Conservation Science

Abstract

Dr. ELIZABETH JEAN FARNSWORTH, 54, died unexpectedly on October 27th 2017 at home in Amherst, Massachusetts. She was born in Boston, MA on December 8th, 1962. She was educated at Brown University (B.A. with honors 1984), The University of Vermont (M.S. Botany 1991), and Harvard University (PhD. Ecology 1997). She conducted scientific research on many ecosystems throughout the world, focusing on restoration, conservation, and climate change.

For years, timber barons in Peru have sent lumber to the US by the shipload. But many of the groves they harvested were pure fiction.

When thousands of animals die during mass migrations, ecosystems accommodate the corpses and new cycles are set in motion. Fellow Amanda Subalusky and her colleagues have been studying the mass drownings of wildebeest in Kenya and their impact on the Mara River.

Supposedly solitary pumas actually hang out with their fellow big cats quite often, frequently coming together and hissing and snarling before settling down to share a delicious elk carcass. That's the startling discovery made by scientists who recently tracked 13 pumas — also called mountain lions or cougars — and set up cameras at kill sites. They recorded dozens of peaceful social interactions between these elusive felines.

Abstract

Abstract

... “Take a handful of these, we’re gonna make a little path,” Ryan shouts over the wind, handing me some boards. Ryan Carle manages the restoration project with Jessie (Beck). We’re deep in bird territory, so he’s building a path winding through fragile nests and scouting for vulnerable chicks. Western gulls nest on the ground above rhinoceros auklet burrows. They’re literally on top of each other and they don’t get along. Gulls sometimes eat auklets.

Fellow Ayana Johnson says after a natural disaster (strengthened by our warmer planet) is exactly the time to talk about environmental conservation. It protects lives and property, and makes places like Puerto Rico far more self-reliant when disaster strikes.