Author Q&A: Driven To Extinction

Tuesday, April 19 11:18 am

For over a decade, Richard Pearson, a scientist at the Museum’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, has studied how climate change is affecting ecosystems around the world. Now he has written a book, Driven to Extinction: The Impact of Climate Change on Biodiversity, which highlights current threats and points to strategies for conservation. Pearson, who will be discussing his book at the Tribeca Barnes and Nobles on Thursday, April 21, recently answered a few questions about his work.

Can you describe your research at the Museum?

I study the distributions of species: Where are certain species found? Why are they found where they are? And how do distributions change over time? Of course, one of the factors that causes distributions to change is climate.

Can you give an example of how climate change affects species distribution?

One example comes from research that we have undertaken here at the Museum.

We’ve used data from expeditions and from the Museum’s collections to show that species of amphibians and reptiles in Madagascar have shifted their ranges upslope as the climate has warmed. This is one of the traits we expect to see due to climate change: species move upslope to locate cooler conditions as the temperature warms.

What are some of the methods used to make predictions about the impact of climate change?

One of the most common approaches is to build computer models of natural systems and to then change the parameters to mimic climate change. This is one of my main areas of interest and is the focus of much of my research. Of course, computer models are abstractions of the real world but they can be very useful tools for improving our understanding of what the future may hold. In the book, I describe how the models work and I try to be very clear about what they are good at and what they are missing. Read more »

UNDP Award Ceremony at Museum Kicks Off MDG Summit

Monday, September 27 3:17 pm

On Monday, September 20, the American Museum of Natural History hosted a gala event in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United States Agency for International Development, the World Wildlife Fund, the World Conservation Society, Conservation International, the World Resources Institute, and other organizations, where 25 local and indigenous community groups from across the developing world were presented with the Equator Prize.

The award ceremony, together with a policy forum was convened to illuminate critical linkages between biodiversity conservation, healthy ecosystems, climate change and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Celebrities and opinion leaders joined top UN dignitaries to help deliver the message to leaders that biodiversity and healthy ecosystems, which are being lost and degraded at unsustainable rates, are essential for achievement of the MDGs, and that front-line solutions advanced by local and indigenous communities offer tremendous opportunities for conservation and sustainable development and must be scaled up.

“The American Museum of Natural History is proud to collaborate with the U.N. Development Programme and to be a partner in the International Year of Biodiversity, which had its North American launch at the Museum in February,” said Ellen V. Futter, President of the Museum. “Through collective efforts like this one, we hope to foster a renewed commitment to and sustained public awareness of the urgency and enormous consequences of biodiversity loss, climate change, and related issues. Serving as a bridge between science and society, institutions like the Museum have an important role to play in advancing scientific understanding about our increasingly threatened natural world, bringing the fruits of that research to policymakers, and leaders, and, importantly, demystifying for the public the most vexing and complex science-based issues of our time.”

The event was attended by nine Heads of State or Government and dozens of Ministers in New York for the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals. Ted Turner, Chairman of the United Nations Fund; Andrew Revkin, New York Times Dot Earth reporter; Edward Norton, actor and UN Goodwill Ambassador; Anggun, singer/songwriter and FAO Goodwill Ambassador and MDG Champion; Paul Tergat, marathoner and WFP Goodwill Ambassador; Catarina Furtado, television host/documentarian and UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador; Prince Albert II of Monaco; and Gisele Bündchen, supermodel and UNEP Goodwill Ambassador, were among the participants in the evening’s activities. Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator, gave the keynote speech.

For more information, see the UNDP’s press release.

Preview of Children’s Health and Healthy Ecosystems Panel

Tuesday, April 27 1:49 pm

On April 30, Aaron Bernstein, author of Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity, will be part of a panel discussing The Role of Biodiversity and Healthy Ecosystems in Supporting Child Health, an event that is part of an ongoing series celebrating the International Year of Biodiversity at AMNH. Bernstein recently offered a few thoughts on the subject.

Photo by Suzi Camarata

The effect of clean water and food on children’s health is obvious. What are some of the less obvious factors that play a critical role?

Good health depends on good genes and a healthy environment. A quick survey of health problems facing our children today, however, makes it clear that they result not from changes in genes but from changes to the environment. For instance, our children are overweight because they exercise less and eat more than generations past. The increased prevalence of other diseases such as asthma and severe food allergy over the past few decades likewise reflect environmental factors, though identifying what these are has proven difficult.

That being said, the environment is not just a source of illness. Research on childhood exposure to nature suggests that early positive experiences in nature may have benefits across the lifespan, from reduced stress and greater self-confidence to higher achievement in school and lower rates of obesity.

Do you have an example of how depletion of biodiversity has affected children’s health?

With repeated exposure to different kinds of antibiotics, bacteria that survive will be immune to the effects of those antibiotics. Reducing the diversity of bacterial subsets, or strains, selects for bacteria that are resistant to multiple antibiotics.

A common example of this has been the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria, such as methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. The prevalence of this infection ranges from 10% to 80% depending upon where one lives. S. aureus causes many kinds of infections in children, including infections of skin and bone as well as pneumonia.

How would you recommend reversing this issue?

First, and especially for children, only take antibiotics if you absolutely need to.

Second, although our data are limited, an estimated 70% of antibiotics given in the United States are given to livestock. In one study at the University of Iowa, 70% of a sample of pigs reared in Illinois and Iowa were colonized with MRSA. MRSA has been transmitted to humans from contaminated of infected meat. Other resistant bacteria that can infect humans have been found in cattle and chickens. To prevent the appearance of resistant bacteria in livestock, we need to overhaul how our livestock are raised. For that, we can vote both with our wallets and for candidates who understand the importance of reducing antibiotic use in livestock.

Sponsors include Museum’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Children’s Development Programme, and Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

The U.N. proclaimed 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity. The American Museum of Natural History has joined efforts to refocus the world on biodiversity, the complex tapestry of interconnections at every level that supports life on Earth.

Podcast: International Year of Biodiversity at AMNH

Thursday, February 11 4:23 pm

More than 400 people traipsed through a blizzard to the American Museum of Natural History on February 10 for the North American launch of the International Year of Biodiversity. Ambassadors, Museum Trustees, and other invited guests gathered under the Museum’s famous blue whale which hangs in the Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life. According to Olav Kjørven, assistant secretary-general and director of the Bureau for Development Policy, UNDP, the whale is a spectacular monument to Earth’s life and animals endangered by human activities.

The U.N. designated 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity to raise global awareness of the immense variety of life on Earth and to invite action to safeguard the essential networks on which all life, including humans, depends.

Celebrating the International Year of Biodiversity—and photographed in front of the Spectrum of Life at the American Museum of Natural History—are from left to right Paolo Galizzi (Fordham University School of Law), Marjorie Kaplan (Animal Planet Media at Discovery Communications Inc.), Veerle Vandeweerd (UNDP Environment and Energy Group), Ahmed Djoghlaf (Convention on Biological Diversity), Olav Kjørven (UNDP Director of the Bureau for Development Policy), Tran Triet (Phu My Lepironia Wetland Conservation Project), Eleanor Sterling (AMNH’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation), Theodore Roosevelt IV (AMNH Board of Trustees), and Carter Ingram (Wildlife Conservation Society). Photo Credit: AMNH/R. Mickens

“We need to refocus the world on biodiversity—the complex tapestry of interconnections at every level that supports life on Earth,” said Eleanor Sterling, director of the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the Museum. “We’ve lost sight of the biodiversity crisis because of other global challenges like climate change. But now we need to step back, understand the causes and consequences of our continued impact on life on the planet, and develop realistic and comprehensive strategies that allow dynamic human communities, economies, and life to thrive.”

The partners for this event, which include Conservation International, Fordham University, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Foundation, and Wildlife Conservation Society, agree that stronger commitments need to be secured for biodiversity and the vital ecosystems that sustain life.

The evening opened with comments by Michael Novacek, provost of Science at the Museum, who introduced Mr. Kjørven and Ahmed Djoghlaf, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity. A special preview of the premier world television event LIFE, a co-production of BBC and Discovery Channel, was introduced by Marjorie Kaplan, the president and general manager of Animal Planet Media at Discovery Communications Inc. A panel discussion including Charles McNeill, UNDP senior policy advisor, Veerle Vandeweerd, UNDP director of the Environment and Energy Group, Tran Triet, representative of the Phu My Lepironia Wetland Conservation Project, Paolo Galizzi, Fordham University School of Law, Morten Wetland, Norway’s Permanent Representative to the U.N., and Dr. Sterling followed.

This podcast is the North American launch of 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity, a designated by the United Nations.  The program, Biodiversity is Life, Biodiversity is Our Life, took place at the Museum on February 10, 2010.

Podcast: Download | RSS | iTunes (1 hour 3 mins, 58 MB)

Science Bulletins Bring the Research Home

Wednesday, February 03 2:46 pm

For years, visitors to the American Museum of Natural History have enjoyed award-winning Science Bulletin video productions—visually stunning updates on the latest in astrophysics, Earth sciences, biodiversity, and human biology—displayed on high-definition plasma screens in four permanent halls in the Museum.  All four Bulletins (Astro, Earth, Bio, and Human) use a blend of documentary videos, three-dimensional animation, and data visualization to bring scientific research to life for adults and children alike.

Science Bulletins are also distributed to nearly 40 museums and science centers around the world, bringing the latest science to an audience of more than 10 million people. Additionally, Science Bulletins are available online.

Click to Watch: HPV: Treating Cancer Caused by Viruses

Many of these features are six- to eight-minute documentaries that follow scientists to field sites and laboratories around the world to explore topics ranging from the search for ultra-high energy cosmic rays to the rapid evolution of fish species along the Lower Congo River, to the latest research on human papillomaviruses (HPV) and the various cancers they can trigger in humans. Read more »