MEDIA ADVISORY
For immediate release
February 4, 2005

Special February Issue of Frontiers

February’s Frontiers issue is a special on visions for an ecologically sustainable future. The following are a few of the articles appearing in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 3(1).

What: Introduced species policy, management, and future research needs
Why: Introduced species create huge economic and environmental costs and US federal policy has been inconsistent.|
Who: Daniel Simberloff (University of Tennessee, Knoxville), Ingrid Parker (University of California, Santa Cruz) and Phyllis Windle (Union of Concerned Scientists)

Simberloff, Parker and Windle argue that while interest in invasive species continues to increase in academia and the public, “attention from the policy and environmental communities has been inconsistent.” The second greatest threat to biodiversity after habitat destruction, invasives impact agriculture, cause structural damage, and have cost as much as $137 billion in the US alone. According to the authors, consistent funding, better technology and coordination, and more sophisticated modeling techniques can help curtail the effects of current and future invaders.

What: Ecological theory to enhance infectious disease control and public health policy
Why: Emerging infectious diseases and the possibility of bioterrorism continue to remain a threat to public health.
Who: Katherine Smith (University of California, Santa Barbara), Andrew Dobson (Princeton University), et. al.

The authors discuss the importance of theoretical tools of ecology and analysis for successful control and prevention of infectious diseases.

What: Reconciling agricultural productivity and environmental integrity: a grand challenge for agriculture
Why: “Agriculture’s main challenge for the coming decades will be to produce sufficient food and fiber for a growing global population at an acceptable environmental cost.”
Who: G. Philip Robertson (WK Kellogg Biological Field Station, University of Michigan) and Scott Swinton (Michigan State University, East Lansing)

The global economy and human population continue to increase, placing more demands on a limited supply of land. Robertson and Swinton believe an ecological approach is required, to avoid stressing agriculture productions and the land on which these systems rely upon. They suggest managing crop and livestock as ecosystems, creating agricultural landscapes that produce services beyond the essential “food and fiber.”

What: Spatially explicit tools for understanding and sustaining inland water ecosystems
Why: “Worldwide environmental crises driven by declines in the availability or quality of freshwater [leave] ecologists and water resource economists searching for ways…to help guide difficult decisions facing the public, land managers, and politicians.”
Who: Mary Power, Collin Bode, David Zilberman (University of California, Berkeley), and Nicholas Brozovic (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

New mapping, sensing and tracing technologies are allowing scientists to better monitor and detect changes in fresh water systems. The authors point out the challenges in forecasting these changes and advocate for ways to incorporate new scientific knowledge with better management of freshwater resources.