[APWG] Ecosystem Restoration: On Humans and Ecosystems

[Wayne Tyson]

Howdy y'all:

[I'm experimenting here with how much of the original message and the one to which it responds to leave attached. I'll appreciate Olivia's assessment and I'm sure she will appreciate comments from others regarding context, thread history, ease of comprehending the entire issue under discussion, etc. With respect to netiquette, Please note that the original thread's initial subject-line text was retained, facilitating the search for past messages in the original thread and a new sub-heading substituted. Also, Fleming, following the protocol currently in vogue, deleted the rest of the thread which presumably held zero relevancy to her strand.]

Quoting Ty Harrison: "I suggest, not very originally, that diversity might the touch-stone assessment of ecosystem health." [The rest of Harrison's post has been deleted, and the entire post which gave rise to the comment has been deleted. This is an example of what the moderator on another list demands, not necessarily what I think Kwong has in mind.] 

While diversity being the touch-stone of ecosystem health might not be original, Harrison's suggestion is well-taken, and I suspect largely correct or at least good enough--without serious defects. What might be worthy of discussion is the value of intuition in assessments, and the pitfalls of intuition. I have recently mentioned in another post that I have relied upon my opinion concerning the degree of ecosystem health, then been soundly trounced by data following conventional surveys. Similarly, walk-throughs may produce anecdotal data or leave an impression that might have a hole in it somewhere. Even surveys do not necessarily provide the whole picture, and even they (the gold standard of ecosystem analysis) are only a snapshot of the state of the ecosystem valid only for the instant at which it was taken. 

So, pray tell, what IS the "gold standard" with respect to assessing ecosystem health, and what is the "standard of care" for "unhealthy" ones? 

WT
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