Abstract
Since the 1960s, Ecology is a matter of crucial concern, with people becoming increasingly aware of the increasing environmental crisis. In reality, as a scientific discipline, Ecology was first officially addressed when the International Union for the Protection of Nature (IUPN, now IUCN, with “C” for “Conservation”) was created at the end of 1948: an agenda was drawn up, including the following topic: “the international cooperation for scientific research in the field of the Protection of Nature, especially concerning œcological research in the various fields of exact and natural sciences” (UIPN 1948, p. 15). The first concrete IUPN action was the organization, with UNESCO, of a technical conference, which took place at Lake Success (USA), in August, 1949. The Ecology Section of the conference was introduced by a French biologist, Georges Petit, who emphasized the fact that the relationships between the Protection of Nature and Ecology had been widely neglected, the Protection of Nature having been “considered for a long time only as the results of aesthetic or moral preoccupations” (Petit 1950, p. 304).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Baker WL (1995) Longterm response of disturbance landscapes to human intervention and global change. Landscape Ecol 10(3):143–159
Bergandi D (1995) ‘Reductionist holism’: an oxymoron or a philosophical chimaera of E.P. Odum’s systems ecology. Ludus Vitalis 3(5):145–180, reprinted in Keller, D.R. & F.B. Golley (eds.) 2000. The philosophy of ecology: from science to synthesis (abridged version), University of Georgia Press, Athens, pp 204–217
Blandin P (1980) Evolution des écosystèmes et stratégies cénotiques. In: Barbault R, Blandin P, Meyer JA (eds) Recherches d’écologie théorique. Les stratégies adaptatives. Maloine, Paris, pp 221–235
Blandin P (2004) Biodiversity, between science and ethics. In: Hanna S, Mikhail WZA (eds) Soil zoology for sustainable development in the 21st century. Egypte, Cairo, pp 3–35
Blandin P, Lecordier C, Barbault R (1976) Réflexions sur la notion d’écosystème: Le concept de stratégie cénotique. Ecol Bull 7:391–410
Blondel J (1986) Biogéographie évolutive. Masson, Paris
Blondel J (1995) Biogéographie. Approche écologique et évolutive. Masson, Paris
Dewey J, Bentley AF (1949) Knowing and the known. Beacon, Boston
di Castri F, Younès T (1996) Introduction: Biodiversity, the Emergence of a New Scientific Field–Its Perspectives and Constraints. In: di Castri F, Younès T (eds) Biodiversity, science and development. Towards a new partnership. CAB International and IUBS, Paris, pp 1–11
di Castri F, Younès T (1996) Introduction: Biodiversity, the Emergence of a New Scientific Field–Its Perspectives and Constraints. In: di Castri F, Younès T (eds) Biodiversity, science and development. Towards a new partnership. CAB International and IUBS, Paris, pp 1–11
Erwin TL (1988) The tropical forest canopy. The heart of biotic diversity. In: Wilson EO, Peter FM (eds) Biodiversity. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, pp 123–129
Ghilarov AM (2000) Ecosystem functioning and intrinsic value of biodiversity. Oikos 90:408–412
Golley FB (1991) The ecosystem concept: a search for order. Ecol Res 6:129–138
Goodman D (1975) The theory of diversity-stability relationships in ecology. Q Rev Biol 50(3):237–266
Harroy JP (1949) Définition de la protection de la nature. In: UIPN (ed) Documents préparatoires à la conférence technique internationale pour la protection de la nature. UNESCO, Paris, Bruxelles, pp 9–14
Hutchinson GE (1959) Homage to Santa Rosalia, or why are there so many kinds of animals? Am Nat 93:145–159
Leigh EG (1965) On the relationship between productivity, biomass, diversity, and stability of a community. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 53:777–783
Levin SA, Paine RT (1974) Disturbance, patch formation, and community structure. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 71:2744–2747
Loucks OL (1970) Evolution of diversity, efficiency and community stability. Am Zool 10:17–25
Macfadyen A (1975) Some thoughts on the behaviour of ecologists. J Anim Ecol 44:351–363
Margalef R (1969) Diversity and stability: a practical proposal and a model of interdependence. Brookhaven Symp Biol 22:25–37
McNeely JF et al (1990) Conserving the world’s biological diversity. IUCN/WRI, CI, WWF-US, The World Bank, Gland, Switzerland, Washington, DC
Naveh Z (2000) The total human ecosystem: integrating ecology and economics. Bioscience 50(4):357–361
Odum EP (1953) Fundamentals of ecology. W.B. Saunders, Philadelphia
Paine RT (1966) Food web complexity and species diversity. Am Nat 100:65–75
Petit G (1950) Protection de la nature et écologie. In: IUPN (ed) International technical conference on the protection of nature, Lake Success, 22-29-VIII-1949, proceedings and papers. UNESCO, Paris, Bruxelles, pp 304–314
Pickett STA, White PS (eds) (1985) The ecology of natural disturbance and patch dynamics. Academic, New York
Ricklefs RE (1987) Community diversity: relative roles of local and regional processes. Science 235:167–171
Smith FE (1972) Spatial heterogeneity, stability and diversity in ecosystems. Trans Conn Acad Arts Sci 44:309–335
Sousa WP (1979) Disturbance in marine intertidal boulder fields: the nonequilibrium maintenance of species diversity. Ecology 60:1225–1239
Sousa WP (1984) The role of disturbance in natural communities. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 15:353–391
Tansley AG (1935) The use and abuse of vegetational concepts and terms. Ecology 16:284–307
Tisdell CA (1995) Issues in biodiversity conservation including the role of local communities. Environ Conserv 22(3):216–222
UIPN (1948) Union internationale pour la protection de la nature, créée à Fontainebleau le 5 octobre 1948. UIPN, Bruxelles
White PS (1979) Pattern, process and natural disturbance in vegetation. Bot Rev 45:229–299
Wiens JA (1984) On understanting a non-equilibrium world: myth and reality in community patterns and processes. In: Strong DR Jr, Simberloff D, Abele LG, Thistle AB (eds) Ecological communities: conceptual issues and the evidence. Princeton University Press Princeton, New York, pp 439–457
Wilson EO (1988a) Biodiversity. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, pp v–vii
Wilson EO (1988b) Biodiversity. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, pp 3–18
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Blandin, P. (2011). Ecology and Biodiversity at the Beginning of the Twenty-first Century: Towards a New Paradigm?. In: Schwarz, A., Jax, K. (eds) Ecology Revisited. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9744-6_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9744-6_17
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-9743-9
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-9744-6
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)