OOS 17-1
The contribution of wilderness to ecological science and conservation: An overview
Ecology has sustained a fair amount of criticism lately for ignoring human-dominated ecosystems and focusing instead on natural areas. These natural areas, it is said, provide attractive places for research but contribute little to understanding of pressing environmental problems. However, natural areas, and wilderness in particular, have played a critical role in developing the ecological understanding that now undergirds environmental science as applied to human problems. As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, it is appropriate to consider the role that wilderness has played in the development of ecological science and ecology’s resulting impact on conservation generally. Wilderness areas are not only among the most intact systems with respect to historical conditions and therefore present outstanding opportunities to learn about historical ecosystem behavior, but they are managed intentionally to be as free as possible of human influence and therefore provide a (perhaps imperfect) yardstick of human effects elsewhere – a “base datum of normality” in the words of Aldo Leopold..
Results/Conclusions
Ecological research in wilderness has taught us much about the role of disturbance, especially fire, in sustaining ecosystems. Wilderness provides the “room to roam” needed by large carnivores, the study of which has taught lessons about the trophic structure of ecosystems and its importance to conservation. Large, Alaskan wilderness still allows for study of the behavioral ecology of herd migration, a phenomenon nearly lost in the contiguous U.S., and protected high-elevation watersheds allow the study of the genetic architecture of fish populations and resulting adaptive diversity. In all these ways, wilderness has made substantial contributions to our understanding of the ecosystems in which we live. Study of disturbance ecology led to the concept of historical range of variability, which now informs fire management and ecological restoration near communities, and study of genetic diversity informs climate change adaptation strategies. Still, all is not well in wilderness ecosystems, but the problems they face are often isolated enough from other compounding factors that wilderness continues to provide a laboratory for insights into how to solve the same problems closer to home. As we celebrate its first 50 years, wilderness promises to continue to make valuable contributions to ecology.