History of Ecology, the Environmental Movement and Agriculture

1. History of Ecology, the Environmental Movement and Agriculture Martha Rosemeyer IES January 6, 2003

2. Outline • I. History of Ecology (Martha) • II. The Environmental Movement (Lin) • III. The intersection of ecology, the environmental movement and agriculture (Martha)

3. Ecology is the science that underpins the environmental movement, especially ecosystem ecology • Ecology is the study of the interactions between living organisms and their environment • Ecosystem is a community of organisms (biotic components) and their environment (abiotic components) interacting as an ecological unit

4. Ecosystems Dynamic systems through time with characteristic patterns of: A. energy flow B. nutrient cycling C. succession

6. Food web concept important in bioaccumulation • As one organism ingests another then the toxins accumulate, particularly those that are fat soluable

7. Nutrient Cycles Guo and Bradshaw 1993

8. Sucession Succession

9. History of Ecology • Herodotus 480 BC “balance of nature” concept • Ernst Haeckel (1869) coined term “ecology” • German biologist = “economy of nature” • Ellen Swallow (Richards) called “the woman who founded ecology” (1892) She used “ecology” to mean broad, interdisciplinary field. She particularly focused on industrial pollutants and air and water quality

10. F. (and E.) Clements 1900 • Vegetational communities as an organism that is born reaches climax state through succession • Contested by other scientists whose data does not support this, e.g. Cowles, Cooper • plants and animals do not act as one assemblage-- much variability in their range • Another idea that influenced agriculture: weeds are indicators of soil properties • Ideas are still around in various forms • Gaia concept, Lovelock and Margulis

11. Cowles Tansley • Tansley (British) 1935 concept of the ecosystem • “The elegance of the[Tansley’s] idea of the ecosystem is that it is comprehensive, including within itself all those elements physical, chemical and biological, which could conceivably affect the organisms being studied.” (Evans 1976) • Note that still focussed on the organism • However, the ecosystem idea was also shared by a number of other scientists Photo: Chicago Daily News

12. Eugene Odum, Introduction to Ecology text 1953 • Defined ecology as the structure and function of ecosystems • Influenced by others developing ideas of energy flow and nutrient cycles, which he systematized and explained well • Heavily influenced by brother, Howard, an Electrical Engineer

13. Drawings of energy flow diagrams used electrical engineering symbols Guo and Bradshaw 1993

14. History of nutrient cycling • von Leibig, German chemist 1840 • plants assimilate nutrients from soil • basic nutrient cycles, e.g. nitrogen

15. Sukachev 1945 (Russian) • “biogeocoenosis” = biogeochemical cycling • “One of the teachings of dialectical materialism is that in nature all phenomena and objects are interrelated.” • “It is a major task of natural science to deepen its knowledge of existing relationships to discover the underlying patterns with a view to controlling them on behalf of man.” Sukachev 1960

16. II. Environmental movement • Where did the environmental movement begin? • time • site specificity or name specificity

17. III. The intersection of ecology, the environmental movement and agriculture • Agriculture starts about 12,000 years ago- traditional systems • ... • US until 1940-50 most holding small, ie what a family could farm • some mechanization • inputs, like fertilizer, low • hybrid corn 1930s

18. Green revolution 1950, post WW II, “conventional” ag • Appeared to be imminent famine in China and India • Green Revolution means: Adoption of high yielding varieties, dependent upon irrigation, fertilizers and pesticides

19. Wartime capability turned to produce peacetime inputs for war on famine • pesticides (defined as a substance which kills weeds, insects or bacteria, fungi (disease-causing organisms) • Successful in terms of absolute increase in food production • 1960s and 1970s, social impact of green revolution was reported • in Punjab, India, small farmers loose their land, credit becomes an issue

20. 1960-1970s Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring 1962 • Environmental impacts of agriculture come forward • Environmentalists view agriculture “bad” because it is humanly managed vs. the “pristine” natural world • Environmental groups don’t actively support organic agriculture

21. 1980s Rise of agroecology as a response to conventional ag: interdisciplinary field- five majorcontributors • Ecology • Environmentalism • Agriculture • Indigenous agriculture, especially traditional tropical systems • Social sciences

22. Agroecology • AE is the study of the interactions between living organisms and their environment in agricultural systems • takes a “systems approach” • Latin America contributed ideas ahead of US • Altieri, Gliessman, Vandermeer, Carroll • Varying social emphasis, e.g. in Latin America the social aspects are much more emphasized vs. in US where agroecology is heavily weighted toward the ecological

23. “Hot” topics in agroecology • Pesticides and bioaccumulation • Pesticide effects on biodiversity • Mixtures of pesticides and effects on organisms • Endocrine disrupting effects of pesticides and industrial chemicals • Genetic engineering and “genetic pollution” in environment Diverse Peruvian potatoes

24. “Hot” topics in agroecology, cont. • Soil food web- function of diversity • Predator/prey interactions and biocontrol • Nutrient cycles • Industrial waste--toxic waste and application to land of heavy metals and dioxin in fertilizers

25. Environmental groups now are embracing sustainable agriculture • Greenpeace- anti-genetic engineering campaign • Sierra Club/Friends of the Earth run articles on sustainable agriculture often • Redefining Progress hosts sustainable agriculture conference

26. Major underlying philosophical themes in agroecology and the environmental movement • Are humans separate from or part of nature? • Are their aspects of nature that act as a supra-organism? • Is a reductionist or holistic approach more useful and accurate, or do they each give different information?