Several researchers have discovered that public guidelines for the ethical conduct of field research are difficult to find. For example, both Marsh and Eros (1999) and Marsh and Kenchington (2004) surveyed the instructions to authors and reviewers of scientific journals that routinely publish the results of field research. In the majority of cases, these journals offered no guidance with respect to the ethical conduct of research. When the journals addressed ethical issues, these were generally limited to use of human subjects or animal welfare. As noted above, Farnsworth and Rosovsky (1993) attribute the paucity of ethical guidelines for field researchers to several causes:

1. trepidation about initiating a controversy that could endanger future research efforts;
2. an assumption that the relative benefits of our research outweigh potential short-term costs to the study object (that is, increased knowledge of the study object may inform its conservation);
3. difficulties in perceiving the potential negative impact of our work;
4. tacit assumptions about certain experiments that are simply "wrong" to do.

It is our concern about the limitations of existing ethical guidelines for field researchers that prompted us to undertake this project. While we cannot address specific questions regarding the responsible conduct of field research in this essay, we can point to some guidelines that may be useful answering such questions. In particular, we recommend that all scientists contemplating field research begin by subjecting their proposed research to a thorough analysis using the following framework:

• Summarize the ethical question(s).
• Determine the facts of the case.
• Identify the stakeholders (human and non-human).
• Clarify the rights and obligations of each stakeholder.
• Outline various courses of action. Identify & evaluate outcomes of each course of action.

Is the proposed research legal? Field research on public lands (e.g., state parks, National Forests) may be subject to various regulations that require approvals/permits prior to the conduct of that research, and field researchers are expected to conform to these regulations. Work with rare, threatened, and endangered species is regulated by a variety of federal and state laws. For example, the Federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) regulates activities affecting federally listed species of animals and plants. States also regulate activities affecting rare, threatened, and endangered species, and both federal and state regulations must be accounted for. For example, under the ESA, a landowner may destroy, damage, or remove federally protected plants on his or her property (Dale Suiter, pers. comm.), but the North Carolina Plant Protection and Conservation Act prohibits anyone from removing federally- or state-listed plants from private property without the landowner's written permission and a state permit (Conservation Trust of North Carolina 1997).

Does the proposed research pass the "universalization test"? Ask yourself if you would be willing to have everyone act in the manner you have proposed. Proposed research that fails this test needs to be carefully scrutinized with regard to its justification on other grounds.

Is the proposed research valuable? All field research ultimately affects the natural systems upon which the research is conducted. Since the effects of research are likely to be negative, it is helpful to know the value of the proposed research. Although the value (or quality) of the research, as assessed by peer reviewers, cannot determine whether or not the research is ethical, knowing the value or quality of a proposed project can help us weigh the costs versus the benefits of conducting that research.

Do the benefits of the proposed research outweigh the costs? A utilitarian perspective may be useful in evaluating whether or not a proposed project should be conducted. According to this perspective, research that is of high quality and beneficial to society may be justified if its benefits outweigh its environmental costs. Again, this kind of test cannot, alone, determine whether or not the conduct of a particular project is ethical. For example, it is highly unlikely that scientists would ever condone field research that called for the complete annihilation of a species, regardless of the benefits of the research to society.

Does the proposed research conform to the special duties outlined in professional codes of ethics? We have already cited a portion of the Ecological Society of America’s Code of Ethics that addresses field research. Codes of ethics promulgated by professional societies (and scientific journals publishing the results of field research) can help in guiding the responsible conduct of field research.