In response to recent research published in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution that argued scientists should spend more time studying apes’ behavior in places where humans are disrupting their lives, Erle Ellis was interviewed for a recent article in The New Yorker about his Anthropocene research. In the article, Ellis, an associate professor of geography and environmental systems, discussed his research on human influence on ecosystems around the world.
“This is the ecology that matters now,” Ellis said. “It’s become the most pervasive context. If you’re interested in working across the span of habitat that species are living in, it’s very likely that most of that habitat is under human influence.” Simply ignoring that fact doesn’t make it any less real. “This process is not slowing down,” he added. “It’s speeding up.”
Ellis also commented on the controversial notion that humans are a legitimate part of an area’s ecology worth studying. “A lot of people feel like that’s kind of giving in—that the idea that we could successfully maintain wildlife in human habitats is going to get people to say, ‘Well, we might as well turn everything into parking lots,’ ” Ellis said.
To read the full article in The New Yorker, click here.
