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Addressing discrimination and diversity in ecology is not just about implicit bias

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 2, page 584 (2018)Cite this article

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To the Editor — Minority researchers (across gender, race, sexuality and other dimensions) face barriers in hiring, pay and publication rate1,2. While responses to the paper ‘100 articles every ecologist should read’3 admirably call out discrimination in ecology4,5, I fear that the focus on attributing discrimination to ‘unconscious’ or ‘implicit’ bias is limited, or even counterproductive. Indeed, recent evidence suggests that changing implicit bias has only small effects on explicit bias, and little to no effect on behaviour6.

I suspect that any list of papers that truly represents the foundation of current ecological understanding will disproportionately reflect the work of white men, and that historical explicit discrimination is a better explanation for this than current implicit bias of individuals. Furthermore, suggesting that a list of important papers should reflect diverse groups within ecology may provide symbolic importance to minority scientists at the expense of overlooking historical and institutional problems that have practical and material consequences for minority scientists.

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  1. Nippon Foundation Nereus Program, Institute for Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Gerald G. Singh

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  1. Gerald G. Singh
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Correspondence to Gerald G. Singh.

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Singh, G.G. Addressing discrimination and diversity in ecology is not just about implicit bias. Nat Ecol Evol 2, 584 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0516-4

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