Systems ecology and environmentalism: Getting the science right. Part I: Facets for a more holistic Nature Book of ecology

This is the first of two numbered papers for this Special Issue dealing with the ecological basis of environmentalism. The second follows, in a subsequent issue if not here. Patten (2013) gives a short preview of both papers. Problems of environmentalism-environmental protection, conservation, and preservation-are now widely appreciated as important to human enterprise and destiny. Called to attention by advances in descriptive empirical ecology, the new problems are too complex for this same ecology to solve without further expansion of basic knowledge. To understand how nature works two kinds of science are needed, one empirical, describing what is immediate and tangible, the other theoretical, developing first-principles understanding of what is indirect and intangible. Development of a complex systems theory based ecology is hindered by over-commitment of attention and resources to applied environmentalism. This may in its inadequacy run counter to how nature works, which could be detrimental to both humanity and nature. It is important to get the science right. As background for a revisionary hypothesis presented in Part II, five elements of basic ecology and five of applied environmentalism are here reviewed. The basic topics are ecological energetics, linear vs. nonlinear dynamics, steady vs. non-steady states, epistemic mediation, and indirect effects. The environmental topics are overpopulation, biodiversity, invasive species, sustainability, and global change. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.