Document: 061329

Perspectives on the methods and applications of a biosocial patch analysis in anthropogenic ecosystems.

Abstract:
This paper reports on the development and use of patch analysis for understanding and predicting ecosystem regularities in behavior and in designing projects for biological ecology restoration and human community social ecology revitalization. The methods are emergent but universal across three very different biosocial ecological domains-the arid loess region of Western China, the middle hills of Nepal and the inner city of Baltimore, USA. All use a gradient approach, usually a watershed or a surrogate watershed. All give attention to contextual inputs and influences, the pattern and processes observed at the unit of interest and the mechanisms shaping the behavior of that unit. Most attention will be given to the Baltimore system as the data have greater reliability, validity and are at a finer grain. Still these data are a mirror of the methods used or being tested at the other sites. An important factor in the development of the methods to examine human iosocial patches is attention to variations in social institutions, social meanings and social rituals that regulate the ecosystem. In Nepal a caste system shapes the structure and functioning of a forest user group (FUG) system. In Gansu, PRC the rainwater harvesting system is a mixture of kinship and commune organization. In Baltimore it is a volunteer/NGO system such as a neighborhood block watch, tree stewards group or a watershed association. These institutional and organizational variations are critical factors in the regulation or failure to regulate the ecosystem. The paper indicates ways in which our approach to patch analysis is an attempt to describe how social homogeneity at the small scale contributes to and responds to the mosaic of heterogeneity at larger scales. These characteristics give some predictability as to the resilience in response to internal and external perturbation to relevant patches of the larger district or 'watershed' system.

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This abstract is being presented at: 3:15 PM in session:
Symposium # 11: Urban Ecology: The Eastern and Western Perspectives.