Since its developed in the late 1970s, the ABC approach has gained much recognition as a resource survey method. Essentially, this approach organizes resource information into three categories: Abiotic, Biotic, and Cultural. The abiotic category refers to non-living aspects, such as soil, rocks, water etc. The biotic category refers to all living organisms, while the cultural category includes those aspects that are explicitly anthropocentric, such as economic issues, and the history of the natural area. Combined into a single survey, these components can provide a relatively complete picture of the study area in question. Within the context of this proposal, the ABC Resource Survey Method will be used not as a single method of examining the Huron Park, but as a basis for organizing the perspectives of observation. In addition to the abiotic, biotic and cultural components, this proposal will require the addition of energetics as a fourth organizing principle. Energetics refers to the process of nutrient flows, energy flows and gas exchange, that are present in all ecological systems. It is important to note that the A,B,C, and E organizing principle is not a list with a specific order. The order can be adapted to emphasize the components which are most relevant to a particular system level.
At this point, the observer of the Huron Environmental Park must flip his/her perspective of observation from one that defines the physical boundaries to one that defines the system's composition. This implies a flip from the extent to the grain of observation. In essence, this will highlight the important processes that need to be described at each system level. These are called system perspectives (Table 1).
Table 1: Organizing Principles and System Perspectives used to describe the environment of the Huron Park Environmental Area
The abiotic organizing principle consists of looking at the system from the perspective of an airshed, watershed and geomorphology. From an airshed perspective the natural processes that we must concern ourselves with are the air flows. These will describe both pollution sources (point and non-point), as well as the patterns of air flow at any particular scale. This is important for the ecological system because the airshed introduces contaminants from outside the study area, as well as prevailing climatic phenomena which will ultimately affect the Huron Environmental Park. Within the perspective of the watersheds, the important processes are the flows of water through the system level. The water flows are naturally connected to the air flows, since contaminants introduced into the air will be carried by air currents and deposited within the water system. Water flows can be ground water, surficial, or precipitation. The geomorphological perspective will describe the processes inherent in the soil and geology of the system level. This is an important area to discuss based primarily on the fact that alterations to these structures will influence the stability of the system level in question. The soil types within a system determine the types of vegetation and organisms that a level can support. In addition, the geology of a system level has a direct influence on the flows of water and nutrients throughout the system and seepage into other system levels.
In biotic terms, the system will be described by focusing on wildlife,communities, and landscape patterns. The description of wildlife will include such elements as migratory species, local species, and the existence of exotic species. The presence of exotic species influence the overall structure of the ecosystem, since they can push endemic species out, and move the system away from its optimum operating point. The community system perspective will focus on the interactions between groups of species and the environment of a certain area. It has been demonstrated that forest communities within an ecosystem play a key role in the circulation of nutrients around the system (Bormann and Likens 1979). These communities not only provide the engine for nutrient movement, but can act as buffering zone for other communities. An upland forested community will moderate water flows, remove aerosol particulates from the air, which will be protect a low land aquatic system (Bormann and Likens 1979). At the landscape level, the systems descriptions will deal with the interactions that occur between and within communities. These will include patch dynamics and the corridors that make up the internal structure of the landscape. These are important because they provide pathways of movement for wildlife into areas for feeding and breeding grounds.
The cultural description will consist of looking at the system from theperspective of human use on the land, and its cultural and historical significance. This description is important because human influences are impossible to avoid and will ultimately influence the ecological makeup of an ecosystem. The processes that need to be of concern depend on the hierarchical level in question, but will deal with factors ranging from urban development to people walking their pets.
The abiotic and the biotic organizing principles describe the structural components of a system level while the energetics refers to the functioning of that system level. From this perspective, the important processes will include the nutrient flows, biomass production, and food webs. In a sense, this is a description of the overall energy balance and cycling within the system. An important aspect of this perspective will be the detrital flows (micro-organism decay chain). It has been demonstrated that in northern hardwood forests, the detrital cycle is the overwhelmingly dominant system in terms of energy and nutrient fluxes (Bormann and Likens 1979). Decomposing food chains are important because they release the stored energy of vegetation (biomass), and other organic matter into the system. Without the detrital cycle, the internal processes would fail to function effectively.
The Abiotic, Biotic, Cultural and Energetics organizing principle allows us to describe the Huron Environmental Park from a variety of perspectives. Each perspective we have outlined in turn encompasses all of the processes which are important to consider within each hierarchical level. The next section (Application of Ecosystem Approach to Monitoring the Integrity of Huron Environmental Park) offers a detailed analysis of the A, B, C, and E organizing principles and their system perspectives at each hierarchical level. This analysis will form the basis for an integrated monitoring approach to assess the integrity of the Huron Environmental Park.
An Ecological Framework for Huron Natural Area
