The importance of conservation science

Aims of the course

1. Provide an overview of biodiversity and why it is important.
2. Provide an overview of key challenges facing the natural world.
3. Explain why the natural world is valuable, from both an innate and a human-centred view.
4. Explain how a sound understanding of conservation can be used to reduce and reverse degradation of the natural world.

Content

The world’s biodiversity and natural ecosystems are declining at an alarming rate, but how severe is this loss and what can be done about it?

This course will explore what biodiversity is, where it is found, key challenges facing the natural world today and new research and solutions that can be employed to reduce and reverse declines. We will start by investigating what biodiversity is and where it is found. This will include a look at patterns in species diversity worldwide, and where the highest biodiversity environments are.

The middle parts of the course will get slightly more depressing. We will start by tracking some of the extinction events that have occurred in recent millennia and why most of the really large mammals and birds have disappeared from the world over the last 40,000 years. As Alfred Russell Wallace, the co-discoverer of Natural Selection, put it “we live in a zoologically impoverished world, from which all the hugest, and fiercest, and strangest forms have recently disappeared”. We will learn about more recent extinction events and reductions in the ranges and abundances that have and are occurring in even common species. To document this, we will rely on data from museum specimens that provide an invaluable record of the distribution of species collected in decades past.

In the last part of the course we take a more positive spin on the situation, to learn why conserving biodiversity is important, both from the point of view of natural ecosystems, but also for direct human benefits. We will consider what can and is being done to reduce and reverse species’ declines. We will finish by identifying different management and conservation techniques that can help conservationists to reduce the negative impacts of development on the environment, even in the most human-dominated environments.

Presentation of the course

The course will include a series of lectures with related group discussion topics, that will explore each of the key aims of the course. One session will be devoted to a trip to the Museum of Zoology, to see some of the amazing biological collections stored there and learn why biological collections are increasingly important for informing conservation.

Class sessions

1. What is biodiversity and where is it found? In this session we will explore what biodiversity is and where biodiversity hotspots are located globally.

2. Trip to the Museum of Zoology. In this session we will walk over to the Museum of Zoology, to explore some of the wealth of biological specimens on display and discuss how these can be important resources for informing conservation action.

3. Challenges facing the natural world. In this session, we will explore how the natural world is changing as a result of human actions and why.

4. The value of the natural world. In this session, we will explore why conserving biodiversity is important, both for natural ecosystems and for people.

5. Solutions. In this last session, we will explore what approaches conservationists are making to conserve biodiversity and the processes they support, even in the most human-dominated of environments.

Learning outcomes

The learning outcomes for this course are:
1. To gain an understanding of global biodiversity and the distribution of species worldwide.
2. To appreciate the level of biodiversity loss in the past and present.
3. To understand the main drivers of biodiversity loss today.
4. To understand why this loss matters.
5. To be aware of strategies that can be employed to limit and reverse declines in species’ abundances and distributions.

Required reading

There is no required reading for this course.

Typical week: Monday to Friday

Courses run from Monday to Friday. For each week of study, you select a morning (Am) course and an afternoon (Pm) course. The maximum class size is 25 students. 

Courses are complemented by a series of daily plenary lectures, exploring new ideas in a wide range of disciplines. To add to the learning experience, we are also planning additional evening talks and events.

Evaluation and Academic Credit 

If you are seeking to enhance your own study experience, or earn academic credit from your Cambridge Summer Programme studies at your home institution, you can submit written work for assessment for one or more of your courses. 

Essay questions are set and assessed against the University of Cambridge standard by your Course Director, a list of essay questions can be found in the Course Materials. Essays are submitted two weeks after the end of each course, so those studying for multiple weeks need to plan their time accordingly. There is an evaluation fee of £75 per essay.

For more information about writing essays see Evaluation and Academic Credit.

Certificate of attendance

A certificate of attendance will be sent to you electronically after the programme.