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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 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.
January 14, 2019
A significant proportion of the Earth’s biodiversity has been erased, not from the world, but from our collective depiction of nature.
Join us this Thursday, January 17, 2019, from 1-2 p.m. for a brown-bag lunch talk on compassionate conservation.
The talk will take place in ASU Tempe campus, Life Sciences-E Wing, Room 244.
January 9, 2019
Former ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes NatureNet Science Fellow Kelly Gravuer is the lead-author of a Global Change Biodiversity paper titled “Organic amendment additions to rangelands: A meta‐analysis of multiple ecosystem outcomes.”
This publication displays both the harms and environmental benefits of organic amendments in land agriculture through studies observing how the environment responds to organic modifications.
January 5, 2019
The ASU School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences is excited to offer a unique research experience for undergraduate students for summer 2019 in the Philippines.
This 9-week summer program will investigate the impacts of human interference in fisheries by exploring the genetic and species-level changes in fishery exploitation and habitat degradation.
Students will get hands-on training both in a laboratory and a field setting in subjects of molecular biology and bioinformatics.
The deadline to apply is January 25, 2019.
For more information, click here.
January 5, 2019
ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes Founding Director Leah Gerber was recently interviewed by 12 News about the death of the third Dolphinaris Arizona dolphin named Khloe.
So far, three of the six dolphins have passed away since the opening of Dolphinaris in 2016. A Dolphinaris spokesperson explained that Khloe came into the aquariums already suffering from a parasite.
January 2, 2019
The Plastic Pollution Emission Working Group, or PPEG, has launched a new website. This site contains research on the impacts of specific global and local intervention strategies to reduce plastic pollution, including their level of effectiveness on an overall scale.
Additionally, PlasticPEG recently published a paper titled “Evaluating the impact of mitigation strategies for marine litter and microplastics to inform policy: A white paper.” This publication was uploaded to the Ad Hoc Open-Ended working group on marine litter and microplastic.
December 19, 2018
The Arizona State University Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is currently hiring a new administrative assistant to support the daily operations of the center.
The perfect candidate must possess knowledge of standard office policies and procedures, be a great communicator, be organized and detail oriented. A love of biodiversity conservation is always a plus!
If you think this job is for you or someone you know, click here to learn more and apply.
December 15, 2018
ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes Associate Director of Biodiversity Valuation and Assessments Beth Polidoro, recently lead a Microplastic’s Risk Assessment with students in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program.
This research investigates the microplastics and organic contaminants within seafood from American Samoa. Students were able to delve into trainings, laboratory methods and identification of microplastics while also getting a tour of ASU campuses.
December 15, 2018
ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcome Founding Director Leah Gerber and Life Sciences PhD student Miranda Bernard were participants in the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, or SESYNC, through the Plastic Pollution Emissions Working Group to address the growing marine plastic pollution problem.
The amount of research surrounding marine plastic pollution has drastically increased in the past decade, highlighting the scale of the problem. Microplastics have been found globally in birds, fish, bottled water and even table salt, yet their impacts are not well understood.
December 13, 2018
The White Tank Mountain Conservancy and ASU teamed up to identify how the city of Buckeye can grow without blocking wildlife’s natural corridors.
ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes researcher and PhD candidate Anita Hagy Ferguson is a senior consultant at the WTMC. “We don’t do anything as well as nature does it,” said Ferguson. “Nature already has a plan in place, but with human interference, this plan is significantly hindered.”
December 11, 2018
ASU-Conservation International Professor of Practice David Hole, recently co-authored a paper in Nature called, “The private sector’s climate change risk and adaptation blind spots.”
Abstract:
The private sector is already experiencing the impacts of climate change, from increased operational costs to disrupted production. Investors are increasingly asking companies to disclose these risks as the physical consequences of climate change become financially material.
December 6, 2018
On Friday, December 7, 2018, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. EST in Washington, D.C., the ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes will join other organizations in discussing how businesses depend upon ocean resources as part of the Natural Capital Protocol for the Ocean.
The Natural Capital Protocol for the Ocean will be a framework to help businesses answer questions related to both risks and opportunities.
November 13, 2018
As I boarded the plane to Washington, D.C. to take on new science policy challenges, my thoughts drifted to the NatureNet Science Fellowship I had just wrapped up and how it had prepared me for this new adventure.
Through NatureNet, I had the incredible opportunity to work closely with scientists and conservation practitioners at The Nature Conservancy in California and the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes at Arizona State University.
November 8, 2018
As part of the ASU-Conservation International partnership, CI recently collaborated with ASU Design Theater to implement a tool that assists decision makers in policy interventions associated with land degradation.
Land degradation is a serious problem that causes pollution, human health concerns and reduced agricultural productivity.
This tool displays the classification and extent of land degradation in a given area with interactive and visually engaging features.
November 2, 2018
ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes Associate Director for Conservation Evidence Samantha Cheng coauthored a paper titled “Rethinking solutions to seafood fraud” published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment – a publication of the Ecological Society of America.
The paper explains their growing effort to build capacity to detect and trace seafood mislabeling, devise improvements to regulations, and build awareness in the city of Los Angeles.
ASU Now | October 25, 2018
One of the balancing acts faced by conservation agencies is how to conserve and protect as many species as possible from extinction with limited funding and finite resources. In the U.S., conservation agencies are supported and guided by the Endangered Species Act, the seminal wildlife conservation law signed by President Nixon in 1973 that is currently being reviewed by Congress.
Over time, the number of threatened and endangered species added to the ESA has grown faster than the funding for their recovery. As a result, conservation agencies have struggled in making decisions about how to apply the available resources to the greatest effect.
The result of this inadequate funding has been that while the ESA has brought back many species from the brink of extinction, many of those species remain on “life support,” never fully recovering to independence once again. This adds fuel to the debate over the effectiveness of the ESA.
View Source | October 19, 2018
ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes Founding Director Leah Gerber co-authored a paper published today by Science magazine titled “Endangered species recovery: A resource allocation problem” [PDF].
The article highlights a new decision-tool recently developed in partnership with the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The tool will help inform USFWS on best funding allocations for more exponentially efficient endangered species recovery efforts.
View Source | October 15, 2018
The Central Arizona–Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research program, a unit of the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University, was recently featured in an episode of “Catalyst” by Arizona PBS. The episode, “Desert animals in urban centers,” discussed current research about how natural environments (including plant and animal life) are affected by urban development.
Sharon Hall, a senior sustainability scientist who works with the CAP LTER, said that some plant and animal life continues to flourish within or nearby Phoenix.
"There's all these hidden spots around the city that nature is thriving,” said Hall. “If we can think about finding those areas and protecting them — or at least understanding them a bit better, maybe then we can try to make our landscape a little bit more friendly to the types of animals that . . . are living among us all the time."
View Source | October 4, 2018
An ASU Now story titled “The inconvenient consequences of a culture of convenience” was published today.
In this article, ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes Associate Director of Biodiversity Valuation and Assessments Beth Polidoro and other center affiliated faculty shared insights on the health, pollution and biodiversity issues associated with single-use plastics.
Plastics can take decades, centuries and even millennia to break down. As they break down, they can separate into tiny pieces called microplastics. These microplastics release harmful chemicals into the environment, harming species that ingest them — humans and animals alike.
