Monday, August 4, 2008: 10:15 AM-11:30 AM
201 B, Midwest Airlines Center
SS 2 - Are We Managing Holistic Ecosystems or Parts of Ecosystems?
Much of the environmental legislation that defines how we manage land in the United States was written in the 1970s and 1980s. Our knowledge about ecosystem processes and our ability to measure them has dramatically increased in the past 20 years, but have research ecologists and applied scientists effectively communicated this increased knowledge or supplied new tools to land managers and the public? Are we managing ecosystems holistically, or focusing on highly visible pieces like threatened species or their habitats? This session will address possible limiting factors such as inadequate scientific knowledge, constraining environmental legislation, special interest groups and the courts, lack of public interest, fear of risk, charismatic species, etc, and methods for addressing them. Speakers will also explore how knowledge of ecosystem processes and component interactions can and should be used to effectively address multiple stresses (e.g., climate change, air pollution, and natural disturbance events like fires and floods). This session has the goal of looking at the interface of scientific knowledge and measurement capability with practitioners working in ecosystem restoration or mitigation while considering our current social and legislative context.
Organizer:	Carolyn T. Hunsaker, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Sierra Nevada Research Center
Co-organizer:	William Michener, University of New Mexico

See more of Special Session

See more of The 93rd ESA Annual Meeting (August 3 -- August 8, 2008)