GRADUATE STUDENTS ON BIODIVERSITY SCIENCE
Bats are critical to many ecosystems across the globe, and their elimination would have countless negative environmental and economic impacts. To some extent, we have already seen the impacts of lack of bats in areas most severely impacted by White nose syndrome such as the Northeastern United States. Bats consume millions of insects worldwide, helping control the populations of insects […]
Read moreAscophyllum nodosum is a brown seaweed and a ubiquitous member of intertidal communities throughout the temperate North Atlantic. This cold- and calm-water loving species has long strappy branches and air bladders along its axis. It grows in dense stands that are up to a meter tall – forming beautiful floating meadows at high tide and thick, floppy mats of seaweed […]
Read moreWhen I ask my introductory biology or ecology students what they think the biggest threat to Earth’s biodiversity is, climate change or pollution typically get the most votes. Perhaps the (much warranted) public attention and debate on these issues leads students to focus on these particular problems, but in fact, habitat loss and degradation have the largest impact on biodiversity. […]
Read moreThe implementation of protected areas (PAs) is considered the backbone strategy of efforts towards the conservation of biodiversity and natural resources. Currently, the global network of PAs covers approximately 18.8% of the planet (15.4% of terrestrial and inland water and 3.4% of marine and coastal areas, see Fig. 1), safeguarding millions of species and providing a series of important ecosystem […]
Read moreYou might have a favorite science writer. Mine are David Quammen, Bill Bryson, Carl Sagan, and Tim Flannery. Others may be more inclined to read Pulitzer Prize-winning and nominated authors like Jonathan Weiner, Siddhartha Mukherjee, or James Gleick, MacArthur-fellow Atul Gawande, or consummate greats like E. O. Wilson, Richard Dawkins, Stephen J. Gould, and Oliver Sacks. Or perhaps books aren’t […]
Read moreScience recently released a special issue on defaunation, which spanned seven articles detailing the recent decline in animal species diversity and abundance. Among others, the issue included two peer-reviewed articles, an opinion piece, and an analysis of national policies tied to global and local conservation strategies. The statistics associated with defaunation are sobering, but the issue presents a few solutions […]
Read moreWhy is this week different from all other weeks? Because this week, Emily Grason and Fletcher Halliday are serving as BioDiverse Perspectives Delegates at the North American Congress for Conservation Biology meeting (known to the tweetosphere as #NACCB2014)! The conference looks like it will have a great mix of basic science, policy-driven research, science outreach, and, not least of all, […]
Read moreIt’s Friday and that means that it’s time for our Friday link dump, where we highlight some recent papers (and other stuff) that we found interesting but didn’t have the time to write an entire post about. If you think there’s something we missed, or have something to say, please share in the comments section! Experts on deep-sea ecosystems put […]
Read moreBelow is the second installment in our second two-part series of posts on the philosophical and ecological values of biodiversity motivated by the University of Oregon lecture series titled “Biodiversity at Twenty-Five: The Problem of Ecological Proxy Values”. In the first set of posts, Tim Christion Myers investigated the value of biodiversity conservation through the eyes of a philosopher, while Lorien Reynolds reflected […]
Read moreBelow is the first installment in another two-part series of posts on the philosophical and ecological values of biodiversity motivated by the University of Oregon lecture series titled “Biodiversity at Twenty-Five: The Problem of Ecological Proxy Values”. In the first set of posts, Tim Christion Myers investigated the value of biodiversity conservation through the eyes of a philosopher, while Lorien Reynolds […]
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