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Maximizing Empower on a Human-dominated Planet: The Role of Exotic Spartina (Eco Eng.)
Citation:
CAMPBELL, D. E., H. Lu, G. A. Knox, AND H. T. Odum. Maximizing Empower on a Human-dominated Planet: The Role of Exotic Spartina (Eco Eng.). ECOLOGICAL ENGINEERING. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 35(4):463-486, (2009).
Impact/Purpose:
This paper will be part of the proceedings of a conference on wetlands and ecological engineering held in China in June 2007. The proceedings will appear as a special issue of the journal “Ecological Engineering”. The paper presents the results of three studies of exotic Spartina performed for different purposes over a period of 26 years. Common patterns in the ecological role of Spartina are identified and individual differences between the systems and the social and political responses to these exotic plants are compared and related to the ecological role of the plant. The paper presents a new and perhaps controversial view of the exotic Spartina species and their role in the rapidly changing ecosystems of the earth. It is hoped that this paper will help inform the people who are concerned with exotic Spartina and how to best manage it.
Description:
The emergy signature of the Earth has changed dramatically over the past 250 years as a result of the development of technologies to use fossil fuels for human purposes. This change has resulted in the self-organization of modern industrial societies and their concomitant processes now dominate the Earth. One such process is the transport of species from specific regions of the Earth, to which they were formerly confined, and their introduction to new territories. In this paper, we examined the role of exotic Spartina sp. in promoting the self-organization of coastal ecosystems for maximum empower on three coasts, Marlborough Sounds, NZ, Willapa Bay, WA, USA, and Jiangsu Province, PRC. We found evidence to support the hypothesis that Spartina marsh maximizes empower through the building of new land in coastal environments that are dominated by an excess of sediment. Where excess sediments are present as a consequence of past geologic processes, and where a low marsh plant was absent, Spartina has been seen as an interloper to be destroyed. There is some evidence that given sufficient time exotic Spartina marshes may increase productivity and diversity in these coastal systems, as well as those that are actively prograding.