I agree that interaction between ecosystems and humans can (and probably should) be incorporated into an ecology class. Creating a multidisciplinary course including sociology, political science, etc. is not the purpose of an ecology class. Throwing in a single chapter explaining the difference between environmnental science and ecology might be warranted. Human Ecology is an important area of ecology that is often ignored, outside of a life tables lab. So, we could do a better job of that.
Ecology is the partially applied and partially theoretical, but it is a single discpline. Environmental Sciences is much more diverse. Although ecologists work in the environmental sciences, so do geologists, chemists, sociologists, economists, political scientists, and an array of other disciplinarians. An environmental scientist typically specializes in one of these disciplines, but is also trained to work in this multidiscplinary environment. IT is a completely different thing from raw ecology. I have noticed that few introductory environmental texts really address this appropriately. They are usually watered down ecology texts that emphasize conservation and resource use. Environmental Science is a field that sprung out of the Environmental Policy Act (1969) and the need for an Environmental Impact Statement. The majority of an EIS has little to do with biology/ecology. A typical team on an EIS involves chemists, geologists, biologists, engineers, anthropologists, archaeologists, etc. It is interesting to me that modern environmental science is a much different thing than the old 1970's degree program that typically amounted to water treatment, often referred to as a "poor man's chemistry degree." Today, an EVS person is a very specialized scientist who works in a multidisciplinary environment. Ecologists do draw from multiple disciplines, but not to near the same degree. On Fri, August 17, 2007 4:29 am, William Silvert wrote: > While I agree that ecology courses should deal with ecology, I wonder > whether there is enough emphasis on the interaction of ecosystems with > humans. I am not an educator so I do not know what the current teaching > trends are, but I wonder to what extent topics such as the properties of > heavily fished ecosystems are covered in coursework. Do students > understand > the population dynamics of populations where there is high infant > mortality > as opposed to high adult mortality, for example? Effects of habitat > modification, and so on. > > I hope that we do not fall into the same situation that we see in the > split > between anthropology and sociology, where once "civilisation" starts to > affect primitive tribes the anthropologists walk away but the sociologists > are not yet interested, so this critical period receives too little > attention. > > Bill Silvert > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Malcolm McCallum" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU> > Sent: Friday, August 17, 2007 4:53 AM > Subject: Re: courses required for graduate ecology programs > > >>I think not. >> What you are speaking of is more appropriately placed in the >> environmental >> science/studies degree programs rather than ecology. Mixing these two >> programs would do a disservice to both majors. >> >> On Thu, August 16, 2007 9:39 pm, LOREN BYRNE wrote: >>> Given the increasingly recognized importance of integrating the social >>> sciences into ecology for topics such as ecosystem services, urban >>> ecology, etc., is it time to begin shifting our ecology education >>> paradigm >>> toward inclusion of "non-traditional" courses as suggested correlative >>> courses, if not requirements, in ecology curricula, i.e., courses in >>> sociology, economics and maybe even communications? >>> Many might argue (legitimately so in my opinion) that such social >>> science >>> courses could be more important and beneficial for students who want to >>> go >>> into conservation biology or environmental management fields than the >>> standard "full year of chemistry and physics." > Malcolm L. McCallum Assistant Professor of Biology Editor Herpetological Conservationa and Biology [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
