{"id":4542,"date":"2022-06-17T20:59:54","date_gmt":"2022-06-17T20:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalchangeecology.com\/?p=4542"},"modified":"2022-06-17T21:13:58","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T21:13:58","slug":"shifting-baselines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalchangeecology.com\/2022\/06\/17\/shifting-baselines\/","title":{"rendered":"Shifting Baselines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you think of somewhere pristine<\/em>, what comes to your mind? Perhaps you think of the Galapagos Islands, remote areas of the Amazon, or some protected national park somewhere in the world. Wherever you think, you are probably wrong. Humans have been impacting the environment of our planet for thousands of years. Much has changed: environments look different as species have been driven extinct, shifted in shape or form, or been introduced into new areas [1]. Yet, we still often think of these places as pristine, untouched by exploitation, and very natural. How can that be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer might have something to do with baselines – more specifically, Shifting Baselines Syndrome (SBS), a term coined by scientist Daniel Pauly [2]. Pauly, a fisheries scientist himself, pointed out that fisheries scientists tend to take the stock characteristics from the beginning of their career as a baseline condition against which future catch characteristics are compared. When each generation starts their career, stocks have declined – but a new baseline for comparison is set, which leads to a basically unnoticed and gradual disappearance of species [3]. This phenomenon can also be applied more generally: people tend to set baselines for nature based on their early experiences with it. Over time, with a lack of memory, experience, or knowledge, the expectations and \u201cacceptable\u201d condition for the natural environment shifts. What your grandparents would consider degraded might be considered natural by your children. As Pauly notes in his talk, it is in this way that we transform the world – but we don\u2019t remember it. This has impacts on conservation, restoration, and management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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