Friday, August 7, 2009: 8:00 AM-11:30 AM
Pecos, Albuquerque Convention Center
OOS 47 - Bridging the Divide: Integrating Human Ecology and Ecology to Improve Research and Management
Whether beneficial or deleterious, the effects of human activities are now evident in almost all ecological systems. Accordingly, well-grounded studies of relevant human-environmental interactions are needed in basic ecological research, the design of new management strategies, and effective policy decisions. Ecology and the various disciplines comprising human ecology have rich traditions of studying human impacts on the natural world. However, the human ecological and ecological traditions often approach the same problems in a piecemeal fashion. On the one hand, studies that utilize only ecological concepts and methods can be inadequate for management purposes. On the other hand, some human ecology research has amounted to social-science theory applied to environmental subjects without attention to ecological facts. A truly interdisciplinary approach would seamlessly integrate concepts and methods from the social sciences with ecology, yet how this can be done is often unclear. Through a series of presentations by noted human ecologists and ecologists, this symposium will highlight new and exciting approaches to ecologically relevant interdisciplinary studies. Our goals are 1) to elucidate the methodological and conceptual issues associated with interdisciplinary research, 2) to determine how to proceed with interdisciplinary studies without losing ecological relevance, and 3) to illustrate how truly integrative approaches have benefited ecological studies and management, including global sustainability studies. The presentations will be 15 minutes and will discuss methodological and conceptual issues that help or hinder interdisciplinary studies. The methods used in human ecology emerged from the social sciences, and were developed to answer questions from their home disciplines. The presenters will discuss how to make human ecological methods and research answer ecological questions and help efforts to manage critical systems.
Organizer:	David Bart, University of Wisconsin
Co-organizer:	Amy Freitag, Duke University
Moderator:	Amy Freitag, Duke University
8:00 AM	OOS 47-1		Bridging the divide: Overcoming barriers to understanding the effects of human activities on environmental outcomes David Bart, University of Wisconsin, Matthew L. Simon, University of Wisconsin
8:20 AM	OOS 47-2		A drop in the bucket: When and where do local sustainability efforts add to global patterns? Thomas Rudel, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
8:40 AM	OOS 47-3		Event ecology and the integration of social and ecological research Bradley Walters, Mount Allison University
9:00 AM	OOS 47-4		Translating environmental science into policy and action Lee M. Talbot, George Mason University
9:20 AM	OOS 47-5		Rural stakeholders and Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus) management on the Big Hole River, Montana, USA Michelle L. Anderson, MT-Tech of the University of Montana, Kylene B. Owens, MT-Tech of the University of Montana, Jeff Everett, United States Fish and Wildlife Services, James P. Magee, Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Michael A. Bias, Big Hole River Foundation
9:40 AM			Break
9:50 AM	OOS 47-6		Eutrophication science:  Where do we go from here? Val H. Smith, University of Kansas, David W. Schindler, University of Alberta
10:10 AM	OOS 47-7		Biophysical and social drivers interact to shape landscape genetics in an ancient Ethiopian agroecosystem Leah H. Samberg, University of California, Santa Cruz
10:30 AM	OOS 47-8		Floristic diversity and distinctiveness in calcareous wetlands of the Burren National Park, West Ireland Daniel A. Sarr, Klamath Network-National Park Service, John Curtin, National University of Ireland, Galway, Micheline Sheehy Skeffington, National University of Ireland, Galway, Lorin Groshong, Klamath Network-National Park Service
10:50 AM	OOS 47-9		Using ecological networks to assess convergent impacts of human activities Valerie Gremillion, University of New Mexico

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