damage | Ecology for the Masses

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Ecotourism: What to Consider

Posted on December 2, 2019 by Lara Veylit One comment

Image Credit: Artem Beliaikin, CC0 1.0, Image Cropped

The concept of ecotourism has seen a massive surge in popularity over the last decade. It is defined by The International Ecotourism Society as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and education.” In other words, when you’re participating in ecotourism, you should be enjoying some sort of ecological marvel, and learning something, ideally whilst not damaging local people or ecosystems. Yet this can be a lot more complicated than it sounds.

Opinions

Outdoor Cats are a Problem

Posted on October 7, 2019 by Adam Hasik 7 comments

Outdoor cats are a contentious issue for cat-owners, cat-lovers, and those that are concerned about the environment. Like it or not, Fluffy is doing a LOT of damage (Image credit: Cat Outside in Sweden-148884.jpg by Jonatan Svensson Glad, CC BY-SA 4.0, Image Cropped).

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but domestic cats are bad for the environment. Sure, we as a species have adopted and incorporated them into our society (I live with two, myself), but that doesn’t mean we aren’t responsible for them and their actions.

Opinions

Dag Hessen: Advancing the Teaching of Ecology

Posted on May 30, 2019 by Sam Perrin One comment

Dag Hessen (second from right) believes that the teaching of ecology needs to move forward, better integrating our impact on the planet (Image Credit: paal @flickr, Image cropped, CC BY 2.0)

Teaching ecology has taken up a large chunk of my year. I love doing it, and I thoroughly enjoy seeing students becoming engaged in new concepts. But the way we teach ecology can often be quite static, with too little emphasis on how our ecosystems are changing, and how we can communicate this to a world thoroughly in need of more scientific understanding.

One person working to change how we teach ecology is Dag Hessen. I spoke to Dag earlier this year about communicating science to children through literature, which you can read more on here. But during the discussion we got sidetracked and went in-depth on how the teaching of ecology needs to change.

The Forefront

In Defense of Aliens

Posted on June 14, 2018 by Lara Veylit Leave a comment

It's important to remember that not all alien species are harmful, and we shouldn't treat them all as such

Image Credit: Lou133lou133, CC BY-SA 4.0, Image Cropped

Building on last week’s article on defining invasive and alien species as well as the work of Professor Mark Davis, I am going to do the unimaginable for an ecologist and argue that maybe alien species aren’t always a bad thing. I want to emphasize that maintaining biodiversity is essential, but maybe we should focus on the role of species in their environment rather than their place of origin.

Invasive Species

The Wild Boar

Posted on April 26, 2018 by Lara Veylit One comment

The wild boar, originally native to Norway, is now making a return after being wiped out. So how do the locals feel? (Image Credit: Richard Bartz, CC BY-SA 2.5, Image Cropped)

In this series we’ll be mainly dealing with alien species invading new parts of the world. However it’s important to recognise that not all invasive species are alien to the territories they invade, and not all invasive species are unanimously unwelcome. Today, we look at a species that is now returning to its former native territory, and which is being welcomed back by some.

Invasive Species