TY - JOUR

T1 - Place, case and process

T2 - Applying ecology to sustainable development

AU - Fischer, J.

AU - Sherren, K.

AU - Hanspach, J.

PY - 2014/5

Y1 - 2014/5

N2 - We outline a pragmatic approach through which ecologists, by participating in interdisciplinary research, can engage with sustainable development. The approach is based on three points of intersection that facilitate the integration of ecological insights with insights from other disciplines and stakeholders. The first point of intersection, place, emphasizes the value of carefully choosing where to conduct an interdisciplinary research project. We argue that, from a sustainability perspective, research will be of most applied value if it takes place in locations that actually face urgent sustainability problems (including biodiversity decline). The second point of intersection, case, suggests that integration among different disciplines can be facilitated by choosing common study cases or units of analysis. For example, ecologists and scientists from other disciplines can focus on the same farms, villages or landscapes in their work. Sharing cases helps to create comparable data for integration, but also facilitates communication across disciplinary boundaries because it creates shared experiences in the field. The third point of intersection, process, relates to operational features of team research that improve integration across disciplines and communication with stakeholders. Key process-related features are working in a small, co-located team, planning for independent as well as joint project activities, involving some key stakeholders early on in the research process, and carefully targeting communication at different relevant audiences. In combination, an approach centred around place, case and process provides a tangible and pragmatic way for ecologists to meaningfully engage with real-world sustainability problems.

AB - We outline a pragmatic approach through which ecologists, by participating in interdisciplinary research, can engage with sustainable development. The approach is based on three points of intersection that facilitate the integration of ecological insights with insights from other disciplines and stakeholders. The first point of intersection, place, emphasizes the value of carefully choosing where to conduct an interdisciplinary research project. We argue that, from a sustainability perspective, research will be of most applied value if it takes place in locations that actually face urgent sustainability problems (including biodiversity decline). The second point of intersection, case, suggests that integration among different disciplines can be facilitated by choosing common study cases or units of analysis. For example, ecologists and scientists from other disciplines can focus on the same farms, villages or landscapes in their work. Sharing cases helps to create comparable data for integration, but also facilitates communication across disciplinary boundaries because it creates shared experiences in the field. The third point of intersection, process, relates to operational features of team research that improve integration across disciplines and communication with stakeholders. Key process-related features are working in a small, co-located team, planning for independent as well as joint project activities, involving some key stakeholders early on in the research process, and carefully targeting communication at different relevant audiences. In combination, an approach centred around place, case and process provides a tangible and pragmatic way for ecologists to meaningfully engage with real-world sustainability problems.

KW - Ecosystems Research

KW - Coupled human and natural systems

KW - Human-environment systems

KW - Interdisciplinarity

KW - Social-ecological systems

KW - Sustainability science

KW - Sustainable development

KW - Transdisciplinarity

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84891353490&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.baae.2013.12.002

DO - 10.1016/j.baae.2013.12.002

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 15

SP - 187

EP - 193

JO - Basic and Applied Ecology

JF - Basic and Applied Ecology

SN - 1439-1791

IS - 3

ER -