Temperate Forest Insect Outbreaks, Tropical Deforestation and Migratory Birds

Abstract Ecosystems that are managed for resource production are under continual structural change. Changes imposed by local management aggregate to produce regional patterns and new regionwide responses. Anthropogenic influences on hemispheric and global processes add another level of change. The result is a bewildering variety of real or anticipated changes unique to experience. For example, in the spruce/fir and budworm interaction of eastern North America, a syndrome of causes affects the vulnerability of renewable resources, and the triggers of change can never be predicted. Yet, it is possible to identify key features that affect resilience of ecosystems and robustness of regulation and to reject other possibilities. This approach provides a way to assign priorities for research and for contingency planning to adapt to change.