Event-Ecosystem Dilemma

Abstract

A complex ecological process exists and changes over time, but we almost never study it as an ecosystem. We study separate events of destruction, substances, samples, diseases, territories, and statistical relationships. We then make decisions about the ecosystem on the basis of these events. This is the Event-Ecosystem Dilemma.

The observed events do not form a neutral image of the ecosystem. We notice first of all what is too destructive or too close to people to remain unnoticed. Visibility is also determined by access, instruments, methods, disciplinary boundaries, funding, and political interests. It is therefore important to distinguish the event from the subject matter. The event exists in reality. The subject matter is part of the event that the scientific community has selected and agreed to study. When the subject matter is taken for the event itself, a cognitive split emerges: the event continues to change, while the scientific community studies its own image of reality.

In this situation, methodology becomes not only a way of studying, but also a mechanism of visibility. It determines which parts of the process are recognized as existent.