Ecology: The Science Versus the Myth

This paper describes the foundations of ecology as a science and argues for adherence to scientific principles in the environmental arena. Ecology as a science does not present moral or ethical guidance for societal use in environmental management. Moral, ethical, economic, and political values are integral parts of environmental management, but they are derived outside the realm of science. We emphasize the importance of preserving the power of science as a methodology to acquire objective information separated from societal values. Environmental Risk Assessment is a process that engages and requires both the life and social sciences for successful environmental management.     

生态学的新进展——评《人类生态学》

由云南大学周鸿教授主编 ,高等教育出版社出版的《人类生态学》一书 ,是一本面向 2 1世纪高等人才培养的一门基础课程教材。这本教材是新世纪出版的第一本知识内容全面系统、具有特色和创新的人类生态学。该书的出版 ,标志着新时代的中国教育思想和生态科学出现了巨大变革。教育是一种手段 ,它的时代使命是培养适应社会当前发展、更着重于未来发展需要的各种专业人才。中国教育部把生态学纳入 2 1世纪高等教育的基础教学内容 ,并精心组织了《人类生态学》教材的编写及出版。这是中国教育改革的一项高瞻远瞩的战略决策。从 1972年开展第一个…     

The Precautionary Principle,Science and Human Health Protection

As technology advances rapidly, so do applications with potential adverse implications on human health. The possible threats include risks that can be substantial, far-reaching and irreversible, and currently available methods of investigation, designed to deal with direct exposure-disease associations, are not always suitable. Growing interest is being paid to health effects that may be the consequence of distal, “upstream” determinants. Considering the complex chain of events that links such determinants with health can be extremely difficult, and exposes severe limitations in science. Thus, there is often a mismatch between what is known and what would be required to inform rational, evidence-based decision making, which is increasingly called for. It has become apparent how production and use of scientific evidence in decision making must be accompanied by precaution, especially in those circumstances, more and more common in recent times, where there is an uncertain possibility that serious health consequences might take place. Several cautionary approaches have been proposed, but the Precautionary Principle (PP) has been the object of especially intense debate in recent years. Developed in the field of environmental health, the PP has been clarified, and has been applied or called for in several instances in public health. Although a unique definition is not available, the principle has been characterised, and criteria for its application have been proposed. However, many questions remain open on general as well as specific issues. In this paper, we address some of the questions that are relevant for the PP to support rational decision making in environment and health and more in general to strengthen its contribution towards human health protection.     

The Late Prehistoric Human Ecology of Birch Creek Valley,Northeastern Oklahoma

Abstract

A multi-disciplinary study of the archaeological sites in Birch Creek Valley examined the valley’s paleoenvironment, prehistoric economy, and demography. The study indicates that during the Plains Village Period (ca. A.D. 800-1,500) the local environment was stable and similar to that of the area today with the valley being occupied during the late summer through winter by dispersed groups containing from 10 to 15 people. The Late Prehistoric occupants of the valley apparently relied on a broad-spectrum foraging economy and did not engage in horticulture.     

The Human Behavioral Ecology of Contemporary World Issues

Human behavioral ecology (HBE) began as an attempt to explain human economic, reproductive, and social behavior using neodarwinian theory in concert with theory from ecology and economics, and ethnographic methods. HBE has addressed subsistence decision-making, cooperation, life history trade-offs, parental investment, mate choice, and marriage strategies among hunter-gatherers, herders, peasants, and wage earners in rural and urban settings throughout the world. Despite our rich insights into human behavior, HBE has very rarely been used as a tool to help the people with whom we work. This article introduces a special issue of Human Nature which explores the application of HBE to significant world issues through the design and critique of public policy and international development projects. The articles by Tucker, Shenk, Leonetti et al., and Neil were presented at the 104th annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) in Washington, D.C., in December 2005, in the first organized session of the nascent Evolutionary Anthropology Section (EAS). We conclude this introduction by summarizing some theoretical challenges to applying HBE, and ways in which evolutionary anthropologists can contribute to solving tough world issues.

An Indigenous Philosophical Ecology: Situating the Human

Can Indigenous ecological knowledge contribute to major debates in Western science and philosophy? I argue that it offers a ‘philosophical ecology’ that works synergistically with Western eco‐philosophy and some streams of ecological science. This paper takes up the challenge offered by Val Plumwood: that anthropology can contribute to the work of re‐situating the human. It examines an ecological philosophy of mutual benefits, and shows patterns, and a broader meta‐pattern, in which life is both for itself and for others, and in which connectivity and stability are achieved through densely recursive benefits. I identify these and other contexts as areas for further dialogue.     

Risk Assessment of Tropospheric Ozone: Human Health,Natural Resources,and Ecology

Ozone is an unusual trace gas in the atmosphere, presenting a challenge for risk assessors and risk managers. The challenge can be traced to the gas’ complex chemistry in the atmosphere (exposure), toxicology in biological systems (response), and the fledgling enterprise of risk assessment for widely distributed, highly reactive pollutants. This paper addresses the (i) co-evolution of the scientific data underlying ozone risk assessment on human health, natural resources (crops and managed forests), and unmanaged ecosystems, (ii) similarities and differences in risk assessment among these receptors, and (iii) utility of indicators in risk assessment. The scientific community has developed a sound database to underpin the ozone risk assessment, although the breadth and depth differ markedly among the three receptors. There are similarities in ozone risk assessment among human health, natural resources, and ecology, including features of exposure (e.g., temporal variation), response of plants and humans (e.g., sensitive cohorts), and integration of exposure and response (e.g., importance of peak and cumulative exposures). Equally important are the notable differences, and the more prominent are scaling of exposure-response relationships, air quality monitoring, economic valuation, and models to complement more traditional experimental approaches. Of the three receptors, the status of indicators for conducting ecological ozone risk assessment is the weakest.     

The Environment and the Microbial Ecology of Human Skin

Microbial flora of the skin of three human population groups representing different natural environments was examined quantitatively and qualitatively to determine whether environmental differences in temperature and humidity can influence the microbial flora of normal skin. Five anatomical skin sites - hands, back, axillae, groin, and feet - were sampled from 10 subjects working in a high-humidity, high-temperature environment, 10 subjects from a low-temperature, high-humidity environment, and 10 subjects working in a moderate-temperature and low-humidity environment. Bacterial populations were significantly larger from the back, axillae, and feet in individuals from the high-temperature and high-humidity environment as compared to the moderate-temperature, low-humidity environment. High humidity and low temperature had no significant effect on total populations, but this group showed a higher frequency of isolation of fungi, and gram-negative bacteria from the back and feet. Although there was an indication that increase in the environmental humidity could result in an increased frequency of isolation of gram-negative bacteria, there was no evidence that an increase in either temperature or humidity altered the relative proportions of gram-negative bacteria in the predominantly gram-positive microbial flora found on normal skin. It was concluded that, although climatic changes may cause fluctation in microbial populations from certain sites, they are not a major influence on the ecology of the microbial flora of normal skin in the natural environment. The variables introduced by studying individuals in their natural environment and the influence of these on the results are discussed.     

The Human Ecology of Mayan Cacao Farming in Belize

This paper describes the expansion of cacao farming among Mayan farmers in the Toledo District, Belize, during the 1980s and why the expansion took place. Land planted with cacao increased from 237 acres in 1983 to 1014 acres in 1990. The number of cacao farmers increased from 70 to 365 and beans sold to Hershey Foods Corporation increased from 1086 to almost 32,000 pounds. This paper describes the distribution of cacao farming in space and time and it uses a holistic approach to explain land-use/cover change. An ecologic model is proposed that explains the cacao expansion that involves the interaction of several forces. During the 1980s, Hershey Foods Corporation provided an unlimited market for cacao beans, agricultural loans and technical assistance were provided by international development agencies, and Mayan farmers planted cacao to gain usufruct rights to reservation and national land. During the 1990s a British organic food company became the new market for cacao beans.