Honeybees, Communicative Order, and the Collapse of Ecosystems |
| |
Authors: | Peter Harries-Jones |
| |
Institution: | (1) Department of Anthropology, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada |
| |
Abstract: | The paper examines the sudden disappearance in the United States of millions of honeybees in managed bee colonies. The major
research undertaken in the U.S. concentrates on finding the pathogens responsible. This paper suggests an alternative avenue
of research a) that as a result of global warming there is a disjunction between bees pollinating cycles and the life cycle
of plants b) that understanding changes in “timing cycles” as a result of global warming is the key to understanding the disappearance
of the bees. It notes that Gregory Bateson argued that any condition of ecosystem collapse would be characterized first by
a collapse in its communicative order rather, than from changed physical states. The collapse of bee colonies and demise of
other pollinators is a seeming confirmation of Gregory Bateson argument. Honeybees are ‘go betweens’ in ecosystemic order.
It also argues that an appropriate topology of timing cycles and their recursions would enable better visual comprehension
of the heterarchical ‘pattern which connects’, in Bateson’s phrase, and prompt awareness of possible catastrophe in human
food supplies.
|
| |
Keywords: | Communication Honeybee-plant recursions Sterile nectar Go-betweens in ecosystems Gregory Bateson Don McNeil Topology of timing cycles |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|