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Applied Biodiversity Science Seminar Series 2009 - 2010 Click on the dates for more a more complete description of each talk. *For a list of previous ABS seminars click here.* Fall 2009 Friday, September 18, 4-5 pm, 213 Nagle Hall (NGLE) "She Devils: Assessing the Ecological Threat of an Army of Female Crayfish Clones" Presented by Dr. Zen Faulkes & Stephanie Jimenez, Dept. of Biology, University of Texas-Pan American (website) Wednesday, September 23, 4-5pm,109 Francis Hall (FRAN) "Environmental Governance in Brazil’s Soy Belt" Presented by Dr. Christian Brannstrom, Associate Professor, Dept. of Geography, Texas A&M University (website) Friday, October 2, 3:30-5pm, 303 Computing Services Data Processing Addition (CSA) "Deep Sea Corals of British Columbia: Distribution, Role as Habitat, and Threats from Commercial Fishing" Presented by Dr. Thomas Shirley, Professor and Endowed Chair for Biodiversity & Conservation Science, Dept. of Life Sciences, Texas A&M – Corpus Christi (website) Wednesday, October 14, 4-5pm, 229 Animal Industries (ANIN) “Developing a Multiple-Use Management Plan for Allocating Freshwater Fisheries Resources” Presented by Dr. Frances Gelwick, Associate Professor, Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University (website) Tuesday, October 27, 4-5pm, 109 Francis Hall (FRAN) "Holism v. Individualism in Environmental Ethics" Presented by Dr. Gary Varner, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Dept. of Philosophy, Texas A&M University (website) Friday, November 6, 4:00-5:15pm, 208 Scoates Hall (SCTS) "The Pacific Ocean and Perfect Droughts - Past, Present and Future" Presented by Dr. Glen MacDonald, UC Presidential Chair and Director of the Institute of the Environment and Professor, Dept. of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles (website) Monday, November 16, 4-5pm, 229 Animal Industries (ANIN) “The IUCN Global Assessments and Their Use in Conservation and Biodiversity Research” Presented by Dr. Thomas E. Lacher, Professor and Department Head, Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University (website) Spring 2010 Friday, January 29, 3:30-5pm, Location TBA "Common Ground between Anthropology and Conservation Biology" Presented by Dr. Peter Brosius, Professor, Dept. of Anthropology & Director, Center for Integrative Conservation Research , University of Georgia (website) Wednesday, February 24, 4-5pm, Location TBA "Ecotourism and Common Pool Resource Management" Presented by Dr. Amanda Stronza, Dept. of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences, Texas A&M University (website) Wednesday, March 10, 3:30-5pm, Location TBA "Biodiversity and Social-Ecological Resilience of Irrigated Agriculture in 'Ethnodevelopment' Policies" Presented by Dr. Karl Zimmerer, Professor and Head, Dept. of Geography, Penn State University (website) March 22-26, Date and Location TBA: “From the Amazon to the Mekong: Reconciling Conservation and Development in an Era of Climate Change” Presented by Dr. Timothy Killeen, Senior Research Scientist, Center for Applied Biodiversity, Conservation International (website) Wednesday, April 14, 4-5pm, Location TBA "Provisional Protection: Species Protection Policy and Democracy" Presented by Dr. Elisabeth Ellis, Associate Professor, Dept. of Political Science, Texas A&M University (website) Thursday, April 29, 4-5pm, Location TBA "Marine Management Area Science: A Paradigm For Applied Biodiversity Science in Coastal Marine Settings" Presented by Dr. Les Kaufman, Professor, Boston University Marine Program and Principal Investigator, Marine Area Management Science Program of Conservation International (website) Fall 2009 Friday, September 18, 4-5 pm, 213 Nagle Hall (NGLE) She Devils: Assessing the Ecological Threat of an Army of Female Crayfish Clones Dr. Zen Faulkes & Stephanie Jimenez, Department of Biology, University of Texas-Pan American (website) Abstract: Our research analyzes the invasive potential of a species of marbled crayfish that was discovered in the aquaria of tropical fish hobbyists in Germany in the 1990s. Known informally as Marmorkrebs, these crayfish belong to the genus Procambarus, but have no formal scientific name, and their origins are unknown. Marmorkrebs are unusual because they are parthenogenetic: they are all females and reproduce asexually, which increases their potential to become an invasive pest species. Since their discovery, Marmorkrebs have proliferated in the pet trade in North America and have been introduced into natural ecosystems in three European countries and Madagascar. Our research tests if Marmorkrebs can compete with and dominate other crayfish species by studying patterns of aggressive interactions. We are also surveying pet owners to examine how Marmorkrebs are being distributed in the North American pet trade. Biography: Dr. Zen Faulkes is Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Biology at the University of Texas-Pan American. He studies the evolution of behavior and nervous systems, mainly using decapod crustaceans as subjects. His is also doing research on the biology of the unusual all-female crayfish, Marmorkrebs. He received his doctorate from the University of Victoria, and conducted postdoctoral work at both McGill University and the University of Melbourne. His writing was featured in The Open Laboratory 2008 anthology of the year’s best science blogging (see http://marmorkrebs.org). Stephanie Jimenez is an undergraduate researcher in the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program at The University of Texas-Pan American. She will be completing her degree in the coming year. (back to top) Wednesday, September 23, 4-5pm,109 Francis Hall (FRAN) Environmental Governance in Brazil’s Soy Belt Dr. Christian Brannstrom, Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Texas A&M University (website) Abstract: Balancing agricultural production with environmental conservation is a major global challenge confronting many stakeholders in an era of strong projected increases in agricultural cropland by 2050. In South America, commercial agriculture has expanded during the past two decades, converting large areas of savanna and dry forest formations south and west of the Amazon rainforest into croplands integrated with global markets. This paper analyzes environmental governance in one area of South America, the soy belt of northeastern Brazil, where cropland has increased rapidly at the expense of native Cerrado vegetation. In this region, a key issue in environmental governance is the claim of excessive clearing of Cerrado, at odds with a powerful farmers’ organization that has developed an environmental agenda since 1999. I present findings from a Q-method study to measure subjectivity that points to sharp divisions between two groups: critical environmentalists and agri-environmentalists. The sharp divide helps explain why, in this region, the governance form is primarily collaboration between some state agencies and the farming sector, and why farmers’ organizations are reluctant to collaborate with environmentalists. Biography: Dr. Brannstrom is an Associate Professor of Geography at Texas A&M University specializing in historical geography and environmental governance. He has conducted field work in Brazil since 1994, and has published several articles on agricultural settlement in São Paulo state (in Brazil), remote sensing of agricultural and savanna land covers, and environmental policy reforms. He has edited a book on Latin American environmental history, Territories, Commodities and Knowledges (London: Institute for the Study of the Americas, 2004). His work at present focuses on environmental governance in the far west of Bahia state, Brazil; in addition, he is working on a book-length study of irrigated agriculture in south Texas during the early twentieth century. (back to top) Friday, October 2, 3:30-5pm, 303 Computing Services Data Processing Addition (CSA) Deep Sea Corals of British Columbia: Distribution, Role as Habitat, and Threats from Commercial Fishing Dr. Thomas Shirley, Professor and Endowed Chair for Biodiversity & Conservation Science, Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M – Corpus Christi (website) Abstract: Deep sea corals provide structural complexity and habit for many marine species, yet little is known of their taxonomy, distribution, habitat preferences, life history, or ecological interactions. In many places these deep sea octocorals form extensive meadows and are the primary habitat for many marine animals. The corals are to the deep sea as oyster reefs and seagrass beds are to estuaries, scleractinian corals are to tropical shallow water reefs, and trees are to forest ecosystems. Unfortunately, many of our modern commercial fishing techniques, particularly benthic trawling, are destroying these long-lived colonial animals. From June 8 to June 23, 2009 Dr. Tom Shirley and doctoral student Michael Reuscher participated in the Living Oceans Society expedition ‘Finding Coral’ to study deep sea corals in the Queen Charlotte Basin and Hecate Strait. The area is responsible for 60% of the British Columbia seafood harvest, yet little is known about the distribution of deep sea corals, or the effects of bottom trawling on them. Two, one-man research submersibles were used to conduct video transects, photograph, and collect coral samples at depths sometimes exceeding 500 meters. Dr. Shirley will describe the expedition, show videos and photographs, and present preliminary findings. For photos and more information, see: http://findingcoral.com Biography: Dr. Tom Shirley is a marine biologist and has published on the ecology and physiology of marine mammals, sea birds, fish, invertebrates, and also on pollution biology and conservation issues. He has described new species of invertebrates from around the world, including the Antarctic, the Arctic, Philippines, Mediterranean, Alaska, and the Gulf of Mexico. His recent research has addressed the ecology of commercially important crabs, distribution of invertebrates on WWII shipwrecks, seamount ecology, organisms associated with deep-sea corals, ecology and systematics of priapulid worms, and ecology of meiofauna. This event is Co-Sponsored with the Department of Geography (back to top) Wednesday, October 14, 4-5pm, 229 Animal Industries (ANIN) Developing a Multiple-Use Management Plan for Allocating Freshwater Fisheries Resources Dr. Frances Gelwick, Associate Professor, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University (website) Abstract: Our research establishes baseline information for the fish populations and ecological interactions in the El Palmito Reservoir in Durango, Mexico. We also worked with fishermen and other stakeholders concerned with natural resources of the reservoir (commercial fishery and storage for irrigation in eastern Durango) to develop a viable sustainable fisheries management plan. Most reservoirs were originally built for water supply, irrigation, and secondarily stocked with a mixture of introduced and nonnative food and sport fishes (carps, tilapia, black basses, and crappies). Aside from ecological effects of introduced species, reservoirs also experience issues common in over fished stocks — dominant species of lower economic value than initially, stunting, low fecundity and recruitment, and shortened food webs. Several problems in the El Palmito Reservoir stem from lack of knowledge by fish farmers and fishermen about the costs as well as benefits of integrated use of reservoirs, effects of humans on capacity for production, and social as well as economic aspects of trade and marketing of their catch. In the case of El Palmito, the cause for stock declines is largely due to lack of scientific data. More recently, interest by state governments has grown for developing reservoirs for sportfishing, following the success of several regional fishing tournaments organized by members of sportfishing organizations. No management plan yet exists to coordinate the interests of all stakeholders. Biography: Dr. Frances Gelwick is an Associate Professor in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences at Texas A&M. Her research concerns the ecology and behavior of fishes as well as other aquatic and semi-aquatic organisms, in both marine and freshwater ecosystems. Her study sites include rivers, streams, reservoirs, karstic sink-hole lakes (cenotes), and estuaries located throughout Texas, coastal Alabama, and Mississippi, and Mexican states of Durango, Nuevo Leon, Quintana Roo, and Yucatan. Before coming to Texas A&M, she worked for 10 years at University of Oklahoma Biological Station on Lake Texoma. (back to top) Tuesday, October 27, 4-5pm, 109 Francis Hall (FRAN) Holism v. Individualism in Environmental Ethics Dr. Gary Varner, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Philosophy, Texas A&M University (website) Abstract: A standard taxonomy of views in environmental ethics distinguishes among (1) anthropocentrism, (2) animal rights/welfare views, (3) biocentric individualism, and (4) holism on the basis of which things are attributed intrinsic rather than merely instrumental value by each view. Most environmental ethicists criticize non-holistic views for attributing only instrumental value to ecosystems and species. In this talk I will present the standard taxonomy and summarize this criticism of the first three, individualist views. I will then summarize my reasons for thinking that this criticism is not as decisive as most environmental ethicists take it to be. Biography: Gary Varner’s research focuses primarily on the moral status of animals and how appropriate respect for animals is expressed in various contexts. After writing one of the first dissertations on environmental ethics (University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1988), his first book (In Nature’s Interests? Interests, Animal Rights, and Environmental Ethics – Oxford University Press, 1998) analyzed the alleged divide between animal rights views and an adequate environmental ethic. His second book (Persons, Near-Persons, and the Merely Sentient: An Empirically Grounded Approach to Animal Welfare and Animal Rights – under review at Oxford University Press) offers a new and in various ways improved defense of R.M. Hare’s two-level utilitarianism, and provides a detailed analysis of its application to human-animal relations. (back to top) Friday, November 6, 4:00-5:15 pm, 208 Scoates Hall (SCTS) The Pacific Ocean and Perfect Droughts - Past, Present and Future Dr. Glen MacDonald, UC Presidential Chair and Director of the Institute of the Environment and Professor, Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles (website) Abstract: Dr. MacDonald will speak on issues of climate warming, the Pacific Ocean and the development of prolonged droughts/wet periods at the California-India hydroclimatic diploles. The lecture will consider the 21st century in light of current conditions and past climatic variations and their impacts on hydrology and people over the past 12,000 years. The analyses presented will incorporate paleoclimate reconstructions , paleooceanographic data, archaeological records and modern climate data. It will be demonstrated that a dipole between Califonian and Indian monsoonal precipitation has been a relatively robust feature of climate over the past 12,000 years and that Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures have been an important driver of this linkage. Implications for future water resource stresses will be considered. Biography: Dr. MacDonald studies climate change and its impacts on ecosystems and societies. He reconstructs past climate change and impacts through the use of fossil pollen, fossil stomates, plant macrofossils, insect remains, tree-rings, geochemistry and historical records. He also works on issues of current and future environmental change with a focus on water scarcity. His areas of active field research include California, the northern Great Plains and adjacent Rocky Mountains, the North American subarctic, Russia and Siberia. Dr. MacDonald was accepted as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2006 and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2008. This event is Co-Sponsored with the Department of Geography (back to top) Monday, Nov. 16, 2009, 4-5pm, 229 Animal Industries (ANIN) The IUCN Global Assessments and Their Use in Conservation and Biodiversity Research Dr. Thomas E. Lacher, Professor and Department Head, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University (website) Abstract: The IUCN Global Assessments have developed a process and methodology for assessing the IUCN conservation status of major taxa, and making this information, along with relevant ecological and biogeographical information, available for research use on the web. I will briefly review the process of the Global Assessments, highlighting the Global Mammal Assessment, and present a recent example of the use of this database for research relevant to conservation. We used data from the 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species to examine conservation status, threat, and range size for north and south temperate zone mammals. Temperate zones are heavily exploited for human activities, especially grazing, and agriculture. The proportion of southern temperate species under threat is less than the global average (11% vs. 21%), and less than the northern temperate zone (11% vs. 14%). However, southern temperate endemics are about 50% (25% vs. 16%) more likely to be threatened than northern temperate endemics. There is also a trend towards smaller range sizes in southern temperate endemics and poorer protected area coverage for them overall (% of gap species: 4.48 vs. 2.43), and for endemics in particular (13.38% vs. 3.65%). The scenario now is one of regions of restricted range endemics under high potential threat from human activities. Biography: Dr. Thomas E. Lacher, Jr., is Professor and Department Head in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences. He received his PhD in Biological Sciences, Section of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, from the University of Pittsburgh in 1980. He has held positions at the University of Brasilia, Brazil; Western Washington University; Clemson University (executive director of the research consortium of the Archbold Tropical Research Center on the island of Dominica), and Texas A&M University (Professor and Caesar Kleberg Chair in Wildlife Ecology). From 2002 to 2007 he was at Conservation International, where he was founding director of the Tropical Ecology, Assessment, and Monitoring (TEAM) Initiative and then Senior Vice-President and Executive Director of the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science. Dr. Lacher has been working in the neotropics for 30 years, with experience in Dominica, Costa Rica, Panama, Guyana, Suriname, Peru, and Brazil. His current research is focused on the assessment of conservation status in mammals and the analysis and monitoring of large-scale patterns and trends in biodiversity, primarily in the tropics. Current graduate student research includes morphological variation and river barriers in Amazonian marmosets, spatial and temporal patterns of space and resource use of macaws in Peru, and cultural values and conservation in the Rupununi savannas region of Guyana. (back to top) Spring 2010 Friday, January 29, 3:30-5pm, Location TBA Common Ground between Anthropology and Conservation Biology Dr. Peter Brosius, Professor, Department of Anthropology & Director, Center for Integrative Conservation Research , University of Georgia (website) Abstract: TBA Biography: Dr. Brosius' research in Environmental Anthropology focuses on political ecology and on the cultural politics of conservation at both local and global scales. His research is premised on the belief that anthropology has an important role to play not only in contributing to our understanding of the human impact on the physical and biotic environment, but also in showing how that environment is constructed, represented, claimed, and contested. He has a long-standing interest in the human ecology of Southeast Asia, particularly with respect to issues of environmental degradation. In recent years, his research has shifted increasingly toward an engagement with contemporary conservation issues including ecoregional conservation. Dr. Brosius has published in journals such as American Anthropologist, Current Anthropology, Conservation Biology, Ambio, Global Environmental Change, Society and Natural Resources, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Identities and Human Ecology and is an an associate editor of the journal Human Ecology. This event is Co-Sponsored with the Department of Geography (back to top) Wednesday, February 24, 4-5pm, Location TBA Ecotourism and Common Pool Resource Management Dr. Amanda Stronza, Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences, Texas A&M University (website) Abstract: Forests, rivers, wildlife, and other common pool resources share two characteristics that have direct relevance to ecotourism. One is controlling access, and the other is preventing individuals from degrading the resource for all others. Scholars of commons management have referred to these problems as “exclusion” and “subtraction,” respectively. Ecotourism development can compound the problem of exclusion by opening commons to tour operators, tourists, and other outsiders. Ecotourism can also exacerbate the problem of subtraction by expanding the number of users and generating revenues that enable more efficient exploitation. In this light, ecotourism seems like a bad idea for conservation. On the other hand, ecotourism can provide precisely the right economic incentives and social conditions to strengthen collective management of common pool resources. These pros and cons of ecotourism for conservation will be evaluated with ethnographic evidence from four study sites in Latin America and Africa. Biography: Dr. Amanda Stronza is an environmental anthropologist and associate professor in the Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Sciences at Texas A&M University. She studies community-based conservation and ecotourism, mostly in the tropics. Since 1993, she has conducted ethnographic research on one village in the Peruvian Amazon, studying longitudinal effects of ecotourism on local livelihoods, natural resource use, and cultural identity. Currently, she is PI on an NSF-Cultural Anthropology project titled, “Cross-Cultural Analysis of Community Participation in Ecotourism,” which entails comparative research in Peru, Brazil, Nicaragua, and Botswana. She also serves as Co-Director of the Applied Biodiversity Science NSF-IGERT Program. (back to top) Wednesday, March 10, 3:30-5pm, Location TBA Biodiversity and Social-Ecological Resilience of Irrigated Agriculture in "Ethnodevelopment" Policies Dr. Karl Zimmerer, Professor and Head, Department of Geography, Penn State University (website) Abstract: My presentation describes a case study of agrobiodiversity-irrigation interactions through the continuities and changes of agrarian landscape dynamics in the Calicanto area of Bolivia between 1990 and 2002. The study´s goal is to analyze capacities of social-ecological resilience in response to ethnodevelopment-guided irrigation change. Resilience levels are estimated for a group of three central components using mixed quantiative and qualitative methods in ecology, geography, anthropology, and related fields. Estimates show moderate, moderate, and moderate-high resilience in cultivated agrobiodiversity, uncultivated agrobiodiversity, and canal woodlands, respectively. The study evaluates the roles of ethnodevelopment-type approaches to sustainability and implications for global-change policies. Biography: Dr. Karl Zimmerer is a geographer and environmental scientist researching and teaching on topics of globalization and human-environment change (with emphasis on agriculture, rural livelihoods, and conservation and sustainability); the dynamics of agrobiodiversity in tropical mountains (currently focused on irrigation and relations of new water resource management to agrobiodiversity change); and the development and experience of spatial-environmental models and planning. Karl is author of numerous articles and his books and monographs include four publications, most recently Globalization and New Geographies of Conservation (2006, University of Chicago). He is active in various organizations involved with agricultural, environmental, conservation, and globalization policies, is Head of the Geography Department at the Pennsylvania State University and also edits the Nature-Society section of the Annals of the Association of American Geographers. This event is Co-Sponsored with the Department of Geography (back to top) March 22-26, Date and Location TBA From the Amazon to the Mekong: Reconciling Conservation and Development in an Era of Climate Change Dr. Timothy Killeen, Senior Research Scientist, Center for Applied Biodiversity, Conservation International (website) Abstract: The goal of creating a global green economy must resolve the conflict between traditional concepts of development and conservation. Legitimate aspirations to promote economic growth and reduce poverty are driving change in both the Amazon and the Mekong river basins. Infrastructure, biofuels, mineral extraction, hydropower, and an expanding agricultural frontier are common elements in a shared development paradigm. Will efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation succeed on landscapes characterized by weak governance, entrenched poverty and powerful elites? The dimensions of this challenge and the opportunities for mitigating global warming are explored in two globally important regions that encompass two of the planets great – and still wild - rivers. Biography: Dr. Timothy J. Killeen is a conservation biologist who has traveled a career path that started with the taxonomy of grasses but passed through periods where he led research in dendrology, floristics, ecology and forest carbon and land-use change. Along the way, he acquired expertise in GIS and remote sensing technologies, while becoming involved in environmental evaluations of pipelines, highways and hydropower facilities. He is currently a Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science at Conservation International and divides his time between his responsibilities in Santa Cruz, Bolivia and Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (back to top) Wednesday, April 14, 4-5pm, Location TBA Provisional Protection: Species Protection Policy and Democracy Dr. Elisabeth Ellis, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Texas A&M University (website) Abstract: Are policies to protect biodiversity compatible with democratic institutions? On the one hand, there are many instances of democratic expressions of support for the protection of fragile species; moreover, democratic theory would suggest that present-day decision-makers should not unilaterally reduce the scope of future generations' decision-making power by allowing unique species to go extinct. On the other hand, a crucial aspect of democratic institutions is policy reversibility. Democracy depends at least in part on rotation in office and the policy fluctuations that ought to follow changes in parties' political fortunes. In the case of protection of fragile species, however, policy fluctuation between decisions to develop or preserve unique habitat leads to a single possible outcome: extinction. In this project I: (1) develop a theoretical argument about the implications of policy irreversibility for democratic theory; (2) investigate a series of cases of democratic efforts to preserve endangered species; and (3) propose institutional reforms that could reduce the flux in biodiversity policy to levels compatible with both democracy and the prevention of extinctions. Biography: Dr. Elisabeth Ellis is a political theorist with a new interest in environmental policy. She has written two books, one about Kant's political thought and another using a Kantian perspective to think about present-day politics. Her current book project asks whether democracy and species conservation policy are compatible. Working in both the history of political thought and contemporary normative theory, Ellis has written about the meaning of modernity, the practice of political science, multiple species conservation programs, and many other topics. (back to top) Thursday, April 29, 4-5pm, Location TBA Marine Management Area Science: A Paradigm For Applied Biodiversity Science in Coastal Marine Settings Dr. Les Kaufman, Professor, Boston University Marine Program and Principal Investigator, Marine Area Management Science Program of Conservation International (website) Abstract: Biodiversity science can be applied in a way that enables coastal societies to achieve marine resource sustainability by retaining biodiversity and rebuilding ecosystem health. The Marine Management Area Science (MMAS) Program at Conservation International was launched to develop this application, as a model for active (experiment-driven) adaptive management in coastal communities. At its core is a global network of marine zoning schemes. The various management regimes within and among sites in the network are treated as an adaptive management experiment. Ecological and socioeconomic monitoring yield the data stream on what works or doesn’t, and sampling is designed to appreciate change attributable to management by weeding out variation due to other factors. The program is enhanced by basic science projects that elucidate processes and trade-offs, and refine diagnostics and predictive power across the network. Communication unites the network into a global learning community to share insights and reduce errors. Project results are integrated through dynamic ecological economic models, and the alternative policy scenarios that emerge are communicated with a platform-free decision tool called MIDAS. During its initial 5-year funding period MMAS enjoyed concentrated funding, staff, skills, and technology- resources at a premium in most of the world. The real experiment is to see if the science can be forged into an economical clinical ecology for coastal communities, and propagated across seascapes through earned trust, common sense, and pragmatism. Biography: Dr. Les Kaufman is an evolutionary ecologist who studies the creation, maintenance, and loss of species diversity in aquatic ecosystems, and then applies this knowledge to help achieve sustainable coastal societies in an intact natural setting. His principal expertise is in coral reef and tropical great lake systems, though he dabbles in rainforest ecology as a hobby. He is currently involved in analysis and synthesis of MMAS results from four tropical seascapes, analysis of linked ecological-economic marine processes in New England, and exploration of the functional basis for nonlinear flux in fisheries time series data. (back to top)
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||Research|People|Events|Resources|Prospective Students|

Applied Biodiversity Science Seminar Series 2009 - 2010

Click on the dates for more a more complete description of each talk.

For a list of previous ABS seminars click here.

Fall 2009

Friday, September 18, 4-5 pm, 213 Nagle Hall (NGLE)
"She Devils: Assessing the Ecological Threat of an Army of Female Crayfish Clones"
Presented by Dr. Zen Faulkes & Stephanie Jimenez, Dept. of Biology, University of Texas-Pan American (website)

Wednesday, September 23, 4-5pm,109 Francis Hall (FRAN)
"Environmental Governance in Brazil’s Soy Belt"
Presented by Dr. Christian Brannstrom, Associate Professor, Dept. of Geography, Texas A&M University (website)

Friday, October 2, 3:30-5pm, 303 Computing Services Data Processing Addition (CSA)
"Deep Sea Corals of British Columbia: Distribution, Role as Habitat, and Threats from Commercial Fishing"
Presented by Dr. Thomas Shirley, Professor and Endowed Chair for Biodiversity & Conservation Science, Dept. of Life Sciences, Texas A&M – Corpus Christi (website)

Wednesday, October 14, 4-5pm, 229 Animal Industries (ANIN)
“Developing a Multiple-Use Management Plan for Allocating Freshwater Fisheries Resources”
Presented by Dr. Frances Gelwick, Associate Professor, Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University (website)

Tuesday, October 27, 4-5pm, 109 Francis Hall (FRAN)
"Holism v. Individualism in Environmental Ethics"
Presented by Dr. Gary Varner, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Dept. of Philosophy, Texas A&M University (website)

Friday, November 6, 4:00-5:15pm, 208 Scoates Hall (SCTS)
"The Pacific Ocean and Perfect Droughts - Past, Present and Future"
Presented by Dr. Glen MacDonald, UC Presidential Chair and Director of the Institute of the Environment and Professor, Dept. of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles (website)

Monday, November 16, 4-5pm, 229 Animal Industries (ANIN)
“The IUCN Global Assessments and Their Use in Conservation and Biodiversity Research”
Presented by Dr. Thomas E. Lacher, Professor and Department Head, Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University (website)

Spring 2010

Friday, January 29, 3:30-5pm, Location TBA
"Common Ground between Anthropology and Conservation Biology"
Presented by Dr. Peter Brosius, Professor, Dept. of Anthropology & Director, Center for Integrative Conservation Research , University of Georgia (website)

Wednesday, February 24, 4-5pm, Location TBA
"Ecotourism and Common Pool Resource Management"
Presented by Dr. Amanda Stronza, Dept. of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences, Texas A&M University (website)

Wednesday, March 10, 3:30-5pm, Location TBA
"Biodiversity and Social-Ecological Resilience of Irrigated Agriculture in 'Ethnodevelopment' Policies"
Presented by Dr. Karl Zimmerer, Professor and Head, Dept. of Geography, Penn State University (website)

March 22-26, Date and Location TBA:
“From the Amazon to the Mekong: Reconciling Conservation and Development in an Era of Climate Change”
Presented by Dr. Timothy Killeen, Senior Research Scientist, Center for Applied Biodiversity, Conservation International (website)

Wednesday, April 14, 4-5pm, Location TBA
"Provisional Protection: Species Protection Policy and Democracy"
Presented by Dr. Elisabeth Ellis, Associate Professor, Dept. of Political Science, Texas A&M University (website)

Thursday, April 29, 4-5pm, Location TBA
"Marine Management Area Science: A Paradigm For Applied Biodiversity Science in Coastal Marine Settings"
Presented by Dr. Les Kaufman, Professor, Boston University Marine Program and Principal Investigator, Marine Area Management Science Program of Conservation International (website)

Fall 2009

Friday, September 18, 4-5 pm, 213 Nagle Hall (NGLE)

She Devils: Assessing the Ecological Threat of an Army of Female Crayfish Clones

Dr. Zen Faulkes & Stephanie Jimenez, Department of Biology, University of Texas-Pan American (website)

Abstract: Our research analyzes the invasive potential of a species of marbled crayfish that was discovered in the aquaria of tropical fish hobbyists in Germany in the 1990s. Known informally as Marmorkrebs, these crayfish belong to the genus Procambarus, but have no formal scientific name, and their origins are unknown. Marmorkrebs are unusual because they are parthenogenetic: they are all females and reproduce asexually, which increases their potential to become an invasive pest species. Since their discovery, Marmorkrebs have proliferated in the pet trade in North America and have been introduced into natural ecosystems in three European countries and Madagascar. Our research tests if Marmorkrebs can compete with and dominate other crayfish species by studying patterns of aggressive interactions. We are also surveying pet owners to examine how Marmorkrebs are being distributed in the North American pet trade.

Biography: Dr. Zen Faulkes is Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Biology at the University of Texas-Pan American. He studies the evolution of behavior and nervous systems, mainly using decapod crustaceans as subjects. His is also doing research on the biology of the unusual all-female crayfish, Marmorkrebs. He received his doctorate from the University of Victoria, and conducted postdoctoral work at both McGill University and the University of Melbourne. His writing was featured in The Open Laboratory 2008 anthology of the year’s best science blogging (see http://marmorkrebs.org).

Stephanie Jimenez is an undergraduate researcher in the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program at The University of Texas-Pan American. She will be completing her degree in the coming year.

(back to top)

Wednesday, September 23, 4-5pm,109 Francis Hall (FRAN)

Environmental Governance in Brazil’s Soy Belt

Dr. Christian Brannstrom, Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Texas A&M University (website)

Abstract: Balancing agricultural production with environmental conservation is a major global challenge confronting many stakeholders in an era of strong projected increases in agricultural cropland by 2050. In South America, commercial agriculture has expanded during the past two decades, converting large areas of savanna and dry forest formations south and west of the Amazon rainforest into croplands integrated with global markets. This paper analyzes environmental governance in one area of South America, the soy belt of northeastern Brazil, where cropland has increased rapidly at the expense of native Cerrado vegetation. In this region, a key issue in environmental governance is the claim of excessive clearing of Cerrado, at odds with a powerful farmers’ organization that has developed an environmental agenda since 1999. I present findings from a Q-method study to measure subjectivity that points to sharp divisions between two groups: critical environmentalists and agri-environmentalists. The sharp divide helps explain why, in this region, the governance form is primarily collaboration between some state agencies and the farming sector, and why farmers’ organizations are reluctant to collaborate with environmentalists.

Biography: Dr. Brannstrom is an Associate Professor of Geography at Texas A&M University specializing in historical geography and environmental governance. He has conducted field work in Brazil since 1994, and has published several articles on agricultural settlement in São Paulo state (in Brazil), remote sensing of agricultural and savanna land covers, and environmental policy reforms. He has edited a book on Latin American environmental history, Territories, Commodities and Knowledges (London: Institute for the Study of the Americas, 2004). His work at present focuses on environmental governance in the far west of Bahia state, Brazil; in addition, he is working on a book-length study of irrigated agriculture in south Texas during the early twentieth century.

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Friday, October 2, 3:30-5pm, 303 Computing Services Data Processing Addition (CSA)

Deep Sea Corals of British Columbia: Distribution, Role as Habitat, and Threats from Commercial Fishing

Dr. Thomas Shirley, Professor and Endowed Chair for Biodiversity & Conservation Science, Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M – Corpus Christi (website)

Abstract: Deep sea corals provide structural complexity and habit for many marine species, yet little is known of their taxonomy, distribution, habitat preferences, life history, or ecological interactions. In many places these deep sea octocorals form extensive meadows and are the primary habitat for many marine animals. The corals are to the deep sea as oyster reefs and seagrass beds are to estuaries, scleractinian corals are to tropical shallow water reefs, and trees are to forest ecosystems. Unfortunately, many of our modern commercial fishing techniques, particularly benthic trawling, are destroying these long-lived colonial animals. From June 8 to June 23, 2009 Dr. Tom Shirley and doctoral student Michael Reuscher participated in the Living Oceans Society expedition ‘Finding Coral’ to study deep sea corals in the Queen Charlotte Basin and Hecate Strait. The area is responsible for 60% of the British Columbia seafood harvest, yet little is known about the distribution of deep sea corals, or the effects of bottom trawling on them. Two, one-man research submersibles were used to conduct video transects, photograph, and collect coral samples at depths sometimes exceeding 500 meters. Dr. Shirley will describe the expedition, show videos and photographs, and present preliminary findings. For photos and more information, see: http://findingcoral.com

Biography: Dr. Tom Shirley is a marine biologist and has published on the ecology and physiology of marine mammals, sea birds, fish, invertebrates, and also on pollution biology and conservation issues. He has described new species of invertebrates from around the world, including the Antarctic, the Arctic, Philippines, Mediterranean, Alaska, and the Gulf of Mexico. His recent research has addressed the ecology of commercially important crabs, distribution of invertebrates on WWII shipwrecks, seamount ecology, organisms associated with deep-sea corals, ecology and systematics of priapulid worms, and ecology of meiofauna.

This event is Co-Sponsored with the Department of Geography

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Wednesday, October 14, 4-5pm, 229 Animal Industries (ANIN)

Developing a Multiple-Use Management Plan for Allocating Freshwater Fisheries Resources

Dr. Frances Gelwick, Associate Professor, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University (website)

Abstract: Our research establishes baseline information for the fish populations and ecological interactions in the El Palmito Reservoir in Durango, Mexico. We also worked with fishermen and other stakeholders concerned with natural resources of the reservoir (commercial fishery and storage for irrigation in eastern Durango) to develop a viable sustainable fisheries management plan. Most reservoirs were originally built for water supply, irrigation, and secondarily stocked with a mixture of introduced and nonnative food and sport fishes (carps, tilapia, black basses, and crappies). Aside from ecological effects of introduced species, reservoirs also experience issues common in over fished stocks — dominant species of lower economic value than initially, stunting, low fecundity and recruitment, and shortened food webs. Several problems in the El Palmito Reservoir stem from lack of knowledge by fish farmers and fishermen about the costs as well as benefits of integrated use of reservoirs, effects of humans on capacity for production, and social as well as economic aspects of trade and marketing of their catch. In the case of El Palmito, the cause for stock declines is largely due to lack of scientific data. More recently, interest by state governments has grown for developing reservoirs for sportfishing, following the success of several regional fishing tournaments organized by members of sportfishing organizations. No management plan yet exists to coordinate the interests of all stakeholders.

Biography: Dr. Frances Gelwick is an Associate Professor in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences at Texas A&M. Her research concerns the ecology and behavior of fishes as well as other aquatic and semi-aquatic organisms, in both marine and freshwater ecosystems. Her study sites include rivers, streams, reservoirs, karstic sink-hole lakes (cenotes), and estuaries located throughout Texas, coastal Alabama, and Mississippi, and Mexican states of Durango, Nuevo Leon, Quintana Roo, and Yucatan. Before coming to Texas A&M, she worked for 10 years at University of Oklahoma Biological Station on Lake Texoma.

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Tuesday, October 27, 4-5pm, 109 Francis Hall (FRAN)

Holism v. Individualism in Environmental Ethics

Dr. Gary Varner, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Philosophy, Texas A&M University (website)

Abstract: A standard taxonomy of views in environmental ethics distinguishes among (1) anthropocentrism, (2) animal rights/welfare views, (3) biocentric individualism, and (4) holism on the basis of which things are attributed intrinsic rather than merely instrumental value by each view. Most environmental ethicists criticize non-holistic views for attributing only instrumental value to ecosystems and species. In this talk I will present the standard taxonomy and summarize this criticism of the first three, individualist views. I will then summarize my reasons for thinking that this criticism is not as decisive as most environmental ethicists take it to be.

Biography: Gary Varner’s research focuses primarily on the moral status of animals and how appropriate respect for animals is expressed in various contexts. After writing one of the first dissertations on environmental ethics (University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1988), his first book (In Nature’s Interests? Interests, Animal Rights, and Environmental Ethics – Oxford University Press, 1998) analyzed the alleged divide between animal rights views and an adequate environmental ethic. His second book (Persons, Near-Persons, and the Merely Sentient: An Empirically Grounded Approach to Animal Welfare and Animal Rights – under review at Oxford University Press) offers a new and in various ways improved defense of R.M. Hare’s two-level utilitarianism, and provides a detailed analysis of its application to human-animal relations.

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Friday, November 6, 4:00-5:15 pm, 208 Scoates Hall (SCTS)

The Pacific Ocean and Perfect Droughts - Past, Present and Future

Dr. Glen MacDonald, UC Presidential Chair and Director of the Institute of the Environment and Professor, Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles (website)

Abstract: Dr. MacDonald will speak on issues of climate warming, the Pacific Ocean and the development of prolonged droughts/wet periods at the California-India hydroclimatic diploles. The lecture will consider the 21st century in light of current conditions and past climatic variations and their impacts on hydrology and people over the past 12,000 years. The analyses presented will incorporate paleoclimate reconstructions , paleooceanographic data, archaeological records and modern climate data. It will be demonstrated that a dipole between Califonian and Indian monsoonal precipitation has been a relatively robust feature of climate over the past 12,000 years and that Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures have been an important driver of this linkage. Implications for future water resource stresses will be considered.

Biography: Dr. MacDonald studies climate change and its impacts on ecosystems and societies. He reconstructs past climate change and impacts through the use of fossil pollen, fossil stomates, plant macrofossils, insect remains, tree-rings, geochemistry and historical records. He also works on issues of current and future environmental change with a focus on water scarcity. His areas of active field research include California, the northern Great Plains and adjacent Rocky Mountains, the North American subarctic, Russia and Siberia. Dr. MacDonald was accepted as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2006 and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2008.

This event is Co-Sponsored with the Department of Geography

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Monday, Nov. 16, 2009, 4-5pm, 229 Animal Industries (ANIN)

The IUCN Global Assessments and Their Use in Conservation and Biodiversity Research

Dr. Thomas E. Lacher, Professor and Department Head, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University (website)

Abstract: The IUCN Global Assessments have developed a process and methodology for assessing the IUCN conservation status of major taxa, and making this information, along with relevant ecological and biogeographical information, available for research use on the web. I will briefly review the process of the Global Assessments, highlighting the Global Mammal Assessment, and present a recent example of the use of this database for research relevant to conservation. We used data from the 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species to examine conservation status, threat, and range size for north and south temperate zone mammals. Temperate zones are heavily exploited for human activities, especially grazing, and agriculture. The proportion of southern temperate species under threat is less than the global average (11% vs. 21%), and less than the northern temperate zone (11% vs. 14%). However, southern temperate endemics are about 50% (25% vs. 16%) more likely to be threatened than northern temperate endemics. There is also a trend towards smaller range sizes in southern temperate endemics and poorer protected area coverage for them overall (% of gap species: 4.48 vs. 2.43), and for endemics in particular (13.38% vs. 3.65%). The scenario now is one of regions of restricted range endemics under high potential threat from human activities.

Biography: Dr. Thomas E. Lacher, Jr., is Professor and Department Head in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences. He received his PhD in Biological Sciences, Section of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, from the University of Pittsburgh in 1980. He has held positions at the University of Brasilia, Brazil; Western Washington University; Clemson University (executive director of the research consortium of the Archbold Tropical Research Center on the island of Dominica), and Texas A&M University (Professor and Caesar Kleberg Chair in Wildlife Ecology). From 2002 to 2007 he was at Conservation International, where he was founding director of the Tropical Ecology, Assessment, and Monitoring (TEAM) Initiative and then Senior Vice-President and Executive Director of the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science. Dr. Lacher has been working in the neotropics for 30 years, with experience in Dominica, Costa Rica, Panama, Guyana, Suriname, Peru, and Brazil. His current research is focused on the assessment of conservation status in mammals and the analysis and monitoring of large-scale patterns and trends in biodiversity, primarily in the tropics. Current graduate student research includes morphological variation and river barriers in Amazonian marmosets, spatial and temporal patterns of space and resource use of macaws in Peru, and cultural values and conservation in the Rupununi savannas region of Guyana.

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Spring 2010

Friday, January 29, 3:30-5pm, Location TBA

Common Ground between Anthropology and Conservation Biology

Dr. Peter Brosius, Professor, Department of Anthropology & Director, Center for Integrative Conservation Research , University of Georgia (website)

Abstract: TBA

Biography: Dr. Brosius' research in Environmental Anthropology focuses on political ecology and on the cultural politics of conservation at both local and global scales. His research is premised on the belief that anthropology has an important role to play not only in contributing to our understanding of the human impact on the physical and biotic environment, but also in showing how that environment is constructed, represented, claimed, and contested. He has a long-standing interest in the human ecology of Southeast Asia, particularly with respect to issues of environmental degradation. In recent years, his research has shifted increasingly toward an engagement with contemporary conservation issues including ecoregional conservation. Dr. Brosius has published in journals such as American Anthropologist, Current Anthropology, Conservation Biology, Ambio, Global Environmental Change, Society and Natural Resources, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Identities and Human Ecology and is an an associate editor of the journal Human Ecology.

This event is Co-Sponsored with the Department of Geography

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Wednesday, February 24, 4-5pm, Location TBA

Ecotourism and Common Pool Resource Management

Dr. Amanda Stronza, Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences, Texas A&M University (website)

Abstract: Forests, rivers, wildlife, and other common pool resources share two characteristics that have direct relevance to ecotourism. One is controlling access, and the other is preventing individuals from degrading the resource for all others. Scholars of commons management have referred to these problems as “exclusion” and “subtraction,” respectively. Ecotourism development can compound the problem of exclusion by opening commons to tour operators, tourists, and other outsiders. Ecotourism can also exacerbate the problem of subtraction by expanding the number of users and generating revenues that enable more efficient exploitation. In this light, ecotourism seems like a bad idea for conservation. On the other hand, ecotourism can provide precisely the right economic incentives and social conditions to strengthen collective management of common pool resources. These pros and cons of ecotourism for conservation will be evaluated with ethnographic evidence from four study sites in Latin America and Africa.

Biography: Dr. Amanda Stronza is an environmental anthropologist and associate professor in the Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Sciences at Texas A&M University. She studies community-based conservation and ecotourism, mostly in the tropics. Since 1993, she has conducted ethnographic research on one village in the Peruvian Amazon, studying longitudinal effects of ecotourism on local livelihoods, natural resource use, and cultural identity. Currently, she is PI on an NSF-Cultural Anthropology project titled, “Cross-Cultural Analysis of Community Participation in Ecotourism,” which entails comparative research in Peru, Brazil, Nicaragua, and Botswana. She also serves as Co-Director of the Applied Biodiversity Science NSF-IGERT Program.

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Wednesday, March 10, 3:30-5pm, Location TBA

Biodiversity and Social-Ecological Resilience of Irrigated Agriculture in "Ethnodevelopment" Policies

Dr. Karl Zimmerer, Professor and Head, Department of Geography, Penn State University (website)

Abstract: My presentation describes a case study of agrobiodiversity-irrigation interactions through the continuities and changes of agrarian landscape dynamics in the Calicanto area of Bolivia between 1990 and 2002. The study´s goal is to analyze capacities of social-ecological resilience in response to ethnodevelopment-guided irrigation change. Resilience levels are estimated for a group of three central components using mixed quantiative and qualitative methods in ecology, geography, anthropology, and related fields. Estimates show moderate, moderate, and moderate-high resilience in cultivated agrobiodiversity, uncultivated agrobiodiversity, and canal woodlands, respectively. The study evaluates the roles of ethnodevelopment-type approaches to sustainability and implications for global-change policies.

Biography: Dr. Karl Zimmerer is a geographer and environmental scientist researching and teaching on topics of globalization and human-environment change (with emphasis on agriculture, rural livelihoods, and conservation and sustainability); the dynamics of agrobiodiversity in tropical mountains (currently focused on irrigation and relations of new water resource management to agrobiodiversity change); and the development and experience of spatial-environmental models and planning. Karl is author of numerous articles and his books and monographs include four publications, most recently Globalization and New Geographies of Conservation (2006, University of Chicago). He is active in various organizations involved with agricultural, environmental, conservation, and globalization policies, is Head of the Geography Department at the Pennsylvania State University and also edits the Nature-Society section of the Annals of the Association of American Geographers.

This event is Co-Sponsored with the Department of Geography

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March 22-26, Date and Location TBA

From the Amazon to the Mekong: Reconciling Conservation and Development in an Era of Climate Change

Dr. Timothy Killeen, Senior Research Scientist, Center for Applied Biodiversity, Conservation International (website)

Abstract: The goal of creating a global green economy must resolve the conflict between traditional concepts of development and conservation. Legitimate aspirations to promote economic growth and reduce poverty are driving change in both the Amazon and the Mekong river basins. Infrastructure, biofuels, mineral extraction, hydropower, and an expanding agricultural frontier are common elements in a shared development paradigm. Will efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation succeed on landscapes characterized by weak governance, entrenched poverty and powerful elites? The dimensions of this challenge and the opportunities for mitigating global warming are explored in two globally important regions that encompass two of the planets great – and still wild - rivers.

Biography: Dr. Timothy J. Killeen is a conservation biologist who has traveled a career path that started with the taxonomy of grasses but passed through periods where he led research in dendrology, floristics, ecology and forest carbon and land-use change. Along the way, he acquired expertise in GIS and remote sensing technologies, while becoming involved in environmental evaluations of pipelines, highways and hydropower facilities. He is currently a Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science at Conservation International and divides his time between his responsibilities in Santa Cruz, Bolivia and Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

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Wednesday, April 14, 4-5pm, Location TBA

Provisional Protection: Species Protection Policy and Democracy

Dr. Elisabeth Ellis, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Texas A&M University (website)

Abstract: Are policies to protect biodiversity compatible with democratic institutions? On the one hand, there are many instances of democratic expressions of support for the protection of fragile species; moreover, democratic theory would suggest that present-day decision-makers should not unilaterally reduce the scope of future generations' decision-making power by allowing unique species to go extinct. On the other hand, a crucial aspect of democratic institutions is policy reversibility. Democracy depends at least in part on rotation in office and the policy fluctuations that ought to follow changes in parties' political fortunes. In the case of protection of fragile species, however, policy fluctuation between decisions to develop or preserve unique habitat leads to a single possible outcome: extinction. In this project I: (1) develop a theoretical argument about the implications of policy irreversibility for democratic theory; (2) investigate a series of cases of democratic efforts to preserve endangered species; and (3) propose institutional reforms that could reduce the flux in biodiversity policy to levels compatible with both democracy and the prevention of extinctions.

Biography: Dr. Elisabeth Ellis is a political theorist with a new interest in environmental policy. She has written two books, one about Kant's political thought and another using a Kantian perspective to think about present-day politics. Her current book project asks whether democracy and species conservation policy are compatible. Working in both the history of political thought and contemporary normative theory, Ellis has written about the meaning of modernity, the practice of political science, multiple species conservation programs, and many other topics.

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Thursday, April 29, 4-5pm, Location TBA

Marine Management Area Science: A Paradigm For Applied Biodiversity Science in Coastal Marine Settings

Dr. Les Kaufman, Professor, Boston University Marine Program and Principal Investigator, Marine Area Management Science Program of Conservation International (website)

Abstract: Biodiversity science can be applied in a way that enables coastal societies to achieve marine resource sustainability by retaining biodiversity and rebuilding ecosystem health. The Marine Management Area Science (MMAS) Program at Conservation International was launched to develop this application, as a model for active (experiment-driven) adaptive management in coastal communities. At its core is a global network of marine zoning schemes. The various management regimes within and among sites in the network are treated as an adaptive management experiment. Ecological and socioeconomic monitoring yield the data stream on what works or doesn’t, and sampling is designed to appreciate change attributable to management by weeding out variation due to other factors. The program is enhanced by basic science projects that elucidate processes and trade-offs, and refine diagnostics and predictive power across the network. Communication unites the network into a global learning community to share insights and reduce errors. Project results are integrated through dynamic ecological economic models, and the alternative policy scenarios that emerge are communicated with a platform-free decision tool called MIDAS. During its initial 5-year funding period MMAS enjoyed concentrated funding, staff, skills, and technology- resources at a premium in most of the world. The real experiment is to see if the science can be forged into an economical clinical ecology for coastal communities, and propagated across seascapes through earned trust, common sense, and pragmatism.

Biography: Dr. Les Kaufman is an evolutionary ecologist who studies the creation, maintenance, and loss of species diversity in aquatic ecosystems, and then applies this knowledge to help achieve sustainable coastal societies in an intact natural setting. His principal expertise is in coral reef and tropical great lake systems, though he dabbles in rainforest ecology as a hobby. He is currently involved in analysis and synthesis of MMAS results from four tropical seascapes, analysis of linked ecological-economic marine processes in New England, and exploration of the functional basis for nonlinear flux in fisheries time series data.

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