What is the content of the journals (listed in decreasing order of quality reputation) _American Naturalist_, _American Midland Naturalist_, and Southwestern Naturalist_? Would the content be ecology, natural history, or what? Seems to me that if one looks at these three journals, considers the subject matter and the protocol used in the studies reported, one has to conclude that ecology is simply natural history, as evolved into the present. I think it is a little bit of a stretch to say that natural history is limited to the observations of hobbyists out for a fun day. Nest placement, prey selection by season, and predator avoidance are in fact all subjects that the 19th century naturalists might have addressed, and might have done so using a hypothesis driven approach. Certainly Charles Darwin would have done so. And I would definitely submit that he is the father of our science of ecology, though others obviously played an important role. The term natural history! has simply become pejorative in academic circles, and it should not have, nor can it be separated from ecology.
Again, I think that Gary and I do not disagree much on this, just that we write somewhat different perspectives. mcneely ---- Gary Grossman <[email protected]> wrote: > There is much truth to what Dave M. says, although I think that the response > of ecologists to distance themselves from natural history is as much due to > pressure from their biological, yet not organismally oriented colleagues as > it is due to their own urges. Faculty who call ecology "stamp collecting" > in tenure meetings and such. But I would disagree that ecology and natural > history are the same thing and I would argue that they are easily separated > by the fact that ecology is hypothesis driven and natural history is > observation driven (okay we need observations and experiments to test those > hypotheses). When I go out to watch birds just to see what they're doing, > that's natural history, but when I go out to gather data to test hypotheses > (for brevity I am not going to describe specific hypotheses) regarding nest > placement, seasonal changes in prey type and size, predator avoidance > responses, etc. then I am doing ecology. Ecology always involves natural > history (modelers take note <g>) but natural history doesn't always involve > ecology. For me, this is a clear distinction and one that doesn't > necessarily involve value judgements, although they seem to be quite common > in discussions of this type. cheers, g2 > > > > > > -- > Gary D. Grossman, PhD > > Professor of Animal Ecology > Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources > University of Georgia > Athens, GA, USA 30602 > > Research & teaching web site - > http://grossman.myweb.uga.edu/<http://www.arches.uga.edu/%7Egrossman> > > Board of Editors - Animal Biodiversity and Conservation > Editorial Board - Freshwater Biology > Editorial Board - Ecology Freshwater Fish > > Sculpture by Gary D. Grossman > www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/album.php?aid=2002317&id=1348406658<http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#%21/album.php?aid=2002317&id=1348406658> > > Hutson Gallery Provincetown, MA - www.hutsongallery.net/artists.html > Atelier 24 Lexington, Asheville NC - > www.atelier24lexington.com<http://www.atelier24lexington.com/default.html> > Lyndon House Art Center, Athens, GA - > www.accleisureservices.com/lyndon.shtml -- David McNeely
