The paper considers the connections between the environmental crisis and patterns of consumption in the Western, and Westernised, worlds. These patterns are named as "malconsumption", a concept which is defined and then discussed in terms of its importance to the work of environmental educators. Malconsumption as a means of…

Science education is criticized because it often fails to support problem-solving skills in students. Instead, the instructional methods primarily emphasize didactic models that fail to engage students and reveal how the material can be applied to solve real problems. To overcome these limitations, this study asked participants in a general…

Following evolutionary theory and an agriculture model, ecosystem research has stressed bottom-up dynamics, implying that top wild predators are epiphenomenal effects of more basic causes. As such, they are assumed expendable. A more modern co-evolutionary and wilderness approach--trophic cascades--instead suggests that top predators, whose…

American Indian tribes across the nation are facing pressing ecological challenges related to alterations in species distribution, access and availability of water, shifting community structures, and other phenomena correlated to climate change. At the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI, Albuquerque, NM), faculty and staff believe the…

There is a vast terrain of emerging research that explores recent innovations in digital games, particularly as they relate to questions of teaching and learning science. One such game, "Citizen Science", was developed to teach players about the practice of citizen science as well as lake ecology. Citizen science is a pedagogy that has a long…

This article describes future trends in environmental education (EE) research based on a mixed-methods study where data were collected through a content analysis of peer-reviewed articles published in EE journals between 2005 and 2010; interviews with experts engaged in EE research and sustainability-related fields; surveys with current EE…

The new paradigm for student research should be articulations and collaborations with local governmental, academic, and civic entities. This will enable students to make lasting contributions to bettering their communities through scientific research, and to better understand the practical relevance of science. This article presents two such…

Disturbance-generated biomass results from endogenous and exogenous natural and cultural disturbances that affect the health and productivity of forest ecosystems. These disturbances can create large quantities of plant biomass on predictable cycles. A systems analysis model has been developed to quantify aspects of system capacities (harvest,…

Presents an annotated bibliography of literature focusing on the effects of the centrally planned Soviet economy on the environment. Twenty-six documents are classified in three categories: English-language sources, Russian-language sources, and Russian-language ecologically oriented newspapers, newsletters, and journals. (MDH)

Discusses the objectives of conserving nature, appropriate strategies to reach those objectives, the present situation of formal conservation in South Africa, and the role of research in formulating sound conceptual models of ecosystem structure and function. (MDH)

Integration of the natural and social sciences occurs when scientists in each discipline have a knowledge of the other discipline. Research must strive for integrated conceptual and operational frameworks, develop objectives agreed upon by all participants, and include planners, decision makers, and local population. (KC)

This article describes how a number of international organizations are tackling many different problems of toxic substances in the environment. (BB)

Describes methods of designing natural resource monitoring programs to provide indications of ecosystem health, define limits of normal variation, identify abnormal conditions, and suggest potential agent of abnormal change. (MDH)

The ecological knowledge of university students was analyzed under psychological and educational aspects via a computer simulation, an environmental game consisting of a variant of the Commons Dilemma, and a computerized text base on an actual environmental problem. Conditions impairing acquisition and use of ecological knowledge were discovered.…

In this study, a freshwater flatworm was shown to be tolerant to a wide pH range and could survive in acidified water to approximately pH 3.6. The influence of other abiotic factors is explored. (CW)