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Monday,
August 8,
8
PM
-
9:30 PM
, Meeting Rooms 710a and 710b,
Level 7, Palais des congrès de Montréal
Welcome,
Introductions, and Acknowledgements by President John Lee
Keynote
Lecture by Professor Anthony R.E. Sinclair, Centre for Biodiversity Research,
University of
British Columbia
Following
the remarks from INTECOL President John Lee, Professor Anthony Sinclair will
present the keynote lecture entitled, “Ecosystem
dynamics, conservation and human society: Lessons from the long-term record in
Serengeti”. He has provided the following summary.
“Long-term studies in many parts of the world, including
the Serengeti ecosystem, highlight their value in understanding ecosystem
dynamics. Understanding mechanisms of change in a system is required for both
Protected Areas and human ecosystems. Ecological baselines are essential to
monitor changes imposed by humankind on our environment, and Protected Areas
play this role. Baselines are needed because ecosystems change imperceptibly,
and without a reference point such changes go unnoticed. Ecosystems can also
change suddenly and irreversibly. Therefore, we need to detect slow change
before sudden large change occurs. To do this we use natural disturbances as
experiments to understand how the system functions.
“Information on the Serengeti ecosystem covers over 50
years and the information illustrates the use of disturbances. The main
perturbation was the change in wildebeest numbers due to the removal of an
exotic virus, rinderpest. Data illustrate multiple states in the ecosystem,
feedbacks between the biotic and abiotic realms, keystone effects of wildebeest
and complex indirect interactions. Changes in biodiversity
have resulted.
“This
information has direct application to human ecosystems and conservation: (1)
Long-term data are required to detect effects of infrequent and unpredictable
events and management should plan on the time scale of those events (90 years
here). (2) Systems can be self-regulating by either food or predation. (3) There
can be more than one state in the system, and there is no need to maintain only
one. (4) There is always long-term natural change in a system and should planned
for. (5) Understanding the human
system relies on having baselines in protected areas. (6) Human disturbance can
result in abnormal states.
Anthony
R. E. Sinclair,
FRS
, FRSC, is a Professor of Ecology and ex-director of the Centre for
Biodiversity Research,
University
of
British Columbia
. A New Zealander born and
raised in
East Africa
and educated in
Britain
, he has been at the
University
of
British Columbia
since 1975 and set up the
Centre for Biodiversity Research in 1996. He has worked in Serengeti for 40
years. His work has involved the theory of population regulation and ecosystem
dynamics, using the Serengeti to test these ideas. He has also worked in
northern
Canada
on boreal forest systems, and
currently in
New Zealand
and
Australia
on the effects of exotic
predators on endangered native marsupials and birds. Currently he works on
effects of biodiversity
change in Serengeti and its relevance to conservation.
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