Further Efforts to Clarify Industrial Ecology's Hidden Philosophy of Nature

As an emerging discipline, industrial ecology represents a promising interdisciplinary field that studies industrial systems and their fundamental linkage with nature. At the root of its scientific profile lies a refreshingly different perspective on nature as a model in comparison with other disciplines' orthodox understanding nature in terms of a "sack of resources" the "biophysical limit""something outside""surrounding" or just "environment". In contrast to these phrases, industrial ecology's perspective indicates an important change in the interpretation of nature, from the interest in intervening in or preserving nature toward an orientation by nature, from the comprehension of nature as an object toward understanding nature as a model, and from exploiting natural resources toward learning from nature as, in part, an ideal. This characteristic perspective of industrial ecology is typically stated with an appealing natural ecosystem metaphor and based on an analogy between industrial systems and natural ecosystems. On the basis of initial efforts to conceptualize industrial ecology's underlying assumptions concerning nature, a philosophically focused analysis of nature as a model is presented. Industrial ecology's implicit philosophy of nature is thus uncovered and clarified. Finally, a set of arguments drawing on the philosophy of science and on Kantian epistemology and philosophical anthropology is provided to gain greater conceptual clarity and to contribute to laying a solid foundation for industrial ecology's stimulating role in achieving sustainability at large.     

Assessing evolutionary epistemology

There are two interrelated but distinct programs which go by the name evolutionary epistemology. One attempts to account for the characteristics of cognitive mechanisms in animals and humans by a straightforward extension of the biological theory of evolution to those aspects or traits of animals which are the biological substrates of cognitive activity, e.g., their brains, sensory systems, motor systems, etc. (EEM program). The other program attempts to account for the evaluation of ideas, scientific theories and culture in general by using models and metaphors drawn from evolutionary biology (EET program). The paper begins by distinguishing the two programs and discussing the relationship between them. The next section addresses the metaphorical and analogical relationship between evolutionary epistemology and evolutionary biology. Section IV treats the question of the locus of the epistemological problem in the light of an evolutionary analysis. The key questions here involve the relationship between evolutionary epistemology and traditional epistemology and the legitimacy of evolutionary epistemology as epistemology. Section V examines the underlying ontological presuppositions and implications of evolutionary epistemology. Finally, section VI, which is merely the sketch of a problem, addresses the parallel between evolutionary epistemology and evolutionary ethics.This research was supported, in part, by a grant from the National Science Foundation # SES—8308720. I want to thank Richard Lewontin and the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University for their hospitality and support during Spring 1984. I also want to thank David Hull, Charles Dyke and Michael Ruse for helpful comments on an earlier draft, and Andy Altman for pointing out to me the passage from Inherit the Wind.     

The Ecosystem: Model or Metaphor?

Industrial ecology offers an original way of looking at economic activities. The approach is based on an analogy between certain objects studied by the science of ecology (ecosystems, metabolisms, symbiosis, biocenosis, etc.) and industrial systems. However, this analogical relationship raises difficulties due to the various interpretations to which it is open. Although there is agreement regarding its heuristic function, the analogy can nevertheless be understood either as a model or as a metaphor. The present article first attempts to show how models differ from metaphors. It then sets out to justify the epistemological relevance of this distinction for industrial ecology research. The reflection should thus contribute to clarifying the debate on the (supposed or desired) role of analogy in the field of industrial ecology and heighten the interest this field of investigation represents for implementing sustainable development.     

Diversity and Connectance in an Industrial Context

The ecological metaphor of industrial ecology is a proven conceptual tool, having spawned an entire field of interdisciplinary research that explores the intimate linkages between industry and its underlying natural systems. Besides its name and a number of borrowed concepts, however, industrial ecology has no formal relationship with the ecological sciences. This study explores the potential for further interdisciplinary collaboration by testing whether some of the same quantitative analysis techniques used in community ecology research can have meaning in an industrial context. Specifically, we applied the ecological concepts of connectance and diversity to an analysis of Burnside Industrial Park in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Our results demonstrate that these ecological tools show promise for use in industrial ecology. We discuss the meaning of connectance and diversity concepts in an industrial context and suggest next steps for future studies. We hope that this research will help to lay the groundwork of an ecologically inspired tool kit for analyzing industrial ecosystems.     

对一个气孔经验模型的电学类比分析和模拟检验

对Ｂａｌｌ等人提出的气孔经验模型进行了分析和模拟检验,分析是通过电学类比实现的,在引进叶片边界层导度很大等假设后可以从气孔内外ＣＯ２浓度之比保持恒定的实验事实推导出这个经验模型的表达式;在其它类似的实验事实的基础上已可作同样的推导。模拟检验中采用的是由我们建立的人为完整的气孔对环境响应的机理性定态数学模型。两种方法得出的结论是一致的：Ｂａｌｌ等人的经验模型有一定的局限性,因为它不能模拟边界层阻力和叶温对气孔导度的影响。由此我们指出叶片表面的风速是影响气孔导度的重要环境因子之一。一个完整的气孔模型必须包括它的影响。     

A new species of Phoenicopsis (Leptostrobales) from the Maastrichtian–Danian of Chukotka,Russia

A new species, Phoenicopsis anadyrensis Nosova, is described based on the leaf morphology and cuticle features from the Maastrichtian–Danian Rarytkin Formation, Chukotka, North-East of Russia. It is characterized by hypostomatic leaves with stomatal bands on the abaxial side, undulate anticlinal epidermal cell walls and papillae on the epidermal cells and on the subsidiary cells of the stomata. The new species is the youngest reliable representative of the genus Phoenicopsis. This record extends the stratigraphic range of Phoenicopsis from its previously known latest records in the early Campanian up to Maastrichtian–Danian. The persistence of the genus Phoenicopsis up to the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary is most likely related with vicinity to mountain floras associated with Late Cretaceous and Paleogene volcanic uplands.     

太白山地区蜜环菌种类

对太白山地区的蜜环菌进行了调查,共发现4个互交不育群:Armillaria borealis、CBSJ、CBSN和CBS F,均为四极性异宗配合。扩大了部分种类的分布范围,该地区可能为CBSJ种群的最北分布界线。     

Products and Ecological Models: A Population Ecology Perspective

Industrial ecology has used the systems ecology model, with its emphasis on the flows of energy and nutrients, as a tool to find ways to minimize the adverse environmental effects of industrial activity. A second ecosystem model, the population ecology model, emphasizes intra-and inter-specific interactions of many types. When applied to industrial systems, it suggests an increased focus on products. It therefore can provide a useful complement to the systems ecology approach. If industrial processes that are less harmful to the environment are to be successfully implemented, they will have to produce products that can successfully penetrate the marketplace. A number of historical examples are used to illustrate the many product interactions discussed.     

Intuitive physical reasoning about occluded objects by inexperienced chicks

Questions concerning the role of nature and nurture in higher cognition appear to be intractable if one restricts one's attention to development in humans. However, in other domains, such as sensory development, much information has been gained from controlled rearing studies with animals. Here, we used a similar experimental strategy to investigate intuitive reasoning about occluded objects. Newborn domestic chicks (Gallus gallus) were reared singly with a small object that became their social partner. They were then accustomed to rejoin such an imprinting object when it was made to move and disappear behind either one of two identical opaque screens. After disappearance of the imprinting object, chicks were faced with two screens of different slants, or of different height or different width, which may or may not have been compatible with the presence of the imprinting object hidden beneath/behind them. Chicks consistently chose the screen of slant/height/width compatible with the presence of the object beneath/behind it. Preventing chicks from touching and pecking at the imprinting object before testing did not affect the results, suggesting that intuitive reasoning about physical objects is largely independent of specific experience of interaction with objects and of objects' occluding events.     

Vyazniki biotic assemblage of the terminal Permian

A new unique and diverse biotic assemblage of the terminal Permian has recently been discovered in the town of Vyazniki (Central Russia). The Vyazniki terrestrial community is transitional between Permian and Triassic ones and represents the last, so far unknown stage of the global ecological crisis of the continental biota at the Permian-Triassic boundary. The successive development of land biotic crisis in the Late Permian, which was followed by mass extinction at the Permian-Triassic boundary, and long, successive postcrisis development and specialization of new Triassic groups as well as rearrangement and diversification of the biotic assemblage composition and community structure suggest predominance of intrinsic, biotic causes of this crisis, realized in destabilization, alteration, and new stabilization of continental communities and ecosystems.     

Ecological studies of polyploidy in the 100 years following its discovery

Polyploidy is a mutation with profound phenotypic consequences and thus hypothesized to have transformative effects in plant ecology. This is most often considered in the context of geographical and environmental distributions—as achieved from divergence of physiological and life-history traits—but may also include species interactions and biological invasion. This paper presents a historical overview of hypotheses and empirical data regarding the ecology of polyploids. Early researchers of polyploidy (1910s–1930s) were geneticists by training but nonetheless savvy to its phenotypic effects, and speculated on the importance of genome duplication to adaptation and crop improvement. Cytogenetic studies in the 1930s–1950s indicated that polyploids are larger (sturdier foliage, thicker stems and taller stature) than diploids while cytogeographic surveys suggested that polyploids and diploids have allopatric or parapatric distributions. Although autopolyploidy was initially regarded as common, influential writings by North American botanists in the 1940s and 1950s argued for the principle role of allopolyploidy; according to this view, genome duplication was significant for providing a broader canvas for hybridization rather than for its phenotypic effects per se. The emphasis on allopolyploidy had a chilling effect on nascent ecological work, in part due to taxonomic challenges posed by interspecific hybridization. Nonetheless, biosystematic efforts over the next few decades (1950s–1970s) laid the foundation for ecological research by documenting cytotype distributions and identifying phenotypic correlates of polyploidy. Rigorous investigation of polyploid ecology was achieved in the 1980s and 1990s by population biologists who leveraged flow cytometry for comparative work in autopolyploid complexes. These efforts revealed multi-faceted ecological and phenotypic differences, some of which may be direct consequences of genome duplication. Several classical hypotheses about the ecology of polyploids remain untested, however, and allopolyploidy—regarded by most botanists as the primary mode of genome duplication—is largely unstudied in an ecological context.