18 Linking Ecological Networks and Models to Remote Sensing Programs

Previous chapters in this section suggest that technologv can plav a role in facilitating our understanding of the global environment. Having discussed what is, it is useful to look to the future and discuss what might be, what experts hope will be. and what is planned for the next decades. The next two chapters discuss future applications of technologv. In the first, Drs. Dyer and Crossley propose an explicit research program whose goal is to improve the utility of remote sensing for the analysis of global environmental issues. They suggest that the technological capabilities of remote sensing, at present, greatly exceed the ability of scientists to put the method to work. They also suggest that a lack of communication between the engineers who have been the developers of remote sensing and the ecological scientists who could apply remote sensing to environmental issues has thwarted the advance of knowledge of our global environment, a concern also addressed in the chapter bv Dr. Mar. The project they propose makes use of an existing international activity, the Man and the Biosphere Program, a program of international ecological research reserves. In this way, their chapter suggests not only a technological development, but also a social and political development, which follows from the programs discussed bv Gywnne and Mooneyhan in the preceding chapter. Drs. Dyer and Crossley are ecologists who have studied forest ecosvstems of the southeastern United States. Both are associated with the Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia.