Ecological Society of America

Plant and animal ecologists discussed forming a common society at a Philadelphia gathering in 1914. Correspondence involving Robert Wolcott and Victor Shelford also proposed an emphasis on fieldwork rather than paper reading alone.

On 28 December 1915, roughly fifty participants at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Columbus, Ohio, voted to establish the society and adopted a constitution. Shelford became its first president.

References: [1]

The society brings together studies of individual physiological responses, population dynamics, species interactions, community organization and ecosystem flows of energy and matter.

These approaches share questions about organisms and environments but differ in scale and materials. Scientific exchange and publishing provide connections between those research traditions.

References: [2]

ESA publishes peer-reviewed journals and provides resources for teaching, communication and career development. Meetings and specialist groups allow researchers to discuss methods, report results and develop collaborations.

Its objectives include better communication, greater public understanding and more resources for ecological research. It is a society of researchers; particular investigations remain the work of universities, field stations and other institutions.

References: [2]

ESA has debated the role of scientific societies in conservation. Its 1945 restriction on direct efforts to influence legislation helped convince some members that preserving natural areas required a separate action organization.

Shelford and colleagues subsequently helped form the Ecologists’ Union, which developed into The Nature Conservancy. Their connected history does not make the scholarly society and the conservation organization the same institution.

References: [3]