The Degradation of Icelandic Ecosystems

Abstract

For various reasons the restoration of a devastated ecosystem is valuable, although it is realised tha tin its natural form, an ecosystem is an unstable entity, flexible and everchanging, reacting to the variable influences of the environment and possibly eventually meeting destruction. A static condition is stagnation and lacks a successful response to sudden external changes, and even a climax community is not stable. It is also evident that from an aesthetic standpoint devastated areas often make magnificent landscapes and scientifically such areas may be of great interest as they provide habitats where one may follow a gradual development of communities.