Ecolog and Liane:
Liane's definition is good enough for me, but I do confess, with respect to
similar definitions, that I prefer "interactions" to "relationships" even
while not selling relationships short. That is, I like both terms, even as I
am at pains to define them. I have no real quarrel with any of the
variations on this theme, even as I remain open to some new one(s). I, for
one, as a result of observing and yearning to understand rather than to
merely "know," continually struggle with feeble attempts to decipher what
happens and to reconcile it with what is writ. So much of Nature seems
beyond language, especially one stuck with particular/limited definitions.
It's all too much, really, and that's exactly what draws me in.
The reason I like "interactions" is that it seems to connote to me, however
imperfectly, both "positive" and "negative" "impacts." (I should add that I
even have some trouble with the positive/negative dichotomy too.) Peace,
"relationships" can also so connote. Both can embrace ups and downs.
Ecologists do speak of "perturbations." (I would say "hysteresis," but I
don't want to induce any hysteria.) "Environmentalism," however the media
might stray from the ecological straight and narrow, is the result of
visible or felt feedback loops initiated by system perturbations,
radically-fluctuating boom and bust deviations from established modulations
that characterize resilience and adaptation to the slings and arrows of
outrageous cultural indifference to its own support system.
I simply do not know which is on the real fool's errand, the ever-confused
observer or the ever-obsessed calculator. I suspect that they really do need
each other. Dare no "true" scientist spare space for literature? Need the
fact that fools have trod in the tracks where wise men have worn ruts deter
us from assessing each bit of writ on its merit or deficit?
WT
"In the heart of the city I have heard the wild geese crying on the pathways
that lie over a vanished forest. Nature has not changed the force that
drives them. Man, too, is a different expression of that natural force. He
has fought his way from the sea's depth to Palomar Mountain. He has mastered
the plague. Now, in some final Armageddon, he confronts himself." --Loren
Eiseley, "The Invisible Pyramid."
----- Original Message -----
From: "Cochran-Stafira, D. Liane" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 15, 2011 2:39 PM
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Ecology What is it?
I'll answer the question in one short easy to understand definition.
To quote ESA: Annual Meeting, August 2000
Ecology is: "The scientific discipline that is concerned with the
relationships between organisms and their past, present and future
environments, both living and non-living."
This is the definition I teach in my classes. Ecology is to
environmentalism or environmental science as Physics is to engineering. One
is the science, the other is an application that makes use of the "theory"
established by the science.
Liane
****************************************
D. Liane Cochran-Stafira, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Saint Xavier University
3700 West 103rd Street
Chicago, Illinois 60655
phone: 773-298-3514
fax: 773-298-3536
email: [email protected]
http://faculty.sxu.edu/~cochran/
<http://faculty.sxu.edu/~cochran/>
________________________________
From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news on behalf of Matt
Chew
Sent: Mon 11/14/2011 4:41 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Ecology What is it?
As of the latest digest I received, this thread had attracted input from
fewer than 0.1% of the list's 12K recipients. Perhaps there are 12K
reasons for remaining unengaged but I suspect they are all variations or
combinations of a few basic themes. Rather than debate plausible
rationalizations, I challenge you all to consider Wayne's question
carefully.
Sociologists who study the formation and dynamics of scientific disciplines
use the concept of "boundary work" to describe the process of deciding what
ideas (and those who adhere to them) are "inside" (therefore also
"outside') of the group.
So, what's "in" and what's "out" of ecology? Academic ecologists and
biogeographers have a long tradition of border skirmishing. But beyond
that ecology seems to have been accreting adherents, methods and ideas at
quite clip for the last 40 years or so.
As an "-ology", is ecology limited to studying something? Strictly
speaking, yes; but we do not speak strictly.
Is "ecology" a thing to be studied? We speak of the ecology of a place, of
a geographical feature, of a species, of a population, of an assemblage, of
a community (whatever that is) of an ecosystem (whatever that is) or of a
landscape (etc.).
Is ecology a method, a philosophy, an ethical stance, a moral commitment, a
religious belief?
Are you an ecologist? What makes you one? Recycling stuff? Organic
gardening? Watching a TV show? Joining the Sierra Club, Audubon, and/or
TNC (etc.)? Taking a class? Two classes? Earning a certificate? An
Associate's degree? A BA? A BS? An MA? An MS? A Ph.D.? Some other
accredited degree? Working in the field for 1/5/10/20 years?
Should anyone who calls whatever they feel, think or do "ecology" be
considered an ecologist because they call themselves one? If so, why does
ESA have a certification process? Does that process exclude anyone who
seeks certification? If so, can excluded individuals still call themselves
an ecologists? Can those of us who never seek certification call ourselves
ecologists?
Does being certified mean you know what you're talking about, or merely
that you're using the right words?
If ecology means all those things, can it really mean any one of them?
The impending 100th anniversaries of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" and of
ESA and BES as organizations are good excuses to ponder all this.
I'm expecting 12,000 answers by Monday night. But don't cc me. Just
respond to the list.
Matthew K Chew
Assistant Research Professor
Arizona State University School of Life Sciences
ASU Center for Biology & Society
PO Box 873301
Tempe, AZ 85287-3301 USA
Tel 480.965.8422
Fax 480.965.8330
[email protected] or [email protected]
http://cbs.asu.edu/people/profiles/chew.php
http://asu.academia.edu/MattChew
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