Conservation Paleobiology

Science and Practice

Dietl Gregory P., Flessa Karl W.

In conservation, perhaps no better example exists of the past informing the present than the return of the California condor to the Vermilion Cliffs of Arizona. Extinct in the region for nearly one hundred years, condors were successfully reintroduced starting in the 1990s in an effort informed by the fossil record – condor skeletal remains had been found in the area's late-Pleistocene cave deposits. The potential benefits of applying such data to conservation initiatives are unquestionably great, yet integrating the relevant disciplines has proven challenging".Conservation Paleobiology" gathers a remarkable array of scientists – from Jeremy B. C. Jackson to Geerat J. Vermeij – to provide an authoritative overview of how paleobiology can inform both the management of threatened species and larger conservation decisions.

Studying endangered species is difficult. They are by definition rare, some exist only in captivity, and for those still in their native habitats any experimentation can potentially have a negative effect on survival. Moreover, a lack of long-term data makes it challenging to anticipate biotic responses to environmental conditions that are outside of our immediate experience. But in the fossil and prefossil records – from natural accumulations such as reefs, shell beds, and caves to human-made deposits like kitchen middens and archaeological sites – enlightening parallels to the Anthropocene can be found that might serve as a primer for present-day predicaments. Offering both deep-time and near-time perspectives and exploring a range of ecological and evolutionary dynamics and taxa from terrestrial as well as aquatic habitats, "Conservation Paleobiology" is a sterling demonstration of how the past can be used to manage for the future, giving new hope for the creation and implementation of successful conservation programs.

About the Author

Gregory P. Dietl is curator of Cenozoic invertebrates at the Paleontological Research Institution and adjunct associate professor of earth and atmospheric sciences and Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future faculty fellow at Cornell University.

Karl W. Flessa is professor of geosciences at the University of Arizona. He is co-editor, most recently, of "Conservation of Shared Environments: Learning from the United States and Mexico".

Reviews

"Without considering lessons from the past, plans for the future are at best flawed and at worst doomed to fail. Without knowledge from paleobiology, accurate assessment and management of the biodiversity crisis is not possible. 'Conservation Paleobiology' will reach beyond paleontology and geology to all those interested in biodiversity conservation, climate and environmental change, and evolution and extinction in a variety of fields – especially biology, but also in the public policy and environmental management arena. An excellent volume at the cutting edge of a nascent and promising discipline, this book has the potential to contribute significantly to one of the most pressing societal issues today" – Patricia Kelley, University of North Carolina, Wilmington

"Paleobiology can guide us in managing (and managing to avoid some) environmental change. The past is not the perfect predictor of the future by any means, but it can greatly enrich our understanding of what futures could be and what the choices before us are... The planet does not work as just a physical system. It works as a combined biological and physical system, one that is now being distorted by the human enterprise. At some point humanity and the planet will certainly come to some sort of equilibrium, but biology and paleobiology will be needed for the outcome to be salutary".=Thomas E. Lovejoy, from the foreword

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