Academic Ecology In Latinamerica And The Environmental Crisis. I. Historical Constitutive Features And Current Form

The planetary environmental crisis is broadly recognized by the scientific community and its consequences remain unpredictable and perhaps already irreversible. The magnitude of ecosystems damage has been effectively quantified by the ecological science by means of powerful procedures; however, the discipline stands at a crossroad in relation to the knowledge required to overcome the crisis. The aim of this document is to analyze the discipline at this turning point. Main historical events that shaped the ecological science are analyzed throughout the paper, especially its conceptual body and its approach towards nature, aimed to understand the relation- ships between the discipline and the environmental crisis. Features such as human-nature disentanglement, the dominance of reductionist approaches and the widely accepted notion o f sustainable development, are suggested as potential limitations to seek viable alternatives from the traditional academic ecological wisdom. The debate of these aspects is crucial to overcome the development-survivorship paradox. The involvement of future generations of ecologists with the transformation o f Academic Ecology contents is an upmost priority to reach new horizons in Latin America; given its biological and cultural diversities, which are highly threatened.