Book Proposal - Local Perspectives on Global Ecological Change

在自然生境和受干扰生境中会发生许多种生态变化，但其中许多变化是微妙和缓慢的。 这使得科学家很难记录生态变化，公众也很难理解生态变化的范围和重要性。 在上中西部，有特殊的记录，使其有可能重建长期的生态变化比大多数其他地区的温带北美更详细。 调查人员建议编辑一本关于生态变化的书，总结有关中西部上游栖息地动植物群落变化的科学结果。 这本书将被命名为《消失的现在：全球生态变化的地方观点》。“拟议的一卷将介绍和综合许多研究的结果，但将是非技术性的，以吸引广泛的读者。2004年10月，一个学术科学家、机构专业人员、社会科学家、政治家和记者聚集在一起，参加了一个为期两天的研讨会，介绍成果，并计划本书的内容和组成。国家科学基金会的支持将用于确保及时出版，高质量的图形，并广泛分发给学校和图书馆的书。 该书的主要目的是向公众和决策者介绍当前生态变化的性质、规模和层面，并为今后类似的区域和大规模研究提供一个模式。

Many kinds of ecological change occur in natural and disturbed habitats, but many of these changes are subtle and slow. This makes it hard for scientists to document ecological shifts and difficult for the public to appreciate the scope and importance of ecological change. In the upper Midwest, there are exceptional records which make it possible to reconstruct longterm ecological change in more detail than most other areas of temperate North America. The investigators propose to compile and edit a book about ecological change, summarizing scientific results concerning changes in plant and animal communities across the habitats of the upper Midwest. The book will be titled "The Vanishing Present: Local perspectives on global ecological change." The proposed volume will present and synthesize findings from many studies but will be non-technical so as to appeal to a broad audience. A cademic scientists, agency professionals, social scientists, politicians, and journalists met together in October 2004 for a 2-day workshop to present results and to plan the contents and composition of the book. NSF support will be used to ensure timely publication, quality graphics, and wide distribution of the book to schools and libraries. A primary aim of the book is to inform the public and decision-makers about the nature, scale and dimensions of current ecological change and to provide a model for similar future regional and large-scale studies.