From ecological science to environmental education : a professional turning point?

This article explores the significance of a shift in young people’s professional career from ecological science to environmental education. The article reflects on the role of higher education in addressing social and political issues in environment and sustainability, and then provides an account of a course on environmental education research methodology at the Universidad Nacional Autfinoma de México. The course included participants with an academic and professional background in ecological science who were seeking a change in profession to that of environmental education. It became clear that a shift in profession entails the exploration of an alternative professional philosophy. We draw on some of the participants’ written biographical testimonies to identify some themes around ‘professional turning points’ and conclude that at least for some participants, there is a tension between science education that encourages ‘an aspiration to be objective’ and environmental education that encourages an ‘aspiration to respect the subjective’.

Bayesian classification of catchments using spatial data: a first step to improved modelling of catchment effects on stream ecological condition

A major challenge facing freshwater ecologists and managers is the development of models that link stream ecological condition to catchment scale effects, such as land use. Previous attempts to make such models have followed two general approaches. The bottom-up approach employs mechanistic models, which can quickly become too complex to be useful. The top-down approach employs empirical models derived from large data sets, and has often suffered from large amounts of unexplained variation in stream condition.

We believe that the lack of success of both modelling approaches may be at least partly explained by scientists considering too wide a breadth of catchment type. Thus, we believe that by stratifying large sets of catchments into groups of similar types prior to modelling, both types of models may be improved. This paper describes preliminary work using a Bayesian classification software package, ‘Autoclass’ (Cheeseman and Stutz 1996) to create classes of catchments within the Murray Darling Basin based on physiographic data.

Autoclass uses a model-based classification method that employs finite mixture modelling and trades off model fit versus complexity, leading to a parsimonious solution. The software provides information on the posterior probability that the classification is ‘correct’ and also probabilities for alternative classifications. The importance of each attribute in defining the individual classes is calculated and presented, assisting description of the classes. Each case is ‘assigned’ to a class based on membership probability, but the probability of membership of other classes is also provided. This feature deals very well with cases that do not fit neatly into a larger class. Lastly, Autoclass requires the user to specify the measurement error of continuous variables.

Catchments were derived from the Australian digital elevation model. Physiographic data werederived from national spatial data sets. There was very little information on measurement errors for the spatial data, and so a conservative error of 5% of data range was adopted for all continuous attributes. The incorporation of uncertainty into spatial data sets remains a research challenge.

The results of the classification were very encouraging. The software found nine classes of catchments in the Murray Darling Basin. The classes grouped together geographically, and followed altitude and latitude gradients, despite the fact that these variables were not included in the classification. Descriptions of the classes reveal very different physiographic environments, ranging from dry and flat catchments (i.e. lowlands), through to wet and hilly catchments (i.e. mountainous areas). Rainfall and slope were two important discriminators between classes. These two attributes, in particular, will affect the ways in which the stream interacts with the catchment, and can thus be expected to modify the effects of land use change on ecological condition. Thus, realistic models of the effects of land use change on streams would differ between the different types of catchments, and sound management practices will differ.

A small number of catchments were assigned to their primary class with relatively low probability. These catchments lie on the boundaries of groups of catchments, with the second most likely class being an adjacent group. The locations of these ‘uncertain’ catchments show that the Bayesian classification dealt well with cases that do not fit neatly into larger classes.

Although the results are intuitive, we cannot yet assess whether the classifications described in this paper would assist the modelling of catchment scale effects on stream ecological condition. It is most likely that catchment classification and modelling will be an iterative process, where the needs of the model are used to guide classification, and the results of classifications used to suggest further refinements to models.

Sustainability and health : supporting global ecological integrity in public health

Radical changes in the biosphere and human interaction with the environment are increasingly impacting on the health of populations across the world. Diseases are crossing the species barrier, and spreading rapidly through globalized transport systems. From new patterns of cancer to the threat of global pandemics, it is imperative that public health practitioners acknowledge the interdependence between the sustainability of the environment and the sustainability of the human species.* Why are issues of global and local sustainability of increasing importance to the public's health?* Why do issues of sustainability require new practices within the professions of public health?* How can future and current public health practitioners develop those new practices?Drawing on scientific evidence of global and local environmental changes, Sustainability and Health offers a thorough background and practical solutions to the overlapping issues in environment and health. It examines potential and existing responses to global and local environment and health issues, involving individuals, community, industry and government. The authors introduce a range of emerging conceptual frameworks and theoretical perspectives, link IT and epidemiology and explain how scoping can link program design, delivery, data collection and evaluation in projects from their very beginning. Public health practitioners need to be able to manage health issues that cut across environmental, economic and social systems and to develop the capacity for leadership in facilitating change. Incorporating learning activities, readings, international case studies and an open learning approach, this is a valuable resource for students of public and environmental health, as well as medical, environmental and health science professionals.

Ecological fire regimes for the recovery and management of threatened small mammals in southern Australia

The application of fire to fauna management, particularly for endangered species, is a significant issue for wildlife managers. Mammals respond to fire regimes including intensity, frequency and season of occurrence, and changes in fire-regimes are implicated in detrimental effects on mammal communities. For many species temporal habitat change is a key factor affecting the persistence of populations. These species require the option of colonising the shifting habitat mosaic. There is substantial evidence that species such as the native rodents New Holland Mouse (Pseudomys novaehollandiae) and Heath Rat (Pseudomys shortridgei) are early successional species dependent on such temporal habitat changes. In conrast species such as the dasyurid marsupial, Swamp Antechinus (Antechinus minimus) are late successional species, which may take up to 20 years to recolonise. In many situations ecological fire regimes need to be implemented to increase areas of suitable habitat for population expansion and reintroductions. This paper assesses research findings and the development of management actions incorporating ecological fire regimes for the recovery of Pseudomyine rodents and the Swamp Antechinus. Spatially explicit models are required to determine changes and patterns at the landscape level. The prospect of global climate change also is of significance and needs to be assessed.

Refuge in the land of liberty : France and its refugees, from the revolution to the end of asylum, 1787-1939

France has a long tradition of asylum for refugees. Since the Revolution, this has made it the land of liberty (pays de la liberte) and the land of asylum (la terre d'asile)." "In practice, responses have been shaped less by principle than by political and social conditions. Various refugee movements - from the late eighteenth-century Lowlands, to Spanish and Italian liberals in the 1820s, Polish nationalists in the 1830s. German social revolutionaries of 1848-9, anti-Bolsheviks from the Russian Revolution, Christians from the former Ottoman Empire, and Jews from Nazi Germany - have met with mixed responses, which shifted uneasily between sympathy, principle, pragmatism, and open hostility." "This book examines the tensions between refugee rights and political responses to refugees, and between humanitarian concern for their plight and hostility to their imposition on the state. Increasingly punitive measures against refugees saw, in 1939, the end of asylum in the internment of republican exiles from the Spanish Civil War.

Towards ecological management of Australian powerline corridor vegetation

Powerline corridor management in Australia has traditionally focused on the complete removal of vegetation using short rotation times due to the perceived fire hazard associated with corridor vegetation. This study assessed vegetation recovery in a powerline corridor, following management, at three sites spanning corridor and forest habitat. Forest and corridor vegetation communities differed significantly between sites and over time. As vegetation recovered, the corridor community became a mix of plants common in the surrounding forest and open areas, changing within the 3-year study from a grass–fern to shrub–sedge community encroached by midstorey species. The current short rotations between management events unnecessarily maintain the corridor in a cycle of degradation, remove resources for native species and may allow introduced grasses and saplings to proliferate in the corridor. Maintaining a shrub layer would help avoid loss of species richness, encourage native species and limit colonisation opportunities of introduced species. Spot spraying emergent saplings and problem plants and mosaic slashing, would keep fire risk low and maintain biodiversity without increasing biomass to dangerous levels.

A checklist for ecological management of landscapes for conservation

The management of landscapes for biological conservation and ecologically sustainable natural resource use are crucial global issues. Research for over two decades has resulted in a large literature, yet there is little consensus on the applicability or even the existence of general principles or broad considerations that could guide landscape conservation. We assess six major themes in the ecology and conservation of landscapes. We identify 13 important issues that need to be considered in developing approaches to landscape conservation. They include recognizing the importance of landscape mosaics (including the integration of terrestrial and aquatic areas), recognizing interactions between vegetation cover and vegetation configuration, using an appropriate landscape conceptual model, maintaining the capacity to recover from disturbance and managing landscapes in an adaptive framework. These considerations are influenced by landscape context, species assemblages and management goals and do not translate directly into on-the-ground management guidelines but they should be recognized by researchers and resource managers when developing guidelines for specific cases. Two crucial overarching issues are: (i) a clearly articulated vision for landscape conservation and (ii) quantifiable objectives that offer unambiguous signposts for measuring progress.

Community development and environmentalism : the dilemmas of being a good ecological citizen

This paper explores some of the dilemmas in operating as both a good community development practitioner and a good ecological citizen. It begins with a brief casestudy of an experience of community development engagement with nongovernment organisations (NGOs) concerned about illegal logging in a South East Asian country. This is followed by a discussion of the different ways of understanding and evaluating the threats to the natural environment today and the various strategies that might be invoked. The paper then considers why operating as a 'good ecological citizen' can be a challenging task for community development practitioners and it discusses some ways forward.

Community development and ecology : engaging ecological sustainability through community development : selected papers from a conference held in Melbourne, 26-28 March 2008

The papers consider such questions as how to build community resilience in the context of profound environmental threat, how to ensure sustainability through community processes and how to assess community progress in responding to threats to the ecosystem.