Wednesday, August 5, 2009: 2:30 PM
Blrm A, Albuquerque Convention Center
Background/Question/Methods - Over the past several decades, expansion in the areas of cell and molecular biology, landscape level ecology, and the environmental sciences has resulted in dramatic changes in the structure and curriculum of biology. Because the loss of traditional natural history and other organismal university courses has reduced training opportunities, we are no longer able to produce individuals with the mixed set of biological and ecological skills necessary to address many current and future ecological issues. The lack of these critical educational underpinnings will hamper our ability to meet significant ecological policy challenges such as climate change, energy policies, protecting biodiversity, environmental health issues, and the regulation and trade in potentially harmful invasive species. In order to train effective practitioners, we must look to changing the academy and the field.
It is the spatial and conceptual "middle" of the biological sciences—plant and animal physiology, life history studies, animal behavior, and taxonomy—that needs renewal. Current and future challenges will require knowledge in these areas to address and remediate impacts of climate change. Without training opportunities in these areas we will jeopardize our ability to model the role of plants and animals in major nutrient cycles, to anticipate physiological and behavioral responses of populations and species, to preserve biodiversity and ecosystem functions, and even to identify taxa to predict responses to environmental change. Improved computation and statistical power can be misleading if they are not based on strong empirical data derived from the "middle sciences".
Results/Conclusions - We suggest the development of a new approach to teaching ecology—one analogous to the recent evo-devo integration of evolutionary and developmental biology. Incorporation of areas such as taxonomy (both molecular genetics and systematics), animal and plant physiology, animal and plant behavior, environmental science, and conservation biology into ecology will enable us to better address critical areas of future research and teaching needs.
Our presentation will address these broad issues affecting ecology education and research, and will tether them to very practical questions— What skills are needed by the future research community workforce in ecology for 2020? What will the educational program to teach these look like? And, what do we need to do to implement these programs? Together these—the ingredients, the recipe and the preparation—will provide future scientists and environmental policy makers with the skills and knowledge needed to address the daunting tasks of 2020.
It is the spatial and conceptual "middle" of the biological sciences—plant and animal physiology, life history studies, animal behavior, and taxonomy—that needs renewal. Current and future challenges will require knowledge in these areas to address and remediate impacts of climate change. Without training opportunities in these areas we will jeopardize our ability to model the role of plants and animals in major nutrient cycles, to anticipate physiological and behavioral responses of populations and species, to preserve biodiversity and ecosystem functions, and even to identify taxa to predict responses to environmental change. Improved computation and statistical power can be misleading if they are not based on strong empirical data derived from the "middle sciences".
Results/Conclusions - We suggest the development of a new approach to teaching ecology—one analogous to the recent evo-devo integration of evolutionary and developmental biology. Incorporation of areas such as taxonomy (both molecular genetics and systematics), animal and plant physiology, animal and plant behavior, environmental science, and conservation biology into ecology will enable us to better address critical areas of future research and teaching needs.
Our presentation will address these broad issues affecting ecology education and research, and will tether them to very practical questions— What skills are needed by the future research community workforce in ecology for 2020? What will the educational program to teach these look like? And, what do we need to do to implement these programs? Together these—the ingredients, the recipe and the preparation—will provide future scientists and environmental policy makers with the skills and knowledge needed to address the daunting tasks of 2020.
