Confluence of arts, humanities, and science at sites of long-term ecological inquiry

Over the past century, ecology, the arts, and humanities diverged, but are now converging
again, especially at sites of long-term, place-based ecological inquiry. This convergence has been inspired in
part by the works of creative, boundary-spanning individuals and the long-standing examples of artshumanities
programs in intriguing landscapes, such as artist and writer residencies of the National Park
Service and the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic program. In the past decade many US biological
field stations, marine laboratories, and Long-Term Ecological Research sites have substantially increased
the presence of arts and humanities in their programs for reasons both practical (e.g., public outreach,
increasing student and class offerings) and fundamental (e.g., foster creativity within individuals and
research teams, collect a record of artistic/humanities engagement with place). Motivations include
communicating about science agencies’ missions, the scientific process, and science discoveries to the
public who support the research work. The overarching accomplishment of this work has been to advance
near-term ‘‘science outreach,’’ but some of this work can be viewed as ‘‘basic’’ arts and humanities in the
sense that its impacts won’t be known for a long time. A next challenge is for interdisciplinary teams to
address complex problems, which falls in the ‘‘intellectual merit’’ realm of the National Science Foundation
evaluation criteria. The growing body of works at the ecology-arts-humanities interface will be a valuable
resource for future study of science-society-nature relations. These efforts potentially contribute to
initiatives emerging from the ecological sciences community that seek greater connection with society—
initiatives promoting sustainability and stewardship, and the practice of science citizenship, such as
development of future scenario projects and regional conservation plans. Despite the large number of
programs undertaking these collaborations, their existence is a well-kept secret with little representation on
individual site websites and no organized network to support the work. The strong, grassroots emergence
of arts, humanities, and science collaborations at sites of long-term ecological inquiry signals a recognition
that these are places of cultural as well as scientific work. Their appearance late in ESA’s first century may
foreshadow an important role for such endeavors in the next century of ESA.
Key words: art; artists in residence; ESA Centennial Paper; field stations; humanities; long-term ecological research;
marine laboratories; writers in residence.