Conservation Biology

Photo from Greg Dimijian

Map from pubs.usgs.gov; photo of grizzlies from Wikimedia Commons

Value that Nature has as a means to another’s

(i.e., mankind’s) end

Anthropocentric viewpoint (i.e., from the perspective of

Homo sapiens as “possessor”)

Instrumental Value

Photos from Wikimedia Commons

Value that Nature has as an end in itself

Biocentric or ecocentric viewpoint (i.e., from the perspective of Nature

as “possessor”)

E.g., biodiversity is valuable simply because it exists

E.g., non-human species

have rights

Intrinsic Value

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Coined “conservation ethic”

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”

Conservation Biologists / Environmentalistsin the U. S.

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 Wikimedia Commons

Romantic-Transcendental Conservation Ethic“Nature has uses other than human economic gain;” biophilia

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882) Nature (1836)

Conservation Biologists / Environmentalistsin the U. S.

Photo 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

Aldo Leopold (1887 – 1948)

A Sand County Almanac (1949)

Conservation Biologists / Environmentalistsin the U. S.

Photo of Carson from Wikimedia Commons

Rachel Carson (1907 – 1964)

Silent Spring (1962) – motivated creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Conservation Biologists / Environmentalistsin the U. S.

Conservation Biology is a “crisis discipline”

Photo of Soulé from hawaiiconservation.org

Michael Soulé

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

Conservation Biologists / Environmentalistsin the U. S.

Image from Wikimedia Commons

K/T (Cretaceous-Tertiary)Mass Extinction

~ 65 m.y.a.;Ended the reign of

the dinosaurs

P/Tr (Permian-Triassic) Mass Extinction

~ 251 m.y.a.; ~ 96% of all marine species &~ 70% of all terrestrial species

Current mass extinctioncould result in ~ 50% of species

going extinct in 100 years(Wilson 2002)

?

Extinction in the Geologic Record

Image of Passenger Pigeon (extinct North American bird, once found in Louisiana) from Wikimedia Commons

“Martha” – the last living passenger pigeon – died on Sept. 1, 1914 in

captivity in Cincinnati, OH

Historic Extinction – Conservation Biology is a “Crisis Discipline”

Photo from Wikimedia Commons; For more information on HIPPO, see: E. O. Wilson (2002) The Future of Life

Habitat destruction E. O. Wilson(b. 1929)Invasive species

Pollution

Human Population

Overexploitation

Threats to Biodiversity

Photos of forest destruction in Brazil & Malaysia

HIPPO

Habitat Destruction & Degradation

Image from Discover Magazine, Jan-Feb 2010 Special Issue, “Top 100 Stories of 2009” –“#92: Nowhere to Hide from the Buzz of Civilization

HIPPO

Habitat Destruction & Degradation

“An ever-expanding network of roads, railways, rivers, and shipping lanes means that only 10 percent of the earth’s surface is now remote, defined as being at least 48 hours away from a major city. More than half of the world‘s

population lives within an hour of a major city…”

Kudzu

SnakeheadWalking catfish

HIPPO

Invasive Species

“Photoshopped” image of airplanes from www.surfersvillage.com

HIPPO

Pollution

NASA image from May 24, 2010 posted on Wikimedia Commons

HIPPO

Pollution

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

HIPPO

Human Population“More people means more of all the other HIPPO effects” (Wilson, 2002)

Atlantic Cod

HIPPOOverexploitation

HIPPOOverexploitation

Parrots

Ecosystem goods & services illustrated with photos of wetland, pollinator & “decomposer” – Wikimedia Commons

Costanza et al. (1997, Nature) provide this estimate for the value of these ecosystem goods & services:

~ $33,000,000,000,000 / yr

[…and the gross world product (the sum of all nations’ gross national products) is ~ $18,000,000,000,000 / yr]

Monetizing the Instrumental Value of Nature