Degradation is not an ecological state

Degradation is not an ecological state | Authorea try { document.documentElement.classList.add('js'); } catch (e) { } var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'G-8VDV14Y67G']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); Skip to main content Preprints Collections Wiley Open Research IET Open Research Ecological Society of Japan All Collections About About Authorea FAQs Contact Us Quick Search anywhere Search for preprint articles, keywords, etc. Search Search ADVANCED SEARCH SCROLL Oikos This is a preprint and has not been peer reviewed. Data may be preliminary. 12 May 2026 V1 Latest version Share on Degradation is not an ecological state Author : Meredith Root-Bernstein 0000-0002-2513-1248 [email protected] Authors Info & Affiliations https://doi.org/10.22541/authorea.15003172/v1 12 views 5 downloads Contents Abstract Information & Authors Metrics & Citations View Options References Figures Tables Media Share Abstract A number of important problems that are apparently ecological in nature, such as famines and fuelwood crises, have been shown to actually be social problems. Here, I extend the insights from studies of famines and fuelwood crises to the broad category of ecological degradation. I take seriously the numerous critiques of degradation from geography, anthropology, and environmental history, drawing out their implications from an ecological science perspective. Today, degradation is defined by all major international bodies as an irreversible ecological state usually caused by human actions. I argue that degradation is not an ecologically definable environmental state. Rather, degradation occurs across the whole range of possible ecological states, and is applied in an ecologically inconsistent manner. A given ecological state, habitat type, or ecosystem condition, can be described as degraded in one location and as valuable and non-degraded in another place. The same ecological state in the same place, without changing, can be described as degraded or not degraded in different social contexts, or from the perspective of different economic interests. I conclude that degradation occurs whenever a social group cannot access or produce the natural resources or other environmental values it wants. In other words, degradation is socioeconomic. Degradation often results from social inflexibility around resource acquisition. This inflexibility can take various forms, including a lack of capacity, freedom, or motivation to adjust economic and productive practices to a particular ecological condition. I develop this argument through short overview of the many social science critiques of degradation claims, and several across- and within-habitat comparative case studies. I end with implications for ecology of the updated definition of degradation. Information & Authors Information Version history V1 Version 1 12 May 2026 Collection Oikos Keywords degradation desertification ecological change dynamics socioeconomic megafauna seed dispersal Authors Affiliations Meredith Root-Bernstein 0000-0002-2513-1248 [email protected] View all articles by this author Metrics & Citations Metrics Article Usage 12 views 5 downloads .FvxKWukQNSOunydq8rnd { width: 100px; } Citations Download citation Meredith Root-Bernstein. Degradation is not an ecological state. Authorea . 12 May 2026. 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