127th Distinguished Research Lecture: Dan Doak
Dan Doak
Saving Species with Science: 30 Years of Conservation Setbacks and Successes
Tuesday, February 17 @ 4–5 p.m. (Q&A and reception to follow)
Chancellor's Hall and Auditorium, Center for Academic Success and Engagement (CASE)
Most species on Earth are naturally rare—truly widespread, common species are, ironically, quite uncommon. Understanding and helping species persist is therefore already a bigger challenge than most people realize. Human activities have added new pressures, pushing many species closer to extinction, so many now need active management to survive. Furthermore, effective conservation isn’t just about understanding a species' biology; it also depends on management choices and political decisions that shape what’s possible and how scientific information is used.
Over his career, Professor Dan Doak (Environmental Sciences) and his collaborators have worked with endangered species worldwide—from sea otters and spotted owls to gorgonian corals and alpine plants—asking a simple but urgent question: what can we do that will actually help species survive?
In this talk, Doak shares three stories showing how conservation science works in the real world, where ecological research meets human values, policies and tough choices. Through the California condor, a rare Rocky Mountain wildflower and the Island fox, he explores how our understanding of extinction risk has improved even as challenges facing wildlife mount.Ìý
Dan Doak is a professor and the Byers Family Chair in the Department of Environmental Studies.Ìý
Doak received his PhD at the University of Washington and was a professor at both UC Santa Cruz and University of Wyoming before joining Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØBoulder in 2012.Ìý
His research features the development and use of new modeling methods to better understand ecological patterns and processes, and also field work that investigates the ecological dynamics of multiple plant and animal species. This research includes work on the conservation and management of endangered species, climate change impacts on wild species and communities, and basic research on species interactions and population dynamics.Ìý
In the first of these areas, Doak has worked to better understand the degree of endangerment and the most effective management methods for species including sea otters, island foxes, California condors, Mediterranean purple gorgonian corals and multiple rare plants.Ìý
His climate change research includes development of analysis and modeling methods, as well as a continuing, twenty-five-year study of arctic and alpine plants and their responses to climate across a wide latitudinal range in western North America.Ìý
Finally, he has worked with colleagues to better understand the ways that spatial patterns and changing contexts can shape ecological interactions. This area of work includes field studies of how termites create spatial structure in east African savanna and the ways that changing ecological context can mediate the impacts of sea otters on kelp forest communities.