ECOLOGY AND HUMAN-DOMINATED ECOSYSTEMS: A PHILOSOPHICAL STUDY

这里提出的研究将生态科学是否以及如何应用于人类主导的生态系统作为一个哲学问题。该项目将分析生态学家可能给出的不同答案，即生态学理论的对象（“生态系统”、“群落”、“湖泊”、“森林”等）是否典型地组成于相对“原始”的地点，或者它们是否也包括在其物理环境中任何生物相互作用的组合。如果是前者，生态学家可能会将人类视为生态系统结构的外部，并可能干扰它。如果是后者，生态学家可以将人类主导的生态系统作为普通的研究对象，包括生态系统正常功能中的人类活动。许多生态学家认识到，他们可能研究的大部分或所有地方都包括人类影响和活动的后果，而不是简单或主要是自然自发过程的结果。拟议的研究考察了生态学家可能做出的各种选择所带来的概念和规范后果，因为他们将研究重点从相对“原始”的生态系统转移到人类影响或主导的生态系统。许多生态学家试图确定一般的模型或原则（如与生态系统结构、功能或组合相关的规则），这将构成一个核心理论，并将生态学与其他通常更归纳或历史的生物和环境科学区分开来。然而，这些规则、原则和模型传统上被认为适用于“自然”群落或生态系统。如果生态学家和其他环境科学（包括农学、兽医学、植物育种、造林、水产养殖等）一样研究人类主导的地点，那么生态学与它们的区别可能就不再那么明显了。拟议的研究将分析生态学家的各种选择，以确定他们在研究人类主导的生态系统时所寻求的知识和见解与用于创建或管理这些系统的环境科学相关的知识或理解有何不同或增加。所提出的研究将有助于生态学哲学的新兴文献。提案中描述的这些文献为这里提出的概念和规范分析提供了坚实的基础和有用的陪衬。当然，拟议研究的智力价值将取决于它所进行的规范和概念分析的细心和清晰。可能成功的指标可以在PI的记录中找到：在环境伦理、法律和政策的相关领域出版分析性书籍和文章；借鉴生态学家、环境政策制定者和生态学哲学学生的建议；并对该领域的文献进行评论。自然保护的公共政策和课程往往依赖于诸如生物多样性、生态系统稳定性、恢复力、生产力、完整性等生态概念。这些概念是在主要针对相对“原始”或“自然”生态系统的生态科学背景下发展起来的。拟议的研究将检查可能遵循的保护概念的规范性后果，只要生态科学包括而不是排除它所研究的地点的人类影响和活动。研究生态学的这种转变，就是要解决保护科学中紧迫而棘手的问题。

The research proposed here considers as a philosophical question whether and how ecological science may apply to human-dominated ecosystems. The project will analyze different answers ecologists may give to the question whether the objects of ecological theory ("ecosystems," "communities," "lakes," "forests," etc.) consist paradigmatically in relatively "pristine" sites or whether they include as well any interacting assemblage of living things in its physical environment. If the former, ecologists may regard humanity as external to ecosystem structure and as likely to disturb it. If the latter, ecologists may study human-dominated ecosystems as unexceptional objects of research, including human activity in the normal functioning of ecosystems. Many ecologists recognize that most or all places they may study include the consequences of human influence and activity rather than simply or primarily the results of nature's spontaneous course. The proposed research examines the conceptual and normative consequences associated with various choices ecologists may make insofar as they move the focus of their research from relatively "pristine" to human-influenced or dominated ecosystems. Many ecologists have sought to identify general models or principles (such as rules that correlate with ecosystem structure, function or assembly) that would constitute a core theory and distinguish ecology from other often more inductive or historical biological and environmental sciences. These rules, principles, and models, however, traditionally were thought to apply to "natural" communities or ecosystems. If ecologists study the same human-dominated sites as other environmental sciences (including agronomy, veterinary science, plant breeding, silviculture, aquaculture, etc.), it may no longer be as clear how ecology differs from them. The proposed research will analyze various options open to ecologists in determining how the knowledge and insights they seek in studying human-dominated ecosystems may differ from or add to the knowledge or understanding associated with environmental sciences used to create or manage those systems. The proposed research will contribute to an emerging literature on the philosophy of ecology. This literature, described in the proposal, provides a solid foundation, and a useful foil, for the conceptual and normative analysis proposed here. The intellectual merit of the proposed research will depend, of course, on the care and clarity that characterize the normative and conceptual analyses it undertakes. Indicators of likely success may be found in the track record of the PI in: publishing analytical books and articles in related areas of environmental ethics, law, and policy; drawing on the advice of ecologists, environmental policy makers, and philosophical students of ecology; and, commenting on the literature in the field. Public policies for, and courses taught about, the conservation of nature often rely on ecological concepts such as biodiversity, ecosystem stability, resilience, productivity, integrity, and so on. These concepts were developed in the context of an ecological science directed primarily toward relatively "pristine" or "natural" ecosystems. The proposed research will examine the normative consequences for concepts of conservation that may follow insofar as ecological science includes rather than excludes human influence and activity in the sites it studies. To examine this transformation in ecology is to address pressing and vexing issues in conservation science.