Christopher X J. Jensen
Professor, Pratt Institute

Are the Sentinelese the last untouched hunter-gatherer culture?

Posted 19 Sep 2012 / 0

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment “A world of their own” This is an absolutely fascinating article. I was not aware that there were any cultures outside of Amazonia that have maintained such isolation. As Burton points out, we need to decide how to balance our curiosity and potential charity with respect for the wishes Read More

A Minor Post, Articles, Climate Change, Conservation Biology, Cultural Anthropology, Cultural Evolution, Environmental Justice, Ethics, Extinction, Human Evolution, Marine Ecosystems, Memetic Fitness, Traditional Ecological Knowledge

ESA 2012 Overall Impressions

Posted 12 Aug 2012 / 0

What was the ‘big news’ at this year’s Ecological Society of America meeting? Given that this meeting is composed of so many different meetings running concurrently, this just might be an impossible question to answer fairly. But for me, this year’s meeting could be summarized as the ‘year of computational ecology’. At a great variety Read More

A Major Post, Altruism, Biodiversity Loss, Conservation Biology, Cooperation, Ecological Modeling, Ecological Society of America, Ecology Education, Ecosystem Services, Environmental Justice, Group Selection, Marine Ecosystems, Multilevel Selection, Public Policy, Punishment, Resource Consumption, Social Capital, Sustainability, System Stability, Talks & Seminars, Teaching, Teaching Tools, The Sustainable Use of Fisheries

ESA 2012 Symposium #23, Commodifying Nature: The Scientific Basis for Ecosystem Service Valuation in Environmental Decision Making

Posted 10 Aug 2012 / 0

Friday morning is a tough spot at an ESA meeting. It is the last day of a six-day conference, and there are only morning events, so many people evacuate before this final session. And for those who do drag themselves out of bed for sessions beginning at 8 am (perhaps, like me, for the sixth Read More

A Major Post, Anthropogenic Change, Biodiversity Loss, Biomes, Climate Change, Conferences, Conservation Biology, Ecological Society of America, Ecology, Ecosystem Services, Environmental Justice, Ethics, Freshwater Ecosystems, Habitat Destruction, Interdisciplinarity, Invasive Species, Pollution, Talks & Seminars, Temperate Rainforest, Traditional Ecological Knowledge

Fences exclude invasive predators, give aid to threatened Hawaiian birds

Posted 29 Jun 2012 / 0

Science “Fences Make Good Nest Sites“

A Minor Post, Biodiversity Loss, Conservation Biology, Invasive Species

High tech ad hoc fixes face off against good old-fashioned prevention in the Baltic Sea

Posted 27 Jun 2012 / 0

Nature Comment “Save the Baltic Sea“

A Minor Post, Biomes, Conservation Biology

Leaving with empty hands, should Rio+20 participants nonetheless leave with a sense of optimism?

Posted 27 Jun 2012 / 0

Nature Editorial “A First Step“

A Minor Post, Conservation Biology, Public Policy, Sustainability

The ecological impacts of the BP-Deepwater Horizon oil spill quantified

Posted 27 Jun 2012 / 0

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences “Degradation and resilience in Louisiana salt marshes after the BP–Deepwater Horizon oil spill” Kudos to PNAS for making this important paper open access. There is some depressing data here, as oil-slicked marshes with complete die-off of grasses were quickly eroded. But for those that were not eroded, the Read More

A Minor Post, Anthropogenic Change, Biodiversity Loss, Bogs & Wetlands, Conservation Biology, Habitat Destruction

Condors, hunters, and the National Rifle Association

Posted 27 Jun 2012 / 0

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences “Lead poisoning and the deceptive recovery of the critically endangered California condor” Nature News “California condors face lead menace“

A Minor Post, Anthropogenic Change, Conservation Biology, Extinction

Should conservation scientists also be advocates for particular policies?

Posted 24 Jun 2012 / 0

Science Insider “Society for Conservation Biology in Turmoil Over Editor’s Ouster“

A Minor Post, Conservation Biology, Ethics, Law, Political Science, Professional Societies, Public Outreach, Public Policy, Science as a career

Is this what free-market conservation looks like?

Posted 22 Jun 2012 / 0

Nature News “Lizard’s future hinges on voluntary measures” What is so annoying about this policy is that it ignores the fact that landowners could have been “volunteering” to not destroy habitat well before this species became endangered. Allowing “voluntary measures” to trump the mandates of the Endangered Species Act takes the teeth out of the Read More

A Minor Post, Conservation Biology, Law, Public Policy, Web