I tried to address your point in an editorial I wrote in Science a
few months ago, mentioning
"Early ecologists who thought about principles governing plant and
animal communities never imagined that their ideas would provide the
foundation for understanding the human microbiome, affecting our
nutrition, immune system, and even psychological state. The new field
of synthetic ecology, in which ecologists and medical professionals
design beneficial microbial communities, has its origins in
century-old ecological field studies. These examples foretell how the
roles of ecologists and the applications of ecological principles are
likely to change in the next century, and why medical students and
practitioners need to understand ecology."
Gut, mouth, and skin microbiomes and their ecology are relevant to
health professions. Population biology and demography are important
components too, and understanding how lead, mercury, environmental
estrogens, and endocrine disruptors get into the environment and then
affect consumers (and patients) is highly relevant.
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/349/6248/565.full
You wrote:
Does anybody have ideas on how to promote Ecology among Biology
undergraduates? We are finding that Biology majors are increasingly
focused on health-care fields; many students consider Ecology
"unimportant" for their future careers, and it is not addressed in the
MCAT exams, so they give it a low priority. How does one increase
enrollment in Ecology courses, and particularly in schools that do not
have dedicated Ecology departments? Any thoughts would be welcome!
