An introduction to the science for students, conservationists and consultants
Wildlife in the Balance is the first time the story of our place in nature and our balancing role among wildlife has been told. It’s also a plain English interpretation of complex science and the role of entropyThe degree of disorder or chaos in a system, most often used to describe thermodynamic energy but also used the behaviour of information. All else being equal, physics determines that all matter and energy moves towards chaos, therefore biological systems are in a continual state of battling against entropic forces in order to remain stable. The most stable ecosystem is More in ecosystemsHow ecosystems function An ecosystem is a community of lifeforms that interact in such an optimal way that how ecosystems function best, is when all components (including humans and other animals) can persist and live alongside each other for the longest time possible. Ecosystems are fuelled by the energy created by plants (primary producers) that convert the Sun's heat energy More. It offers a profoundly powerful way to understand systems ecology, essential for wildlife conservationWhy is animal conservation important? Animal conservation is important, because animals are the only mechanism to create biodiversity, which is the mechanism that creates a habitable planet for humans. Without animals, the energy from today’s plants (algae, trees, flowers etc) will eventually reach the atmosphere and ocean, much of it as carbon. The quantity of this plant-based waste is so More. It also stands as a thorough academic reference. Almost 300 citations are available for those who wish to read the background material in more depth.
The basic principle of energy flow through ecosystems
Overview
Central to the book is the concept of how energy flows through ecosystems. There is nothing new about this underlying concept.
The book applies fundamental principles of physics to ecological theory (something many academic authors have done before). There are thousands of papers on this subject dating back to the mid-1800s. This was even well before Einstein progressed understanding of Clausius’s second law of thermodynamicsThermodynamics are at the heart of our understanding of ecosystems and not an altogether difficult concept to grasp but one that isn't widely taught to ecologists. Basically, all life on Earth, is derived from the Sun's heat. This renewable energy source constantly bombards ecosystems with energy but they would overheat, if it wasn't for the absorptive capacity of food webs. More in 1904. The universal concept of ‘entropy’ underpins most of what we know about how the Universe works. It can explain how ecosystems work, via behaviour, language, natural selectionDarwin’s theory how species are formed, where those that stand in closest competition with those undergoing beneficial modification and improvement, will go extinct faster. Natural selection is by survival of the likeliest, not survival of the fittest. The fittest are only likely to survive because they happen to be most suited to the environment into which they are born. The More and culture.
At this point, I will take a moment to reflect on the opinions of physicists highly critical of how entropy is interpreted in popular science. No-one is saying that entropy proves how these systems work. But it does offer a ‘model’ of the kinds of workings that permeate the patterns of nature. There is no such thing as a unifying theory. But the basis on which to build an interpretation of ‘why’ ecosystems function(Of an ecosystem). A subset of ecosystem processes and structures, where the ecosystem does something that provides an ecosystem service of value to people. More can be found there. The overall structure of things flows through both tangible and less tangible ideas, such as Indigenous wisdom and storytelling. It can’t necessarily be described by an equation.
This is important. Entropy is a concept unfamiliar to most ecologists, despite being the only sensible way to frame ecosystem processes. After all, Earth is a heat engine and ecosystems are frameworks to moderate energy from the Sun, and maintain cooling. The components of this process are animals. Plants too, but only animals could establish the patterns necessary for human evolution and success. Explaining this concept at the start was needed, in order to frame the narrative correctly.
For those who wish to read more detail, Wildlife in the Balance refers to studies by the likes of England, Harte, Friston and also Lovelock (who has a long history of plain English interpretation of these principles).
Plain English
Fundamentally, this is not a book about entropy, even though some understanding of that principle is needed.
Another point of clarification. The word ‘chaos’ is used to describe the consequence of ecosystem breakdown. Chaos(Of energy and ecosystems). Ecosystems are thermodynamically driven. Disorder occurs when energy dissipates and becomes more chaotic. For example, the release of hot air into the atmosphere results in that energy is freer to disperse (maximum entropy). The opposite is true when energy is locked into biological processes, when it is stored inside molecules (minimum entropy). Stability in ecosystems occurs More, in the sense of physics, is a completely different thing. But chaos also has a plain English meaning. This difference is clearly defined in the book.
The book takes everyday behaviours that we all recognise. Most specifically, the way a supermarket operates and we ‘forage’ for our breakfast. It explains the function of entropy in that system, and therefore, how we are constrained by that force. It then explains how these behavioural traits evolved as a response to ecosystem stability, and why. Thus it identifies the purpose and role of wildlife (including humans) in reconstructing the biosphere. This protects us against the degrading effects of entropy.
The complex equations and mathematics behind the work of early physicists or the studies of these later authors, don’t need to be fully understood to appreciate their role in nature. They extend through landscapes via pattern-forming that occurs when surplus energy is minimised. This is the basic tenet of entropy in ecosystems … that a stable structure will last longest. Ecosystems provide greatest cooling when maximum energy is consumed i.e. the structures are most stable, and therefore there is least surplus energy. Surplus energy contributes to a breakdown of structures. This explains the feed back mechanisms we see in nature that can accelerate change or create tipping points.
How or why things work
It shows, via the work of academics such as Salthe, that scientists have long been concerned with ‘how’ things work. Whereas natural philosophyNatural philosophy concerns itself with the question of 'why' things work [1]. Natural science tries to work out 'how' [1]. Understanding the difference is fundamental to conservation but is largely missing . Natural philosophy has more in kin with ecological wisdom, such as the beliefs, cultures and traditions of first nations peoples all over the world. It embraces an understanding More, required to understand how ecosystem integrity forms, is more concerned with ‘why’. That’s to say, if we protect ‘why’ things work e.g. removing a threat to maintain ecosystem balance, the question of ‘how’ an ecosystem works becomes redundant. Since we can never understand the complexity of ecosystems, the latter would be a pointless exercise anyhow. But it’s how ecology has been done for decades. This is because most ecologists do not understand how complex systems function. In order to understand, we have to relearn by an appreciation for entropy in these systems.
The book’s thesis – why animals create a habitable planet
Animal impact
Where the book breaks its own new ground is in the application of these long-understood theories about entropy in ecosystems. It combines the old facts with with modern wisdom used for ecological impact assessment.
But instead of looking at the impact we have on animals, it flips this, and looks at the impact they have on us. The magnitude of that impact: it’s scale and intensity, explains it significance. Combined with simple representation of the exponential nature of complexity, it shows how risk and consequence can rapidly accelerate into local or even global problems.
It is in the interpretation of this knowledge that the book presents its unique thesis.
Transfer, concentration and amplification
Through the lens of entropy and pattern-forming in nature, alongside a knowledge of how humans (and other animals) evolved, the author identifies three processes that enable wildlife to build stable and complex ecosystems. These are, the transfer(of nutrients) the thing that sets animals apart from plants, is that they can move. Some of the biggest migrations on Earth every day, are the movement of insects like caterpillars, from the stem of a plant to a leaf and back, before turning into butterflies and transferring the energy elsewhere. Large-scale migration of grazing animals and migratory songbirds moves More, concentration and amplificationAmplification (of nutrients and energy). Animals consume plants and other animals and in doing so, reintroduce important energy-containing nutrients back into the environment, at even higher concentrations and in patches. Amplification of energy is driven by migration and happens at every scale, from insects moving daily in and out of your vegetable patch, to African wildebeest herds and the seasonal More of nutrientsEnergy and nutrients are the same thing. Plants capture energy from the Sun and store it in chemicals, via the process of photosynthesis. The excess greenery and waste that plants create, contain chemicals that animals can eat, in order to build their own bodies and reproduce. When a chemical is used this way, we call it a nutrient. As we More. Nutrients being the carbon-based, organic molecules, that form the basis for global energy-transfer.
Animals, in their abundance and diversity, enable the transfer of nutrients at scales that are needed for human beings to harvest enough energy for their own survival. The legacy of thousands of years of animal impactWhat is Animal Impact? Without wildlife, Earth would not be habitable for humans, because it's animals that stabilise ecosystems. It’s a fundamental law of nature that animals (and humans) exist because we are the most likely lifeforms to minimise environmental chaos. Animal impact, therefore, is a measure of how much all wildlife is collectively responsible for creating a habitable Earth. The More is to create the very foundations for human life support. This includes laying down soil, or concentrating nutrients in ocean upwelling areas. It’ also’s also fresh water and disease mitigation.
This transfer sets up the concentration of nutrients that often happens seasonally (or more frequently, at smaller spatial scales). But in diverse, fully-functioning ecosystems, nutrients are limited. Uptake is rapid, so paradoxically, the most stable ecosystems have little surplus nutrientA substance that contains the raw materials for life. At a chemical level, these are contained inside compounds that are absorbed into the body and essential energy-containing molecules are extracted, so that energy can be transformed into other chemical processes that use the energy for living. More (energy). Ecologists have long known this. The book explains why. But this poses a dilemma for the existence of a species like human, who need access to significant nutrient resources. That’s where amplification comes in. It’s the combined effort of whole pyramidal food chains that amplify these processes, thus lengthening the period of time that energy is available each season, making it possible for large animals like us, to persist in time.
Humanity’s best hope
Thus, the structural dimension that is driven by animals alone, is the sole basis for humanity’s existence. Plants are not the basis for human life support. They are the vehicle for introducing the sun’s energy into the system in the first place. The animal-driven structures literally absorb energy back into the functions and processes that enable human life support at the requisite scale for our existence.
In this way, animals are humanity’s best hope. Because wildlife (all animals) have always existed as a functioning unit, not separately. Because of the role of entropy in ecosystems, rebuilding wildlife populations is the only (and fastest and most effective) way to manage food security, clean water, disease and ultimately recreate a fair climate for living.
