Robert C. Szaro

The emergence of ecosystem management as a tool for meeting people's needs and sustaining ecosystems

Ecosystem management is an approach that attempts to involve all stakeholders in defining sustainable alternatives for the interactions of people and the environments in which they live. Its goal is to restore and sustain the health, productivity, and biodiversity of ecosystems and the overall quality of life through a natural resource management approach that is fully integrated with social and economic needs. For practical purposes, ecosystem management is generally synonymous with sustainable development, sustainable management, sustainable forestry and a number of other terms being used to identify an ecological approach to land and resource management. Ecosystem management emphasizes place- or region-based objectives, with scopes and approaches defined appropriately for each given situation. Because natural ecosystems typically cross administrative and jurisdictional boundaries, managing them requires interactions among different stakeholders and institutions. Ecosystem management remains an evolving force that must yet respond and adapt to numerous challenges.

New international long-term ecological research on air pollution effects on the Carpathian Mountain forests, Central Europe

An international cooperative project on distribution of ozone in the Carpathian Mountains, Central Europe was conducted from 1997 to 1999. Results of that project indicated that in large parts of the Carpathian Mountains, concentrations of ozone were elevated and potentially phytotoxic to forest vegetation. That study led to the establishment of new long-term studies on ecological changes in forests and other ecosystems caused by air pollution in the Retezat Mountains, Southern Carpathians, Romania and in the Tatra Mountains, Western Carpathians on the Polish-Slovak border. Both of these important mountain ranges have the status of national parks and are Man & the Biosphere Reserves. In the Retezat Mountains, the primary research objective was to evaluate how air pollution may affect forest health and biodiversity. The main research objective in the Tatra Mountains was to evaluate responses of natural and managed Norway spruce forests to air pollution and other stresses. Ambient concentrations of ozone (O(3)), sulfur dioxide (SO(2)), nitrogen oxides (NO(x)) as well as forest health and biodiversity changes were monitored on densely distributed research sites. Initial monitoring of pollutants indicated low levels of O(3), SO(2), and NO(x) in the Retezat Mountains, while elevated levels of O(3) and high deposition of atmospheric sulfur (S) and nitrogen (N) have characterized the Tatra Mountains. In the Retezat Mountains, air pollution seems to have little effect on forest health; however, there was concern that over a long time, even low levels of pollution may affect biodiversity of this important ecosystem. In contrast, severe decline of Norway spruce has been observed in the Tatra Mountains. Although bark beetle seems to be the immediate cause of that decline, long-term elevated levels of atmospheric N and S depositions and elevated O(3) could predispose trees to insect attacks and other stresses. European and US scientists studied pollution deposition, soil and plant chemistry, O(3)-sensitive plant species, forest insects, and genetic changes in the Retezat and Tatra Mountains. Results of these investigations are presented in a GIS format to allow for a better understanding of the changes and the recommendations for effective management in these two areas.

Selection effects of air pollution on gene pools of Norway spruce, European silver fir and European beech

The effects of industrial pollution on allelic and genotypic structures of Norway spruce. European silver fir and European beech were investigated by means of isozyme analysis. In a mixed Norway spruce-silver fir forest stand in an area heavily polluted by sulphur dioxide and heavy metals in the region of Spis (eastern Slovakia), pairs of neighbouring damaged and apparently healthy trees were selected in two replicates (44 and 69 pairs in a heavily and moderately damaged stand, respectively). Pairwise sampling of trees with contrasting vitality was applied to reduce potential effects of site heterogeneity on the vitality of sampled trees. No significant differences in allelic and genotypic frequencies were found between sets of healthy and declining trees. There were differences in the single-locus heterozygosities, but these were not consistent between the replicates. However, the set of damaged trees exhibited higher levels of genetic multiplicity and diversity, possibly due to the deleterious effect of rare alleles under the conditions of air pollution. Consequently. following the decline of pollutant-sensitive trees, the remaining stand will be depleted of a part of alleles with unknown adaptive value to future selection pressures.

Sustainable forest management in the developing world: science challenges and contributions.

Abstract Forests are a global resource and important issues dealing with their use and maintenance cannot be effectively dealt with in an insular fashion. Global participation is mandatory, if these resources are to be sustained and equitably utilized. The seriousness and urgency of most of the forestry and environmental problems are linked to the inability or means of developing countries to provide appropriate scientific and technical knowledge, effective policy, regulations and planning frameworks to deal with the problems. To fully understand and appreciate the challenges to forest science, it is useful to establish an appropriate background against which they should be viewed, and suggest how to improve our capability to deliver knowledge for a sustainable future. There are three keys to making this a reality: information, innovation, and implementation — all derived from human resources.

Implementing ecosystem management: using multiple boundaries for organizing information

Implementing ecosystem management requires learning to work with multiple factors, at multiple scales, using multiple boundaries and borders for organizing information. Traditional approaches often oversimplified information collection and analyses by relying on a limited set of classifications and information constructs. Experience has consistently shown that attempting to constrain analyses and assessments to one or a few organizing systems and related boundaries results in less than satisfactory information to support an ecological approach. Debates over which boundaries or borders are best and should therefore be the organizing device for ecosystem management are not useful or constructive. A more useful question is which set ecological approaches and their related boundaries provide the best information to address the resource issues at a particular time and place. Multiple boundaries, scales and factors increase the complexity of ecosystem management, but also represent an essential component for improved understanding of the sustainable management of lands and resources.

The role of fish, wildlife and plant research in ecosystem management

This paper examines the concepts of ecology, ecosystems, and ecosystem management and then further examines the role of fish, wildlife, and plant ecology research in ecosystem management, past, present, and future. It is often assumed that research in support of ecosystem management will entail comprehensive studies of entire ecosystems whereas research programs that focus on one species do not constitute ecosystem management level research. The supposed dichotomy between single species and ecosystem level approaches has been the focus of considerable debate. However, this is a false dichotomy and ecosystem studies and single-species studies simply represent two ends of a spectrum of approaches for understanding ecological processes. Given that the level of scientific investigation (e.g., individual species, community, or ecosystem) does not differentiate ecosystem management research from more traditional approaches, what are the distinguishing features? Ecosystem management research is broader in scope than more traditional ecological studies. A greater emphasis is also placed on integrating results of various studies and programs to understand larger scale interactions and the structure and function of ecosystems. Model building also plays a greater role in ecosystem management research efforts as a means of not only understanding ecosystem processes but also as a means of generating hypotheses. Although the primary responsibilities of research and management are different, there is much room for interaction and integration of functions. Consequently, adaptive management has become an important part of ecosystem management and will likely become a larger part of basic research programs. However, adaptive management experiments should not be the endpoint. Instead, results from adaptive management studies should be used to generate hypotheses that can be tested with more traditional and rigorous scientific methods. As managers begin to deal at larger spatial and longer temporal scales changes in the end-products of research will be necessary. The task of assessing present as well as future conditions will greatly increase the need for user-friendly analytical tools (e.g., simulation models) that allow managers to visualize conditions on a large scale. A balance of adaptive management and traditional experimental designs will ultimately lead to better models of management.

Ecosystem Management as an Approach for Sustaining Forests and Their Biodiversity

Ecosystem management is an approach that attempts to involve all stakeholders in defining sustainable alternatives for the interactions of people and the environments in which they live. The inadequacy of the traditional resource management paradigm to deal with multiple scales and larger areas that encompass both public and private lands coupled with growing concern over decreasing biodiversity gave rise to its development. It is based on a collaboratively developed vision of desired future ecosystem conditions that integrates ecological, economic, and social factors affecting an area that is defined by multiple boundaries including ecological and political ones. It is a goal-driven approach to restoring and sustaining healthy ecosystems and their functions and values while supporting communities and their economic base.