How to increase this number is the critical question engaging ecologists. Answers await more ecological research. However, the stakes are high as the fate of many of our favorite birds and other wildlife hangs in the balance. Undisturbed, pristine habitats commonly are the choice of ecologists in search of knowledge about the machinery of nature. However, with the spread of urbanization, it is time for ecological scientists to also study human-dominated landscapes such as golf courses.
Many opportunities exist for helping the golf community make ecologically sound decisions.
This present study is an example of one cooperative effort between a golf course and an academic institution, and a rewarding relationship has developed which benefits us both. Another cooperative effort supported by the USGA is the arrangement between Sienna College and Schuyler Meadows Country Club in New York. For ecologists who happen to be golfers, the relationship between science and golf is quite natural. With these shared ideals, the common ground between the science of ecology and the golf community becomes fertile soil for future cooperative efforts to protect our common natural heritage. Muir, naturalist Acknowledgments I would like to thank Tabor College and the USGA for supporting this study, which is part of a larger cooperative project to produce a book on Golf Course Ecology with Audubon International and Ann Arbor Press of Chelsea, Michigan.