Significance of system thinking approach in scientific restoration of any degraded ecosystem

In our earth system: lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere are so interactive that any change in one of these spheres affects others. This change is at last visible in the form of functioning variability in a particular ecosystem in four ways. One, the lithosphere includes the soil crust and acts as foundation of terrestrial ecosystems and the source of nutrients because soils are formed from the parent geologic material which builds soil structure, soil texture, water holding capacity, and fertility. Two, the atmosphere regulates the climate and creates the environmental conditions of an ecosystem. Three, the hydrosphere facilitates the movement of water throughout oceans, icebergs, rivers, streams, lakes, ponds and water vapours in the atmosphere. And four, the biosphere acts as our ultimate life zone where soil, water, and air combine to sustain the life. In this way, all physical, chemical and biological processes in any ecosystems are interlinked.

The term ecosystem refers to an integrated system that is composed of an abiotic environment, a biotic community, and their dynamic interactions (Tansley[i] , 1935). Since an ecosystem has interacting and connected abiotic and biotic components, it has well defined system boundary with distinguished properties. Furthermore, an ecosystem scale as a unit of study can range from a lake catchment, to a watershed, to a river basin, to a landscape, to a biome, to a biosphere. In this manner, a river basin as an ecosystem is also made up of assembles of abiotic and biotic components that interact together to give the system emerging properties. It is therefore crucial to recognize that an ecosystem is a set of interdependent elements that work together as a functional unit, however, these elements cannot be described or understood in isolation, because they are scientifically a part of a well defined complex system. So, the exploration of interdependencies, dynamics, and feedback loops occurring within the ecosystem requires a comprehensive understanding of various elements of such system.?

The application of system thinking approach is therefore essential for a detailed methodical description of any composite ecosystem where system boundaries play a crucial role in interactions between abiotic and biotic components and consequently yielding a varied flora and fauna with diverged soil, water and air conditions.?

For example, in water limited ecosystems, availability of water (mainly through precipitation) is highly variable throughout the year and typically occurs in the form of uneven and erratic rainfall events. Moreover, individual precipitation events are massively large. And, surface runoff during these events mostly results in large scale flash floods. Also, inconsistent precipitation between years makes things even worse by causing extreme aridity in the form of droughts. As rainfall oscillates strongly within and between years, there is a large spatiotemporal variation in net primary production. Secondary limiting factor is soil that directly affects the water and nutrient availability as soil (texture and structure) acts as water and nutrient stores. As the properties of these soils are the major factors in determining the nature of the vegetation, there is thus a clear scientific link and a positive correlation between geodiversity and biodiversity. Consequently, the feedback loops and interactions in these systems entirely depend on both geodiversity and biodiversity.?

Thus, application of system thinking approach is a technical requirement for a detailed scientific evidence based methodical assessment of the contemporary status of relevant geodiversity (abiotic) and biodiversity (biotic) components of any degraded ecosystem for its logical and scientific restoration.

[i] Tansley, A. G. (1935). The use and abuse of vegetational concepts and terms. Ecology 16, 284-307.