Numerous laws and guidelines set forth initially at the national level in 

 response to a new national ecological and environmental awareness are 

 creating demands for new types of ecological research and data. There is an 

 urgent need for input of useable ecological information into the 

 deliberations which lead to any new legislation concerning environment. 

 Once new legislation is passed, the Federal government has the responsibili- 

 ty to insure that data systems and other tools which are necessary to res- 

 pond to legislative requirements are available through either non-Federal 

 mechanisms or Federal as necessary. For example, the current project-by- 

 project approach to environmental impact assessment does not allow for 

 considerations of cumulative impact of multiple projects or actions in a 

 given geographic area. In the near future such large-scope evaluations may 

 well need to be addressed at the Federal level. The Federal government may 

 also need to provide support to insure that educational systems are 

 stimulated and equipped to train people in ecology and related disciplines. 



In recent years there has been growing concern over the future utiliza- 

 tion of natural resources. Especially significant is the fact that a large 

 percentage of these natural resources in question are to be found on Federal 

 lands, e.g. national parks and national forests. Consequently there exists a 

 great need for ecological input into policymaking concerning the use of 

 Federal land and the nature of ecological and environmental programs con- 

 ducted at the Federal level. 



At the present time efforts to include biologists and ecologists in en- 

 vironmental problem-solving efforts are suffering from differences in train- 

 ing and conceptual approaches between the biological and engineering com- 

 munities. More generally, there are communication barriers among entities 

 at all levels of the environmental planning process, e.g. State and Federal 

 agencies, private industry, consultants, academia, and the general public. 

 One future role of the Federal government might be to encourage the con- 

 struction of more effective communication and exchange of basic ecological 

 information among all potential users of the information. 



As an initial attempt to address the role of the Federal government in 

 ecological research and applications, this report was jointly chartered by 

 the Council on Environmental Quality and the Federal Council for Science 

 and Technology. It is the work of an ad hoc committee of distinguished in- 

 dividuals representing a large variety of Federal agencies with various mis- 

 sions but all in some way concerned with the environment and with natural 

 organisms, as well as non-governmental consultants. The Ad Hoc Com- 

 mittee on Ecological Research was requested to identify the national needs 

 for ecology; to assess the present state of our capabilities and efforts to meet 

 the needs; and to recommend long and short-range Federal actions to 

 provide the ecological knowledge and know-how basic to achieving national 

 goals. The assessment of current efforts was to include a survey of present 

 ecological research and development by the Federal government. A cor- 

 ollary purpose emerging from the Committee's effort was to provide some 

 focus to the diverse activities and specialized fields included in the Federal 

 effort in ecology, both to promote better coordination, understanding and 

 utilization of what is presently underway, and to facilitate identification of 

 future needs. 



The report falls into three major sections, each addressing major issues 

 and problems in ecological research. 



VII 



