29.7 : What is Conservation Biology?

The human population has expanded rapidly, increasing land usage and resource exploitation. Due to both natural and human made causes many species have decreased in number or have gone extinct over time, reducing the biodiversity within ecosystems. A decrease in biodiversity can cause catastrophic problems for an ecosystem, potentially leading to its collapse.

For instance, humans eliminated the wolf population in Yellowstone National Park in the 1920s. With their main predator gone, the elk population increased and overgrazed the trees and shrubs. The absence of wolves and decline of trees and shrubs affected species as diverse as ravens, beavers, fish, insects, and many more.

Conservation Biology is a scientific discipline that aims to preserve biodiversity at all levels. Major threats to biodiversity include: habitat loss, over-harvesting, non-native species, and climate change. To mitigate these changes, conservation biology combines genetics, climatology, ecology, and many other disciplines to both identify and prevent the loss of biodiversity.

These efforts include the creation of nature preserves, the removal of non-native species, and the re-introduction of threatened native species. For example, wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995, which restored the balance of the ecosystem. Sustainability efforts reduce human impact on the environment.

They include the use of factory emission filters, better farming practices, and the replacement of harvested trees. The goal of conservation biology is to preserve species and ecosystem diversity, for both the health of ecosystems and human needs. Humans depend on healthy ecosystems for food production, building materials, medicines, and many other purposes.