Designer Ecosystems: Incorporating Design Approaches into Applied Ecology

Posted: 11 Nov 2015

See all articles by Matthew Ross

Matthew Ross

Duke University - Department of Biology

Emily S. Bernhardt

Duke University - Department of Biology

Martin Doyle

Duke University

James Heffernan

Duke University - Environmental Science and Policy Division

Date Written: November 2015

Abstract

To satisfy a growing population, much of Earth's surface has been designed to suit humanity's needs. Although these ecosystem designs have improved human welfare, they have also produced significant negative environmental impacts, which applied ecology as a field has attempted to address and solve. Many of the failures in applied ecology to achieve this goal of reducing negative environmental impacts are design failures, not failures in the science. Here, we review (a) how humans have designed much of Earth's surface, (b) the history of design ideas in ecology and the philosophical and practical critiques of these ideas, (c) design as a conceptual process, (d) how changing approaches and goals in subfields of applied ecology reflect changes and failures in design, and (e) why it is important not only for ecologists to encourage design fields to incorporate ecology into their practice but also for design to be more thoroughly incorporated into ours.

Suggested Citation

Ross, Matthew and Bernhardt, Emily S. and Doyle, Martin and Heffernan, James, Designer Ecosystems: Incorporating Design Approaches into Applied Ecology (November 2015). Annual Review of Environment and Resources, Vol. 40, pp. 419-443, 2015, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2688537 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-121012-100957

Matthew Ross (Contact Author)

Duke University - Department of Biology ( email )

Durham, NC 27708
United States

Emily S. Bernhardt

Duke University - Department of Biology ( email )

Durham, NC 27708
United States

Martin Doyle

Duke University ( email )

James Heffernan

Duke University - Environmental Science and Policy Division ( email )

Durham, NC 27708
United States

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