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Introduction

Conservation biology means different things to different people. For the purposes of this course, conservation biology covers all of those topics that I have chosen to include in the course and none of those topics that I haven't chosen to include. Seriously though, there are reasons I chose the topics I chose to include. To understand what they are, it may help to begin with a little history.

I don't think I have to convince anyone in this room that the world we now live in is far different from the one that was here a few thousand years ago. The reason for that difference is two-fold: the growth of human populations and the enormous resource demands we make on the planet.

All in all, 83% of the earth's land surface has been directly influenced by human activities (Figure 4), and our impact is pervasive in densely populated areas like the northeastern United States (Figure 5). Peter Kareiva and colleagues point out that ``we have domesticated landscapes and ecosystems in ways that enhance our food supplies, reduce exposure to predators and natural dangers, and promote commerce'' [4, p. 1866]

Figure 4: The human footprint index reflects human population density, land transformation, access, and electrical power infrastructure [7]
\resizebox{!}{7cm}{\includegraphics{world-human-footprint.eps}}

Figure 5: The human footprint index clearly shows metropolitan areas in the northeastern United States. In addition to Boston and New York, which are labeled, it's easy to pick out Providence, RI, Hartford, CT, Springfield, MA, Worcester, MA, and Portland, ME. If you know the freeways in the area, it's not hard to pick out I-95, I-91, I-90, and others. (See http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/wildareas/maps.jsp for more maps of the human footprint index.)
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The Millenium Ecosystem Assessment [1] summarizes the four key findings of their study this way:

The changes have been so enormous that ten years ago Paul Crutzen proposed that we refer to the modern age as the Anthropocene [2], recognizing that humanity's impact on earth's systems will leave a geological imprint. The International Commission for Stratigraphy includes a Working Group on the Anthropocene within its Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy. It's purpose is ``to examine the status, hierarchical level and definition of the Anthropocene as a potential new formal division of the Geological Time Scale'' (from the ``Outline of working group activities'' at http://www.quaternary.stratigraphy.org.uk/workinggroups/, accessed 26 August 2011). The Economist even put the Anthropocene on its cover last May (Figure 6) to accompany a leader4(http://www.economist.com/node/18741749) and a special feature (http://www.economist.com/node/18744401).

Figure 6: The cover of the 26 May edition of The Economist.
\includegraphics{economist-anthropocene.eps}


next up previous
Next: Responses to environmental change Up: What is Conservation Biology? Previous: What is Conservation Biology?
Kent Holsinger 2011-08-26