Conservation Biology

Photo from Greg Dimijian

Groom et al. (2006): “An integrative approach to the protectionand management of biodiversity…”

Primack (2006): Conservation Biology “carries out researchon biological diversity, identifiesthreats to biological diversity,and plays an active role in thepreservation of biological diversity”

What is Conservation Biology?

Definition of “Science” extracted from Science, Evolution & Creationism (2008) – published by (and freely available through) the National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine of the U. S. National Academies

Conservation Biology draws from many disciplines

“The use of evidence to construct testable explanations and predictions of natural phenomena, as well as the knowledge

generated through this process”

Conservation Biology is grounded in Science

Conservation Biology draws from many disciplines

Conservation Biology is grounded in Science

E.g., how do we weigh the needs of people against those of nonhuman species? Is a human life more valuable than a tiger’s?

E.g., do fleas have intrinsic value (or rights)?

E.g., how do we weigh the interests of future generations relative to the present? Should we be concerned that many species of orchid likely will

become irrevocably extinct by the time our grandchildren are born?Should we do something about it?

E.g., should we restore additional longleaf pine savanna in Louisiana?

Conservation Biology draws from many disciplines

Conservation Biology also recognizes that not all relevant questions can be answered strictly using scientific tools and methods of inquiry

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

* “We should not conflate ecology with environmentalism…” (Kingsland, 2005, The Evolution of American Ecology: 1890-2000, pg. 4)

For a more complete explanation of NOMA, read Rocks of Ages (1999) by S. J. Gould; photo from Wikipedia

Stephen J. Gould

(1941 – 2002)

Beliefs

Natural laws

Theories

Testable hypotheses

Religion Science

Conservation Biology draws from many disciplines

Non-Overlapping Magisteria (NOMA)

What will we do in this course?

Course web site

Dr. Kyle E. Harms

Who is in charge of this course?

Teaching Assistants:Becky Carmichael & Metha Klock

1. What is your full name? 2. In which course number and section are you supposed to be

enrolled?3. How many species are there alive on Earth today?4. How many individual humans were there alive on Earth 100

years ago?5. How many individual humans are there alive on Earth

today?6. How many individual humans are there likely to be alive on

Earth in 2050?7. Name a prominent Conservation Biologist.8. List 10 native species found in Louisiana (scientific names

are preferred; only use common names if you need to in order to provide 10 species). Use the back of the card for your list.

Please answer on a 5x7-inch card

Count off…

No. 1 = Plant No. 2 = Fungus No. 3 = Microbe No. 4 = Vertebrate No. 5 = Invertebrate

1. What is your full name? What is your assigned number?2. In which course number and section are you supposed to be

enrolled?3. How many species are there alive on Earth today?4. How many individual humans were there alive on Earth 100

years ago?5. How many individual humans are there alive on Earth

today?6. How many individual humans are there likely to be alive on

Earth in 2050?7. Name a prominent Conservation Biologist.8. List 10 native species found in Louisiana (scientific names

are preferred; only use common names if you need to in order to provide 10 species). Use the back of the card for your list.

Please answer on a 5x7-inch card

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 ameliorating

Evolution

Allele frequency change through time in a population

Population – a group of conspecific individuals contemporaneously occupying the same place

Some Mechanisms of EvolutionMutation

Genetic driftGene flow via emigration & immigration

Artificial selectionNatural selectionSexual selection

“Descent with modification”

Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882)

On the Origin of Species (1859)

Photo of Darwin from Wikipedia ; image of “Darwin’s hawk moth” pollinating its Malagasy orchidfrom http://botany.si.edu/events/sbsarchives/sbs2008

Photo of Dobzhansky from Wikipedia

Theodosius Dobzhansky (1900 – 1975)

“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”

An architect of the

Modern Synthesis

Photos from Wikipedia

vs.

“Nothing in biology makes sense exceptin the light of evolution”

E.g., why do all species of the family Felidae look more like house cats than dogs?

Image of spine from Wikipedia

“Nothing in biology makes sense exceptin the light of evolution”

E.g., why do many of us suffer from back pains?

See:

National Geographic Magazine – November 2004

“Nothing in biology makes sense exceptin the light of evolution”

"Evolution is almost universally accepted among those who understand it, almost universally rejected by those who don't."

Richard Dawkins

Photo of Hutchinson from Yale Peabody Archives

Nature is complex& dynamic

E.g., explanations for: “why are there so many kinds

of animals?”

G. Evelyn Hutchinson (1903 – 1991)

The “evolutionary play” takes place in an “ecological theater”

Photo of Ehrlich from Wired

Paul R. Ehrlich (b. 1932)

The Population Bomb (1968)

The Population Explosion (1990, co-authored with Anne Ehrlich)

Human PopulationStudents’ answers (n=34) to questions posed in class on 8/23/11

Log10 (1,000,000,000,000) = 12.00

Log10 (1,000,000) = 6.00

Humans alive 100 yr ago (best estimate)

Each student’s answer is representedby a bar in this figure

Log10 (1,750,000,000) = 9.24

Notice that the y-axis is a truncated Log10 scale

Log10 (1,000,000,000,000) = 12.00

Log10 (1,000,000) = 6.00

Humans alive today

Human PopulationStudents’ answers (n=34) to questions posed in class on 8/23/11

Each student’s answer is representedby a bar in this figure

Log10 (6,960,000,000) = 9.84

Notice that the y-axis is a truncated Log10 scale

Log10 (1,000,000,000,000) = 12.00

Log10 (1,000,000) = 6.00

Humans alive in 2050 (best guess)

Human PopulationStudents’ answers (n=34) to questions posed in class on 8/23/11

Each student’s answer is representedby a bar in this figure

Log10 (9,000,000,000) = 9.95

Notice that the y-axis is a truncated Log10 scale

Log10 (1,750,000,000) = 9.24Log10 (6,960,000,000) = 9.84Log10 (9,000,000,000) = 9.95

Log10 (1,000,000,000,000) = 12.00

Log10 (1,000,000) = 6.00

Each student’s answer is representedby a bar in this figure

Human PopulationStudents’ answers (n=34) to questions posed in class on 8/23/11

Notice that the y-axis is a truncated Log10 scale

A.D.2000

A.D.1000

A.D.1

1000B.C.

2000B.C.

3000B.C.

4000B.C.

5000B.C.

6000B.C.

7000B.C.

1+ million years

8

7

6

5

2

1

4

3

OldStoneAge New Stone Age

BronzeAge

IronAge

MiddleAges

ModernAge

Black Death —The Plague

9

10

11

12

A.D.3000

A.D.4000

A.D.5000

18001900

1950

1975

2000

2100

?Future

Billions ofPeople

Image from the Population Reference Bureau © 2006

Human Population

Ninth

Eighth

Seventh

Sixth

Fifth

Fourth

Third

Second

First Billion

Number ofyears to addeach billion

All of Human History (1800)

130 (1930)

30 (1960)

15 (1975)

12 (1987)

12 (1999)

14 (2013)

14 (2027)

21 (2048)

Image from the Population Reference Bureau © 2006

(Year a particular population size was reached)

Human Population

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1950 1970 1990 2010 2030 2050

Less Developed Regions

More Developed Regions

Image from the Population Reference Bureau © 2006

Billions ofPeople

Human Population

Image from the Population Reference Bureau © 2006

Human Population Projected % Population Change, 2005-2050

% Population Living in Urban

Areas39 39

36

29

47 48

6462

49 49

60 60

Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Panama

1970 2010

Image from the Population Reference Bureau © 2006

Human Population Urbanization in Central America

Millions Millions

300 100 100 300300 200 100 0 100 200 300

Less Developed Regions

More Developed Regions

Male Female Male Female

80+ 75-79 70-74 65-69 60-64 55-59 50-54 45-49 40-44 35-39 30-34 25-29 20-24 15-19 10-14

5-90-4

Age

Image from the Population Reference Bureau © 2006

Human Population Age distributions, 2005

~ 10,000 new babies will be added to the populationduring the course of this class period

Human Population

Population Counter (“Clock”)

Original range map & color-enhanced old photo from Gymnosperm Database; other map from Keddy et al. (2006)

Humans are globally significant consumersof natural resources

Original range map & color-enhanced old photo from Gymnosperm Database; other map from Keddy et al. (2006)

Humans are globally significant consumersof 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 consumersof natural resources

At least 83% of the Earth’s land surface has been

transformed by human activities

(Sanderson et al. 2002, BioScience)

Image from NOAA

Humans are globally significant consumersof natural resources

Collateral impact (not just consumption per se)

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 ofnatural 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 ofnatural selection

Photo from Wikipedia

Coined “conservation ethic”

Conservation Biologists / Environmentalistsin the U. S.

Gifford Pinchot (1865 – 1946)

First Chief of the U.S. Forest Service (1905 – 1910)

Resource Conservation EthicUtilitarian, 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 / Environmentalistsin 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 EthicArose together with the Modern Synthesis and maturing ecological theory; recognizes the complexity, interconnectedness (including

humans) and dynamism of Nature

Conservation Biologists / Environmentalistsin the U. S.

Aldo Leopold (1887 – 1948)

A Sand County Almanac (1949)

Photo of Carson from Wikipedia

Conservation Biologists / Environmentalistsin 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 / Environmentalistsin the U. S.

Michael Soulé

Co-founder of the Society for Conservation Biology (1985)