Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Range Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #302008
Title: New ecology education: Preparing students for the complex human-environmental problems of dryland East Asia

Author
item YE, JIANSHENG - Non ARS Employee
item REYNOLDS, JAMES - Duke University
item Herrick, Jeffrey - Jeff
item REYNOLDS, JULIE - Duke University
item CHULUUN, TOGTOHYN - Mongolia State Agricultural University
item LI, FENGMIN - Non ARS Employee
item LONG, RUIJUN - Non ARS Employee

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/1/2013
Publication Date: 12/20/2013
Citation: Ye, J., Reynolds, J.F., Herrick, J.E., Reynolds, J.A., Chuluun, T., Li, F., Long, R. 2013. New ecology education: Preparing students for the complex human-environmental problems of dryland East Asia. In: Chen, J., Wan, S., Henebry, G., Qi, J., Gutman, G., Sun, G., Kappas, M., editors. Dryland East Asia, Land Dynamics Amid Social and Climate Change. Beijing, China; Higher Education Press. p. 363-403.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Present-day environmental problems of Dryland East Asia are serious, and future prospects look especially disconcerting owing to current trends in population growth and economic development. Land degradation and desertification, invasive species, biodiversity losses, toxic waste and air pollution, and water depletion are exacting serious economic losses, social conflicts and health costs. The list of stakeholders expected to resolve these problems include scientific researchers, government regulators, environmental engineers, business consortiums, resource managers and policy-makers. While all are crucial, in this chapter we focus on an often overlooked – but exceptionally important stakeholder – students. Given both the rapid rate and magnitude of change that have already occurred, it’s not surprising that students often sense that the extent of future environmental problems are so overwhelming that there are not adequate means of fully understanding them. Consequently, educators have the task of instilling a sense of optimism that while the challenge is difficult, it is not impossible. We must assist students develop a suite of skills that will enable them to deal with the prodigious mix of societal and environmental problems that they stand to inherit. Towards this end, in this chapter we present our vision of a new ecology education course. Three key topics are new ecology education emphasize interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches; the role of strong conceptual frameworks; the importance of nonlinearities, thresholds and feedbacks in human-environmental systems; principles of both systems and resilience theory; and how short-term versus long-term solutions to any given problem may be quite different. Decision-making ultimately relies upon identifying and evaluating choices; thus the next generation of students must be effective communicators, problems-solvers, and systems thinkers.