provide expert guidance to the Federal Government. Specifically, this 

 mission involves: 



1. Identification of national needs for ecology; 



2. Assessment of our present ecological knowledge and 

 capabilities, and the current status of our efforts to meet these 

 needs. 



3. Development of recommendations for a short and long term 

 national program of ecological research, designed to provide 

 the ecological knowledge and capabilities basic to achieving 

 our national goals. 



I anticipate that your report will have five direct audiences, each with 

 its associated potential for guidance and other impacts: (1) Dr. David 

 and myself; (2) The Federal agencies; (3) The Office of Management 

 and Budget; (4) Congress and the Public; and (5) the Nation's 

 universities. 



Ecology is an area where the Federal Government is not strong. 

 Consequently, I attach particular importance to the contributions to 

 this Committee of the non-governmental participants. This is an area 

 where we particularly need the critical scientific analysis and expertise 

 of the scientific and academic community, working with the 

 Government participants, to assure that the Committee's 

 recommendations address themselves to ecological research, and that 

 research is justified in terms of supporting our endeavors to achieve 

 national environmental goals and policies. 



In conclusion, I wish to emphasize my strong and continuing personal 

 interest in your work and my gratitude for your efforts to assist with a 

 national problem of great importance. 



Ecology as used by this Committee involves biological components 3. Definition of Ecology 

 and their interrelationships to each other and to the environment. i e--__ -i Dpfy^pf 



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Ecology is the scientific discipline and body of knowledge which 

 underlies management and use of the environment in the same way 

 that physics underlies engineering. 



The focus in ecological research has been shifting gradually from the 

 study of species and populations of species to include study of entire 

 ecosystems. Thus ecology is no longer a division of biology, but deals 

 with totality and patterns of relationships between man and other 

 organisms and the environment. The systems approach requires 

 recognition of interactions at different integrative levels not only 

 among biological organisms but also between biota and the physical 

 and chemical factors in the environment. Inevitably, these 

 interactions have impact on the social milieu of our society. 



There is a trend toward increasing ecological and supportive 

 environmental research to help resolve the serious ecological and 

 environmental problems facing us. Federal agencies are now 

 recognizing that an understanding of ecological systems offers the 

 only rational basis for managing renewable resources, maintaining 

 life support systems on Earth, and assessing and helping to predict 



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