Module #9: Field Ecology
Leaders: Tom Wentworth and Kristen Rosenfeld, NC State
Members: Donna Fekete, Purdue; Charlie Drewes, ISU; Sara Patterson, UW; and Brent Sipes, UH.
This module will provide general training for doctoral candidates in plant biology, helping them to recognize and address ethical issues in their professions. It will introduce a range of value questions students are likely to encounter in their careers, provide guidance for thinking through them, and increase students’ confidence in making ethical decisions.
The Department of Botany at NC State University has experience developing courses and modules in research ethics. A required course, BO624B, “Ethical Issues in Plant Biology”, focuses on a variety of topics, including working with threatened or endangered species. This course was developed by Wentworth, Robertson, Rosenfeld, and Jordan. The LANGURE module will build on discussions held during the course and help students to identify legal and ethical issues related to working with rare, threatened, or endangered species, develop strategies for obtaining proper permits and permissions, and formulate procedures for carrying out studies with minimal impact on species and habitats. The module will focus on specific scenarios (barrier island plant communities and federally listed beach plants, and collection and description of rare orchids) with an eye toward helping students explore research in ecology and biodiversity, and ethical obligations with respect thereto.
Other topics to be covered will include environmental ethics, sustainability, publication of results, rights of property owners, collection of specimens, and working with local cultures (Johansen 2000). Students taking the module will think critically about conducting field research and the resulting impacts on the environment and will take away a list of issues to consider when designing and executing field studies.
References:
Ecological Society of America . Code of Ethics. http://www.esa.org/aboutesa/governance/codeofethics.php. Accessed October 11, 2004 .
Farnsworth, E.J. and J. Rosovsky. 1993. The ethics of ecological field experimentation. Conservation Biology 7(3):463-472.
Leopold, A. 1949. A Sand County almanac. New York : Oxford University Press.
Leopold, A.C. 2004. Living with the land ethic. Bioscience 54(2):149-154.
Marsh, H. and C.M. Eros. 1999. Ethics of field research: do journals set the standard? Science and Engineering Ethics 5(3):375-382.
Marsh, H. and R. Kenchington. 2004. The role of ethics in experimental marine biology and ecology. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 300:5-14.
Rozzi, R. 1999. The reciprocal links between evolutionary-ecological sciences and environmental ethics. Bioscience 49(11):911-921.