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Conservation Science - Conservation and Science - Conservation Science at The Nature ConservancyPicture of Peter

Peter Kareiva, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist & Director Science

Contact Information
4722 Latona Ave NE
Seattle, WA 98105
Phone: (206) 406-2249
E-mail: pkareiva@tnc.org

Brief Biography
Dr. Peter Kareiva moved to TNC after 20 years as a university professor and 3 years working on salmon conservation for NOAA Fisheries.  His past publications and research have concerned such diverse fields as mathematical biology, fisheries science, insect ecology, risk analysis, genetically engineered organisms, agricultural ecology, population viability analysis, behavioral ecology, landscape ecology, and global climate change.  Peter maintains connections with several universities, and still advises students, as well as teaching courses on occasion.  Peter’s scientific research at TNC focuses on two areas:

1.)  Conservation commonly employs strategies without adequate critical self-scrutiny, and minimal evaluation of what really works, or what might be unintended consequences of good ideas.   Peter is involved in several projects aimed at asking whether conservation strategies are indeed delivering what they promise to deliver: are easements well-designed? does land acquisition create leverage or simply drive up prices making future conservation purchases more difficult?  do projects that claim to improve the environment and help poverty alleviation actually do so?  can protected areas hope to succeed in the face of ever-growing pressure from nearby urbanization?

 

2.)  Conservation will fail unless it is better connected to people.  The obvious connection comes from the benefits nature provides people –everything from clean water and flood control, to fiber from forests, and fish from aquatic ecosystems.  The scientific and practical challenge lies in developing credible tools that allow routine consideration of nature’s assets (or ecosystem services) in a way that informs the choices we make everyday at the scale of local communities and regions, all the way up to nations and global agreements.  This line of inquiry is being conducted as part of a pioneering collaboration between WWF, Stanford University and TNC in the form of the Natural Capital Project (see http://www.naturalcapitalproject.org/about.html).

 

Peter’s responsibilities at TNC include reporting to the Board of Directors on the state of science in TNC, mentoring TNC scientists, identifying opportunities and shortcomings that warrant science attention if TNC is to fulfill its mission, advising leadership on emerging conservation challenges, and serving as one of several external spokespeople for TNC science. In addition to conducting research, Peter believes that general communications and writing are essential in science, and consequently is writing a conservation textbook with Dr. Michelle Marvier of Santa Clara University.  For general questions about the Science Office, or to make contact with Peter Kareiva when he is out of the office, please e-mail Nancy Kelley at Nancy D. Kelley@tnc.org.  She will know his whereabouts.

 

 

 

 

Kiesecker J, Comendant T, Grandmason T, Gray E, Hall C, Hilsenbeck R, Kareiva,  Lozier L, Naehu P, Rissman A,  Shaw R, and M Zankel.  2007. Conservation Easements in Context: A quantitative analysis of their use by The Nature Conservancy. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, in press.

 

Rissman A, Lozier L, Comendant T,  Kareiva, P, Kiesecker,  J,  Shaw R, and A. Merenlender. 2007. Biodiversity protection and private use on conservation easements. Conservation Biology. in press.

 

Armstrong, P., Daily, G., Kareiva, P. and J. Sanchirico. 2006. Land market feedbacks can undermine biodiversity conservation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103: 5403-5408.

 

Tallis, H and P. Kareiva.  2006.   Shaping global environmental decisions using socio-ecological models. Trends in Ecology and Evolution.  21:562-568.

 

Kareiva, P., T. Tear, S. Solie, M. Brown, L. Sotomayor, and C. Yuan-Farrell.  2006.  Nongovernmental organizations. In Endangered Species Act at Thirty, edited by D. Goble, J. Michael Scott, and F. Davis. Island Press, Washington, DC.  pp 176-191.

 

Kareiva, P. 2006. Conservation biology: beyond marine protected areas. Current Biology Volume 16(14): R533-R535.

 

Kareiva, P., Yuan-Farrell, C, and C. O’Connor. 2006. Whales are big and it matters. Pages 379-387 in Whales, Whaling and Ocean Ecosystems, edited by Jim Estes et al. University of California Press. 

 

Marvier, M, J. Grant, and P. Kareiva. 2006.  Nature:  poorest may see it as their economic rival. Nature  443: 749-750.

 

Tallis, H.M. and P. Kareiva 2005. Ecosystem services.  Current Biology 15(18): R746-758.

 

Tear, T. H., Kareiva, P., Angermeier, P. L., Comer, P., Czech, B., Kautz, R., Landon, L., Mehlman, D., Murphy, K., Ruckelshaus, M., Scott, J. M., and Wilhere, G. 2005. How much is enough? The recurrent problem of setting measurable objectives in conservation. Bioscience 55: 835-849.

 

Yuan-Farrell, C., Marvier, M., Press, D. and P. Kareiva. 2005. Conservation easements as a conservation strategy: Is there a sense to the spatial distribution of easements? Natural Areas Journal 25: 282-289.

 

Harvey, C. and P. Kareiva. 2005. Community context and the influence of non-indigenous species on juvenile salmon survival in a Columbia River reservoir. Biological Invasions 7: 651-663.

 


 

 

 

 

Recent publications include: