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that includes consideration of both past and present human impacts. He noted that
human activity had already affected every ecosystem in some way and that pris-
tine “untouched” ecosystems were increasingly rare or no longer existent. Because
human impacts occurred over many centuries, comparisons with non-human eco-
systems often benefi ted from considering paleoecological data (e.g., Bush et al.
2000
; McLauchlan et al.
2013
). Students were also introduced to systems analysis
where the boundaries were effectively defi ned and sometimes open to additional,
previously undescribed inputs (e.g., energy subsidies from fossil fuels). More
studies considered applied problems such as the global cycling of radioactive iso-
topes, especially strontium (Odum
1951
; Limburg
2004
). The values of different
people toward large-scale environmental impacts became a topic of growing inter-
national concern (Mooney et al.
2013
; Patten
2014
).
Atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, pollution of waterways, and unsafe
applications of pesticides changed how ecologists viewed their own environmental
ethics and values (Covich
2015
). This awareness and the contributions of their stu-
dents grew throughout the decades as the environmental impacts of wars became a
focus of ecological research. The national and international professional societies
attempted to meet these new needs and once again Golley contributed important
ideas and energy to making these transitions successful.
29.3
Development of International Ecosystem Research
Programs
Golley realized the importance of human-dominated ecosystems and the complex-
ity of different ethical relationships in many parts of the world. His international
experience underscored the value of direct fi eld observations and the importance of
getting investigators and policy makers into natural settings where they could see
fi rst-hand the beauty and complexity along a continuum of human-dominated eco-
systems. He emphasized the connections among cities and their surrounding forests
that related to watershed management as well as the management and protection of
biodiversity for its own intrinsic value.
The early phases of ecological research on populations, communities, and ecosys-
tems often relied on methods and metaphors from physiology (Mitman
1992
; Hagen
2008
). Focusing on birds and mammals, Golley's fi rst research was on the physiolog-
ical ecology of individual animals. He then used this experience to begin the transi-
tion to whole ecosystem research using organism-based concepts of metabolism to
examine effects of added nutrients on growth, energetic pathways, and waste produc-
tion. This physiologically based view of ecosystems was shared by several other
ecologists and emphasized the signifi cance of highly variable rates of dynamic pro-
cesses such as productivity, organic matter decomposition, and energy fl ow. These
rates were often accelerated or diminished by how people and other biotic forces, as
well as abiotic factors, interacted spatially and temporally.
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