Communicating with the public: opportunities and rewards for individual ecologists

www.frontiersinecology.org © The Ecological Society of America E face important decisions about whether and how to engage members of the public on issues related to ecology and the environment. Many ecologists now consider communication of science to the public and policy makers as an important aspect of their careers, in part as a result of the historical involvement of scientists in promoting science in decision making, but also because of increasingly rapid environmental change and a perceived need to improve public understanding of science. Evidence for this increased interest among ecologists and environmental scientists comes from a variety of sources. Beginning perhaps most prominently with, and continuing after the publication of, the “sustainable biosphere initiative” by Lubchenco et al. (1991), professional organizations have emphasized the importance of public education and communication (eg Christensen et al. 1996; Committee to Consider the Future of ASLO 1997; Palmer et al. 2005; Grove 2009). Similarly, professional societies have produced tools that promote public outreach (eg The Oceanography Society 2006; Harrison et al. 2009). Many ecologists have also argued that remedies for environmental problems are urgently needed and that these remedies will involve more integrated participation by environmental scientists (Vitousek 1994; Lubchenco 1998; Power and Chapin 2010). In addition to calls for involvement from scientists and scientific societies, funding agencies have placed increasing importance on public outreach in the evaluation of grant proposals. For example, in the US, the National Science Foundation (NSF) established a “broader impacts” criterion in 1997 as part of its merit review process (Holbrook 2005). Similar criteria were introduced by granting agencies in the European Union and elsewhere around the world (McNie 2007). Finally, there appears to be an ongoing and perhaps more urgent request from politicians, policy makers, environmental managers, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for ecologists to become more closely involved in the SCIENCE, COMMUNICATION, AND CONTROVERSIES