ESA Ecological Visions Project

1. ESA Ecological Visions Project Governing Board created committee in Fall 2002 Margaret Palmer (chair) Nancy Baron Marisa Martinez Emily Bernhardt Fiorenza Micheli Liz Chornesky Mike Pace Scott Collins Steve Palumbi Andy Dobson Mercedes Pascual Barry Gold Jim Reichman Robb Jacobson Bill Schlesinger Sharon Kingsland Alan Townsend Mike Mappin Monica Turner

2. Goal - develop a series of action plans to: • bolster the research capabilities of ecological science in order to elevate the understanding of our planet as an interacting system; • transform interactions between ecological scientists, the public, managers and policy makers to together reach the goal of sustaining our natural systems and the benefits they provide

3. Why now? • Ecological science is changing … problems & solutions global in nature • Technological and informatics advances …vast new capabilities on the horizon • Enhanced communication needed … for public understanding & informed decision-making • Human impacts on the planet …unprecedented, requiring novel solutions

4. Critical Issues, such as… • Material Cycles: How do biogeochemical cycles interact with each other and the biota to influence the future trajectories of ecological systems? • Landscape dynamics: How do changes in climate, land use, habitat, and disturbance regimes interact to change ecological systems? • Biotic mixing: How are biotic communities changing, and how does that influence ecosystem function? • Infectious diseases and the environment: How do pathogens interact with each other, their hosts and the environments? What environmental contexts enhance/reduce the risks associated with bio-terrorism?

5. Approach • Recognize the great deal of work already done identifying the …big issues …grand challenges …interesting questions; • What would enhance our ability to deal with them? • Get membership input • Get external input

6. 5 Broad Visionary Areas Vision 1. Research Innovations Vision 2. Ecological CyberInfrastructure (Representing Ecological Knowledge) Vision 3. Building an Informed Public Vision 4. Catalyzing Cultural Changes Vision 5. Internationalization

7. What you said … Respondents: ~65% academic, 15% government, 8% NGO, 4% industry (~ 17% non US) • ~ 60% public understanding most important • ~ 25% cultural change • ~ 8% research innovations • ~ 4% ECI • ~ 2% Internationalization

8. “Don’t be afraid to be controversial… it gets people’s juices flowing…”

9. Vision 1: Research Innovation Innovative and effective ecological research in the 21st century will require novel technology and methods, and will require ecologists to work at unprecedented scales and levels of coordination Technology Education Culture

10. Technology Development • Improve connections between ecologists and engineers • Promote development of automated sensor systems for in situ and remote measurements • Promote improvements in “ease-of-use” for new and existing tools • Encourage funding for development and testing of environmental science technology • Annual competition and award for new technologies that advance ecological understanding

11. Q: What do you think should be ESAs top priority? Lobby for money Lobby for money Lobby for money Lobby for money Lobby for money Lobby for money Lobby for money Lobby for money Lobby for money Lobby for money Lobby for money Lobby for money Lobby for money

12. Cultural Changes to Foster Research Innovations • Standing ESA committee on needs and challenges of large-scale research • Journal devoted to novel methods developments (e.g., ASLO) • Highlight advances made by large-scale, multi-investigator projects at annual meetings and in Frontiers • Large-scale projects are not to replace other approaches, but are a key addition to a diverse portfolio of ecological science

13. “Most ecological research by academics is ‘pop’ science.”

14. Technology Education • More rigorous quantitative training in graduate education • Courses / workshops on new and emerging technology and methods • Explore and promote mechanisms for continuing education of ecologists beyond graduate school (e.g., “Leopold Program” in technology)

15. Vision 2: Ecological CyberInfrastructure(Representing Ecological Knowledge) Develop a 10-year plan to enhance information access (metadata, raw data, publications), communication, data acquisition, and computational abilities

16. ECI: Representing Ecological Knowledge • Manipulation: • Statistical tools • Modeling tools • Inputs: • Data entry tools • Metadata tools • Core: • Data bases • Metadata • Visualization: • Representation • Communication • Gathering: • Searching tools • Retrieval tools

17. ECI: Representing Ecological Knowledge • Create new generic tools for you to store and analyze your own research data • Develop tools and application platforms to combine, manipulate, analyze data for ecological synthesis • Develop generic data input, storage and access tools • Develop standardized metadata to facilitate data use, retrieval and understanding • Develop applications for dealing with remote and insitu data input from observing and sensing systems

18. ECI: Representing Ecological Knowledge • ECI can make it easier for you to find your own data and to understand those data • ECI will allow your data to be useful to others well into the future • ECI can facilitate data sharing with others • ECI is needed for the capture and management of real-time sensor network data • ECI is a vital tool for large, collaborative research projects

19. “Metadata - I don’t know what this is … a computer program?”

20. Vision 3:Building an Informed Public Embark on a collaborative campaign to build an ecologically informed public (broadly defined to include citizens, decision makers, etc.) and … enhance the linkage between ecological research and policy.

21. Ecology in Policy • Primary Goals: • Communication and collaboration among ecologists, policy and decision makers, government agencies, NGOs and public. • Enhanced access to peer-reviewed and emerging ecological research that is easily communicated and acknowledged as credible and relevant.

22. Example Actions • Initiatives or networks that engage stakeholders in two-way communication • Training initiatives for ecologists to participate in policy development • Enhanced access to literature, advances, and emerging research in Ecology • Contribute to research on connecting ecological research and policy

23. “Besides…. look at the ESA home page. Look at its logo of lower-case letters against the omnipresent, tired image of the earth that one sees on all things environmental. The logo for the Visions page is similarly simplistic.”

24. Ecology in Education • Primary Goals: • Enhance public understanding of ecology and ecology education at all levels of formal, non-formal, and informal education. • Advance research, innovation, teaching and scholarship in ecology education and outreach at all levels.

25. Example Actions • Initiatives or networks for teacher and professional development • Training initiatives for ecologists to participate in education programs • Enhanced access to literature, advances and emerging research in science education • Review current status of Ecology in science education standards and curricula • Contribute to ecology and science education research

26. Vision 4: Catalyzing Cultural Change Initiate programs to stimulate cultural changes within scientific and institutional communities

27. “The culture of ecology is dysfunctional and can be concisely summarized: ‘Infinite interpretation of infinitesimal data’…”

28. “Ecology is aloof …”

29. The Classic Ecologist • Independent, Do-it-yourself attitude • Small-scale experiments & sampling • Low tech, cost-effective equipment

30. New Ways of Thinkingand Working Needed • ∆Training (Graduate and Professional) • Improved Quantitative Skills • Training in Collaboration and Management • Synthesis as well as Independent Research • Recognition of diverse career options

31. If you could have any single tool that would improve your research program, what would it be? “a time machine” “an insight generator” “a fully funded, great technician who loves their work and will try anything and knows statistics.” “If I only had a brain…” …dream on

32. New Ways of Thinkingand Working Needed • ∆ Reward System • Increased recognition for multi-authored and interdisciplinary research, as well as, synthesis research • New systems for crediting shared data • Incentives for efforts in public education & policy • New outlets for publishing interdisciplinary efforts

33. “Have you noticed that the International Affairs Committee and Section have withered away to almost nothing?”

34. Vision 5: Internationalization Initiate a program to interact with other societies and countries to build a community of researchers and practitioners that work together, freely communicate, and tackle problems at varying scales and across national boundaries.

35. Why? • Ecological problems are global • Many ESA members work in other countries • ESA would benefit … ESA can not ‘Imperialize’ this agenda but needs to find a way to stimulate it

36. Suggested Actions • Annual graduate and/or post-doc conference • Endorse ongoing activities such as workshops at ICTP, Trieste, etc. • Internationalize the Journals & Frontiers • Translate ’Issues in Ecology’ and abstracts into multiple languages • Have online copies in language of country where research was undertaken

37. Suggested Actions (cont.) • Programs for the exchange of students / faculty • Develop the ecological equivalent of the Gates or Rhodes Scholars • Empower former overseas graduate students to return for summer / semester and develop their research

38. Suggested actions (cont.) • International Party Evening at Annual Meeting • Develop an ESA satellite office in New York to liaise with UN (Could be done jointly with SCB, CI, NC ) • Revisit joint ESA / BES Initiatives • ‘Best of BES / ESA’ reciprocal symposium at each annual meeting • Similar suggestion to Latin American Presidents

39. “The real task is to get societies to understand the relevance of ecology to daily life before it becomes too obvious because it is too late…”