{Human Ecology @ ESA} Re: View & edit this page "What is Human Ecology? (a discussion)"

[har...@msu.edu]

the terms "nature" and "natural" carry a lot of baggage . . .
but also i agree with larry that "ecological systems" include humans and could be human dominated systems . . .
both problems are avoided if one says "biophysical systems" . . .

cheers,

craig

craig k harris
department of sociology
michigan agricultural experiment station national food safety and toxicology center institute for food and agricultural standards michigan state university http://www.msu.edu/~harrisc/


-----Original Message-----
From: human_ecol...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:human_ecol...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Larry Li
Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2009 11:15 AM
To: human_ecol...@googlegroups.com
Subject: {Human Ecology @ ESA} Re: View & edit this page "What is Human Ecology? (a discussion)"


I would like to suggest to change ecological systems to NATURE since ecological systems could be human ecosystems as well. It reads as below:

"Human Ecology is an interdisciplinary science that explores the interactions of human and natural systems.  It is also an applied science that seeks to employ our understanding of such complex interactions towards sustainable stewardship of the biosphere."

Larry

Bai-Lian Larry Li
Chair, International Scientific Committee, EcoSummit http://www.ecosummit2007.elsevier.com/

Editor-in-Chief, Ecological Complexity
http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecocom
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/1476945X
(2006 Impact Factor: 1.688)

Editor, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Director
CAU-UCR Int. Center for Ecology & Sustainability

Professor and Director
Ecological Complexity and Modeling Lab
Department of Botany and Plant Sciences
University of California
Riverside, CA 92521-0124, USA

Tel.: 951-827-4776
Fax: 951-827-4437
E-mail: bai-l...@ucr.edu

Also affiliated with:
UCR Dept. of Mathematics
UCR Dept. of Statistics
UCR Center for Conservation Biology
UCR Center for Plant Cell Biology
UCR Inst.for Integrative Genome Biology



---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 07:20:33 -0700 (PDT)
>From: human_ecol...@googlegroups.com (on behalf of Erle Ellis
><erle...@gmail.com>)
>Subject: {Human Ecology @ ESA} View & edit this page "What is Human
Ecology?  (a discussion)" 
>To: "Human Ecology @ ESA" <human_ecol...@googlegroups.com>
>
>
>Human Ecologists!
>Here is an online web page that all of us can edit- please jump in and
>contribute, and/or change what is there!
>Onward,
>-Erle
>
>Click on
>http://groups.google.com/group/human_ecology_at_esa/web/what-is-human-e
>cology-a-discussion?hl=en
>- or copy & paste it into your browser's address bar if that doesn't
>work.
>>

 

[Larry Li]

How about human and natural ecosystems? To a ecologist, I feel this is better than the term 'biophysical systems'.

Larry

> </div
>

[Tom Fleischner]

A fair, and perhaps useful, question would be: What ISN'T human ecology? Can any ecological inquiry justifiably exclude humans (past, present, future)? Should any primarily human inquiry (say, political science, economics) justifiably exclude the landscapes in which people live?

Thomas L. Fleischner, Ph.D.
Professor of Environmental Studies
Prescott College
220 Grove Avenue
Prescott, AZ 86301
(928)350-2219

Web Page: http://www.prescott.edu/faculty_staff/faculty/tfleischner/index.html

President, Natural History Network
http://www.naturalhistorynetwork.org <http://www.naturalhistorynetwork.org/>

Imagination is better than a sharp instrument.
To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.
--Mary Oliver

________________________________

[Larry Li]

Good point, then we run into another issue in ecology, landscape vs. ecosystem...

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