TY - JOUR
T1 - A critique of the 'novel ecosystem' concept
AU - Murcia, C.
AU - Aronson, J.A.
AU - Kattán, G.H.
AU - Moreno-Mateos, D.
AU - Dixon, Kingsley
AU - Simberloff, D.S.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. The 'novel ecosystem' concept has captured the attention of scientists, managers, and science journalists, and more recently of policymakers, before it has been subjected to the scrutiny and empirical validation inherent to science. Lack of rigorous scrutiny can lead to undesirable outcomes in ecosystem management, environmental law, and policy. Contrary to the contentions of its proponents, no explicit, irreversible ecological thresholds allow distinctions between 'novel ecosystems' and 'hybrid' or 'historic' ones. Further, there is no clear message as to what practitioners should do with a 'novel ecosystem'. In addition, ecosystems of many types are being conserved, or restored to trajectories within historical ranges of variation, despite severe degradation that could have led to their being pronounced 'novel'.
AB - © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. The 'novel ecosystem' concept has captured the attention of scientists, managers, and science journalists, and more recently of policymakers, before it has been subjected to the scrutiny and empirical validation inherent to science. Lack of rigorous scrutiny can lead to undesirable outcomes in ecosystem management, environmental law, and policy. Contrary to the contentions of its proponents, no explicit, irreversible ecological thresholds allow distinctions between 'novel ecosystems' and 'hybrid' or 'historic' ones. Further, there is no clear message as to what practitioners should do with a 'novel ecosystem'. In addition, ecosystems of many types are being conserved, or restored to trajectories within historical ranges of variation, despite severe degradation that could have led to their being pronounced 'novel'.
U2 - 10.1016/j.tree.2014.07.006
DO - 10.1016/j.tree.2014.07.006
M3 - Article
SN - 0169-5347
VL - 29
SP - 548
EP - 553
JO - Trends in Ecology and Evolution
JF - Trends in Ecology and Evolution
IS - 10
ER -