Overview
Spring Symposium 1997
To properly understand human
involvement in extinction, we have to look at the past as well as the
present and the future. A "dreadful syncopation" appears to
link the sudden and severe loss of species with ancient human migration.
Today, population levels and patterns of consumption exert their own devastating
effect, threatening not only species but entire ecosystems. In order to
make appropriate decisions to ensure the future for all species, we must
meet the 
challenge
of comprehending the mechanisms at work in extinctions, and determine
the most effective course of action to maintain earth's precious biological
diversity.
For two days in April 1997
three hundred scientists, journalists, policy makers and people like yourself
gathered at the American Museum of Natural History to participate in the
spring symposium titled "Humans and Other Catastrophes." The
first day of the symposium focused on possible causes of past extinctions,
particularly the end-Pleistocene extinction that occured around 14,000
calendar years ago*. The second day focused on how lessons from past extinctions
could help us set policy for preventative action today. Many questions
raised at the symposium remain unanswered.This web site is an invitation
for you to join in the investigation . . .
 What is extinction? |
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Explaining Extinction Introduction to Day 1 . . . The past 500 million years of the earth's history have been dotted with extinctions. These extinctions, in all likelihood, had a variety of causes, although in many cases causes remain unknown. |
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An unusual aspect of the end-Pleistocene extinction event, 14,000 years ago, is that it appears to have predominately affected very large mammals such as Woolly Mammoths, Giant Ground Sloths, and Giant Short-faced Bears. |
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 Alaska: An example of Then and Now |
In the New World,
it appears that this extinction event was roughly correlated with
the first arrival of human beings. Some scientists claim that there is evidence that sudden human arrival in new areas has frequently been followed by mammalian extinctions throughout the entire history of human migration on earth. Other scientists argue that human migration played little or no role in the end-Pleistocene extinctions and that climactic changes occuring at the end of the ice age forced these losses.
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Text and Real Audio versions of interviews,
presentations, and
discussions from Day 1 of the symposium will allow you to explore
some of the many hypotheses
symposium participants proposed to explain the end-Pleistocene extinctions.
Preventing Extinction
Introduction to Day 2 . . .
Many scientists believe that we are witnessing the onset of a sixth
major extinction event. They argue that this one differs from the others
in three ways: the rapidity with which species are being lost -- at one
hundred times the rate predicted by the fossil record -- the diversity of
taxa being affected; and the cause, modern human activities.
Text and Real Audio versions of interviews,
presentations, and
discussions from Day 2 of the symposium will help you explore the
issues involved in biodiversity
conservation today.
Resources:
Be sure to check out the Bestiary
of extinct Pleistocene and other mammals. The bestiary includes over 30
illustrations created especially for this site.
Symposium Sponsors:
The programs and publications of the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation are made possible by the generous support of The Starr Foundation.
Additional support for this symposium was provided by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
