Real Audio Recording   

Ross MacPhee:

As you know from the program, this day's talks will be concerned with extinctions in the past tense -- loses that have occurred in the near to distant past, sometimes with and sometimes possibly without any evidence of human presence and participation. Tomorrow's presentations will be devoted to the theme of loss, now in the future tense, and will be concerned with what we may expect to see happen to life's diversity from the micro- to the macro- level in the next millennium.

Many conferences have been held on the topic of species' endangerment and extinction. However it is rare that workers in fields as disparate as paleontology and public policy and conservation biology have the opportunity to come together and to see what they have to say to each other. We may ask, Why? Is the past, in fact, a key to the present and to the future? Can we, by examining ancient extinctions, gain some perspective on extinctions that may be occurring now? Or are past extinctions irrelevant to present-day concerns, because modern humans and their works are a threat like no other, never paralleled in the history of the planet? Or should we be judicious and prudent, and recognize that the truth lies somewhere between George Santayana, who said: Those who cannot remember the past are destined to repeat it; and Henry Ford who said that history is bunk?

I'm now going to turn the podium over to our Vice-President and Provost, Michael Novacek, who will have some introductory comments. At the close of Michael's comments, I will be telling you what the ground rules are for the symposium this morning. Thank you.

Michael Novacek:

Good morning, everybody. My pleasure and my charge is simply to welcome you here on behalf of President Ellen Futter, Anne Eristoff, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and the Trustees of the Museum, to the American Museum for our spring symposium, sponsored by the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, through the generous support of The Starr Foundation for this symposium and other research activities.

This symposium, as Ross said, marks an important time for us, an important event. It is a gathering, an international gathering of scientists that focus on the role that humans have played in the extinction process -- not just now, but for the whole period that modern humans have been on the planet. And I should point out, modesty may prevent Ross from noting that he is also the curator in charge and the source for our dazzling, important and powerful exhibit upstairs -- which you are welcome to -- a special exhibition called "Endangered: Exploring a World at Risk." This symposium is held in conjunction with that exhibit.

The Center for Biodiversity and Conservation is a relatively new program here at the American Museum. It was started in 1993. Francesca Grifo is the Director of the Center, as Ross mentioned, and also co-organizer of this symposium. The reason for developing the Center is, of course, this is a museum, like related institutions, profoundly devoted to sciences that are relevant to questions about the status of this planet, the future of this planet, the application of science in trying to solve some of the enormous problems we have with the changing environment. And we felt we needed some kind of coordinating link, a Center whose mission, as stated in the materials connected with this symposium, is to "enhance the use of rigorous scientific data to mitigate critical threats to global biodiversity." And in the spirit of that mission, the Center's function as a convenor is what you see here in a spring symposium, which we plan to hold regularly -- either at this or another time of the year -- on topics that are profoundly important to the environment.

And with that I'll turn the podium back over to Ross MacPhee, who'll give you an outline of this morning's events.

Ross MacPhee:

Thank you very much, Michael. One of the great things about working at a place like this is that we have such a number, a large number, of people -- both in terms of employees of the Museum, research associates, people that we work with and interact with -- who are captivated by the same kinds of questions. And, as a result of that, there's an immense amount of cross-fertilization, evidence of which you'll see today.

I'm going to describe now very quickly how I would like the symposium to run, to maximize participation from the audience. That's one of the purposes here. Our primary purpose was to bring together a panel of experts -- people who are acknowledged leaders -- in trying to understand how past extinctions occurred and their relevancy for understanding current and future extinctions. Their purpose today will be to share information with each other and with all of us as a group.

To that end, we're going to have two discussion periods, each a half-hour in length, at the end of each half-day session; and this will be largely, although not completely, devoted to the deliberations of the experts.

There will be two kinds of opportunities for the audience to challenge or question the experts, to interact with them concerning matters arising from their talks. The first will be at the end of each presentation. Each presentation is slated for half an hour. I've asked the participants to leave five minutes at the end, and we will call for questions. What I would like you to do, if you are interested in asking a question at that point, is to come down to the microphone that is in the aisle here and speak into it, so that everyone can, in fact, hear the question.

The question period, the introduction of the speakers and other matters will be in charge of the two moderators. This morning's moderator is Dr. David Hurst Thomas from the Museum's Department of Anthropology. This afternoon's moderator will be Dr. Joel Cracraft, from the Department of Ornithology. They will be introducing the speakers, their titles. There is bibliographical and biographical information in the abstract book; and, of course, if you are interested in knowing more about the people that are speaking, that's the first place to look.

I'm going to ask that, in the question periods at the end of each talk, that your questions concern matters of clarification or definition, rather than matters requiring more elaborate answers. If you have such questions -- ones that will require a large amount of thoughtful speaking -- I'm asking you to write those out on one of the 3-x-5 cards that was in your registration kit. We will have people from the CBC coming around collecting these from time to time. They'll be collated, and we will try to deal with as many as possible, time permitting, during the discussion period at the end of the half-day.

At the end of the last talk this morning, and likewise this afternoon, I'm asking all of that morning's or afternoon's speakers to come up to the front and to seat themselves here. This will be their opportunity to start talking with each other, taking up the big questions. The moderator will be in charge of making sure that the discussion flows -- and, toward the end of that period, we will make an effort to take up any questions that come in on the cards. And, in doing so, as you write these out, please frame your questions to specific speakers. That will ease what we're trying to accomplish.

The last thing I want to say is in relation to the plenary session tonight. Dr. Stuart Pimm will be giving that talk. It will begin sharp at 7 o'clock and will run approximately 45 minutes, allowing time for questions. Immediately thereafter there will be a reception, to which you are all invited, for our speaker, Dr. Pimm, and for other participants. This will be held in the Hall of Amphibians and Reptiles on the Museum's third floor, immediately adjacent to the "Endangered" exhibition, which will be open the entire evening, from 5 o'clock onwards, at the end of the Museum's regular hours, and you can visit at any time.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for coming. I'm really looking forward to today, and I hope you are, as well. I'm now going to introduce David Hurst Thomas, who will take over as moderator.

David Thomas:
Well, thank you, Ross, and let me add my personal welcome to the American Museum of Natural History. We're glad to have you with us here under the whale, and we're expecting a whale of a next couple of days.

Now, as Ross said, bibliographic information and biographical information is provided on each speaker, so I'm going to be very brief in introducing the various papers. It's my extreme pleasure to introduce our first speaker today, Dr. Paul S. Martin, University of Arizona, whose title is "Prehistoric Overkill: Four Decades of Discovery and Debate."

MacPhee bio
Novacek bio
Thomas bio