Biological agents and man-caused change both sit on one disturbance continuum.

Evidence

Environmental shifts, whether natural or man-created, involve disturbances to which biological systems may respond. The disturbance caused by seed-caching behavior in agoutis (Smythe, 1970) is no less a disturbance than is the digging behavior of a badger as it constructs a burrow or searches for food, or the response of stream fish to channel alterations by man. Because of the arbitrary way of defining thresholds that are unusual, and thus a disturbance, we believe that all factors that cause biological systems to respond should be considered as a portion of the disturbance continuum. — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 1109

Categorization

• XREF: Reinforces ch15’s agent-independent definition of disturbance; ties into the polyad’s environmental-justice thread that natural and human disturbance are not categorically separable. — connects to: A disturbance is defined by the community change it produces, not by the agent. — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 568; Disturbance agents interact synergistically and compound with environmental stress — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 2235; A biological disturbance can buffer a population against a physical disturbance — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 1028 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• A biological disturbance can buffer a population against a physical disturbance #exemplifies (0.82) — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 1028
• Disturbance agents interact synergistically and compound with environmental stress #expands (0.80) — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 2235
• Humans increasingly control and redesign their own evolved biological systems #complicates (0.80) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 186
• Localized disturbances turn sessile assemblages into a patch mosaic #exemplifies (0.80) — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 681
• Disturbance is an act of renewal when its frequency is balanced #qualifies (0.80) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 305
• Some human-caused environmental changes prove uncontrollable and irreversible #qualifies (0.75) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2724
• Disturbance triggers insect outbreaks once populations cross a regulatory threshold #complicates (0.75) — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 1547
• Humans now alter evolutionary heritages and can shape their own biological futures. #complicates (0.75) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 188