World Population Day 11 July

World Population Day 2013, image courtesy of UNFPA

July 11 is World Population Day. World Population Day seeks to highlight the effects that human overpopulation can have on the natural environment, animal habitats and other humans. According to the United Nations, ‘human population has risen from 2.5 billion in 1950, to over 7 billion in 2011’.

The theme for World Population Day 2013 is Focus is on Adolescent Pregnancy. The United Nations Population Fund claims that ‘about 16 million girls under age 18 give birth each year. Another 3.2 million undergo unsafe abortions. The vast majority – 90 per cent – of the pregnant adolescents in the developing world are married. Adolescent pregnancy often means an abrupt end of childhood, a curtailed education and lost opportunities’.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s World Population Day message is ‘When we devote attention and resources to the education, health and wellbeing of adolescent girls, they will become an even greater force for positive change in society that will have an impact for generations to come. On this World Population Day, let us pledge to support adolescent girls to realize their potential and contribute to our shared future.’

More information about World Population Day can be found on the UNFPA‘s website.

Guest Speaker Paul Ehrlich podcast now available

The podcast for the presentation by Professor Paul Ehrlich is now available for download.

Prof. Paul R. Ehrlich

The Environment Institute and the Fenner School of Environment and Society at the Australian National University presented Professor Paul Ehrlich, Bing Professor of Population Studies in the department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University on Thursday 21 March 2013 in Canberra.

The presentation Avoiding a collapse of civilisation – our chances, prospects and pathways forward discussed population growth and its effect on the environment.

Paul Ehrlich is the Bing Professor of Population Studies in the department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University, president of Stanford’s Centre for Conservation Biology and Adjunct Professor, University of Technology, Sydney. By training he is an entomologist specializing in Lepidoptera (butterflies), but he is also a prominent ecologist and demographer. Ehrlich is best known for his dire warnings about population growth and limited resources. He became well-known after publication of his controversial 1968 book The Population Bomb.

Listen to the presentation.

ABSTRACT

Environmental problems have contributed to numerous collapses of civilizations in the past. Now, for the first time, a global collapse appears possible and at the same time avoidable. Population growth supercharged by significantly increasing consumption interacting with our choices of technologies are major drivers. Dramatic cultural change provides the main hope of averting calamity.

Paul and Anne Ehrlich have written a paper on how humanity’s global civilisation is threatened with collapse by an array of environmental problems. In this special presentation, Professor Ehrlich gave a talk about his recent conclusions.

Professor Ehrlich was  joined by leading ecological scientists to participate in an in-depth panel discussion. The panel extended and discussed Professor Ehrlich’s topics as they relate to sustainability politics in Australia, broaching controversial topics from food and energy supply to the politics of greed. How much scientific evidence underlies our national decision-making?

The panel included Professor Corey Bradshaw from the Environment Institute, Professor David Lindenmayer from ANU, and Professor Graham Pyke from University of Technology Sydney. Professor Stephen Dovers, Director of the Fenner School of Environment, chaired the panel session.

Paul Ehrlich to present special seminar in Canberra on 21st March

The Environment Institute & Fenner School of Environment & Society at the Australian National University present a special presentation by Professor Paul Ehrlich in Canberra on Thursday 21st March 2013.

The talk is titled ‘Avoiding a collapse of civilisation – our chances, prospects and pathways forward.’ Professor Ehrlich will then be joined by leading ecological scientists to participate in an in-depth panel discussion. The panel will extend and discuss Professor Ehrlich’s topics as they relate to sustainability politics in Australia. They will broach controversial topics from food and energy supply to the politics of greed. How much scientific evidence underlies our national decision-making?

Where: Manning Clarke Centre Lecture Theatre 1 Building 26A, ANU, Canberra, Australia
Time: 7:15pm
When: Thursday 21st March 2013
RSVP: This event is free, registration is essential. Register here

Prof. Paul R. Ehrlich

ABSTRACT

Environmental problems have contributed to numerous collapses of civilizations in the past. Now, for the first time, a global collapse appears possible and at the same time avoidable. Population growth supercharged by significantly increasing consumption interacting with our choices of technologies are major drivers. Dramatic cultural change provides the main hope of averting calamity.

Paul and Anne Ehrlich have written a paper on how humanity’s global civilisation is threatened with collapse by an array of environmental problems. In this special presentation, Professor Ehrlich will give a talk about his recent conclusions.

Professor Ehrlich will then be joined by leading ecological scientists to participate in an in-depth panel discussion. The panel will extend and discuss Professor Ehrlich’s topics as they relate to sustainability politics in Australia. They will broach controversial topics from food and energy supply to the politics of greed. How much scientific evidence underlies our national decision-making?

The panel includes Professor Corey Bradshaw from the Environment Institute, Professor David Lindenmayer from ANU, and Professor Graham Pyke from University of Technology Sydney. Professor Stephen Dovers, Director of the Fenner School of Environment will chair the panel session.

About the speaker

Paul Ehrlich is the Bing Professor of Population Studies in the department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University, president of Stanford’s Center for Conservation Biology and Adjunct Professor, University of Technology, Sydney. By training he is an entomologist specializing in Lepidoptera (butterflies), but he is also a prominent ecologist and demographer. Ehrlich is best known for his dire warnings about population growth and limited resources. He became well-known after publication of his controversial 1968 book The Population Bomb.

Download the pdf flyer for this event

Paul Ehrlich in Adelaide

While in Australia, Paul Ehrlich will headline ‘The Planet Talks’ series at WOMADelaide on Monday March 11th.

The Planet Talks is a series of environmentally-focused discussions and panels – a legacy of the WOMAD Earth Station event staged in 2011 and now a part of WOMADelaide. The Talks will focus on the core fundamentals of Food Security & Sustainability, Activism & Change and Population Growth.

Professor Ehrlich will participate in a ‘one on one’ discussion on Population & Consumption with the host of the ABC’s The Science Show, Robyn Williams.

Find out more about Paul Ehrlich at WOMADelaide

 

 

New paper analysing DNA of prehistoric remains in North East Europe

A new paper involving Environment Institute members Clio Der Sarkissian, Alan Cooper and Wolfgang Haak as well as Oleg Balanovsky(Russian Academy of Medical Sciences & Russian Academy of Sciences), Valery Zaporozhchenko (Russian Academy of Medical Sciences), Elena Balanovska (Russian Academy of Medical Sciences),Guido Brandt (Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz), Kurt W. Alt (Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz),Valery Khartanovich(Kunstkamera Museum), Vyacheslav Moiseyev (Kunstkamera Museum),Alexandra Buzhilova (Russian Academy of Sciences), Sergey Koshel (Moscow State University),Römisch-Germanisches (Zentralmuseum), Eugen Kolpakov(Russian Academy of Science), Vladimir Shumkin(Russian Academy of Science) has recently been published in the journal PLoS Genetics.

The paper titled ‘Ancient DNA Reveals Prehistoric Gene-Flow from Siberia in the Complex Human Population History of North East Europe‘ analysed the mitochondrial DNA of prehistoric remains from archaeological sites in North East Europe dated to 7,500 and 3,500 years Before Present.

Wolfgang Haak, one of the contributing authors on the paper

This region in Europe displays a significant cultural and linguistic diversity today, however no ancient human DNA was available before. The resutls show that prehistoric hunter-gatherers of North East Europe were genetically similar to other European foragers. The authors also detected a prehistoric genetic input from Siberia, followed by migrations from Western Europe into North East Europe.

This research contributes to the understanding of the origins and past dynamics of human population in Europe.

Download the paper to find out more.

New paper investigating whale shark populations

A new paper involving Environment Institute members Ana Sequeira, Camille Mellin (also Australian Institute of Marine Science) and Corey Bradshaw (also SARDI) as well as Mark Meekan (Australian Institute of Marine Science) and David Sims (Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom) has recently been published in the Journal of Fish Biology.

The paper titled ‘Inferred global connectivity of whale shark Rhincodon typus populations’ collates available data on sightings, tracked movements and distribution information of whale sharks (Rhincodon Typus).

Currently, information on population geographic connectivity, migration and demography of whale sharks is still limited and scattered. However, understanding whale sharks migratory behaviour is central to its conservation management. The study provides evidence for the hypothesis of broad-scale connectivity among populations, and generates a model describing how the world’s whale sharks are part of a single, global meta-population.

Image: Whale Shark, coutesy of KAZ2.0/Flickr

The model provides a worldwide perspective of possible whale shark migration routes, and suggests a modified focus for additional research to test its predictions. The authors suggest that the framework can be used to trim the hypotheses for whale shark movements and aggregation timings, thereby isolating possible mating and breeding areas that are currently unknown. They believe this will assist efforts to predict the longer-term response of the species to ocean warming and changing patterns of human-induced mortality.

Download the paper to find out more.

New Paper – No need for disease: testing extinction hypotheses for the thylacine using multi-species metamodels

A new paper involving Environment Institute members Thomas Prowse, Corey Bradshaw (also SARDI), Michael Watts and Barry Brook as well as Christopher Johnson (University of Tasmania), Robert Lacy (Chicago Zoological Society) and John Pollak (Cornell University) has recently been published in the Journal of Animal Ecology.

The paper titled ‘No need for disease: testing extinction hypotheses for the thylacine using multi-species metamodels’ designed a new population viability approach (PVA) that includes species interactions explicitly by networking species models within a single ‘metamodel’.

Thylacine Thylacinus cynocephalus
Image: Kelly Garbato (Flikr)

Population viability analysis (PVA) is used to assess the extinction risk of threatened species and to evaluate different management strategies. However, conventional PVA neglects important biotic interactions and therefore can fail to identify important threatening processes.

This study demonstrates the utility of PVA metamodels by using them to reinterpret the extinction of the carnivorous, marsupial thylacine Thylacinus cynocephalus (Tasmanian Tiger) in Tasmania. In particular, they test the claim that well-documented impacts of European settlement cannot account for this extinction and that an unknown disease must have been an additional and necessary cause.

Read the paper to find out more.

 

Guest Speaker: Xavier Lambin – Podcast now available

The podcast from the presentation by Xavier Lambin is now available to download.

The Environment Institute presented Xavier Lambin from the School of Biological Sciences, The University of Aberdeen, UK on Monday 26th November 2012.

Xavier Lambin. Image courtesy of The University of Aberdeen

The talk was titled“Continent -wide dampening of population cycles in keystone herbivores; patterns, likely processes and consequences for predators.”

Download the PowerPoint here.

ABSTRACT
In recent years, evidence has emerged that dramatic changes in ecosystem processes and functioning are taking place across Europe under the joint impact of climate change and human-induced shift in land use. One of the most spectacular changes concerns the dampening in the fluctuations of populations of keystone herbivore species such as voles and moths with cyclical dynamics that took place nearly simultaneously in much of Europe in the 1990s. Changes in small herbivore dynamics have the potential to lead to ecosystem re-organisation and therefore represent a challenge for the conservation of biodiversity. However, there remains much uncertainty on what are the processes responsible for multi-annual cycles, how these might be modified by climate and whether the same set of processes operate in all cyclic vole populations. Furthermore, whether cycle dampening is general, or local, and result from extrinsic environmental changes or from intrinsic process stochasticity is currently unknown.

In this talk, Xavier first presented empirical and modelling developments on the demographic basis for vole cycles based on our long term studies. He then showed how seasonality and the destabilising influences of pathogen host interaction or changes in herbivore-induced changes in plant quality might interact with seasonality in the environment to lead to cyclic dynamics. Next, using the largest compilation of time series of vole abundances yet assembled, Xavier presented new analyses that demonstrate consistent cycle amplitude dampening associated with a reduction in winter vole population growth, and suggesting that regulatory processes responsible for cyclicity have not been lost. The underlying syndrome of change throughout Europe, species and ecosystems suggests a common climatic driver acting over very large scales. Our analyses suggest increasing periods of low amplitude small herbivore population fluctuations are expected in the future, with cascading impacts on trophic webs across ecosystems. Finally, Xavier illustrated the likely impact of changes on prey dynamics on the dynamics of birds of prey using our long terms studies on the demography of Tawny owls.

New Paper: Using census data and history to assess evolution and population

Salvador Herrando-Pérez

A new paper titled ‘Strength of density feedback in census data increases from slow to fast life histories‘ investigates the idea that examining the life history of species through the collection of census data can provide an evolutionary signal. According to the research this data can provide valuable feedback regarding evolution and long-term population trends.

The paper involves Environment Institute members Salvador Herrando-Pérez, Dr Steven Delean, Barry Brook and Corey Bradshaw (also of the South Australian Research and Development Institute) and has been published in Ecology and Evolution.

Download the paper to read about their findings

The Tightrope: A Millennium Assessment of Human Behaviour

Listen to Paul Ehrlich give his public seminar The Tightrope: A Millennium Assessment of Human Behaviour.

The Environment Institute was proud to present Professor Paul Ehrlich’s  final seminar The Tightrope: A Millennium Assessment of Human Behaviour on Thursday 11 November at the University of Adelaide.

Professor Paul Ehrlich is one of the world’s leading experts on population and is renowned for his role in helping the world to think about resource scarcity and the impact of an ever-increasing population on demand for natural resources.  Paul is particularly well know for his work on overpopulation, and in particular, his seminal work The Population Bomb.

Paul Ehrlich was in Adelaide during November to present a series of free public seminars.

Visit our website to download other Paul Ehrlich seminars.

Population and a changing world.

The United Nations recently published a report stating that reducing birth rates could aid in reducing carbon emissions. In response The Australian ran an opinion piece questioning how it would be possible to reduce fertility rates in western societies considering the issue is generally considered taboo. Australia is a country where climate change and water shortages are increasingly important issues and are set to affect all Australians in some form. Professor Graeme Hugo presented a seminar as part of the Environment Institute’s Science Seminar Series entitled “Is water a limiting factor for population growth in South Australia?” In it he examined how the population demographics are going to change around the world and within South Australia over the next by climate change. Listen to the podcast of Graeme Hugo’s seminar.