Conservation paleobiology: science and practice

In conservation, perhaps no better example exists of the past informing the present than the return of the California condor to the Vermilion Cliffs of Arizona. Extinct in the region for nearly one hundred years, condors were successfully reintroduced starting in the 1990s in an effort informed by the fossil record--condor skeletal remains had been found in the area's late-Pleistocene cave deposits. The potential benefits of applying such data to conservation initiatives are unquestionably great, yet integrating the relevant disciplines has proven challenging. Conservation Paleobiology gathers a remarkable array of scientists--from Jeremy B. C. Jackson to Geerat J. Vermeij--to provide an authoritative overview of how paleobiology can inform both the management of threatened species and larger conservation decisions. Studying endangered species is difficult. They are by definition rare, some exist only in captivity, and for those still in their native habitats any experimentation can potentially have a negative effect on survival. Moreover, a lack of long-term data makes it challenging to anticipate biotic responses to environmental conditions that are outside of our immediate experience. But in the fossil and prefossil records--from natural accumulations such as reefs, shell beds, and caves to human-made deposits like kitchen middens and archaeological sites--enlightening parallels to the Anthropocene can be found that might serve as a primer for present-day predicaments. Offering both deep-time and near-time perspectives and exploring a range of ecological and evolutionary dynamics and taxa from terrestrial as well as aquatic habitats, Conservation Paleobiology is a sterling demonstration of how the past can be used to manage for the future, giving new hope for the creation and implementation of successful conservation programs.

Introduction -- Conservation paleobiology in near time. The youngest fossil record and conservation biology: holocene shells as eco-environmental recorders /Micha Kowalewski ;Conservation biology and environmental change: a paleolimnological perspective /John P. Smol ;Vertebrate fossils and the future of conservation biology /Elizabeth A. Hadly and Anthony D. Barnosky ;Paleoecology and resource management in a dynamic landscape: case studies from the Rocky Mountain headwaters /Stephen T. Jackson, Stephen T. Gray, and Bryan Shuman ;Historical ecology for the paleontologist /Jeremy B.C. Jackson and Loren McClenachan ;The isotopic ecology of fossil vertebrates and conservation paleobiology /Paul L. Koch, Kena Fox-Dobbs, and Seth D. Newsome ;Evaluating human modification of shallow marine ecosystems: mismatch in composition of molluscan living and time-averaged death assemblages /Susan M. Kidwell.

Using a macroecological approach to the fossil record to help inform conservation biology /S. Kathleen Lyons and Peter J. Wagner -- Conservation paleobiology in deep time. Seven variations on a recent theme of conservation /Geerat J. Vermeij ;Metaphor, inference, and prediction in paleoecol…