Of Fish and Platypus: If You Could Ask a Fish What It Feels Like to Swim

Abstract

I was in the first cohort of scientists who was specifically trained in long-term, socioecological research. My cohort may have a “disciplinary home,” but we are less likely to be exclusive to a single discipline. My research requires diverse approaches and skill sets that address the spatial, organizational, and temporal complexity of human ecosystems. Donald Stokes identifies several categories of research, including (1) pure basic research, (2) pure applied research, and (3) use-inspired basic research. Most of my research and the research from Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) is use-inspired basic research, which is intended to advance both science and decision making. Collaborative research is not for everyone. My collaborative research in BES is more like playing in a jazz ensemble than a regimented orchestra. My participation in the BES Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project has fostered lifelong friendships that are multigenerational. I imagine that if I could ask a fish what it feels like to swim, it would be puzzled. It has never known any other way of being than to swim. Likewise, I am puzzled when asked what it is like to work on an LTER project. I have never known any other type of research program. Furthermore, the project I work on, the BES, is quite different from all but one of the other US LTER projects. It is an urban site and was designed to be interdisciplinary from its conception. Perhaps I am being asked what it is like to be a platypus. (The platypus is a strange mammal that has a duck-like bill, beaver tail, otter feet; that lays eggs; and that carries venom. When the platypus was first encountered by Europeans in the late 1790s, a pelt and sketch were sent back to Great Britain. British scientists thought initially that the evidence provided was a hoax.) How did I come to have such a bizarre combination of traits and how does it feel? In this essay, I try to answer these questions by describing my professional training and experience working as a co–principal investigator and the lead for the social science research team for the BES for the past 17 years.