http://precedings.nature.com/tags/sustainability Recently posted documents tagged with 'sustainability' Nature Publishing Group en Nature Precedings http://precedings.nature.com/images/header_logo.gif http://precedings.nature.com http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npre.2009.3611.1 Background/Question/MethodsEcologists usually study interactions among living and non-living things at a particular spatial scale. Ecological curricula often have a biological focus except in ecosystem or applied ecology courses. At the undergraduate level, the impact of human activity on ecology class discussions is often relegated to urban ecology classes. The discussion of sustainability is a side line in introductory or upper level ecology courses, except in applied research courses, and more intensely addressed in non-science general education courses. To develop a global sustainable society will require that different disciplines understand the many factors that affect “sustainability” and work with a common definition of that term. To start the discussion among disciplines that is necessary to solve global environmental problems ecologists need to outline a clear connection between efficient natural resource management practices and global biodiversity goals. Faculty need to network across disciplines in curriculum development, and consider answers from the point of view of coursework in biology, earth science and physical science majors vs. in the general education or liberal arts core curriculum. The sustainability curriculum outcomes of such interdisciplinary discussions are considered for various undergraduate programs throughout the United States focusing on the process of integration of ecological knowledge.Results/ConclusionsNationally, science major programs develop courses that consider the human impact on the variability and management of natural resources, relative to biodiversity and landscape physical components. Courses are grouped into minors and/or configured as a major’s track. Many of these courses incorporate service-learning and utilize the campus and surrounding university community as a field lab for exploring sustainability, conservation and resource management issues. For non-majors, sustainability may be the theme of first-year seminars taught by faculty from different disciplines, to engage students in critical thinking exercises in solving global environmental problems. Often sociologists, political scientists, historians and geographers are more involved in teaching these general education courses than ecologists. A sustainable studies interdisciplinary major may result after establishing appropriate content courses for minors, the liberal arts curriculum and tracks within majors. The interdisciplinary major can also have several concentrations, as in International Studies major programs, or it can be a self-designed interdisciplinary major, differing in the relative amount of study of each discipline’s impact on sustainability and resource management trends. Ecologists’ participation in general education program development can lead to a better infusion of ecological knowledge into campus sustainability plans, with more opportunities for sustainability service-learning projects and internships. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npre.2009.3611.1 Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:00:16 UTC Ecologists and the development of sustainability curricula for majors vs. non-majors doi:10.1038/npre.2009.3611.1 2009-08-17 Carmen R. Cid Nature Precedings 2009-08-17T16:00:16Z Presentation Ecology http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npre.2009.3601.1 Background/Question/Methods In our increasingly urban world, indigenous knowledge of local ecology is declining rapidly, because survival in industrialized urban environments does not depend on knowing the details of local flora, fauna, or phenologies. While traditional ecological knowledge has been documented since 1980s, this is has been largely descriptive, e.g., ethnobotany of sacred groves, cultivation practices, or use of medicinal plants. Until recently, conservation biologists and managers of protected areas have followed western models of conservation that exclude local people and often abandon local ecological knowledge. However, many scientific studies of local ecosystems would not have been possible without the knowledge-base of indigenous people helping researchers. Yet, careful scientific analysis of such knowledge systems is scarce, except in some commercial applications such as forestry or fisheries. Further, even in rare instances when park managers have recruited knowledgeable locals as partners in PA management, the bureaucracy ended up dissipating ecological knowledge rather than sustaining it. The challenge therefore is to understand the epistemology of ecological knowledge, especially the costs and benefits to local people, to help create novel management regimes which provide new incentives for sustaining such knowledge even as traditional dependencies on natural resources are transformed for long-term sustainability of biodiversity. Results/ConclusionsThis paper reviews the literature on indigenous ecological knowledge in South Asia, to establish a baseline for systematic epistemological analyses. Examples include the Bihari bird-trappers assisting the Bombay Natural History Society’s bird-ringing projects, Irulas helping snake research at Madras Crocodile Bank, Kanis supporting a variety of research projects, including our own, in Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve over the past two decades, and the modern day settlers in Andaman Islands who have turned from over-harvesting and poaching to sustainable cultivation of Edible-nest Swiftlets. We argue that indigenous knowledge is useful not only for monitoring ecosystems or determining use of natural resources, but more importantly for generating fundamental scientific insights, and adding to the knowledge part of our collective social capital. Even as indigenous knowledge is being lost, volunteer-based Citizen Science projects are recruiting amateur naturalists, especially in urban areas, to monitor and study local biodiversity. Such approaches need to be extended into genuinely participatory research programs where indigenous people are engaged in generating and sustaining ecological knowledge, from traditional and modern scientific perspectives, to become well-informed stewards of the socio-ecological systems we inhabit from local to global scales. This is a crucial step towards slowing the loss of biodiversity by reversing our collective loss of knowledge of biodiversity. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npre.2009.3601.1 Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:54:11 UTC Indigenous ecological knowledge as social capital: How citizen science can help us replenish the bank doi:10.1038/npre.2009.3601.1 2009-08-14 Kaberi Kar Gupta Nature Precedings 2009-08-14T11:54:11Z Presentation Ecology http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npre.2008.1983.1 The goal of the workshop was to discuss issues related to the sustainability of neuroscience databases, identify problems and propose solutions, and formulate recommendations to the INCF. The report summarizes the discussions of invited participants from the neuroinformatics community as well as from other disciplines where sustainability issues have already been approached. The recommendations for the INCF involve rating, ranking, and supporting database sustainability. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npre.2008.1983.1 Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:45:30 UTC 1st INCF Workshop on Sustainability of Neuroscience Databases doi:10.1038/npre.2008.1983.1 2008-06-18 Jack Van Horn Nature Precedings 2008-06-18T10:45:30Z Manuscript Neuroscience Bioinformatics http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npre.2007.689.1 Dr. Sierra Rayne will be speaking on the interplay of sustainability and environmental chemistry in semi-arid and arid regions worldwide. Drawing on his previous, current, and proposed research on organic and inorganic contaminants in aquatic systems, Dr. Rayne will illustrate the importance of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches towards tackling environmental problems. A key element of his work is looking at chemical dynamics in environmental matrices, and in particular, photochemically generated reactive intermediates and their impact on biological systems and net ecosystem functions. Semi-arid/arid regions also offer unique opportunities to focus on the role of photochemistry in the biogeochemical cycling of oxyanion-forming heavy metals such as arsenic, molybdenum, selenium, and uranium (among others). Given the importance of semi-arid/arid regions in hosting major mineral deposits, multidisciplinary environmental chemistry research can also help make contributions towards sustainability in the worldwide mining industry. These fields offer great opportunities for researchers and students interested in semi-arid/arid landscapes, and understanding the role and impact of these regions on global contaminant fluxes is at the core of Dr. Rayne’s program. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npre.2007.689.1 Wed, 15 Aug 2007 10:06:10 UTC Sustainability and Environmental Chemistry in Semi-Arid/Arid Regions: A Unique Research Opportunity with Global Implications doi:10.1038/npre.2007.689.1 2008-05-30 Sierra Rayne Nature Precedings 2007-08-15T10:06:10Z Presentation Chemistry Earth & Environment http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/