Conservation Biology Photo from Greg Dimijian

Conservation Biology draws from many disciplines Conservation Biology is grounded in Science

Biology Biogeography Genetics Ecology Evolution Fisheries Science Forestry Physiology Wildlife Biology Anthropology Chemistry Economics History Philosophy Physics Political Science Religion Sociology Etc. Conservation Biology draws from many disciplines For ethical, practical & theoretical considerations

Guiding Principles of Conservation Biology (1) Evolution is the basis for understanding biology (2) Biological entities are complex and dynamic (3) Humans are a part of the natural world; our activities range from highly destructive, through benign, to extremely helpful

A.D A.D A.D B.C B.C B.C B.C B.C B.C B.C. 1+ million years Old Stone Age New Stone Age Bronze Age Iron Age Middle Ages Modern Age Black Death—The Plague A.D A.D A.D ? Future Billions of People Image from the Population Reference Bureau © 2006 Human Population Humans

Less Developed Regions More Developed Regions Image from the Population Reference Bureau © 2006 Billions of People Human Population Humans

Image from the Population Reference Bureau © 2006 Human Population Projected % Population Change, Humans

Millions Millions Less Developed Regions More Developed Regions MaleFemaleMaleFemale Age Image from the Population Reference Bureau © 2006 Human Population Age distributions, 2005 Humans

~ 10,000 new babies will be added to the population during the course of this class period Human Population Population Counter (“Clock”) Humans

Original range map & color-enhanced old photo from Gymnosperm Database; other map from Keddy et al. (2006) Humans are globally significant consumers of natural resources

Original range map & color-enhanced old photo from Gymnosperm Database; other map from Keddy et al. (2006) Humans are globally significant consumers of natural resources

Image from Vitousek et al. (1997) Science “Between one-third and one-half of the land surface has been transformed by human action”, i.e., human enterprise (Vitousek et al. 1997, Science) Humans are globally significant consumers of natural resources At least 83% of the Earth’s land surface has been transformed by human activities (Sanderson et al. 2002, BioScience)

Quote from Palumbi (2001) Science E.g., consider antibiotic resistance of Staphylococcus Penicillin 1946 Methicillin 1961 Vancomycin 1986 Zyvox 1999 Humans are globally important agents of natural selection “Humans are the world’s greatest evolutionary force”

Newsweek – Jan. 12, 2009 – “It’s Survival of the Weak & Scrawny” + = Increases in tuskless adults: A Zambian population – 2% to 38% A South African population – 2% to 98% The Sri Lankan population of Asian elephants – 45% to 90% Humans are globally important agents of natural selection

Photo from Wikipedia Coined “conservation ethic” Conservation Biologists / Environmentalists in the U. S. Gifford Pinchot (1865 – 1946) First Chief of the U.S. Forest Service (1905 – 1910) Resource Conservation Ethic Utilitarian, anthropocentric “natural resource” philosophy; “the greatest good of the greatest number for the longest time”

Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862) Walden (1854) John Muir (1838 – 1914) Founded Sierra Club (1892) Image of Emerson, photos of Thoreau and T. Roosevelt with Muir from Wikipedia Conservation Biologists / Environmentalists in the U. S. Romantic-Transcendental Conservation Ethic “Nature has uses other than human economic gain;” biophilia Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882) Nature (1836)

Photo of Leopold from Oregon State University Evolutionary-Ecological Land Ethic Arose together with the Modern Synthesis and maturing ecological theory; recognizes the complexity, interconnectedness (including humans) and dynamism of Nature Conservation Biologists / Environmentalists in the U. S. Aldo Leopold (1887 – 1948) A Sand County Almanac (1949)

Photo of Carson from Wikipedia Conservation Biologists / Environmentalists in the U. S. Rachel Carson (1907 – 1964) Silent Spring (1962) – motivated creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Conservation Biology is a “crisis discipline” Photo of Soulé from hawaiiconservation.org Conservation Biologists / Environmentalists in the U. S. Michael Soulé Co-founder of the Society for Conservation Biology (1985)