This blogpost originally appeared on the website for Bruce Byers Consulting. by Bruce Byers The novel coronavirus is holding up a mirror for our species, giving us an opportunity to consider our place in the evolution of life on Earth and question our anthropocentrism. What I’ve missed during this pandemic and shutdown of our usual social and economic life is…
By Pamela Templer, VP of Education and Human Resources, ESA and Teresa Mourad, Director of Education and Diversity Programs, ESA “I can’t breathe.” These last words uttered by George Floyd galvanized protests against the ongoing racism embedded in the systems and culture in the United States of America and galvanized a movement that demanded critical self-reflection. We all know that…
by Benjamin S. Halpern1,2, Julien Brun1, Amber Budden1, Marty Downs1, Carrie V. Kappel1, and Julia S. Stewart Lowndes1 1National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 2Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA When the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) started shutting down its research labs on March…
Dear ecological community, We reach out to you today in sadness and solidarity. Recent acts of violence against the Black community as seen in the horrific killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, have sparked protests across the United States. They underscore the long history of racism and discrimination in our country. Racism and prejudice continue to harm…
by National Ecological Observatory Network When humans can’t get to the field for ecological research, could the robots take over? When humans can’t get to the field for ecological research, could the robots take over? COVID-19 has limited the ability of ecologists to get to the field to collect samples and check instruments in many parts of the world. While…
The National Science Foundation’s Biological Science’s Advisory Committee (BIO AC) held a virtual, abbreviated meeting April 30 amid the coronavirus pandemic. The committee, composed of biological and ecological scientists from across the research enterprise, typically meets twice a year for a two-day in-person meeting. Here are some of the highlights from that meeting relevant to the ecological science community: COVID-19…
“Do most of your members know about the Nagoya Protocol**?” This question appeared on a survey distributed to representatives from an array of professional societies in the social and life sciences, all of whom were about to attend a workshop on “The Shifting Landscape of International Biological Research” that ESA organized in 2017. A primary goal of this workshop was…
by Jorge V. Crisci (Universidad Nacional de la La Plata, Argentina) and Tod F. Stuessy (Ohio State University, USA) The great German physicist Werner Heisenberg remarked that nature does not reveal itself directly but only through questions we ask about it. This is true for questions we have with the tragic pandemic of COVID-19. In the last 17 years, coronaviruses,…
Blog post by ESA President Osvaldo Sala On April 9, I represented ESA in a meeting with Joanne Tornow, NSF assistant director for the NSF Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO). Tornow organized the Zoom meeting to listen to concerns of scientific society leaders and to inform us of NSF’s COVID-19 pandemic response. The other attendees were presidents and CEOs of…
The Ecological Society of America (ESA) will present the 2020 awards recognizing outstanding contributions to ecology in new discoveries, teaching, sustainability, diversity, and lifelong commitment to the profession during the Society’s Annual Meeting August 2-7. ESA is weighing whether to hold an in person meeting in Salt Lake City that includes a virtual option or whether to hold a totally…
By Martha Downs, Frank Davis, Jenn Caselle, Julien Brun, and Kristen Weiss Like marine fog that blankets one community while leaving a nearby neighborhood in sunshine, COVID 19 crept up on us at an uneven pace. In California, awareness and action to halt its spread came quickly, with in-person instruction at UC Santa Barbara, where the LTER Network Office is…
ESA’s fellowship program recognizes the many ways in which its members contribute to ecological research and discovery, communication, education and pedagogy, and management and policy.