Conservation Science

Lisa Micheli and Healy Hamilton, two leading mid-career scientist-entrepreneurs formerly with the California Academy of Sciences, developed a model that shows the potential impacts of climate change on biodiversity and sea-level rise in Northern California. Their project seeks to make climate change impacts tangible, educate local communities about the link between human behavior and climate change, empower individuals, and motivate action to decrease greenhouse gas emissions locally.

The Los Angeles Times also ran an excellent story on this subject: "An exquisite Mexico beach, cursed by plastic" (January 27. 2012)

Biologists have one thing in their favor when doing public outreach for such charismatic carnivores. If people don’t have time to learn the ecological benefits of keeping lions and wolves on the landscape, they can easily appreciate the aesthetic value of having them around. It’s a bit tougher for biologists like Tara Cornelisse to count on conservation aesthetics when making her case to protect another fearsome carnivore: the Ohlone tiger beetle. Read more

Organized by the UA's entomology department, the festival includes researchers from a variety of fields of study - including the neurosciences - that span the campus. The idea is to help people learn about the importance of insects (most animal species are insects), and also to discover the range of insect-based research taking place at the UA, said Kathleen Walker, an assistant professor in entomology. The UA has one of the largest collections of insect scientists in the United States, she said.

It’s not just that Premium Rush is an hour and a half of intense observational overload, it’s that it explores the human power of observation as well as any film I’ve seen lately.

"As we continue to emit greenhouse gas pollution, we are seeing more and more animals and plants in the U.S. and around the world that are in danger from climate change," Shaye Wolf, the climate science director for the center, an Arizona-based advocacy and environmental law organization, said in an interview. "This case is important because not a lot of people understand how much the ocean is being harmed by carbon pollution." Read the full story

Craighead Beringia South is a prominent non-profit wildlife and research institute, dedicated to putting science to work for wildlife located in Kelly, Wyoming. There are several continuing research projects including the Teton Cougar project which was initiated in 2000 by Howard Quigley under the supervision of the Hornocker Wildlife Institute. In 2003 the Teton Cougar Project was transferred to Craighead Beringia South under the direction of Howard Quigley and Derek Craighead.

It was the absence of feathers that got conservation biologist Thor Hanson thinking about the significance of them. Hanson was in Kenya studying the feeding habits of vultures, and he noticed the advantages that vultures had relative to other birds because of their bare, featherless heads. "Having lost their feathers allows [vultures] to remain much cleaner and more free from bacteria and parasites and disease," Hanson tells Fresh Air contributor Dave Davies. Listen to the interview