What three 2013 climate-related events have left us with $53 billion in damages? In addition to the enormous dollar amounts they racked up, the Tasmanian bushfires, Hurricane Sandy, and the EF5 Oklahoma tornado, together, left thousands homeless. Lives and the economy were disrupted. And that’s just the beginning of the droughts, heat waves, and super-storms that experts predict for the near future.
Our species has survived on Earth for 200,000 years. Yet, we are babies compared to 3.8 billion years’ experience of other living organisms. So as we struggle to be resilient, why not ask the species that, for eons, have been able to manage the same challenges? Let’s ask ourselves this: “What would nature do?”
The Genius of Biome report starts this conversation. How does nature design resilient forests to manage windstorms? What does nature do when faced with catastrophic disruption?
One example of amazing resilience in nature is the story of the American chestnut tree. The species once formed 25-50% of the temperate broadleaf forest canopy in the northeastern U.S. A major source of food for hundreds of species, the chestnut disappeared from this ecosystem 40 years after a new fungus, imported on non-native trees, arrived on the continent.
In the 1940s, when the chestnut trees died, the forest canopy opened up, the food web deteriorated, and soil erosion ensued. However, many tree species in those forests were not susceptible to the fungus and were also abundant food producers and soil stabilizers. Oak trees, sugar maples, serviceberry, and black cherry have now replaced the American chestnut and serve as primary food sources for forest creatures. A dense understory took over, assisting in soil stability. This catastrophic biological event was resolved because of the redundant functional roles existing in the community of species in the ecosystem.
How can we emulate this redundancy principle? We, too, experience catastrophic events that destroy our built environments; what could we do to foster resilience?
http://www.metropolismag.com/Point-of-View/June-2013/The-Genius-of-Biome/
