摘要：Most ecosystems on the planet have become seriously degraded as a result of human activities. To under- stand and find ways of mitigating the problems arising from such degradation, we conducted a project called “Collapse and Restoration of Ecosystem Networks under Human Activity.” In this project we introduced the concept of an “Ecosystem Network” to cope with the complexity of ecosystems, human societies and the interactions between them. For our case studies, we addressed two environmental problems under contrasting ecological settings: degradation of pastures in the Central Asian nation of Mongolia, and loss of tropical rainforests in the Southeast Asian region of Sarawak, Malaysia. By comparing these case studies, we found that the relationship between enterprises and local people differed between the Ecosystem Networks of grass- lands and tropical forests. We then correlated the ecological characteristics of the ecosystems or ecological re- sources with the structure of the Ecosystem Network and the associated environmental problems. The analy- sis also revealed clear differences in how the network should be restored for mitigation of the problems. Ecosystem degradation is ubiquitous today, and a solution is needed urgently. The concept of the Ecosystem Network employed in this project can be applied to other problems associated with managing ecological resources.
