Reconstructing EBM before Things Fall Apart

For a few years now, folks have been up in arms trying to come up with a universally accepted definition for Ecosystem Based Management - a goal about as realistic as an episode of Laguna Beach. At best, it's a theoretical approach, so instead of debating what it means, we should be asking how to implement strategies that incorporate the broad principles of this concept. At the '07 Society for Conservation Biology conference next month, I'll be speaking about just that - moving from theory to practice. Allow me to elaborate.. The green and blue planet where we live is a very complicated place. Interactions among species and landscapes impact ecosystems in countless, often unexpected ways. What fascinates me most is that seemingly disparate localized patterns are increasingly connected and predictable as you scale out in space and time. Like an impressionist painting, it might not make sense up close ...