Conservation Science
Conservation scientists help to inform decisions on species and ecosystem protection, and their restoration. With climate change having wide-spread impacts on every ecosystem on earth, conservation science assists us to evaluate these impacts and form management plans to address the changing needs of species and ecosystems at risk.
Learning Objectives
After viewing this presentation and relevant support material, users should be able to:
- Identify the key historical roots and people of conservation science in North America.
- Describe the various disciplines that impact on the study of conservation and their relevancy.
- Explain how conservation scientists inform management decisions in terms of “best available science.
- Explain the term conservation prioritization and how policy-makers use these prioritization outcomes.
- Describe the future challenges for conservation scientists.
Presenter
Dr.Suzie Lavallee, Lecturer
Listen to Dr. Lavallee respond to the question: How did I get interested in this area of study? by clicking on her photo.
For information about Dr. Lavallee, please check UBC, Faculty of Forestry
Module Resources
Presentation
An Introduction to Conservation Science
In this lecture, Dr. Suzie Lavallee explains how the protection of species and ecosystems at risk involves a very diverse set of disciplines including biologists and ecologists, land resource managers, policy analysts, social scientists and economists. Preservation and restoration plans for endangered species need to make sense ecologically, sociologically and economically.
Other Resources
- The oil spill’s unseen culprits, victims. TED Talk by Carl Safina.
- The fight to end rare-animal trafficking in Brazil. TED Talk by Juliana Ferreirra
- Bleak future for amphibians. Article from Nature journal.
- Status quo, Challenges and Strategies in Conservation Biology. Article from Chinese Academy of Science.
Potential Questions for use by Instructors
- Explain, using at least two examples from the presentation, how the visualizations can be used to communicate key information regarding how climate change may affect land use planning at the urban forest interface.
- With climate change, the natural disturbance regime of forests will change. Discuss potential consequences on species and ecosystems using fire disturbance as an example.