RECRUITMENT
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2759 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Human sciences |
The addition of new elements or replacement of lost ones in a system by elements obtained from another one.
Recruitment takes place either when a system has been severely reduced by some disturbance (an ecosystem after a hurricane f. ex.), or when it is growing (a country accepting immigrants). The new elements need be compatible with the system, while not necessarily similar to any former or still existing ones, in order to avoid rejection or subsequent internal disorder.
In ecosystems according to S. REICE: “Recruitment has a major impact on the outcome of competition and, consequently, on community structure. This idea, dubbed supply-side ecology by R. LEWIN, asserts that physical transport processes are important determinants of community structure because they set the supply of colonists to habitat patchwork” (1994, p.432).
Recruitment is at least in part a random process, as the identity of the new elements is never perfectly defined. It may as well deeply modifiy the identity of the recruiting system. S. REICE states: “Stochastic (random) recruitment in a heterogeneously disturbed, patchy environment results in high overal species diversity” (p.427).