Ecosystem health and the need for clinical ecology

Introduction: The problem

The continuing increase in global biophysical and socioeconomic connexity creates a very complex challenge for society in maintaining the health of people, animals, and ecosystems. This challenge is mirrored by the commitment of contemporary veterinary medicine to promote One Health. Whereas the profession is reasonably well-positioned to deal with animal and human health, this is not the case for ecosystem health, where a deeper knowledge of ecology and ecological problems (i.e., applied ecology) is essential to achieving its aspirations.

Application of the medical/health paradigm to ecosystems provides a tested framework to meet this challenge and mitigate society’s impacts on the integrity of ecosystems while accommodating ethical human goals.

Understanding the meaning of “health” is crucial

“Health” is the capacity for renewal (maintaining organization, homeostasis, sustainability, etc.) and for achieving desirable and ethical human goals at all scales, ranging from discreet organismal to population, ecosystem, and, ultimately, global levels. Therefore, by definition, health entails management for defined and measurable goals deemed to be achievable, reasonable, and ethical, based on knowledge of the structure and function of the subject of its application. The concept of health has spawned a rich body of experience over a long interval that could be helpful if applied to ecosystems.

Ecosystems and health

The terms “ecosystem” and “ecosystem health” (EH) have been criticized — the former as an arbitrary abstraction; the latter as a normative term reflecting what humans considered a healthful goal at the time. However, both terms can be valuable if there is consensual agreement on their meaning and use.

A simple example of managing a grassland ecosystem such as a farm to produce wheat would involve assessing ongoing capacity for renewal of the system’s integrity that approached its pristine state, as well as monitoring the yield of wheat deemed a desirable goal by the landowner. A much more complex example would be managing the renewal (sustainability) of the Great Lakes watershed ecosystem as well as meeting the goals of residents living in this region. Indeed, this has been an undertaking of the International Joint Commission for many years.

Although society has recognized the general importance of environmental health, the vast majority of threats to the environment, in order to be actionable, need to be addressed at the level of definable and potentially manageable ecosystems. Hence, in practical terms, EH is generally the preferable term to use in this endeavor. Also, the term “environmental health” can be misleading since, historically, it came into use in medical circles in reference largely to the harmful effects of chemical pollution.

Assessing ecosystem health

Assessing the health of ecosystems requires measurement and monitoring of biophysical and socioeconomic indicators developed, chosen, and used to reflect their capacity to guide renewal and goal achievement. The burgeoning field of artificial intelligence could surely assist in analyzing and responding to data being collected. Documenting this experience over time can build a growing reservoir of case-based knowledge and skills necessary to manage and continually improve management effectiveness.

Promoting ecosystem health is wickedly complex

Many of Earth’s ecosystems are at a crossroads of health or degradation. Coping with the wicked complexity of maintaining EH is an urgent necessity. Developing a transdisciplinary field of expertise and teamwork in clinical (applied) ecology would seem to a logical and necessary societal response.

Society can draw on experience gained by processes to deal with the complexity embedded in the medical/health paradigm, where clinical disciplines were developed over many years, based on experiences and knowledge gained dealing with actual cases in structured approaches amenable to analysis and to derivation of healthful procedures and policies. Similarly, convergence of conventional disciplines in the environmental, social, and medical spheres into transdisciplinary teams focused on EH can enable society to forge effective and new integrated approaches to responding to ecosystem degradation.

What might clinical ecology look like? What would clinical ecologists do?

“Clinical ecology” can be defined as the natural and social sciences devoted to dealing with impaired ecosystems and maintaining their health, akin to the process of diagnosis, treatment, and maintenance of health in conventional clinical medicine (human or veterinary).

When individuals or populations are ill or afflicted by poor health, they receive the attention of clinicians or epidemiologists, who diagnose the problem and act to return the individual or population to a healthy state. They do this based on past experience with similar cases, current research, and professional ties to a host of specialized disciplines that can be recruited to help deal with the problem at hand. In a similar fashion, it has become a matter of urgency to have transdisciplinary professionals devoted to EH. If an intercollegiate program in clinical ecology was established in universities, its graduates in the employ of agencies with this task would have the tailored expertise to address EH degradation (which could be regarded as “disease”).

A clinical focal point for guiding development of clinical ecology

Key elements in a medical/health framework are hospitals and clinics that are focal points for transdisciplinary treatment and study of diseases (clinical case-based research) and also provide clinical education and skills training. They are vantage points to explore the socioeconomic and biophysical determinants of disease and health more widely in populations in the community. By analogy, it would seem reasonable to develop institutional focal points to train “clinical” transdisciplinary professionals to deal with the ecosystem dimensions of health, whether these be from the perspective of the natural or social sciences. Applied or clinical ecology would be the essential coordinating element in the framework of such a program.

At present, environmental science consulting firms, government agencies, and NGOs deal with EH. However, universities and institutes could establish “clinics” and programs that would spearhead the necessary focus on the integration of disciplinary knowledge and skills needed for transdisciplinary clinical education of EH professionals to employ in such agencies. University clinics could also have important roles in systematically building case-based knowledge and expertise in clinical or applied ecology.

Leadership in education in clinical ecology: Challenges for universities and institutes

Developing transdisciplinary programs in clinical ecology in universities would have to overcome decades of university culture that valued and rewarded reductionism in various fields of learning and science to the detriment of multidisciplinary programs. Young faculty members working to achieve tenure were often wise to steer clear of the latter. However, the University of Guelph demonstrated it was possible to constructively break down disciplinary silos through its commitment to develop education and research programs arising from the concept of One Health. Regardless, it remains to be seen if this and other institutions can meet the challenges of creating programs that address the ecosystem dimensions of OH. Presumably, a new disciplinal domain of clinical ecology can emerge to provide a coherent means to this end. University private sector cooperative education programs have demonstrated the potential for collaboration with environmental consulting firms and government agencies in such an endeavor.

Not-for-profit institutes offer another independent avenue providing loci for creation of educational and research programs to develop the human resources, knowledge, and policies required to address EH issues. These organizations would not have the historical baggage that impairs a university’s potential in this task. In that regard, the newly formed McEachran Institute (https://www.mceachraninstitute.ca) is one such agency.

Conclusion

Development of knowledge and skills in clinical ecology can be a path to developing programs to train professionals committed to promoting EH. At present, such a path could not exist in the undergraduate veterinary curriculum unless the profession reforms its educational and licensing system to accommodate this field. Should this happen, the profession would be able to profess truly its commitment to One Health in its entirety.