April 16, 2019
Throughout the spring 2019 semester, Arizona State University Center for Biodiversity Outcomes Founding Director and Professor Leah Gerber mentored Annelyse Basha, an eighth-grade student from Summit School of Ahwatukee.
Annelyse hopes to become a marine biologist and wanted to learn more about marine conservation, plastic pollution and educational outreach for her eight grade culminating project.
April 12, 2019
Protecting the planet isn’t easy. Proposed solutions are as bountiful and diverse as the problems they seek to address, ranging from expensive technological solutions like CO2 capture to small, behavioral changes like eating less meat.
As the largest public university in the country, Arizona State University is not short on ideas – but recognizes the need for collaboration to drive new research and innovation.
April 10, 2019
The ASU Conservation Innovation Lab is proud to present thesis defenses for three of its honor students.
CIL is a partner initiative of the ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes.
CIL is formed by an interdisciplinary and collegial group of ecologists, mathematicians, economists, geographers and conservation scientists who share a motivation to do research that has impact in the real world.
Some of the ASU-Conservation International professors of practice serve as mentors to CIL students, taking active roles in their committees as part of the ASU-CI partnership.
April 9, 2019
The ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is currently hiring a postdoctoral research associate to conduct research on boundary organizations practice.
This research has an application to multi-stakeholder (including corporations, agencies and policy makers) collaboration, communication and decision-making.
April 9, 2019
The ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is currently hiring a new project manager.
This person will be in charge of developing and implementing projects within various partnerships, prioritizing business development and biodiversity in business projects.
To learn more about this position and apply, please visit the ASU employment website (job ID 0829BR).
The application deadline is Monday, April 22, 2019.
April 9, 2019
For most people, the thought of Greece may elicit images of sandy beaches and beautiful buildings cascading toward the shore, but for Senior Sustainability Scientist Matei Georgescu, Greece means the opportunity to expand his research into the effects urbanization has on climate. To help him accomplish this, Georgescu has been awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholar Grant.
“A key objective of my Fulbright Award is focused on development of high-resolution data of climate output illustrating the magnitude of future extreme heat events for all of Greece,” said Georgescu, an associate professor in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning and affiliated faculty in Arizona State University's Center for Biodiversity Outcomes.
March 19, 2019
Senior Sustainability Scientist Joshua Abbott is a principal author of a new opinion paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences titled “Governing the recreational dimension of global fisheries.” Abbott is an associate professor in Arizona State University's School of Sustainability and an affiliated faculty in the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes.
The paper discusses the importance of recreational fisheries and the need to improve their management and their inclusion in fisheries policymaking. “Recreational fisheries deserve to be considered on equal footing with commercial fisheries, particularly in mixed coastal fisheries,” the authors argue.
March 11, 2019
The ASU-Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute is excited to announce its spring 2019 call for grant proposals.
There are two research foci: (1) Resilience, adaptive evolution and the effects of changing environments on plant, animal and microbial phenotypes, and community and ecosystem functions. (2) Integrating biological data with socio-economic models to sustain biodiversity during climate change and human development.
March 7, 2019
The ASU Center for Sustainable Tourism of the School of Community Resources and Development and the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes will be hosting a public talk with Dr. Tracy A. Farrell to explore the impact conservation partnerships between NGOs and universities have on achieving positive conservation outcomes.
Farrell is the VP of strategies and fundraising for Conservation Internationa's Asia Pacific Division.
The talk, titled "Collaborative conservation: Weaving universities and non-profits together in the fight to save our planet," is part of the ASU-CI partnership.
March 7, 2019
The ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes team is excited to welcome our new administrative assistant, Susanne Hinrichs.
Susanne has a professional background in ecology, evolutionary biology and music, receiving her bachelor’s degree in 2006 from The University of Arizona.
Prior to working at CBO, Susanne worked as a research assistant for both Arizona State University and The University of Arizona. She also taught private music instruction in Phoenix for several years out of college.
Susanne will be assisting with managing daily operations of the center, including scheduling and events. She can be reached at susanne.hinrichs@asu.edu.
Welcome Susanne!
February 28, 2019
A Thought Leader Series Pieceby Jack Kittinger
We know the challenges we face in conservation. Conservation is about human security — it's about people, communities, families — our children. Globally, we continue to neglect how important nature is to our survival and ability to thrive.
Even as our most pressing environmental problems multiply, our resources to combat them don't keep pace. We strive. We come up short. It's easy to look at the global scale of the challenges we face and feel overwhelmed — to want to give up.
But we don't and we can't.
February 18, 2019
On February 27, 2019, former ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes Postdoctoral Research Associate and Project Manager Anita Hagy Ferguson will be delivering a talk on the topic of wildlife corridors in the urban desert.
During this talk, Ferguson will address the importance of biological corridors, urban open spaces and collaborative regional planning to protect one of the most bio-diverse deserts in the world -- the Sonoran desert.
February 14, 2019
Climate change is complicating land conservation practices because of how it alters land over time. Among other things, climate change is raising new questions about perpetual conservation easements — a critical land preservation tool relied upon by government agencies and nonprofit land trusts. A six-author team that conducted an unprecedented analysis of the structuring of conservation easements in the face of rapid climate change has been awarded the 2019 Morrison Prize, an honor established in 2015 and administered through the program on Law and Sustainability at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.
February 14, 2019
Honeybees frequently make international news, as their global decline threatens the world’s food supply. Since honeybees pollinate the majority of crops that humans use for food, scientists have been searching for a way to maintain healthy bee populations.
Now, researchers with Arizona State University’s School of Life Sciences and the University of Helsinki are one step closer to understanding the complex immune mechanism that protects honeybees from diseases in their environments.
February 12, 2019
ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes Founding Director Leah Gerber’s work was highlighted in a recent The Economist article titled, “How to preserve nature on a tight budget: Saving species cheaply and effectively.”
Gerber's proposal on streamlining budgets for protection of endangered species would allow an increase in the number and variety of species that are actually preserved if funds are allocated differently.
As stated in the article, “[Gerber] found that 139 of the 1,124 plants and animals with federal recovery plans in place got more than their fair share of public resources, as defined by USFWS recommendations. The surplus totalled $150m a year, more than a quarter of spending in the area. Re-allocated, this could bring nearly 900 currently underfunded plans up to budget.”
Click here to read the full article.
January 23, 2019
The ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is partnering with the Natural Capital Coalition, Conservation International, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales to develop a Natural Capital Protocol for the Oceans.
The Natural Capital Protocol for the Oceans will be a framework to help businesses answer questions such as: How does your business depend upon ocean resources? How is this ocean natural capital changing and what risks and opportunities does this present? Which resources, information or expertise do you need?
January 22, 2019
Written by Katie Surrey-Bergman
Three thousand miles by plane, two and a half hours by car over the high-altitude mountain ranges of Quito, an additional six and half more hours down the Amazon river by single-motor boat and we arrive at the tiny village of Gomatan, set between the riverside and the jungle which would be our home for three days.
January 17, 2019
The Arizona State University Center for Biodiversity Outcomes will be participating in the OdySea Aquarium Conservation Expo this Saturday, January 19, 2019, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the OdySea Aquarium.
CBO will facilitate hand-on activities designed to help people of all ages better understand how seafood consumption options affect marine life ecosystems.
January 16, 2019
At Arizona State University, successful results often come from collaborative action, especially when making events more eco-friendly. Thanks to ASU students and the work of two ASU sustainability leaders, Colin Tetreault and Lesley Michalegko, the NCAA Women’s Collegiate Triathlon National Championships that took place at Tempe Town Lake on November 4, 2018, was a more sustainable endeavor.
Tetreault is an instructor in the School of Sustainability and Michalegko is a program manager for University Sustainability Practices. Through mutual effort and the support of students, they made the NCAA triathlon a place where functionality met sustainability. They found ways to reduce waste, save money, and increase the fan and competitor experience while simultaneously driving revenue.
January 14, 2019
ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes Postdoctoral Research Associate Danica Schaffer-Smith will present a talk entitled “Risks and opportunities: can we improve water quality and reduce catastrophic flooding in the Cape Fear River Watershed, North Carolina under ongoing climate change?” as part of the CEE 591: Graduate Hydrosystems Seminar.
Danica is a current NatureNet Science Fellow examining the use of nature-based strategies to address nutrient pollution and flooding in Eastern North Carolina using remote sensing and watershed modelling methods, in collaboration with the Nature Conservancy North Carolina.
