10 THE AU:D WBONT SU ei 
The Bald Eagle is at the end of a poisoned food chain, and its repro- 
duction is seriously low. While some researchers are not ready to blame pesti- 
cides for all of the Bald Eagle problems, the evidence, although circumstantial, 
is compelling. Taylor found that, with few exceptions, concentrations of 
D.D.T. were higher in tissues of birds found dead than in those shot. Brains 
of eagles dying from unknown causes contained up to 71.5 ppm of D.D.T.(1) 
Residues of pesticides found in the tissues of wild game have given con- 
cern to sportsmen; the game they consume may well be contaminated. 7) (9%) 
These are all matters of ecological interest. The science of ecology is 
‘““  . eoncerned with relationships, reasons why, and with seeing the order 
that exists in the helter-skelter and happenstance that we once thought ruled 
the world of things that grow.’’(1) Ecology is the science concerned with the 
interrelationships of organisms with each other and with their environments, 
and it has been largely ignored by short-sighted specialists and government 
officials. Yet it is this very science that should dominate the picture. 
Ecologists themselves, except for a few individuals, must take part of 
the blame for the back seat ecology has had in pest control. Ecologists have 
not come forward in an organized attempt to put their science in its proper 
place. In 1964, Dr. Clarence Cottam, Welder Wildlife Foundation, Sinton, 
Texas, told the Subcommittee on Environmental Pollution of the Ecological 
Society of America: “It is time we, as an informed, articulate group, speak 
out, for the hour is growing late. We have a golden opportunity and a moral 
obligation to point the way. If we show leadership and courage, we will com- 
mand respect and support.’ (4) 
Why have not more ecologists spoken up in this vital matter? Dr. Frank 
EK. Egler, Aton Forest, Norfolk, Connecticut, believes that their silence re- 
flects a lack of academic freedom; that, in addition to the failure to com- 
municate, there is a lag in ecological research; and that what little has been 
said has been buried by pest control propaganda coming from agricultural 
colleges. This propaganda has closed many minds. Short-term-thinking special- 
ists in pest control, aided by the wherewithal of the chemical industry, have 
won out over long-term-thinking ecologists. 
The ecosystem is a unit, an organization involving organisms and every- 
thing contributing to their environment. Dr. Egler likens the ecosystem to 
the spider’s web, in which each strand is involved with every other strand. () 
Pest control scientists forget that there are strands other than their own. 
DANGERS OF ARTIFICIAL MANAGEMENT 
The science of ecology concerns the entire world, every living thing in 
it, and all the elements. It considers the world as a unit which must indeed 
be managed, but which must be kept in relative balance, not manipulated to 
the point of environmental revolution. Ecology is, in many respects, antithetic 
to modern pest control, which seemingly even forgets that insects are the 
pollinators of flowers (including those of many agricultural plants). The 
pollinating insects are killed, along with the target species, in broad spectrum 
spraying. As Dr. La Mont C. Cole, Cornell University, points out, it would 
be difficult to imagine anything worse that could happen to agriculture than 
the elimination of all insects. (3) 
_We live in a world of natural law that cannot be ignored. As Dr. Alfred 
G. Etter, Defenders of Wildlife, writes: “... Man has an earth. He was born 
into it. He is a product of it. He cannot now decide that is is not to his liking, 
and change it willy-nilly.’’ (6) 
