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00:00:00 - Introduction

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Segment Synopsis: This is an interview with Howard Thomas Odum at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida on December 7, 1984.

Keywords: Florida; Howard Thomas Odum; Odum; TIE; The Institute of Ecology; UF; University of Florida; ecologist; ecology

00:00:21 - Ecological Society of America's support of The Institute of Ecology (TIE)

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Partial Transcript: In the late ‘60’s, the Ecological Society of America was conducting a study on the advisability of establishing an institute of ecology.

Segment Synopsis: Odum discusses the Ecological Society of America's support for the Institute of Ecology. He mentions that it was hard for TIE to earn much support because ecology wasn't a clear-cut science.

Keywords: ESA; Ecological Society of America; TIE; The Institute of Ecology; applied ecology; ecology; fundamental; support

00:02:16 - Potential competition with universities

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Partial Transcript: Concerns were expressed that the proposed Institute would compete with research efforts at Universities.

Segment Synopsis: Odum states that TIE was in definite competition with universities for sea grants, NSF & Rockefeller programs, and other funding. He follows that government funding was difficult to come by because ecology wasn't considered a separate science from biology.

Keywords: Ecological Society of America; NSF; Rockefeller; TIE; The Institute of Ecology; biology; competition; funding; marine science; research; sea grant

00:04:10 - Factors of demise

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Partial Transcript: One of the things we wanted to consider was

Segment Synopsis: Odum says that there was a great expansion of people dealing with the environment, however a lot of this wasn't relative to TIE. He states that funding sources didn't believe that ecologists were truly dedicated to their field.

Keywords: TIE; The Institute of Ecology; competition; demise; ecologists; ecology; ecosystem research; finances; funding; management; universities

00:05:33 - A network of ecologists

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Partial Transcript: A valuable network of outstanding ecologists was developed by the Institute.

Segment Synopsis: Odum believes that the network wasn't a failure and served for some good purposes while it lasted. However, he says it could have braced ecological theory by combining humans and ecosystems more. Odum discusses the staffing problems which contributed to the decline of the organization.

Keywords: TIE; The Institute of Ecology; failure; funds; lack of direction; management; network; participate; projects proposed; sponsoring institutions; staffing; traditional ecologists

00:09:19 - Development of the Institute

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Partial Transcript: In retrospect, was the exercise to develop

Segment Synopsis: Odum doesn't think that the Institute was misguided. He explains what TIE did poorly, and how the organization should have planned out its budget. He later states that the workshop model was a deficient process for TIE's progress toward its objectives.

Keywords: TIE; The Institute of Ecology; base budget; development; lack of funding; objectives; organization; workshops

00:12:37 - Research objectives

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Partial Transcript: If the idea was sound given the political environment of the time

Segment Synopsis: Odum explains how the Institute defeated its objective of researching the fundamentals of ecology because it focuses on a small-scale instead of the large-scale. He discusses how the organization was primarily still run by biologists, not ecologists. He follows with how TIE should have organized their research.

Keywords: TIE; The Institute of Ecology; community; definition; fundamental; large-scale; population levels; small-scale

00:20:55 - Problems with ecologists' training

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Partial Transcript: the field was taken over by non-ecologists

Segment Synopsis: Odum discusses that despite the environmental movement at the time, ecologists weren't trained to solve large-scale problems. The 'instant ecologist' or researchers from other fields such as meteorology and hydrology came in to receive some of the organization's funding. Odum later states that although they weren't ecologists either, they had greater holistic training so they could take on large-scale issues.

Keywords: University of Florida; biologists; biology; curriculum; education system; fundamental error; hydrology; large scale; meteorology; non-ecologists; small scale; spokesmen; training of ecologists

00:28:41 - Hierarchy of government funding

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Partial Transcript: in which the government needed something,

Segment Synopsis: Odum talks about the dynamics of government funding between universities and consulting firms through the years.

Keywords: Athens; Department of Energy; EPA; Eugene Odum; University of Georgia; budget cuts; consultants; consulting firms; dedication; ecology; government; in-house; leadership; money; universities

00:34:30 - The future of ecology

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Partial Transcript: anything that will take the place of that major network

Segment Synopsis: Odum discusses the new upcoming cadre of ecology students and how they could potentially reestablish former ecological organizations.

Keywords: NSF; RAND; Tallahassee; cadre; ecologists; environmental science; policy; policy questions; students; systems ecology; tenure