Reconceiving the Biological Invasion of North American Beavers (Castor canadensis) in Southern Patagonia a a Socio-ecological Problem: Implications and Opportunities for Research and Management

Abstract

In the past few decades, natural scientists and natural resource managers have come to recognize that environmental problems have causes and consequences that are both ecological and social (Carpenter et al. 2009). For example, as an academic discipline, ecology increasingly acknowledges that ecosystems are not only composed of biotic and abiotic elements but also that humans form an integral part of what are ostensibly socio-ecological systems (Pickett and Ostfeld 1995; Anderson et al. 2015). As a result, efforts are being made to expand the ways that issues, such as biological invasions, ecological restoration, or biodiversity conservation, are studied and managed to address them not only as ecological systems but also their social domain and human dimensions (Collins et al. 2011; Díaz et al. 2015; Pascual et al. 2017). Yet, significant work still remains to achieve this goal. For example, studies about invasive exotic species have a clear biological bias at the national level in Chile (Quiroz et al. 2009), at the regional scale in Patagonia (Anderson and Valenzuela 2014) and the Southern Cone (Ballari et al. 2016), across the Latin American continent (Pauchard et al. 2011) and even globally (Estévez et al. 2015; Vaz et al. 2017). Therefore, the relative dearth of interdisciplinary, applied, and social studies about biological invasions explains why they continue to increase and currently constitutes a barrier to addressing it as a socio-ecological problem. Even places that in our collective social imaginary are considered remote, pristine, or wilderness areas, such as Patagonia, actually have a long history of alteration resulting from complex and changing human relationships with nature (Moss 2008). For example, southern Patagonia and the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago have been home to diverse human settlers with different views of nature that have impacted its biodiversity. One current environmental issue that has captured the attention of researchers and some authorities is biological invasions (Anderson et al. 2006a; Valenzuela et al. 2014). However, for invasive species to be constructed as a socio-ecological problem it must be reconceived under a new paradigm that goes beyond the biological emphasis and incorporates these multiple human relationships to facilitate the implementation of more effective policies and actions.