title: A critique of the 'novel ecosystem' concept.
abstract: The 'novel ecosystem' concept has captured the attention of scientists, managers, and science journalists, and more recently of policymakers, before it has been subjected to the scrutiny and empirical validation inherent to science. Lack of rigorous scrutiny can lead to undesirable outcomes in ecosystem management, environmental law, and policy. Contrary to the contentions of its proponents, no explicit, irreversible ecological thresholds allow distinctions between 'novel ecosystems' and 'hybrid' or 'historic' ones. Further, there is no clear message as to what practitioners should do with a 'novel ecosystem'. In addition, ecosystems of many types are being conserved, or restored to trajectories within historical ranges of variation, despite severe degradation that could have led to their being pronounced 'novel'.
authors.affiliation: University of Florida, Department of Biology, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; Organization for Tropical Studies, 410 Swift Avenue, Box 90630, Durham, NC 27705, USA. Electronic address: carolinamurcia01@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Murcia
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Unité Mixte de Recherche 5175, Campus CNRS, 1919 Route de Mende, Montpellier, 34293, France; Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St Louis, MO 63110, USA.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aronson
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Seccional Cali, Cali, Colombia.
authors.forename: Gustavo H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Kattan
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Unité Mixte de Recherche 5175, Campus CNRS, 1919 Route de Mende, Montpellier, 34293, France.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Moreno-Mateos
authors.affiliation: Kings Park and Botanic Garden, West Perth 6005, WA, Australia; School of Plant Biology, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands 6009, WA, Australia.
authors.forename: Kingsley
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dixon
authors.affiliation: University of Tennessee, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Simberloff
mesh_terms: D057231:Climate Change; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D017753:Ecosystem; D006802:Human Activities; D058865:Introduced Species; D011050:Policy Making
keywords: ecological restoration; ecological thresholds; global change; novel ecosystems