Conservation Biology Area of Study for M.S., M.P.S. or Ph.D. in Environmental and Forest Biology

This area entails study and maintenance of biological diversity at the level of genes, populations, communities, ecosystems and biomes; intellectual underpinnings include evolutionary theory, systematic biology, population biology and ecosystem science. Conservation biology seeks ways to integrate biological principles with social, economic and political perspectives to achieve conservation goals.

The field is a response of the scientific community to the biodiversity crisis. Conservation biologists view nature’s diversity as important and having inherent value. Training in this field includes experience with the fundamental disciplines and theory of conservation biology, as well as specialization in conservation issues. Students are encouraged to explore the human dimensions of biological conservation through coursework in other departments of the College, and to acquire firsthand experience in the application of biological knowledge to problems by working for a conservation agency. Students find employment in a variety of government and private conservation agencies and in academic institutions. Many also work as administrators, policymakers, teachers and communicators. Current research areas in conservation biology include global climate change, endangered species biology, conservation genetics theory and practice, behavioral ecology, habitat fragmentation, restoration ecology, exotic species biology and control, forest and wetland ecosystem management, tropical ecology, ecological monitoring, conservation education and harvest management.

Participating Faculty

• Jerrold L. Belant; jbelant@esf.edu
  wildlife ecology and management, carnivore conservation, human-wildlife conflicts, ecological plasticity, international conservation
• Jonathan Cohen; jcohen14@esf.edu
  wildlife ecology and management, population and habitat ecology, threatened and endangered species
• Stewart Diemont; sdiemont@esf.edu
  systems ecology, ecological engineering, traditional ecological knowledge, Latin America, ecosystem restoration, sustainability analysis, natural wastewater treatment systems and re-use, less-developed countries, agroecology
• Martin Dovciak; mdovciak@esf.edu
  Plant Ecology, Forest Ecosystems, Biodiversity, Global Change, Ecosystem Management and Restoration
• Shannon Farrell; sfarrell@esf.edu
  Wildlife ecology, wildlife-habitat relationships, management planning for endangered and threatened species, human impacts on wildlife, ecosystem services, endangered species act policy innovations, birds, bats
• John M. Farrell; jmfarrell@esf.edu
  Fisheries Science and Management, Aquatic Ecology, Wetlands Restoration, Invasive Species.
• Danilo D. Fernando; dfernando@esf.edu
  plant structure and development, reproductive biology of conifers, pollen transformation, genomics and proteomics of pine pollen tube development, willow flowering and tissue culture, genetic diversity of rare and endangered ferns, and plant evolution, diversity and conservation.
• Melissa K. Fierke; mkfierke@esf.edu
  forest entomology, forest ecology, invasive forest pests, insect-tree interactions, tree defenses
• Jacqueline Frair; jfrair@esf.edu
  wildlife ecology and management, ecology of large herbivores and predators, animal movements, resource selection, population demography, quantitative methods in conservation, landscape ecology
• James Gibbs; jpgibbs@esf.edu
  herpetology, vertebrate conservation biology, genetics and ecology in birds, reptiles and amphibians, songbirds, giant tortoise, statistics, wildlife population monitoring, galapagos islands, conservation biology, ecological monitoring, population genetics, applied demography, undergraduate conservation education
• Thomas R. Horton; trhorton@esf.edu
  mycorrhizal plant ecology, molecular ecology, ecology, fungal communities, mycology, fire ecology
• Robin W. Kimmerer; rkimmer@esf.edu
  plant restoration ecology, bryology, bryoecology, restoration ecology, ethnobotany, conservation biology and bryophyte ecology, traditional ecological knowledge
• Donald J. Leopold; djleopold@esf.edu
  forest and freshwater wetland ecology, conservation, and restoration, peatland ecology and conservation, local and regional controls of species richness and rarity, dynamics of plant communities as affected by man and environment, management for unique communities and rare species, dendrology, native plants, restoration ecology, rare species conservation
• Karin E. Limburg; klimburg@esf.edu
  riverine fish and estuarine ecology, fisheries ecology, watershed ecology, systems ecology, ecological economics, fisheries and ecosystem science, coupled human-natural systems, biogeochemistry, fisheries ecology, ecosystem ecology, biogeochemical tracers, modeling
• Mark V. Lomolino; island@esf.edu
  conservation biology, wildlife, ecology, evolution and biogeography
• Dylan Parry; dparry@esf.edu
  Biological invasion, climate change, and conservation, primarily in the context of insects in forested ecosystems.
• William A. Powell; wapowell@esf.edu
  forest biotechnology, molecular plant-microbe interactions, genetic engineering in plant conservation, antimicrobial peptide design, plant gene design, plant pathology, molecular biology
• Neil H. Ringler; nhringle@esf.edu
  fish ecology and behavior, foraging behavior of fishes, salmon reproduction, vertebrate anatomy, aquatic insect ecology, stream ecology and management, aquatic and fisheries restoration, aquatic entomology
• Rebecca Rundell; rrundell@esf.edu
  evolutionary biology, conservation biology, speciation, adaptive and nonadaptive radiations, biogeography, phylogenetics, systematics, Pacific island radiations and biodiversity conservation, land snails, marine/aquatic microscopic invertebrates
• Kimberly L. Schulz; kschulz@esf.edu
  nutrient and exotic species effects on aquatic ecosystems, ecological stoichiometry, aquatic community and ecosystem ecology, bioenergetics, nutrient cycling, lower food web studies, great lakes, finger lakes, plankton, limnology, aquatic ecology, biogeochemistry, invasive species
• Michael L. Schummer; mlschumm@esf.edu
  Waterfowl Ecology, Waterfowl Management, Waterfowl Conservation, Wetlands Management, Wetlands Conservation, Ornithology, Plant-Animal Associations, Conservation Biology, Wildlife Ecology, Wetlands Ecology, Wildlife-habitat relationships, ecology, climate change, human dimensions of wildlife, avian toxicology
• John C. Stella; stella@esf.edu
  riparian and stream ecology, restoration ecology, watershed management, ecological modeling, tree-ring science, river restoration, arid-land and Mediterranean ecosystems
• Donald Stewart; djstewart@esf.edu
  ecology and systematics, lake systems ecology, aquatic ecology, fish conservation, ecology and population biology in tropical and temperate systems, fish ecology and fisheries management, ecological energetics, modeling predation and production processes, Great Lakes ecosystems, Amazonian ecosystems, ecology and systematics of neotropical freshwater fishes
• Stephen A. Teale; sateale@esf.edu
  forest entomology, insect behavior, pheromones of forest insects, insect ecology, pest management, chemical ecology, evolution of pheromone communications
• H. Brian Underwood; hbunderw@syr.edu
  wildlife ecology, deer, small mammals, songbirds, quantitative ecology and biostatistics, population surveys, ecological modeling and simulation, national park management, applied population analysis, life-history evolution, trophic dynamics, large mammal management
• Alexander Weir; aweir@esf.edu
  conservation mycology, fungal biodiversity and conservation, fungal-arthropod interactions, biology of parasites and symbionts, systematics and evolutionary biology of fungi, fungi and humans, biology of parasites and symbionts