Showing papers by "Kurt Jax published in 2011"

A spatial assessment of ecosystem services in Europe: Methods, case studies and policy analysis - phase 1

Abstract: Following the inclusion of ecosystem services in the new global and national post 2010 biodiversity policies, this report addresses the need to upgrade the knowledge basis of ecosystem services and their social and economic values in order to inform ongoing policy design and decision making processes. In particular, this study addressed the present research capacity to map, assess and report ecosystem services as well as their implications for different community and regional policies.

Etymology and Original Sources of the Term “Ecology“

Abstract: The term “Oecologie” was coined by the German zoologist Ernst Haeckel in 1866 in his book Generelle Morphologie der Organismen. It derives from the Greek “οικοσ” (oikos; house, household, also dwelling place, family) and “λογοσ” (logos; word, language, language of reason).

Early Ecology in the German-Speaking World Through WWII

Abstract: The scientific practice and theory of ecology in the German-speaking world arose simultaneously yet independently of each other in different places and in relation to different subjects. The new disciplining perspective took in lakes and fish ponds as well as native forest, heath and mountain landscapes, though it also included the flora and fauna of tropical and arctic regions. “German-speaking world” refers here not so much to an area determined by its political or natural borders but rather by its linguistic boundaries. A lively exchange of publications, objects and individuals took place within this scientific world. Cities and regions belonging to different spheres of political influence were a part of this Sprachraum, which encompassed Zurich, Vienna, Prague, Budapest and Berlin, as well as Bohemia, Silesia and Prussia, the Rhineland and the Valais. Perfect examples of the commonplace exchanges that took place in what we call the “German-speaking world” of that time were the botanists Simon Schwendener and Gottlieb Haberlandt, who were decisive for the formation of physiological plant ecology (see below). Schwendener was born and educated in Switzerland and spent most of his working life in Germany (Tubingen and Berlin; prior to that in Basel, Switzerland); Haberlandt was born in Hungary, educated in Austria and worked for most of his life in Austria (Vienna and Graz), though at times also in Germany (Tubingen and Berlin). So if – for the sake of brevity – we speak of “German” ecology in this chapter, we mean this region as delimited by the common use of the German language as a means of communication.

Stabilizing a Concept

Abstract: The concept of ecology emerged well before Haeckel’s coining of the word in the nineteenth century, when the logical possibility – and with it the quest – arose to understand the patterns of plant and animal distribution as a consequence of their immediate environmental relations. However, the formation of ecology into a self-conscious discipline – that is, a systematic enterprise engaged in by researchers who described themselves as doing “ecological” work – postdated Haeckel’s definition of ecology by some two decades.

The Early Period of Word and Concept Formation

Abstract: The neologism “Oecologie” was coined by German zoologist Ernst Haeckel in 1866. His intention in doing so, however, was not to establish a discipline of “Oecologie” along with its own concepts, theories and practices. Haeckel himself never engaged in “ecological” research, but rather invented the word to identify a hitherto unnamed branch in his system of zoology.This is highlighted by the fact that Haeckel first used the term “Oecologie” in a diagrammatic representation before setting out to explicate it in words (Haeckel 1866, vol.1, p. 238). It was not until around the 1890s that ecology became a “self-conscious” enterprise. Prior to that, the term served more as a focal point to denote certain activities that had been undertaken in disciplines such as zoology, botany, physiology, geography and oceanography, which in turn constituted the diverse roots of what would later be known as “ecology”.

The Fundamental Subdivisions of Ecology

Abstract: The conceptual foundations of ecology were developed rather independently in different biological fields (McIntosh 1985; Jax 2000; Schwarz 2003), leading early on to an array of subdivisions within the emerging discipline. These subdivisions result in part from research traditions that go back beyond the formation of ecology as a science and in part from new distinctions arising out of specialisations and new emerging topics within ecology. One distinction that was especially important in shaping the character of ecology as a concept was that created between those scientific fields within ecology that dealt with individual organisms and those that dealt with groups of organisms, in particular the distinction between autecology and synecology and, later on, population ecology.

Why Write a Handbook of Ecological Concepts

Abstract: Ecology has made considerable progress over the last few decades. Huge amounts of data have been collected and theories, concepts and practices elaborated, greatly increasing our understanding of living nature and our own influence on it. At several points during the twentieth century ecology became the focus of high expectations that it should help to solve the pressing – and now global – environmental problems that we face, and indeed these expectations appear still to be growing even today.

Formation of Scientific Societies

Abstract: An important step in consolidating ecology as a “self conscious” science was the formation of scientific societies explicitly devoted to ecology or particular parts of it

Structure of the Handbook

Abstract: The Handbook of Ecological Concepts deals with fundamental terms that are or have been of theoretical relevance in scientific ecology. They are discussed using an approach that to some extent builds on the methodology of history of concepts. Approaches using such a methodology were developed during the second half of the twentieth century in various encyclopaedic projects in the fields of history, politics, musicology and philosophy, among others (for a more detailed account, see Schwarz, Chap. 3 this volume). Rather than providing simple definitions and explanations, these approaches seek to trace and reconstruct the dynamics of concept building and conceptual transformation. This is exactly what this Handbook aims to do and is also reflected in the structure of the first volume. The following thoughts are rather provisional but confidently assume that this first volume will be followed by other volumes that allow to unfold the already existing blueprint entirely.