Man and nature: present, past and future
L1 nature
Nature = not man made, so not agricultural
Creative and controlling force in the universe, the entire external world in its entirety.
Anything that organizes and maintains itself, whether or not in connection with human
activity but not according to human objectives.
Landscape = whole geological, biological and cultural elements that constitute to a higher order in a
given area.
Can have human interaction & perception,
Neutral + anthropogene
Nature conservation = managing the environment without despoiling, exhausting or extinguishing it
Nature management = what to do to get nature conservation
• Internal vs external management
• Regular management vs recovery management vs nature development vs rewilding
• Mitigating measures vs compensating measures
• Species based vs system based
L2 present state of nature
Disturbing forces of nature:
• Deforestation
• Fishery, and its strong increase
o Fishing down the foodweb
• Direct exploitation/active persecution (= jagen)
• Hidden biodiversity destruction
o antibiotics
• Cities/urbanisation
o Groundwater level changes
• Changes in river systems
o Different erosion/sedimentation effects
o Obstruction of species
• Infrastructure
o Fragmentation
o roadkills
o Salt for highway use
• Agriculture, nitrogen feritlizer
• SO2 emissions
• CO2 emissions
o Climate change
o Ocean acidification
LPI = living planet index = measure of the state of biodiversity
WWF (= WNF) living planet report
-> species and ecosystems are exploited
-> species and ecosystems are confronted with circumstances they’re not adapted to
,Ultimate causes:
• Increase world population
• Enhanced agricultural engineering
• Industrialization
• Globalization
• Enforced economic market mechanisms
L3 gathering and interpreting data
Data gathering
• Primary level = inventory & monitoring
• Secondary level = data bases
• Tertiary level = application & use
Spatial presentation:
• Administrative borders
• Selected measuring sited
• UTM = Universal Transverse Mercator = old grid
• RD coordinates = 5 km2: yes or no for species, most used
o Finer spatial scale -> nicer ecological data
o Better understanding of degree of rarity
Look at landscape under grid to draw conclusions
Monitoring = comparing over time
Might fluctuate over time so be careful
Mapping = atlasing = surveying = picture over space at one time
Rarity: look at:
• Geological range
• Habitat specificity
• Local population size
Red list:
combines present state + trend
Bern convention + habitat directive -> national
nature protection act (within NL)
, L4 Visions on nature
Ecosystem services:
• Provisioning services = food, water, wood, fuel, etc
• Supporting services = nutrient cycling, soil, primary production, etc
• Regulating services = climate, flood protection, etc
• Cultural services = aesthetics, educational, recreational, etc
Images of nature = how people think nature is -> can be combination of more
• Wild nature: supporting
• Follwing nature, secondary nature: supporting
• Extraction nature (fishing for fun etc): cultural
• Production nature (fishing commercially): providing
• Regulatory nature: regulating
• Harmful nature
• Annoying nature
• Healing nature: providing/regulating
• Aesthetic nature: cultural
• Intriguing nature: cultural
• Informative nature: cultural
• Domesticated nature: providing
Human relationship with nature:
L1 nature
Nature = not man made, so not agricultural
Creative and controlling force in the universe, the entire external world in its entirety.
Anything that organizes and maintains itself, whether or not in connection with human
activity but not according to human objectives.
Landscape = whole geological, biological and cultural elements that constitute to a higher order in a
given area.
Can have human interaction & perception,
Neutral + anthropogene
Nature conservation = managing the environment without despoiling, exhausting or extinguishing it
Nature management = what to do to get nature conservation
• Internal vs external management
• Regular management vs recovery management vs nature development vs rewilding
• Mitigating measures vs compensating measures
• Species based vs system based
L2 present state of nature
Disturbing forces of nature:
• Deforestation
• Fishery, and its strong increase
o Fishing down the foodweb
• Direct exploitation/active persecution (= jagen)
• Hidden biodiversity destruction
o antibiotics
• Cities/urbanisation
o Groundwater level changes
• Changes in river systems
o Different erosion/sedimentation effects
o Obstruction of species
• Infrastructure
o Fragmentation
o roadkills
o Salt for highway use
• Agriculture, nitrogen feritlizer
• SO2 emissions
• CO2 emissions
o Climate change
o Ocean acidification
LPI = living planet index = measure of the state of biodiversity
WWF (= WNF) living planet report
-> species and ecosystems are exploited
-> species and ecosystems are confronted with circumstances they’re not adapted to
,Ultimate causes:
• Increase world population
• Enhanced agricultural engineering
• Industrialization
• Globalization
• Enforced economic market mechanisms
L3 gathering and interpreting data
Data gathering
• Primary level = inventory & monitoring
• Secondary level = data bases
• Tertiary level = application & use
Spatial presentation:
• Administrative borders
• Selected measuring sited
• UTM = Universal Transverse Mercator = old grid
• RD coordinates = 5 km2: yes or no for species, most used
o Finer spatial scale -> nicer ecological data
o Better understanding of degree of rarity
Look at landscape under grid to draw conclusions
Monitoring = comparing over time
Might fluctuate over time so be careful
Mapping = atlasing = surveying = picture over space at one time
Rarity: look at:
• Geological range
• Habitat specificity
• Local population size
Red list:
combines present state + trend
Bern convention + habitat directive -> national
nature protection act (within NL)
, L4 Visions on nature
Ecosystem services:
• Provisioning services = food, water, wood, fuel, etc
• Supporting services = nutrient cycling, soil, primary production, etc
• Regulating services = climate, flood protection, etc
• Cultural services = aesthetics, educational, recreational, etc
Images of nature = how people think nature is -> can be combination of more
• Wild nature: supporting
• Follwing nature, secondary nature: supporting
• Extraction nature (fishing for fun etc): cultural
• Production nature (fishing commercially): providing
• Regulatory nature: regulating
• Harmful nature
• Annoying nature
• Healing nature: providing/regulating
• Aesthetic nature: cultural
• Intriguing nature: cultural
• Informative nature: cultural
• Domesticated nature: providing
Human relationship with nature:
