Biosemiotics abstract book - contrapunctuality

The 9th Gathering in Biosemiotics, to take place in Prague, June 30th - July 4th, has made its abstract book available online. My abstract, 'On contrapuntuality. Semiotic niche vs. ontological niche: the case of the Scandinavian wolf population', appears on p. 45. My talk is scheduled to take place Friday, July 3rd, 16-16.30

In this talk I will argue that the notions of ‘semiotic niche’ (Hoffmeyer) and ‘ontological niche’ (introduced by myself) are complementary concepts. While the semiotic niche concept is best fitted to describe optimal ecological situations, in which ecosystems are functional, the ontological niche concept is better fitted to describe situations of ecosystem malfunction. The reason is that a ‘semiotic niche’ is plainly an expression of optimal (or desirable) ecological conditions and relations, whereas the ontological niche depicts the set (or ‘gestalt’) of contrapuntal relations that a being takes part in at any given point of natural history.
In one sense, therefore, the semiotic niche is a general concept, whereas the ontological niche is a specific concept. In situations where the ‘normal’ ecosystem is not left intact, a concept of relational being, such as that of an ontological niche, can be applied to exhibit in what way changing ecological conditions and relations affect the viability of a population of animals, and literally change their place in the world. Some examples will be provided in order to demonstrate the importance of not confusing a manifest ontological niche with the partly indiscernible semiotic niche.
One such example is the behaviour of Scandinavian wolves. Here, the semiotic niche of these wolves would represent their behavioural repertoire. It would be wrong, however, to assume that their current behaviour – as shy animals with a taste for moose and an evident preference for forest-covered, uninhabited habitats – simply reflects their general semiotic competence. Rather, it reflects how they apply their semiotic competence in a certain ecological and cultural context. The fact of the matter is that the behaviour of Scandinavian wolves to a substantial degree reflects our approach to them. In the same way as the shyness of this population results from our century-long hounding of wolves, their avoidance of built-up areas reflects their (partly embodied) experience with encountering people. Wolf behaviour in modern times, to cut a long history short, is just as much an indicator of human behaviour as it is an expression of what it is like to be a wolf.