Table 1 Description of Kelly’s Ecological Principles
Interdependence | Inspired by the concept of ecosystem (i.e., the interdependence among living and nonliving elements of a biological community), this principle states that in changing structures and functions within social environments, the ways individuals and groups cope with events also vary, with a corresponding variation in the performance of adaptive and maladaptive roles. Furthermore, since systems can be viewed as a series of interdependent components, changes in one component reverberate throughout the system. |
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Cycling of Resources | Referring to how energy is created and transferred within biological systems (e.g., the food chain), this principle emphasizes the importance of looking at the developmental history of a social environment in terms of its management of resources (i.e., how resources are defined, created, distributed, used, exchanged, and transformed). |
Adaptation | This principle is based on the evidence that the availability of nutrient substances affects the presence of an organism in a given habitat. It focuses on how environments affect individuals and groups through their demands, norms, values, structures, processes, options and constraints. At the same time, it draws attention to the strategies, and their dynamic evolution over time, which individuals and groups put in place to cope with, adapt to, and try to change the environments in which they live. |
Succession | Based on the observation of progressive changes occurring in species structure, organic structure, and in the flow of energy distribution and community production within biological communities, this principle introduces a time perspective. Succession emphasizes how social environments are in a continuous and dynamic course of change that alters their ecology over time, and also with respect to the other principles. |