Document: VAL-3-2-4

Changing the role of ecology to address a rapidly changing world.

EVINER, V.T.*

University of California, Berkeley, CA USA ¹

Abstract:
The earth is confronted by pressing environmental problems, and the role ecologists play in these issues will greatly affect their outcomes. Here are 3 questions to guide ecology to a new, more pro-active role in the 21st century. 1. How can ecologists become effectively involved in environmental issues? Ecologists must play an active role in education, and in developing sustainable managed systems in conjunction with land mangers, economists, sociologists and policy makers. We may be reluctant, but who is better qualified? While reaching beyond our scientific community is a critical first step, we must also expand the scope of our science. 2. How can we incorporate the role of humans into ecosystem functioning? Humans play a critical role in the functioning of ecosystems, and the extent and intensity of human influence will only increase with population growth. 3. How can we take our wealth of ecological knowledge and pull it together into an integrated framework? In order to make well-informed environmental decisions, we need to pull our knowledge together. Ecology has a wealth of information ranging from the scale of an individual organism, to the landscape and global scales. We need to research the large holes that prevent us from "putting it all together". These questions need to address ALL components of the system and need to be separately identified for different systems, scales, and at the interface between these.

Keywords:

This abstract is being presented at: 10:35 AM in session:
Symposium # 7: Thirty Questions for Ecology in the 21st Century.