Species extinction and pest irruption signal sickness in the land organism

Evidence

Other derangements are known as facts, but are not yet thought of as symptoms of land sickness. The disappearance of plants and animal species without visible cause, despite efforts to protect them, and the irruption of others as pests despite efforts to control them, must, in the absence of simpler explanations, be regarded as symptoms of sickness in the land organism. Both are occurring too frequently to be dismissed as normal evolutionary events. — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, 689

Categorization

• XREF: The land-as-organism diagnosis is the same systemic view that underpins Leopold’s land ethic and parallels ecological reading of landscape symptoms. — connects to: Current conservation treats local symptoms, not underlying land-sickness causes — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac: With Other…, 694; Growing wildlife bureaucracy coincided with grizzly retreat from the lower states — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac: With Other…, 706; Rodent pest explosions actually stem from plant-community derangement — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac: With Other…, 691 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Rodent pest explosions actually stem from plant-community derangement #exemplifies (0.78) — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, 691