Linking Science and Technology to Society's Environmental Goals (1996) / Chapter Skim
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Focus on Monitoring to Build Better Understanding of Our Ecological Systems
Focus on Monitoring to Build Better Understanding of Our Ecological Systems
Pages 37-50
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From page 37... ...
. People commonly make comparisons between today and the past on the basis of their memories -- anecdotal comparisons like "winters aren't as cold as when I was a child." However, scientific comparisons of the physical or biological environment require solid evidence measured as quantitatively as possible.
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From page 38... ...
Nonetheless, every area of current environmental activity should be reassessed and priority given to the areas most affecting public health -- long-term, as well as short-term health. Ecological concerns that do not relate to public health deserve serious consideration but should not be presumed to have transcendent intrinsic worth.
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From page 39... ...
in 1957-1958, and the polar year in the late 1800s, are examples of special measurement efforts by scientists from many countries to establish a baseline understanding of the physical characteristics of the terrestrial and marine environments. The introduction of Dobson spectrophotometers and balloon-borne temperature sensors into several locations in Antarctica for the IGY and their maintenance since then have provided baseline data that allow scientists to know that the stratospheric ozone concentrations over Antarctica each October in the 1990s are very much less than was characteristic
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From page 40... ...
Comparable comprehensive global biological studies are still in the planning stages. One of the consequences of these varying stages of development is that people perceive the monitoring of physical characteristics differently from that of biological characteristics.
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From page 41... ...
-- Forum Participant Comment ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE Of particular concern relative to gaining a better understanding of the state of the environment is ecology. Many of the environmental problems that challenge human society are fundamentally ecological.
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From page 42... ...
It recommended strengthening environmental research by fundamentally advancing factual knowledge, maintaining disciplinary research at the same time that emphasis on multiscale and multidisciplinary studies is increased, and ensuring economical and high-quality research with stable funding bases. Ecosystems exemplify an issue confronting society in many forms -- complex, nonlinear dynamic systems.
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From page 43... ...
The U.S. Fundamental Ecological Research System The United States has no national program addressing fundamental ecological research, to provide coordination and focus.
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From page 44... ...
One project, for example, could address fundamental biological and ecological questions at the same time that it provides information relevant to important human activities, such as agriculture, biotechnology, and manufacturing. The selection of the focus could engage scientists from the ecological research community in a systematic assessment of potentially productive strategic-program directions.
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From page 45... ...
. The few long-term data sets that 1The PSR model asserts that human activity exerts pressures (such as pollution emissions or land use changes)
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From page 46... ...
The existing environmental-monitoring data sets on which environmental indicators and early warnings must be based are incomplete in space and time, especially with respect to ecology (because of the late recognition of the importance of ecological sciences) , and are not necessarily relevant to measuring progress or anticipating problems.
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From page 47... ...
In addition, examinations of long-term data collections at natural-history museums has allowed scientists to show how plant life has responded in structure and form to changing atmospheric conditions. Currently, the scientific reward system tends to provide too little incentive for routine baseline data collection in relation to its potential value in giving early warning of possible environmental problems before they cause any appreciable harm.
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From page 48... ...
2. Congress should assign an existing or new federal research organization the mission of working with the scientific community to identify key subjects for ecological research and ensuring that this research is being pursued adequately somewhere in the overall environmental research system, which includes not only EPA and the Department of the Interior, but also the National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Defense, and DOE.
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From page 49... ...
, A Review of the Biomonitoring of Environmental Status and Trends Program: The Draft Detailed Plan (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1995)
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