“Save the whales. Collect the whole set”

“Plan to be spontaneous tomorrow”

“Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy

U6110 Syllabus: Course Outline• Designed to foster understanding of the structure and

function of land-based environmental systems and their management. The course focuses on an investigation of the mechanisms and interconnections found within and among components of land resource systems and with associated human systems.

• Objectives:– To define an interdisciplinary approach to address land-based

environmental problems and issues.– To develop appropriate skills related to geographical information

systems and database structure/functioning.– To develop skills needed to recognize and analyze the

relationships among the scientific, technological, societal and economic issues that shape environmental research and decision-making.

Populations and Land Use (50% each)Labs: 50% (5 formal labs)

Mostly minds-on experiments with computers. Lab report due (make sure you respect scientific format!)

Final (Inclusive): 30%Quizzes: 10%Field Trip Report: 10%

U6110 Syllabus: Grading (activities)

Today• Intro to Evolution:

“Why the tail can’t wag the dog…”

• Terrestrial Ecosystems & Environmental Science

“The peacock’s tail”: A history of complexity…a) The most complex creatures have tended to

increase in elaboration through time, andb) Humans are, by far, the most complex creatures

of life’s tree

Evolution

Evolution:Variation vs. Complexity

“Why the tail can’t wag the dog…”Trends and the proper use of central tendencies:

Evolution of “complexity” in simple organisms

Variation vs. Complexity

Forams and the third try

In this situation, life’s “mean” complexity may have increased, the “mean” is a terrible measure (and “mode” proper) of “average” or “central tendency” in highly skewed distributions

However There is a constant argument which postulates that an expanding right tail demonstrates a predictable upward thrust of the whole

Variation vs. Complexity

The drunkard’s walk and the law of statisticsVariation vs. Complexity

-) Life has a necessary origin near the left wall (“you can’t precipitated a lion out of the primordial soup”)

-) When there is a necessary origin near the left wall the only way to go is right towards increase in numbers and kinds (increase in variation)

Variation vs. ComplexityCope’s Rule and the increase in body size

along evolutionary lineages

-) Cope’s rule identifies a predominant relative frequency, not an absolute statement.

-) All traditional interpretations of Cope’s rule have been framed in terms of supposed evolutionary advantages for larger bodies (there must be one to survive).

-) The apparent trend is more of increase range of variation rather than absolute size

Variation vs. ComplexityCope’s Rule and the increase in body size

along evolutionary lineages – Really?

During the evolution of forams (for example), there exists no preference for increasing size in speciation event

Variation vs. Complexity

It seems that Cope’sRule is driven by an increase in variance rather than a simple directional trend in body size.Size increase, is thus no more than random evolution away from small size.

Cope’s other Rule of “the unspecialized” states that founding members of highly successful lineages tend to be small and unspecialized (can tolerate a wide range of environmental conditions and changes) and do not possess complex and highly specific adaptations to narrow behaviors or modes of life (the peacock and the panda).

No directed evolution towards large size or complexity!

Variation vs. Complexity

The modal bacter

The most desired ingredient of western comfort rests in finding a clear signal of progress measured as some form of steadily increasing complexity of life as a whole through time.

Progress, however can only be validated by looking at extremes

The “upper level attained” is not a measure of organization in general”

“Why the tail can’t wag the dog…”

Driven vs. PassiveThere is no direct ancestry between life forms in the sequence of the right tail of complexity!

But does that mean that complexity can’t be driven?

Driven vs. PassiveBoth vertebrate and invertebrate fossil records suggest that increasing complexity is passive rather than driven.

The modal bacter and Leonardo’s David“We are glorious accidents of an unpredictable process with no drive to complexity, not the expected result of evolutionary principles that yearn to produce a creature capable of understanding the mode of its own necessary construction”

The odds of the human experiment are to phenomenal to replicate…

Human domination of Earth’s EcosystemsHuman alterations of the Earth System in a simplified way

Human domination of Earth’s EcosystemsQuantification of human “footprint” show that humans now appropriate 20-60% of life-sustaining resources of the Earth

Humans use about 8% of the total primary productivity of the Oceans 25% for upwellings and 35% for continental shelves

Human domination of Earth’s Ecosystems

Changes to global biogeochemical cyclesThe modern increase in CO2 represents the clearest and best documented signal of human alteration (30%) of the Earth system.

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Changes to global biogeochemical cyclesThe increase in CO2 is far from being homogeneous

(although the atmosphere is a very well mixed fluid!)

Biotic ChangesHuman modification so Earth’s biological resources (its species and genetically distinct populations) is substantial and growing.

“Extinction” and “invasion” are natural processes, but the current rate of loss and of transport is, respectively:- Decreasing genetic/species variability- Homogenizing Earth’s biota

Land transformation and invasion are the two most significant causes of biological extinction.

From an evolutionary point of view, humans are negligible forms of life (well, almost…) despite the highest level of complexity attained

From an environmental point of view, humans are central since their impact is unprecedented (temporal and spatial) on Earth

We cannot afford NOT to be anthropocentrists!To maintain the anthropocentric view it becomes paramount to learn how to manage our “land”:

- GIS- Mass/Energy balances (models/empirical)- Studies of critical systems (i.e. forests/peatlands: sources/sinks of CO2)- Agriculture/Biodiversity

Environmental Change

Environmental Change

“There is no clearer illustration of the extent of human dominance of Earth that the fact that

maintaining the diversity of “wild” species and the functioning of “wild” ecosystems will require

increasing human involvement!”Vitousek et al. (1997) Science. Vol. 277