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Native Forests, Niches, Energy Sinks, Edge
Forests are a cooperative amalgam of many individuals much like ourselves. A tree is not only different from its supporting media but exists because of them. Trees are the translators between the earth and incoming energy (rain, sun, nutrients.) Forests/trees provide biodiversity, fuel, food, forage, conservation, rain, shelter, animal refuge. Trees help create weather, and have the most profound effect on precipitation in relation to other influencing factors.
The 4 ways trees effect precipitation are:
Compression of streamlines inducing turbulence in air flows
Condensation and rehumidification (At least 50% of moisture in clouds is from trees)
Snow and meltwater effects
Provision of nuclei for rain
So, if by any strategy we can cool air, provide suitable condensation surfaces and nutrients for seeding of clouds, we can increase precipitation locally. TREES meet all of these criteria.
Erosion - breakdown of soil structure.
Weathering - removal of material.
1 tsp. of sugar = 3 tsp. of soil lost soil. (1 truck = 3 trucks)
(Typical of industrial agricultural products)
Bare soils (otherwise known as monocrops in industrial farming practices with no groundcover or mulching practices) - Rain removes 80
tons soil/hectare (2.2 acres) or 1000 tons in extreme downpours.
Bare soil = lost earth, lost nutrients.
Forests provide soil with the time and means to hold freshwater on the land. Felling of the forest causes rivers to dry up, swamps to evaporate, shallow water to dry, drought, etc.
Edge/Forest Connection
Boundaries present an opportunity for us to place a translator element in a design or to reform a surface for specific flow or translation to occur. Edges/boundaries present a place for events to locate. (Event = place of origin.) For example, a tree is a translator and the edge is the surface of earth and the atmosphere PERMACULTURE, like a tree, is a translator (pattern) of many mediums or disciplines.
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Niches in Time and Space
Niche in space (nest and forage site)
Niche in time (cycles of opportunity)
Niche in time-space (schedules)
It is the number of cycles that decide the potential diversity in a system. Again, the Principle of Cyclic Opportunity:
Every cyclic event increases the opportunity for yield. To increase cycling is to increase yield.
Less niches = less life, less yield, less biodiversity.
Diversity is Stability
It is not the number of diverse elements you can pack into a system, but rather the useful connections (trees, niches, cycles) you can make between those elements.
Energy Sinks
Entropy (bound of dissipated energy) is unavailable or not useful anymore like the noise or exhaust from a car, movement that comes from a human body, etc.
Potential (Functional Relationships) From Source to Sink
Diversity goes up.
Energy stores go up.
Organizational complexity goes up.
Question: How can I best use the energy before it leaves my land? (or life?)
Edge. The interface between two ecosystems (or elements) represents a third, more complex system which combines both. The interface, or edge, receives more light, nutrients, and so is more productive. Edge is where people/organisms gravitate.
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