What’s flying overhead, what’s sitting on the ground, and why do we want to know?
Wildlife conservation challenges in the U.S., China, and Southeast Asia

Abstract:
My research group is dedicated to tackling the question “how do we find room for biodiversity in an increasingly hot, hungry, and crowded world?”  In this talk, I will discuss three projects we have been working on where technological innovations could greatly enhance our ability to conserve wildlife.  The first case study centers around migratory birds, which have been disappearing around the world.  Determining what these birds require in the way of rest-and-refueling sites during their migrations remains a big challenge, but we are gaining valuable insights using weather radar images, telemetry, and other approaches.  However, we could learn a lot more with better image processing and telemetry.  The second case study focuses on the movement of people from rural areas to cities.  Will this outmigration result in the abandonment of millions of acres of marginal cropland that could then be restored as valuable wildlife habitat?  The answer may hinge on our ability to measure landcover at finer scales than is currently feasible.  Finally, I will discuss some of our earlier work aimed at understanding how logging affects biodiversity in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia and how advances in sound recording could make this type of research faster, easier, and more reliable.  


Bio: 

David S. Wilcove is a professor of ecology, evolutionary biology, and public affairs at Princeton University.  The primary question driving his research is “How do we find room for biodiversity in an increasingly hot, hungry, and crowded world?”  Accordingly, his work focuses on the impacts of farming, logging, hunting, climate change, and other human activities on biodiversity.  He and his graduate students and postdocs have studied these issues around the world, from New Zealand to the Amazon Basin and from Siberia to Borneo.  Prior to joining Princeton’s faculty in 2001, he worked as a scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund, The Wilderness Society, and The Nature Conservancy.  He is the author of two books—No Way Home: The Decline of the World’s Great Animal Migrations (2007) and The Condor’s Shadow: The Loss and Recovery of Wildlife in America (1999)—and many technical and popular articles in the fields of conservation biology, ornithology, and wildlife conservation.  Professor Wilcove serves or has served on the boards of directors of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Society for Conservation Biology, Rare, American Bird Conservancy, Natural Areas Association, Galapagos Conservancy, and New Jersey Audubon Society, among other organizations.  He has received awards from the Society for Conservation Biology, Defenders of Wildlife, the Pew Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, The Wildlife Society, and the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute.  He received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his doctorate from Princeton University.

Summary: