Beyond biology: toward a more public ecology for conservation

The ultimate purpose of conservation science is to inform and affect conser vation policy. Therefore, conservation biologists and all the people who pr oduce, review, and apply conservation research should evaluate tbe success of their knowledge according to its ability to influence conservation decis ions. In addition to possessing conventional "scientific" attributes such a s validity generalizability, and precision, conservation knowledge must als o possess qualities that make it effective in the political arena of decisi on making. "Public ecology" is a philosophy and practice of conservation sc ience that goes beyond biology and beyond the norms of modern science to co nstruct knowledge that is useful for environmental decision making. As post -normal conservation science, public ecology is defined by the following at tributes: evaluative, contextual, multiscalar, integrative, adaptive, and a ccessible. We discuss the need for a more public ecology and describe tbe q ualities that make it a more powerful ecology.