Martin Richardson
PhD student at RHUL and the NHM studying the Thames.
Location Bryan, Texas
Activity
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Martin Richardson made a comment
I am using this approach in my research in the Thames in London, England.
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I was surprised that so few voted for the immediate need for solutions. certainly in environmental systems are changing rapidly and there is a looming threat from non-linear tipping points or threshold that might cause periods of rapid or even abrupt change with no easy way back to normal. We are of course experiencing one such event at the current time on a...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
This issue applies to aquatic environments since antibiotics tend to accumulate in rivers and wetlands through waste water from sewage systems.
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Where can I get a sustainability wheel? It looks good.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
I have been troubled by the separation between individual disciplines as I use several in my work on rivers. I also use multiple software packages to analyze different types of data: point clouds and topological surveys, bathymetry, satellite data and several others. I am also working with practioners who restore river banks and local community groups who have...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
This is a good video. I am hoping to find some like-minded souls for enlightened discussion as I am experiencing some resistance from academics that I work with around the concept of transdisciplinarity.
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All environmental issues, including river restoration are wicked challenges. Many groups have an interest in the way a river is managed, and each will have a different perspective on the issues. Freshwater ecologists tend to focus on environmental flows that sustain diversity in the river as well as the diversity of plants and wildlife in the surrounding...
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Remediation is carried out as engineering, ecological restoration, or water quality improvements. Funding is applied to each of these pathways and work on each aspect of the problem often proceeds in isolation led by experts in each discipline. None are completely adequate in themselves however, since each solution can pose challenges to the others through...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Improving major rivers is an important societal problem because nearly all people in a catchment use them either directly for fisheries for example, or indirectly through ports for the landing and transportation of goods that they consume. These waterways are typically polluted and have been modified to a greater or lesser extent by straightening, narrowing,...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Hello,
I am a biologist with a background in the computer industry conducting a PhD project in the Thames in London, England. Collaboration is key in delivering computer and communications technology projects and I am using my experience in managing 'ecosystems' of diverse partners to full benefit. I have established several partnerships with computer... -
Martin Richardson made a comment
A certain amount of confusion would be normal, specifically the problem was too many people in the control room and apparently an incomplete protocol. They were late arriving at the scene. The failure was again procedure, namely what happens if someone leaves before the firearms team arrives. Failure of one communications network (or more) should be planned...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
There was a failure of the decision-making subsystem. Too many resources were available, and the components were not properly connected. Clearly a non-positive, or ambiguous identification should have withheld action until a positive ID was made. There appeared to be additional system failures following the incident as actual events were unclear.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Many issues in the UK are not being adequately addressed by politicians, and scientists are sometimes willing to be 'pragmatic' about that especially if it means greater influence through improved relationships with government. Banking on ethical behaviour by politicians is clearly unsatisfactory so the general population, including scientists need to be...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
It is also easy to collect scientific data that appear to contradict, or brings into question scientific evidence. I have noticed this approach especially in research funded by industry or groups with a political agenda. The evidence based approach only works if participants are acting in good faith, assuming that it is necessarily without bias is unrealistic...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
I believe that systems are a good way to analyse real-world problems, particularly within ecosystems and natural systems like rivers which I study. The natural world is highly interconnected and complexity is an inherent quality. I am still concerned about analysing what are inevitably subsystems, and drawing conclusions or believing their behaviour as models....
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Martin Richardson made a comment
I think that there are other factors controlling the model that have not been addressed. Nursing home places may be available and elderly patients may not be being transferred at the right time from the hospital because of issues such as their ability to pay. Many elderly have their money tied-up in their home. While they stay at home they are only assessed on...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Is this perhaps a special case of an influence diagram since it portrays movements of people between the components rather than their affect on them? Also, the influence diagram looks as if it portrays the status quo, and will this mean that alternatives are immediately removed from the system, e.g. movement of patients directly from their home to a...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Models are useful as a basis for discussion and analysis, but they can also be used to make a formal argument for a particular point of view. This diagram, perhaps used as an influence diagram, looks useful as a basis for a discussion. Mr Moynihan's' statement that a complex diagram is needed to analyse complexity is not true and indicates a fundamental...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
The system dynamics reference is a broken link.
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Martin Richardson replied to Jacqueline Holdsworth
So the influence diagram tracks influence through the system. For example, 'quality of graduate students' teaching' is degraded by previous factors in the diagram and hence has a negative influence on the number of students on the course. In this way they include not only the influences but also the state of each 'phrase' in the diagram. Is this the same as ...
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Martin Richardson replied to J I
When I worked at a large computer company we tried to conduct a fishbone analysis and it took a great deal of time because it was very detailed. The system approach is nice and simple and analysis can be completed quickly. People don't like things being left out, we tend toward the details, but the big picture is also useful and this gets straight to the point.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
This case is a good example of bias. Each entity has hidden or unannounced objectives that they are pursuing so the model is not very useful. For example, a missing cause is that patients do not need to pay while they are in hospital whereas they do when they need care at home or they are in a care home (subject to means testing). Obviously this is a big...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
It's systems all the way down ...
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Not all are run for profit. There are literal non-profits as well as large companies that follow a revenue model rather than profit. Many multinationals and individuals make money by avoiding tax. Capitalism does not function well because of delays brought by inertia in the system, frequently caused by vested interests (in the fossil-fuel industry for...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Control is a fact of life, especially with so many people in the world. Religion, money, norms and taboos are some of the strongest controls. I would argue that we aren't good at controlling the physical world, and we are rapidly getting worse due to accelerating changes and declining political will. Our social norms are actually working against us in this...
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Interesting suggestion, can you add some more ...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Global warming. Increases in temperature melt ice and decrease albedo. GHG emissions from soil, lakes and rivers increase. Land, river and ocean temperatures increase. The process accelerates and does not go back.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Donald Trump working against environmental legislation may turn out to be a negative feedback in some states in that he promotes greater activity by certain individual states in the US. However, control might be the release of aerosols into the atmosphere reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the earth.
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I wear glasses, and if I scan the lines by moving my head I can see that they are parallel.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Ideally we would take the objectivity out of the equation. Using sensors on satellites for example takes us away from the limitations inherent in our own senses.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
The OU probably has an intranet, and this is a virtual network controlled by the OU using infrastructure provided by the intranet. To me this is introduced bias since the determination that the internet does not form part of the OU is clearly false. I have accessed the OU through the internet. Similarly, if we consider an ecosystem, what we leave out may have...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
It seems hard for us to understand the limits of our knowledge and understanding of nature. Many natural systems, such as an ecosystem, are infinitely complex, and not completely closed. Mathematical models allow us to analyse the most obvious components, but there are always additional elements that are not considered. Simplifying the system is a form of...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
I have studied systems, as we all have, and I am interested in the changes in thinking from analytical mathematical thinking to dynamical systems thinking. I am concerned that the scientific community is falling behind environmental change and I am looking for a way to move from steady change scenarios, a metaphor for which might be 'special relativity' to...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Wots dahta?
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The population of the Galapagos is mostly immigrant, from the mainland. Obviously the islands would be better off without tourism or migrants, i.e. without people.
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The Chinese have been working hard on maintaining diversity in Pandas, it would be good to know if that really works.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Trout in the UK have adapted to eat bread and so their numbers are thriving in some rivers. The numbers are probably heavily affected already.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
The primary threat is climate change, as with everywhere on earth. Pollution comes a close second, as well as people, tourists as well as immigrants from the mainland and other places.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
They also mentioned dams at one point. Chinas' dams are having a devastating effect on aquatic species. It is important to be clear about the pluses as well as the minuses inherent in such projects. Here in the UK we have a dire need to improve farming practices for flood mitigation and reduction of river siltation and contamination. farmers are subsidised...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
This is exactly the type of consultation that is needed with British farmers. No doubt many of them will be opposed to mitigating the massive soil erosion currently under way, "even in the good land".
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Martin Richardson made a comment
How is it possible for this species to survive for the long-term when there are so few remaining?
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Martin Richardson replied to Eva Zamrazil
Climate affects habitat, and changes are occurring quite quickly. So I agree it is good to preserve habitat but won't the ecosystem need to change or 'adapt' in order to thrive at the same location?
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Martin Richardson replied to JACKI HART
11. Eat less meat
12. Take fewer trips in planesI agree with Susan, it's no fun 'adapting' to climate change. But in order for countries to have the political will we need to make personal adjustments. Governments of democratic countries can't start phasing out polluting vehicles without participation of the general population or they will simply be voted...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Wilding is just the latest in a long series of ideas. Unfortunately climate effects are truly global, as are pollution effects. It is great that we are working with individual species, too bad this is all being undone by a lack of effort on the bigger issues.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
We go from global challenges to managing a small plot of land. Hard to see the connection ... Cows are definitely not beneficial.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Not sure that coppicing will save the planet but it does provide a few jobs.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
One of the few ways that we probably can improve things is by altering systems in a way that they extend the use of materials and make a positive contribution to the environment. All human activity should consider this possibility, especially farming which is currently one of the most destructive, polluting and harmful.
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The electricity grid has many elements, it is never a single choice ... one or the other.
A re-imagined grid would collect energy ubiquitously, from the pavements and roads, the wind, the sun. These are the 'cool', low intensity sources. Additionally you will, at least in the short term, need 'hot' sources like nuclear power plants. But a huge amount of... -
Martin Richardson replied to JACKI HART
When we look back 50 years from now there are probably some things we should have been doing:
1. Getting rid of private diesel cars
2. Stopped using petrol cars, except for taxis and working vehicles. For health benefits and carbon savings
3. Stopped having children (there are millions available for adoption in the World)
4. Stopped spending on weapons and... -
Martin Richardson made a comment
Not an interesting question.
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Martin Richardson replied to Prema Kumari Loganathan
People access the internet through their ISP, the ISP can control their access.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Farms and wild populations are also important producers of disease, not just human populations but animal ones as well.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
The financial collapse was due to widespread fraud so the normal system of checks and balances where everybody is assumed to care about the money broke down. Namely mortgage brokers were selling mortgages whilst knowing the customer would not be able to afford them once the interest rates went up. Institutions that should have put a stop to this did not, and...
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Martin Richardson replied to Mike Martin
Models can also be problematic if the behaviour of a disease falls outside of the assumptions inherent in the model.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Science is defined as an iterative process building on previous science. This means that it is inherently biased. It also means that important areas of policy associated with emerging problems may not be properly addressed.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Systems behave in unexpected ways. Human intuition is is not useful in dealing with intractable problems. Science can be helpful but also unhelpful. As a system, the scientific community can display problems associated with inertia or 'investment' meaning the continuation of outdated ideas. This may be due to the needs of an individual, e.g. employment, or it...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Human intervention is impacting all ecosystems and these impacts are cumulative over the long term. Short-term greening or conservation projects are largely bogus. gorilla populations are reaching the point where decreased genetic diversity has made them largely in viable, it's the same with Pandas, Tigers, and a whole gamut of other poster species used in...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Could use an app for phones.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Breakfast
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Nice explanation of spiralling motion.
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Martin Richardson replied to Martin Richardson
... ple. A random collection of genes designated as species, a model, would appear as 'clumped'. Despite popular misconception random is not evenly distributed, rather there are areas of empty space and areas of densely packed material ... this is far closer to reality. But then you need to incorporate the dynamics ...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
The concept of species is a 'model', a concept not based in reality. All 'species' are in a state of continuous generation, change, and eventual extinction. This is more comprehensible at a small scale but is true even for large animals; Polar bears can interbreed with Grizzly bears to produce hybrid species. In reality all species exist in a continuum which...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Climate change is destroying viable habitat faster than it can be restored. A good example of this is the pacific Northwest of the US where over 12 billion has been spent on habitat renewal for wild salmon and yet subspecies continue towards extinction. In fact, given the current rate of destruction the main priorities should shift to economics and adaptive...
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Pollution, like climate change is inexorable and largely unpreventable. The human race is messy and slovenly. When there will soon be over 9 billion of us on the planet it is clearly impracticable to talk about preventing either problem. But we do our best.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Textured skin also increases the surface area. The Horned toad is a lizard that squirts blood from it's eyes as a defence mechanism. Many plankton increase their surface area through the use of spines which help them float.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
As Mark already mentioned, African lungfish use a similar strategy to the frogs to survive the dry season when the river completely dries up. They have evolved to use their swim bladder to breathe air as a means of surviving out of water.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protopterus -
Martin Richardson made a comment
Shovel-snouted lizard
'Dances' to slow cooling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joR4OL_mQnE -
Martin Richardson made a comment
Desert Pupfish are one of my favourite fish, or should I say several since by becoming isolated in desert ponds that are generally few and far between they have evolved into several species.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_pupfishThe Golden Catfish, the rarest fish in the World:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p012zkf1Also of interest are...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
I think it would be good to mention disease as this is becoming a very important aspect of wild populations.
Also, there is no standardized framework for ecology which means that this is not good science, and a clear distinction needs to be made between when you are discussing a model (e.g. an ecosystem)or an actual place.
Starting with the implication...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Everything co-evolves. This article shows how limited our understanding of natural systems really is. Many species are connected through natural climate cycles, here in the UK we are seeing the effects of these cycles becoming un-synchronized through climate change.We don't have a good understanding of how ecosystems function and they have all changed over the...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Many plants have elaborate dispersal systems so it would be interesting to know how these two differing strategies work and why. Also, you could think of the forest as an individual organism. Clear cutting a forest would then seem to be a bad idea as presumably it would destroy much of the fungal network also.
However, I understand that many growth boosting... -
Martin Richardson made a comment
There must have been times when fungi dominated the forests, for example after catastrophic impacts or major volcanic activity when sunlight would have been blocked for many years and much of the vegetation on earth died out.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
All food chains are fairly complicated. Winter moth caterpillars eat a variety of deciduous and some evergreen leaves. A simple food chain is a good general idea of a model. In reality food webs are very complex but a simple food chain is helpful to analyse how the system functions.
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Martin Richardson replied to Paul Reader
That's always a good thing.
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Martin Richardson replied to Charles Hamilton
This is an excellent comment. At the current time the UK government is adopting a reckless stance vis-a-vis farmlands. This is probably one of the reasons that some in the UK want to leave the EU ... so that the worst farmers can wreak more havoc with massive soil erosion and slurry release into rivers.
The UK is small, and an ideal candidate for a...
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Martin Richardson replied to Paul Reader
At the current time there is no viable solution to this problem apart from a complete re-think in the way we live and use natural resources. Humans are part of the real ecosystem, even in this ancient woodland but biologists don't want to think about it, we are all guilty of not facing up to the situation.
The bottom line is that we are headed for...
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Lime trees are really fabulous.
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Martin Richardson replied to Paul Reader
The carbon isn't stored forever. CO2 remains in the atmosphere for thousands of years which is why it is a problem. It can be 'stored' for a period of time in plants, perhaps retained might be a better word to describe the delayed release.
However, the video alludes to the fact that the carbon might be freed at some point in the future e.g. by forest fires...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Several of the losses made by plants can be viewed as investing in the ecosystem.
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Martin Richardson replied to Elnara Musayeva
Biologists are guilty of misrepresenting the decline in the natural environment. Pristine, natural environments ceased to exist over 50 years ago, and humans have been affecting nature for well over 1,000 years so it really is important to include human intervention and effects like plastic and oil pollution in a complete definition.
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Current thinking is that species invasions should not necessarily be viewed automatically as 'bad'. Rather it should be seen as a form of adaptation to changing conditions. Several UK species like the Green Crab are invasive in other countries, and they are frequently transported by artificial rather than natural means. However the natural environment no...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
At the current time ecosystems are dominated by environmental change and so-called extraneous factors like pollution. However, the truth is that all ecosystems, no matter how remote, from Alaska to the deep ocean, have been affected. How then is it possible to ignore these factors when they are perhaps the primary purveyors of change in our time?
Management...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
The Fen doesn't have to be managed. Experiments with fields in Kent which have been left to re-wild have been extremely positive. In any event, the Fen is just a small island in a area that is farmed and disturbed by other factors.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
There are probably several hundred, or thousand connections in the local food web so it is very difficult to guess what effect a single species has on the overall situation. The effects of environmental changes occurring in the environment are definitely more significant and the effect far more important.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Measuring biodiversity, especially at the small scale is difficult. There are a number of different indices and methodologies. However, species diversity is also heavily dependent on levels of contamination of the soil and water and also a question of how much disturbance is taking place. Even in this seemingly pristine environment the area is heavily affected...
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Heat is also absorbed directly by the rocks and water, and tides are caused more by the effect of sloshing water around a large basin than by the moon & sun.
Other components are sewage, rubbish in the form of paper and plastics, germs (bacteria and virons), and parasites.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
There are also billions of virons and several species of marine fungii. Individual species may have different life stages such as larvae. There may well be invasive species present such as slipper limpets. And perhaps more importantly, sources of pollution: oil, plastics, mercury from the atmosphere as well as carbon dioxide which causes the water to become...
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Martin Richardson replied to Martin Richardson
There is also an associated use of the term as applied to bioindicators of pollution
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Martin Richardson made a comment
A species associated with a particular, pre-defined type of vegetation
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Martin Richardson replied to Elnara Musayeva
1. If the biosphere collapses all humanity will cease to exist.
2. There are indications that key ecosystem services are in decline, e.g. oxygen production
3. The human mind has a need to organize information so this definition is a logical place to start. -
Martin Richardson replied to Martin Richardson
If an ecosystem is a model then it is not possible to model each component in a literal sense. The history of ecology is littered with failed attempts to model literal ecosystems something that is inherently impossible due to their complexity.
Therefore it is necessary to move to a higher level of abstraction and not consider individual organisms but rather...
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Martin Richardson replied to Martin Richardson
Whoa, tough question.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
An ecosystem is an abstract representation or model of interacting elements, each occupying a separate functional niche within an abiotic biome.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Very nice.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Excellent stuff. Thanks for the links to the tools.
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Best class ever. Fast moving, lucid, great materials and speakers. Truly great work.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Fabulous presentation.
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Martin Richardson made a comment
Google drive Week 2
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0va5bf3l179RG53S1p5VlhBU0k/view?usp=sharing
