Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Making ecological science policy-relevant: issues of scale and disciplinary integration

  • Perspectives
  • Published:
Landscape Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper, we ask why so much ecological scientific research does not have a greater policy impact in the UK. We argue that there are two potentially important and related reasons for this failing. First, much current ecological science is not being conducted at a scale that is readily meaningful to policy-makers. Second, to make much of this research policy-relevant requires collaborative interdisciplinary research between ecologists and social scientists. However, the challenge of undertaking useful interdisciplinary research only re-emphasises the problems of scale: ecologists and social scientists traditionally frame their research questions at different scales and consider different facets of natural resource management, setting different objectives and using different language. We argue that if applied ecological research is to have greater impact in informing environmental policy, much greater attention needs to be given to the scale of the research efforts as well as to the interaction with social scientists. Such an approach requires an adjustment in existing research and funding infrastructures.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Advisory Committee on Pesticides (2003) Alternatives to conventional pest control techniques in the UK: a scoping study of the potential for their wider use. Final Report of the sub-group of the Advisory Committee on Pesticides

  • Armsworth PR, Roughgarden JE (2001) An invitation to ecological economics. Trends Ecol Evol 16:229–234

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Benton TG, Vickery JA, Wilson JD (2003) Farmland biodiversity: is habitat heterogeneity the key? Trends Ecol Evol 18:182–188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blake L, Goulding KWT, Mott CJB et al (1999) Changes in soil chemistry accompanying acidification over more than 100 years under woodland and grass at Rothamsted Experimental Station, UK. Eur J Soil Sci 50:1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balmford A, Bond W (2005) Trends in the state of nature and their implications for human well-being. Ecol Lett 8:1218–1234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley DC, Ormerod SJ (2002) Long-term effects of catchment liming on invertebrates in upland streams. Freshwat Biol 47:161–171

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brewer GD (1999) The challenges of interdisciplinarity. Pol Sci 32:327–337

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruce A, Lyall C, Tait J, Williams R (2004) Interdisciplinary integration in Europe: the case of the Fifth Framework programme. Futures 36:457–470

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell LM (2005) Overcoming obstacles to interdisciplinary research. Conserv Biol 19:574–577

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter SR (1998) The need for large-scale experiments to assess and predict the response of ecosystems to perturbation. In: Pace ML, Groffman PM (eds) Successes, limitations and frontiers in ecosystems science. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • CERN (2005) CERN: The worlds largest particle physics laboratory. http://public.web.cern.ch/Public/Welcome.html. Cited 13 Oct 2006

  • Chave J, Levin S (2003) Scale and scaling in ecological and economic systems. Environ Resour Econ 26:527–557

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Costanza R, Voinov A, Boumans R et al (2002) Integrated ecological economic modelling of the Patuxent River Watershed, Maryland. Ecol Monogr 72:203–231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daily GC, Ehrlich PR (1999) Managing Earth’s ecosystems: an interdisciplinary challenge. Ecosystems 2:277–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox HE, Christian C, Cully Nordby J, Pergams ORW, Peterson GD, Pyke CR (2006) Perceived barriers to integrating social science and conservation. Conserv Biol 20:1817–1820

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson CG, Ostrom E, Ahn TK (2000) The concept of scale and the human dimensions of global change: a survey. Ecol Econ 32:217–239

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gutrich J, Donovan D, Finucane M et al (2005) Science in the public process of ecosystem management: lessons from Hawaii, Southeast Asia, Africa and the US Mainland. J Environ Manage 76:197–209

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Haines-Young RH, Barr CJ, Black HIJ et al (2000) Accounting for nature: assessing habitats in the UK countryside. DETR, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Haines-Young RH, Barr CJ, Firbank LG et al (2003) Changing landscapes, habitats and vegetation diversity across Great Britain. J Environ Manage 67:267–281

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Harvey DR (2006) RELU special issue: editorial reflections. J Agric Econ 57:329–336

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haughton AJ, Champion GT, Hawes C et al (2003) Invertebrate responses to the management of genetically modified herbicide-tolerant and conventional spring crops. II. Within-field epigeal and aerial arthropods. Phil Trans Roy Soc Lond B 358:1863–1877

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Haygarth PM (2005) Linking landscape sources of phosphorus and sediment to ecological impacts in surface waters. Sci Total Environ 344:1–3

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Heard MS, Hawes C, Champion GT et al (2003) Weeds in fields with contrasting conventional and genetically modified herbicide tolerant crops. I. Effects on abundance and diversity. Phil Trans Roy Soc Lond B 358:1819–1832

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hole DG, Perkins AJ, Wilson JD et al (2005) Does organic farming benefit biodiversity? Biol Conserv 122:113–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holling CS (1978) Adaptive environmental assessment and management. Wiley, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Hubbard Brook Research Foundation (2007) http://www.hubbardbrookfoundation.org/science_links_public_policy/. Cited January 2007

  • Karlqvist A (1999) Going beyond disciplines: the meanings of interdisciplinarity. Pol Sci 32:379–383

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kleijn D, Baldi A (2005) Effects of set-aside land on farmland biodiversity: comments on Van Buskirk and Willi. Conserv Biol 19:963–966

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kleijn D, Berendse F, Smit R et al (2001) Agri-environment schemes do not effectively protect biodiversity in Dutch agricultural landscapes. Nature 413:723–725

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kleijn D, Berendse F, Smit R et al (2004) Ecological effectiveness of agri-environment schemes in different agricultural landscapes in the Netherlands. Conserv Biol 18:775–786

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kleijn D, Sutherland WJ (2003) How effective are European agri-environmental schemes in conserving and promoting biodiversity? J Appl Ecol 40:947–969

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kremen C (2005) Managing ecosystem services: what do we need to know about their ecology? Ecol Lett 8:468–479

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Likens GE (2004) Some perspectives on long-term biogeochemical research from the Hubbard brook ecosystem study. Ecology 85:2355–2362

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowe P, Phillipson J (2006) Reflexive interdisciplinary research: the making of a research programme on the rural economy and land use. J Agric Econ 57:165–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mattison EHA, Norris K (2005) Bridging the gaps between agricultural policy, land-use and biodiversity. Trends Ecol Evol 20:610–616

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchley J, Price MF, Tzanopoulos J (2006) Integrated futures for Europe’s mountain regions: reconciling biodiversity conservation and human livelihoods. J Mountain Sci 3:276–286

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moss SR, Storkey J, Cussans JW et al (2004) The Broadbalk long-term experiment at Rothamsted: what has it told us about weeds? Weed Sci 52:864–873

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naiman RJ (1999) A perspective on interdisciplinary science. Ecosystems 2:292–295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neal C (2004) The water quality functioning of the upper River Severn, Plynlimon, mid-Wales: issues of monitoring, process understanding and forestry. Hydrol Earth Syst Sci 8:521–532

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • NERC (2005) Science into policy: taking part in the process. Natural Environment Research Council, Swindon

    Google Scholar 

  • Norton BG, Toman MA (1997) Sustainability: ecological and economic perspectives. Land Econ 73:553–568

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Opdam P, Foppen R, Vos C (2002) Bridging the gap between ecology and spatial planning in landscape ecology. Landscape Ecol 16:767–779

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pascual U, Russell N, Omer AA (2003) Does loss of biodiversity compromise productivity in intensive agriculture? Discussion paper. http://www.socialsciences.man.ac.uk/publications/economics/sesdiscuss.asp?author_id=286&. Cited Oct 2006

  • Pickett STA, Burch WR, Morgan Grove J (1999) Interdisciplinary research: maintaining the constructive impulse in a culture of criticism. Ecosystems 2:302–307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santelmann MV, White D, Freemark K et al (2004) Assessing alternative futures for agriculture in Iowa, U.S.A. Landscape Ecol 19:357–374

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silvertown J, Poulton P, Johnston E et al (2006) The Park Grass experiment 1856–2006: its contribution to ecology. J Ecol 94:801–814

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stevens DK, Bradbury RB (2006) Effects of the arable stewardship pilot scheme on breeding birds at field and farm scales. Agric Ecosyst Environ 112:283–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stevens CJ, Dise NB, Mountford JO et al (2004) Impact of nitrogen deposition on the species richness of grasslands. Science 303:1876–1879

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sutherland WJ (2006) Predicting the ecological consequences of environmental change: a review of the methods. J Appl Ecol 43:599–616

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sutherland WJ, Pullin AS, Dolman PM et al (2004) The need for evidence-based conservation. Trends Ecol Evol 19:305–308

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sutherland WJ, Armstrong-Brown S, Armsworth PR et al (2006) The identification of 100 ecological questions of high policy relevance in the UK. J Appl Ecol 43:617–627

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas JA, Telfer MG, Roy DB et al (2004) Comparative losses of British butterflies, birds and plants and the global extinction crisis. Science 303:979–881

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton K, Laurin C (2005) Soft sciences and the hard reality of lake management. Lake Reservoir Manage 21:203–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tomich TP, Chomitz K, Francisco H et al (2004) Policy analysis and environmental problems at different scales: asking the right questions. Agric Ecosyst Environ 104:5–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Urban DL (2005) Modelling ecological processes across scales. Ecology 86:1996–2006

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Buskirk J, Willi Y (2004) Meta-analysis of farmland biodiversity within set-aside land. Conserv Biol 18:987–994

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Veemaat JE, Eppink F, van den Bergh JCJM et al (2005) Aggregation and the matching of scales in spatial economics and landscape ecology: empirical evidence and prospects for integration. Ecol Econ 52:229–237

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watkinson AR, Freckleton RP, Robinson RA et al (2000) Predictions of biodiversity response to genetically modified herbicide-tolerant crops. Science 289:1554–1557

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wear DN (1999) Challenges to interdisciplinary discourse. Ecosystems 2:299–301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wijkman A (1999) Sustainable development requires integrated approaches. Pol Sci 32:345–350

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson PN (2000) Social capital, trust, and the agribusiness of economics. J Agric Resour Econ 25:1–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu J (2006) Landscape ecology, cross-disciplinarity, and sustainability science. Landscape Ecol 21:1–4

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wu J, Hobbs R (2002) Key issues and research priorities in landscape ecology: an idiosyncratic synthesis. Landscape Ecol 17:355–365

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors thank RELU for funding this scoping study (Designing and Implementing Large Scale Experiments in Land Use). The content of the paper draws partly on the outputs of an interdisciplinary workshop held at Imperial College London in April 2005. We are very grateful to the participants in the workshop, especially Calvin Dytham, Les Firbank, Rob Fraser, Charles Godfray, Simon Gillings, Andrew Hector, Andreas Kontoleon, Tobias Langanke, David Murrell, Chris Preston, Steve Ormerod, Steve Rushton and Noel Russell.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Matthew B. Thomas

    Present address: CSIRO Entomology, GPO Box 1700, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK

    Carly J. Stevens

  2. Applied Economics and Business Management, Kent Business School, University of Kent, Wye Campus, Wye, Kent, TN25 5AH, UK

    Iain Fraser

  3. Department of Agricultural Sciences, Imperial College London, Wye Campus, Wye, Kent, TN25 5AH, UK

    Jonathan Mitchley

  4. NERC Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, Berks, SL5 7PY, UK

    Matthew B. Thomas

Authors
  1. Carly J. Stevens
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Iain Fraser
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jonathan Mitchley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Matthew B. Thomas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carly J. Stevens.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Stevens, C.J., Fraser, I., Mitchley, J. et al. Making ecological science policy-relevant: issues of scale and disciplinary integration. Landscape Ecol 22, 799–809 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-007-9092-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-007-9092-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation