esa, chinook salmon, food web chlopyrifos (golf courses), malathion (mosquitoes), diazinon...
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ESA, chinook salmon, food web
Chlopyrifos (golf courses), malathion (mosquitoes), diazinon (agriculture)
Today’s Headlines
Definitions
• … pursuit of a coherent goal: the protection and perpetuation of the Earth’s biological diversity. A mission-oriented, crisis-driven discipline comprising both pure and applied science
– Meine et al. 2006
• …not defined by a discipline but by its goal — to halt or repair the undeniable, massive damage that is being done to ecosystems, species, and the relationships of humans to the environment.
– Ehrenfeld 1992
Critique• …effort by “an elite group of biologists”
who “[aimed] to change science, conservation, cultural habits, human values, our ideas about nature, and ultimately, nature itself.”
– Takacs 1996
Not without controversy• “I have read many definitions of what is a
conservationist & the best one is written not with a pen, but an axe.”
-- Aldo Leopold
Is the following statement true or false: Conservation biology does acknowledge the fact that it is a
“value-laden” field.
1 2
8%
92%1. True2. False
History• Muir vs. Pinchot• Wilderness Act (1964)• Environmental Laws: Jan. 1, 1970 (NEPA)• Science and the funding agencies
– NSF: Ecosystems (1970)– LTER (1980)– Urban LTER (1997)
• Emergence of Conservation Biology• Lecture by Andrea Woody:
– Anthropocentric view– Biocentric view
Foundation - 1
• Population biology: a study of biological populations of organisms, especially in terms of biodiversity, evolution, and environmental biology.
• Island Biogeography: Number of species present = f(rate of immigration & rate of extinction)
Endangered Species Act (1973)Northern Spotted Owl
Salmon
http://www.fws.gov/endangered/
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/Filson.html
‘Mainland’‘Island’SizeTimeEnvironment
Climate Change
CoreCorridorFragmentationConnectivityMountains
Foundation - 2
• The worst thing that can happen during the 1980s is not energy depletion, economic collapse, limited nuclear war, or conquest by a totalitarian government. As terrible as these catastrophes would be for us, they can be repaired within a few generations. The one process ongoing in the 1980s that will take millions of years to correct is the loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats. This is the folly that our descendents are least likely to forgive us.
– E.O. Wilson 1985
Hypothesized examples of collapse
• Example from Jared Diamond’s (2006) book: “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed” (e.g., Easter Island)
• Loss of the forest (over utilization)
Agricultural Systems
• In order to maintain simplified biological systems, one must use extensive quantities of energy– Water– Fuel– Fertilizers– Pesticides– Intensity: Erosion
Global Loss of Soil
World is losing 1% of its arable land each year
• Critical are the rates of erosion• Need for low tillage farming• Montgomery, D.R. 2007. PNAS 104: 13268
Stable geological crust
Solutions
• Ex-situ (off-site) conservation: Arboreta, zoos, plant collections, seed banks
• In-situ conservation: Preserves, reserves– SLOSS: Single large or several small.– Working farms and forests
• Restoration
Large Reserves
• Uncertainty• Anticipate climate change• Provides latitudinal and elevational
opportunities for migration• Three examples
– Y to Y– Panda reserves in the eastern Himalayas– Australia
Pluie, the Wandering Wolf
Penelope Pierce,
US Regional Director
See also http://wolfquest.org/
The Y to Y
• A corridor of connected protected areas
• Effort: Identification of– Prime habitat– Areas at risk
Detail: Road Ecology
• Montana State University• University California - Davis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50BvDQnztEU
More Alternative (s)
• Restoration• Working environments
(agriculture, grazing and forestry) (example: Cascade Land Conservancy).
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