Download SWES 474 - Research Paper #1

Entanglement of Perspective
by Alexandra Permar
SWES 474
October 6, 2005
Conservation
• “The protection, preservation, management,
or restoration of wildlife and of natural
resources such as forests, soil, and water.”
• “The maintenance of a physical quantity,
such as energy or mass, during a physical
or chemical change.”
Interplay of Variables…
• For quite some time, Homo sapiens have
been held primarily responsible for the
dissolution of ecosystems. However, it is
apparent than an interplay of systems is
constantly at work, with no single party
contributing necessarily more deleterious
effects than any other.
Marine Ecosystems
• “Changes in biodiversity (mostly synonymous with
local species richness) are highly variable over space
and time and frequently depend on specific biological
traits or functional roles of individual species”
(Covich et al
2004)
.
• “Changes in benthic species richness have highly
variable effects on ecosystem functioning in terms of
the magnitude and direction of responses”
.
(Covich et al 2004)
Southwest Alaska
• Variations in multi-species abundance in this region
“have been influenced by an ecological chain reaction
that encompasses numerous species and large scales of
space and time”
.
• Killer whales “responsible” for sea otter declines; their
intake increased when pinniped populations declined,
which was attributable to top-down processes including
predation, incidental losses of fisheries, purposeful
killing, toxins, and disease
.
(Estes et al 2004)
(Estes et al 2004)
Quantum Mechanics
• Entanglement – “the quantum states of two or
more objects have to be described with reference to
each other, even though the individual objects may
be spatially separated”
.
• Frame of Reference – what is observable in one
state may not be readily observable in another
state, but lack of observation of the two states
synchronously does not mean that only one exists
at any given moment.
(Entanglement 2005)
Schrödinger’s Cat
• A cat is placed in a sealed box. Attached to the
box is an apparatus containing a radioactive
nucleus and a canister of poison gas. The
experiment is set up so that there is a 50% chance of
the nucleus decaying in one hour. If the nucleus
decays, it will emit a particle that triggers the
apparatus, which opens the canister and kills the
cat.
• Exhibits the limitations of quantum mechanics.
Transition of Perspective…
• Space-time continuum.
• Loss of species = transformation of energy.
• Speciation = transformation of energy.
• What is conservation?
– All organisms participate in micro- and
macroscale systems of input and output.
– Concept of conservation is inherently dependent
upon one’s frame(s) of reference.
Entropy & Expansion
• Entropy – tendency towards disorder. All
processes occur spontaneously in the direction that
increases the entropy of the universe.
• Origins of the Universe – theory suggests all that
was required initially was the tiniest fragment of
energy, which then expanded due to fluctuations
between internal and external forces participating
in a type of balancing act, constantly in
disequilibrium with one another.
Whales
• Carcass falls to the bottom of the ocean and serves as
a source of nutrition for innumerable amounts of
other organisms (including plankton, fish, bacteria).
• One organism, such as a blue whale, contributes its
variables to X numbers of other organisms. In
doing so, these organisms tend to greater species
diversity themselves.
• Intricate web of systems tending toward greater
complexity.
Revision of Perspective…
• Expansion of perception necessary in order to
truly understand the web of intricacies always at
work.
• Conservation is part and parcel to
“nonconservation” (i.e. existence “without”
conservation).
• Speciation is equivalent to a perceived “loss” of
species.