β Scribed by Gregory M. Mikkelson
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Toward a Unified Ecology is an intriguing book from both scientific and philosophical points of view. One of several recent attempts to provide a comprehensive critique of ecology (see also Peters 1991, Schrader-Frechette andMcCoy 1993), it may well fulfill its goal of helping to shape a more effective science. Though the authors cite few philosophers by name, they make strong philosophical claims, chiefly with respect to three dichotomies: complexity versus simplicity, reduction versus holism, and realism versus antirealism. After a brief synopsis of the book, I will consider its relevance to these philosophical concerns.
Allen and Hoekstra's main project is to dissolve the classic ecological hierarchy of individual -population -community -ecosystem -landscapebiome -biosphere, so that a more precise and flexible hierarchy based directly on spatio-temporal scale can emerge. The components of the old hierarchy, they maintain, are useful concepts. But they should be thought of not as different levels of organization, but as different perspectives on the same levels (Wimsatt 1976). The reconstituted ecological hierarchy, they believe, will help managers solve their many-scaled problems, and help scientists answer a more powerful set of questions.
Though not always convincing in their deconstruction and reconstruction of ecological hierarchy, Allen and Hoekstra highlight some very interesting research along the way. For example, Lake Wingra in Madison, Wisconsin undergoes an intense boom in nutrient levels every spring as melting dogshit flushes off of suburban lawns. Populations of salmon hatchlings declined in the streams of western North America, more because of a scarcity in adult salmon carcasses (which feed the algae, which feed the hatchlings' invertebrate prey) than because of a shortage of eggs laid. And the stability of soil microcosms is positively correlated with ecosystemic complexity, despite the "ocean of speculation and clever reasoning" that had predicted otherwise.
The authors also give lucid introductions to several innovative methods of analysis. For example, they describe four types of pattern -spiral, meandering,
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