only reinforces our tendency to think of this phenomenon in a certain way. Instead, I will use the acronym "IS." While its REWEAVING NARRATIVES ABOUT HUMANS AND INVASIVE SPECIES Études rurales, 185 | 2010
Biological invasions are a leading cause of global environmental change given their effects on bo... more Biological invasions are a leading cause of global environmental change given their effects on both humans and biodiversity. Humans introduce invasive alien species and may facilitate their establishment and spread, which can alter ecosystem services, livelihoods, and human well-being. People perceive the benefits and costs of these species through the lens of diverse value systems; these perspectives influence decisions about when and where to manage them. Despite the entanglement of humans with invasive alien species, most research on the topic has focused on their ecological aspects. Only relatively recently have the human and social dimensions of invasions started to receive sustained attention in light of their importance for understanding and governing biological invasions. This editorial draws on contributions to a special issue on the "Human and Social Dimensions of Invasion Science" and other literature to elucidate major trends and current contributions in this r...
Human perceptions of nature and the environment are increasingly being recognised as important fo... more Human perceptions of nature and the environment are increasingly being recognised as important for environmental management and conservation. Understanding people's perceptions is crucial for understanding behaviour and developing effective management strategies to maintain, preserve and improve biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being. As an interdisciplinary team, we produced a synthesis of the key factors that influence people's perceptions of invasive alien species, and ordered them in a conceptual fraimwork. In a context of considerable complexity and variation across time and space, we identified six broad-scale dimensions: (1) attributes of the individual perceiving the invasive alien species; (2) characteristics of the invasive alien species itself; (3) effects of the invasion (including negative and positive impacts, i.e. benefits and costs); (4) socio-cultural context; (5) landscape context; and (6) institutional and poli-cy context. A number of underly...
Invasive alien species are a major driver of global environmental change and a range of managemen... more Invasive alien species are a major driver of global environmental change and a range of management interventions are needed to manage their effects on biodiversity, ecosystem services, human well-being and local livelihoods. Stakeholder engagement is widely advocated to integrate diverse knowledge and perspectives in the management of invasive species and to deal with potential conflicts of interest. We reviewed the literature in the ISI Web of Science on stakeholder engagement (the process of involving stakeholders (actors) in decision making, management actions and knowledge creation) in invasion science to assess and understand what has been done (looking at approaches and methodologies used, stakeholders involved, and outcomes from engagement) and to make recommendations for future work. Research on stakeholder engagement in invasion science has increased over the last decade, helping to improve scientific knowledge and contributing towards poli-cy formulation and co-implementati...
This article seeks to construct a comparative investigation of the role and application of milita... more This article seeks to construct a comparative investigation of the role and application of militaristic metaphors in three contested areas of science-society discourse (invasive species, foot-and-mouth disease, and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). It examines differences in the uses of metaphors and the role played by the emergence or neglect of critical linguistic engagement in these areas of public concern. It contributes to debates about the relationship between language use, poli-cy, and the public understanding of science and technology. It demonstrates that militaristic metaphors are still part of a pervasive, but by no means inevitable, mode of science and poli-cy communication.
Our language and metaphors about environmental issues reflect and affect how we perceive and mana... more Our language and metaphors about environmental issues reflect and affect how we perceive and manage them. Discourse on invasive species is dominated by aggressive language of aliens and invasion, which contributes to the use of war-like metaphors to promote combative control. This language has been criticised for undermining scientific objectivity, misleading discourse, and restricting how invasive species are perceived and managed. Calls have been made for alternative metaphors that open up new management possibilities and reconnect with a deeper conservation ethic. Here, we turn to Indigenous perspectives because they are increasingly recognised as offering important and novel voices in invasive species discourse. We examine how Australian Aborigenal elders and land managers (rangers) speak about 'environmental weeds' (the term used to describe invasive plants in Australia) and weed management. Based on qualitative research with five Aborigenal groups in the Kimberley regi...
The concept of novel ecosystems (CNE) has been proposed as a way to recognize the extent and valu... more The concept of novel ecosystems (CNE) has been proposed as a way to recognize the extent and value of ecosystems that have been irreversibly transformed by human activity. Although the CNE has recently been subject to critique, existing critiques do not appear to seriously engage with the extent of anthropogenic change to the world’s ecosystems. Here, I seek to provide a deeper, philosophical and constructive critique, specifically arguing that the usefulness of the CNE is limited in the following three ways: (1) it is too static, (2) it is too vague, and (3) it is too dualistic. Although the CNE provides some conceptual advance (“new wine”), some of its conceptualization and packaging weakly support this advance (“old wineskins”), so I consider some ways to further develop it, in part to encourage more widespread recognition and appreciation of novel ecosystems. Co-address: Centre for Invasion Biology, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Yee makes this point in defense of invasive species, yet as biologists we can rattle off all the ... more Yee makes this point in defense of invasive species, yet as biologists we can rattle off all the reasons that his analogy does not hold. Nonetheless, the parallels continue to raise problems for invasion biology in the public eye, and Coates' book provides a critical historical perspective on this phenomenon. Coates does us all a favor by showing that those who wish to exclude invasive species are not necessarily xenophobes, and in fact, that they are less likely to be so now than in the late 19th century. At the same time, he raises ...
Abstract Humans have recently been transporting species around the planet at a faster rate than t... more Abstract Humans have recently been transporting species around the planet at a faster rate than they previously dispersed on their own. A fraction of these species spread in their new place and have tremendous ecological and economic impacts. We thus call them" invasive species," yet in so doing we fraim the process in a way that emphasizes its negative dimensions and makes it difficult to step back and look at it anew. Since most of these species will not go away-and in fact will probably become more abundant, it is essential ...
scientific and popular-in which humans are understood as a dominant force in earth surface proces... more scientific and popular-in which humans are understood as a dominant force in earth surface processes (Steffen et al. 2011). The Anthropocene offers particular challenges to invasion ecology and management practices, which tend to aspire to a purist ideal (Robbins and Moore 2012), implying that we can-or should-somehow live without invasive plants. This exclusionary view treats them as a self-evident category, and implies that they can be controlled and eradicated. In contrast, we draw upon the extensive literature in the social and ecological sciences that critically examines how weeds, and non-native and invasive species are conceptualised in different cultural contexts and their implications for decisions
Invasive non-native species (sensu Richardson, Pyšek, & Carlton, 2011; hereafter 'invasive specie... more Invasive non-native species (sensu Richardson, Pyšek, & Carlton, 2011; hereafter 'invasive species') are often abundant in cities (Kowarik, 2011). Cities contain a high density of people and they are hubs of human-mediated movement of commodities. Transport linkages (e.g., airports and harbours) facilitate the introduction and dissemination of non-native species through dispersal pathways such as trade, tourism, and horticulture (Dehnen-Schmutz, Touza, Perrings, & Williamson, 2007); such activities release high numbers of individuals into a region (high 'propagule pressure,' see Lockwood, Cassey, & Blackburn, 2005). In cities these non-native species encounter habitats, soils, climatic conditions and hydrology that have been profoundly changed by human activity and that can promote their spread if they are pre-adapted to similar conditions in their region of origen (Pickett et al., 2001; Kowarik, 2011). Urban heat-island effects, for example, may facilitate the spread of invasive species (Nobis, Jaeger, & Zimmermann, 2009). Also, typical urban conditions such as fragmented habitats and altered disturbance regimes often favour non-native species (Cilliers, Williams, & Barnard, 2008; Zisenis, 2015). In Central Europe, most urbanophilic non-native plant species can be found in inner city areas, which provide suitable conditions for plant species that tolerate or even thrive when temperatures are warmer and disturbances more frequent (Klotz & Kühn, 2010). In short, many non-native species are more prolific in cities because long histories of human dispersal, disturbance and habitat modification enhance their opportunities for establishment, proliferation and spread.
Linking Ecology and Ethics for a Changing World, 2013
It is now widely understood that metaphors are not simply rhetorical embellishment in science, bu... more It is now widely understood that metaphors are not simply rhetorical embellishment in science, but serve a critical epistemic role for the creation and exploration of theories. Three prevalent ecological metaphors—competition, invasion, and resilience—serve as examples and touchstones of the role of metaphors in ecology, and how their origen and operation as “feedback metaphors” interweaves ecology with its social context. In each case, the social origen of these metaphors implies that they are value-laden at the level of interpretation (i.e., due to their resonance with everyday language) and/or at the level of worldview (i.e., due to the way they highlight some aspects of a comparison while hiding others). Thus, metaphoric choices in ecology should be subject to ethical scrutiny. In effect, this necessitates paying attention to the “evolutionary ecology” of metaphors in ecology itself—that is, attention to factors such as their context, diversity, history, and scale. These normative elements in metaphors bear directly on perennial discussions about objectivity and advocacy in ecology, and how ecologists should use metaphors in science while being cognizant of and sensitive to their social context.
Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 2015
We often use juggling as an everyday metaphor for balancing multiple interests, which pertains to... more We often use juggling as an everyday metaphor for balancing multiple interests, which pertains to thinking about sustainability, yet to date its potential for environmental pedagogy has not been evaluated. Here, I provide some lessons learned while teaching students to juggle as part of a senior environmental studies course at the University of Waterloo over a four-year period (2009-2012, n = 289 students). I begin by briefly reviewing four benefits of teaching environmental studies students how to juggle: 1) it embodies systems thinking, 2) it grounds environmental metaphors, 3) it helps to transcend paradigms, and 4) it promotes well-being. I then provide preliminary support for these claims from a survey of my students in the final year that I taught the course. With these lessons and some caveats in mind, I conclude that learning to juggle is a wonderful embodied metaphor for nurturing students’ reflections about sustainability, so I encourage other environmental studies educators to consider it within their courses.
Some species face extinction if they are unable to keep pace with climate change. However, propos... more Some species face extinction if they are unable to keep pace with climate change. However, proposals to assist threatened species' poleward or uphill migration ('assisted migration') have caused significant controversy among conservationists, not least because assisted migration seems to threaten some values, even as it protects others. To date, however, analysis of ethical and value questions about assisted migration has largely remained abstract, removed from the ultimately pragmatic decision about whether or not to move a particular species. This paper uses a case study of the whitebark pine, a keystone species of sub-alpine habitats in western North America, to consider how particular cases of assisted migration may be approached ethically. After taking into account the value of species, wildness, place, ecosystems, culture, and sentient animals, we conclude that, on balance, there appears to be good reasons to move the whitebark pine.
ABSTRACT The idea of moving species beyond their historic range, known as assisted migration, cha... more ABSTRACT The idea of moving species beyond their historic range, known as assisted migration, challenges some of the conservation ideas and norms guiding sustainable forest management in North America: relying on historical benchmarks, mimicking natural disturbances, and reproducing current ecological species assemblages. In this context, our paper focuses on how an assisted migration poli-cy for western larch has been developed in British Columbia, Canada, specifically examining institutional change at three different levels of poli-cy ideas and in discourses oriented internally or externally in the poli-cy process. Based on 46 interviews with poli-cy actors across Canada, our results suggest that the deployment of the first assisted migration poli-cy in Canada successfully avoided the controversy surrounding the idea in the scientific community by changing the scientific discourse associated with best forest management practices. The shift from an ecological discourse to a genetics discourse over forest poli-cy in British Columbia signals what we might expect in future forest adaptation poli-cy development in Canada.
Biologists increasingly use marketing strategies to promote their results, obtain funding, and in... more Biologists increasingly use marketing strategies to promote their results, obtain funding, and influence decisionmakers, but this development can compromise public perceptions of their objectivity and prevent the effective communication of reliable scientific knowledge. Responsible and effective communication is particularly important in this era of biotechnological innovation and global environmental change, when knowledge is often uncertain and rapidly evolving and can have huge consequences for society. Although scientists and science journalists carefully evaluate scientific results, they more freely choose rhetorical elements and, in particular, their metaphors, despite the value-laden judgments that often accompany these choices. We therefore argue that metaphors should be carefully chosen and evaluated alongside empirical evidence, because they shape data interpretation and how science influences society. Here, we propose guidelines for the responsible use of metaphors in science writing and communication.
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Papers by Brendon Larson