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During the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress, ASU's Center for Biodiversity Outcomes signed a knowledge partnership with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development to promote sustainable development through the global business community.

As WBCSD’s second global knowledge partner, ASU benefits by having access to the largest network of world-class companies engaged in social and environmental sustainability, while having exposure to real-world problem-solving opportunities, events, internships and job opportunities.

Having a seat at the table on substantive discussions with global companies will allow ASU to shape the way that businesses approach their sustainability practices.

Furthering ASU's commitment to translating knowledge in action, its Center for Biodiversity Outcomes joined three powerful international partnerships over the summer of 2016.

The center's new partners include names you might recognize: the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List and Conservation International.

These partnerships respectively seek to promote sustainable development through the global business community, devise strategies for species conservation and biodiversity decision-making, and expand conservation science and training to the next generation of conservation leaders – aims that will put ASU's wealth of sustainability research and expertise to good use.

As biodiversity is depleted, ASU oceanographer Leah Gerber – director of the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes – guides a United Nations panel that helps policy makers navigate scientific literature on the topic.

Gerber was named coordinating lead author of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, a panel of scientists who will review the massive body of scientific literature around biodiversity and ecosystem services. The panel will organize the combined knowledge into a report that is both relevant and accessible to those who make decisions that impact plant and animal life.

The first authors’ meeting took place in Bonn, Germany, in August of 2016.

If you are a graduate student and want to further conservation efforts in the Amazon while building relationships that could lead to future collaborations, explore the ASU Global Development Research (GDR) Program in Brazil. This program was created through a partnership between Arizona State University and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). All research, travel and living expenses are paid.

For more information, click here.

The Science for Nature and People (SNAP) working group on Ecosystem Services and Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) aims to identify sites that significantly contribute to global biodiversity.

In April 2016, the group met to develop recommendations and guidelines for documenting ecosystem services in KBAs, and how these areas influence human well-being. This group is a collaboration of scientists from The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes (CBO), the Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

On September 28, 2016 (time and location TBD), the Hugh Hanson Seminar Series welcomes Jessica Hellmann.

Dr. Hellmann is the director of the Institute on the Environment and a professor in the Ecology, Evolution and Behavior department at the University of Minnesota.

Her research focuses on environmental response to climate and other environmental changes, and how humans and ecosystems can respond and adapt to these changes. She also engages with the public to educate and implement strategic plans.

The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes presents the brown bag event Social-Ecological Modeling to Solve Wicked Conservation Problems on Tuesday, June 21.

The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes team is expanding. We're pleased to welcome Beth Polidoro as our associate director of research, Abby York as our associate director of education and diversity, and Anahí Astudillo as our business operations specialist.

Kelly Gravuer is a recent recipient of the Postdoctoral NatureNet Science Fellowship. In collaboration with The Nature Conservancy and the Center For Biodiversity Outcomes, Kelly will investigate how food production areas can assist in climate mitigation. She emphasizes that sustainable solutions must include ecological and sociological considerations.

The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes and The Nature Conservancy are proud to announce a postdoctoral fellowship opportunity directed at solving big climate challenges while considering human well-being.

The Nature Net Science Fellowship aims to address the global climate change threat by bringing early career scientists and engineers to help solve problems at the intersection of climate change, technology and conservation.

On May 16, 2016 the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes hosted the Sustainability Event: Emerging Trends in Conservation. Leading experts from Conservation International discussed new insights, tools, modeling techniques and lessons from a myriad of perspectives, including wildlife, oceans, agriculture, protected areas, ecosystem services, valuation and accounting. The full video of the event can be seen here.

The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is excited to announce a new project investigating how businesses manage biodiversity concerns and opportunities in their operations. This project, started in conjunction with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), looks to define what the business community needs in order to achieve their biodiversity goals. Highlighting these needs will help the academic and business communities collaboratively develop appropriate tools to better measure and monitor biodiversity.

On June 22-23, 2016, WBCSD, IUCN and CBO will hold a planning and scoping workshop in Geneva, Switzerland to address mainstream biodiversity measurement, valuation and reporting for business to help companies better understand their impact on biodiversity. The workshop will build on the Natural Capital Protocol Project to provide guidance on qualitative, quantitative and monetary valuation of natural capital dependencies and impacts, and to create a framework to inform future standards applicable at different organizational levels, to all business sectors, and across all geographies.

According Daniel Sarewitz, advisory board member to the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, the number of scientific publications has been growing exponentially over the last 250 years. With the specific goal to maximize publication numbers, the quality of the publications suffers. Subsequently, when low-quality publications are cited, the reduction of quality is perpetuated.

Join us on Monday, May 16, 2016 from 4:00-5:30 p.m. in Wrigley Hall, Room 481 as the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes presents the next installment of the Biodiversity Event Series, Emerging Trends in Conservation.

Conservation is continuing to evolve as new opportunities and threats present themselves, calling for new insights, tools, models and lessons. Leading experts from Conservation International will discuss emerging trends in conservation from a variety of perspectives including oceans, wildlife, protected areas, agriculture, and ecosystem services measurement, valuation and accounting.

The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes announces the Central Arizona Conservation Alliance (CAZCA) Biodiversity Fellowship for the 2016-2017 academic year. The award is available to one graduate student in the amount of $12,000. The award recipient will conduct high-priority research topics, which will support the vision of CAZCA to promote the study and restoration of our regional desert mountain preserve system.

The student will collect relevant GIS layers and conduct conductivity analyses while working closely with The Connectivity and Habitat Blocks working group of the CAZCA to help identify key conservation areas outside of the current preserve.

Applications are due by June 15, 2016, and the recipient will be notified no later than July 1, 2016. See application directions here.

It is highly advised to meet with the working group chair Scott Sprague, Arizona Game and Fish Department, and CAZCA’s program lead Stacie Beute to discuss your ideas and ensure that your proposed research aligns with the research priorities of the alliance.

CBO faculty affiliate faculty can be found here.

Save the date for this exciting opportunity to participate in The Arizona Chapter of The Wildlife Society's (TWS) Wildlife Techniques Workshop on April 23, 2016!

The main courses take place from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and the bat mist netting will be held after dark. Anticipated topics include capture/trapping techniques, darting/leg holds/propane net guns, CODA net gun, bat ID and mist netting, radio-telemetry and GPS at Horseshoe Ranch. Camping is permitted Friday, April 22, and Saturday, April 23, and offers time for informal networking.

This event is free, but a $5 annual membership fee to TWS is requested. Space is limited to 60 people. RSVP must be received by April 8. To reserve your spot, contact Holly Hicks at 623-236-7499, or hhicks@azgfd.gov.

The Science for Nature and People Partnership (SNAPP) is a collaboration between The Nature Conservancy, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) to address scalable solutions to global challenges at the intersection of nature conservation, sustainable development and human well-being.

The Ecosystem Services and Key Biodiversity Areas Work Group principle investigators, Dr. Leah Gerber and Dr. Penny Langhammer, et al. are working to incorporate ecosystem services and human well-being benefits into Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) developed by The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Click here for more information on the KBA partnership between CBO and IUCN.

The McDowell Sonoran Field Institute has just announced their 2016-2017 Graduate Fellowship. The Field Institute Director, Helen Rowe, will discuss the fellowship, the priority research areas, and ways you can collaborate on Monday, April 5, from 12:00-1:00 p.m. The talk will take place in ISTB1, Room 301, and both faculty and students are welcome. No RSVP is required.

Biodiversity describes the plethora of different species on the Earth, as well as the ecosystems that they create and sustain. Humans couldn’t survive without a biodiverse planet, simply because the ecosystems we rely on only function due to the interactions of all these different species. In many cases, we don’t know exactly how a single species fits into the web of ecosystem functions; we do know that once a species goes extinct, there’s no going back.

The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes (CBO) is one of Arizona State University’s newest endeavors to conserve biodiversity around the world, through research, natural resource management and education. In terms of education, the center is one of several ASU programs now working with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to connect student researchers with partners in the global south to address conservation challenges.

“We are delighted to collaborate with the USAID program to provide our students with hands-on practical conservation development research,” says CBO director Leah Gerber.

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Applications for summer employment as a  Northern Mexican Gartersnake Research Aide are due April 1, 2016. The successful applicant will be a graduate or a senior level undergraduate student. The research aide will assist in data collection, including radio telemetry, repair of traps, vegetation measurements and data entry. Be prepared for difficult field conditions (hot temperatures, thick vegetation, long hours, etc.).

To apply, visit ASU's Student Employment page and search for Requisition ID 21256BR.