La ciencia de la ecologí­a en México ante los retos del cambio global

Abstract

The science of ecology aims to understand the causes that determine the abundance and distribution of living beings. During the last five decades, a rich, diverse and growing body of ecological knowledge has been built in Mexico, which is fundamental to provide guidelines and actions for the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of ecosystems, their biodiversity, functions, and contributions to people. This paper analyzes the main topics that were discussed during the symposium organized by the Mexican Scientific Society of Ecology in 2021 whose theme was “Ecology in the face of the challenges of global change: lessons, advances and opportunities”. Academics and decision makers with different expertise and from different institutions of Mexico participated in the symposium. The contributions reached by the symposium has a high potential to be applied for the benefit of society, but it is necessary that research agendas on global change arise not only from the intellectual impulse of science, but from the actions, needs, and objectives of society as a whole. For this reason, we argue that it is important to strengthen research and the training of students in this field of study, and in others related to the society-nature relationship, adopting socio ecological and transdisciplinary approaches.