At present a system of National Environmental Research Parks has 

 been established on certain federally operated facilities. It is 

 recommended that these form the basis for the National System of 

 Ecological Research Areas. 



Recommendation 9 Assign high priority to research on the ecology of intensively 



managed and used, man-dominated urban ecosystems, so as to 

 establish threshold values for ecosystem stress. Detailed 

 ecological research requirements and applications should be 

 determined in a separate study by appropriate experts. 



The Committee agreed that ecological study of urban ecosystems is 

 important and urgently needed. This area was not reviewed by this 

 Committee or the CEQ-OST Committee on Environmental Health 

 Research; however, both Committees recommend that the subject be 

 reviewed by experts in this specialized field. 



Recom mendation 1 Investigate the techniques for developing means of long-range 



ecological planning geared to establishing a "carrying 

 capacity" for human activities. 



The influence, both positive and negative, of man on his environment 

 is a function of population size and life style. In recent years industrial 

 man has come to recognize this his activities depend on a finite 

 resource base. Because this resource base for food, housing, recreation, 

 industry, tranportation, material wealth and many other activities is 

 so diverse and widely dispersed, appreciation of the limited capacity of 

 the earth to sustain an expanding human population with escalating 

 aspirations of wealth has come slowly. Pastoral man has long under- 

 stood and adjusted to the grazing capacity that sustained his herds. 



Comprehensive management of resources for urban development, as 

 well as for population planning, require better prediction of per capita 

 requirements. For example, ecologists have suggested that the 

 minimal area for each person in the United States to sustain the 

 present life style may be approximately 5 acres; the present ratio 

 averages 10 acres per person. 



Analysis of ecological carrying capacity as a tool for evaluating 

 environmental impact and accommodating appropriate population 

 growth is required. Such analytical and predictive ability can be 

 fostered in the Ecological Service as well as by agencies sponsoring 

 ecological investigations in support of their missions. The concept of 

 carrying capacity developed for animal husbandry should be extended 

 to management of land for human activity. 



Recommendation 1 1 Ecological education should be augmented by providing a 



specific core curriculum, and research training grants for 

 practical work on high priority environmental problems. 



The Committee has found a shortage of professional ecologists trained 

 in ecosystem research and systems approaches. This is true in part, 

 because the number of graduate programs in ecology is relatively 



26 



