Interdisciplinary Ecotourism Research: Insights and Issues for Conservation Biology

Abstract

A continuing interest in interdisciplinary research characterizes conservation biology. This interest is a response in large part to the increasingly complex problems facing society. Analysis of recent ecotourism research, as an interdisciplinary enterprise, offers insights. As such, this paper analyses two projects -the social and ecological impacts of visitors to the south-western Australian forests, and of interactions between visitors and sea lions off the west coast of Australia. Analysis centers on issues of central concern for interdisciplinary research in conservation biology: poorly defined terms, lack of common goals, unclear or missing conceptual framework, insufficiently explained methods, and a lack of new knowledge achieved through integration. From the reviewed studies, interdisciplinary research appeared possible because the researchers used strategies from more than one discipline while adopting the paradigmatic position of ecology. Unresolved issues were how to work with potentially conflicting epistemologies and methodologies, and rewarding interdisciplinary research.

A Critical Evaluation of Interventions to Progress Transdisciplinary Research

“…The framework has practical utility for analysts, particularly when combined with participatory research, and as a means of guiding and subsequently evaluating interventions aimed at enhancing transdisciplinarity. Critical pluralism-adopting an open, questioning attitude to others' theories and methods and just as importantly to our own-is central to the success of these transdisciplinary efforts (Patterson and Williams 1998;Moore et al 2009). We recommend such analyses, highlighting the ambivalences and potential pitfalls of integration as much as the potential and achieved gains.…”

“…Meetings have continued to use the language of natural science and have mainly focused on the ecological dimensions of the research, thus doing little to ameliorate this structural condition (Moore et al 2009). Many of the scientists have, however, developed a clearer understanding of the role of the social sciences and no longer view social scientists primarily as messengers between their objective science and society.…”

Who's watching whom? – an interdisciplinary approach to the study of seal-watching tourism in Iceland

“…The necessity of interdisciplinary approaches to management of wildlifeetourist interactions has been recognized by several authors (Giannecchini, 1993;Moore et al, 2009;White and Alastair, 2010). The traditional approach has been to study touristewildlife interactions either from a natural or social science perspective (Liu et al, 2007) since the different disciplines usually focus upon different sides of the interactions.…”

“…Due to this complexity, several different factors need to be included when attempting to manage wildlife tourism in a sustainable way (Duffus and Dearden, 1990;Orams, 2002;Catlin et al, 2011). Moore et al (2009) defined different forms of integrative research between disciplines as multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary.…”

“…Within interdisciplinary research, disciplinary boundaries are crossed and ideas developed with integrated knowledge of a common problem that cannot be broken down into separate solvable disciplinary parts. Further, the trans-disciplinary approach adds knowledge from society to interdisciplinary research and hence deals with the frequently acknowledged gap between science and society (Moore et al, 2009).…”