Bridging the GAPS between ecology and human security - Environmental and Human Security in the Arctic - page 133

Complex networks and interactions, such as those found in food webs
( Figure 8.3) , mean that causal relationships are often difficult to deter-
mine precisely, and that future pathways are difficult to predict, due
to the complexity of positive and negative feedbacks. While we pro-
ject future scenarios precisely, we can often generate a range of options,
although there is uncertainty about exactly which scenario will play
out. This uncertainty is inherent in ecological systems. But many ecolo-
gists hold the view that our broader society has few means of dealing
with this uncertainty when it comes to managing the environment in
a realistic way.

Nitrogen Protozoa

Skua

Kittiwake
Guillemots
Fulmar petrel
Little auk
Puffin
Northern eider
Long-tailed duck
Red throated diver

Glaucus gull

Bacteria Dung

Mineral salts

Collembola
Diptera
Mites
Hymenoptera

Dead plants

Spider

Plants

Arctic fox

Marine
animals

Worms

Ptarmigan Dung

Geese

Seals

Snow bunting

Diptera

Purple sandpiper

Polar bear

Algae Protozoa

Decaying
matter

Lepidurus

Diptera

Entomostraca
Rotifera

Entomostraca
Rotifera
Tardigrada
Oligochaeta
Nematoda

Freshwater plankton

Protozoa

Moss

Algae

Freshwater benthic and littoral

Figure 8.3 The food web described by Summerhayes and Elton for Bear Island,
Norway, in 1923
Source: adapted from Summerhayes and Elton (1923); redrawn by Justinleif, Wikimedia
Commons