Ecologist Cristina Eisenberg penned an insightful and compelling Earth Day article discussing how top trophic carnivores have a large role to play in helping our natural systems withstand the worst impacts of climate change........In Cristina's own words-------."While wolves and other carnivores won't slow climate change, they can help create ecosystems better able to withstand it"............... "However, trophic cascades have yet to make it into the climate change solution lexicon"............ "Could this be because combating climate change with wolves is too implausible? Some ecologists think so".............. "But nearly 90 years ago, at least one person was promoting wolf conservation as a means to create more resilient ecosystems in the face of drought and other ecological stressors".............. "That individual was another eminent Wisconsinite, Aldo Leopold"................"He suggested that ecological resilience "varies inversely with aridity," and that water, soil, animals and plants, "bear a delicately balanced interrelation to each other"........... "He urged scientists to parse these relationships and managers to apply best science"................ "One decade later in the essay "A Conservationist in Mexico," he recommended doing so by allowing wolves to return in reasonable numbers"....................."Best science demonstrates that conserving carnivores, be they coyotes in New England, cougars in the Dakotas, or wolves in the Pacific Northwest, could help us adapt to climate change and stave extinction for myriad species"

 CLICK BELOW LINK TO READ CRISTINA'S FULL ARTICLE

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cristina-eisenberg/celebrating-earth-day-the-carnivore-way_b_7104950.html

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Cristina Eisenberg, PhD

Lead Scientist

Earthwatch Institute

114 Western Ave | Boston, MA 02134
Office: +1-978-450-1210 X 210 | earthwatch.org
F: +1-978-461-2332 | C: 406-270-5153 | Skype: cristina.eisenberg

http://cristinaeisenberg.com | http://fes.forestry.oregonstate.edu/faculty/eisenberg-cristina

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cristina-eisenberg/

 Cristina Eisenberg Become a fan

Ecologist, Author

Celebrating Earth 

Day the Carnivore Way

Posted: 04/21/2015 2:48 pm EDT Updated: 04/22/2015 5:59 pm EDT

Larsen B Ice Shelf Collapsing, Antarctica
Photo courtesy NASA

Elk Running from Wolves
NPS photo.

Aldo Leopold in Mexico Pondering Carnivore Conservation. 
Photo Aldo Leopold Foundation

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Learn more about the importance of carnivores by reading The
 Carnivore Way: Coexisting with and Conserving North America's 
Predators, and The Wolf's Tooth: Keystone Predators, Trophic Cascades,
 and Biodiversity, by Dr. Cristina Eisenberg. Learn more about large
 carnivore conservation by joining Cristina afield on herEarthwatch 
expedition, Tracking Fire and Wolves through the Canadian Rockies.

Follow Cristina Eisenberg on Twitter: www.twitter.com/
ceisenbec