Pre-Assignment Ramblings

 

For my first semester “here” at Virginia Tech I went ahead and knocked out the one required course for those seeking the MNR Certification: Conservation Ecology. I assumed a lot of it would be review since I did my undergrad in Environmental Studies and have been working in the field of conservation ecology and biology over the last 7 years. Most of the concepts weren’t new to me, however the broad scope of the course helped synthesize all the knowledge and experience I have garnered over my career into a global context. The first few weeks of the class were focused on biodiversity, and while I understood its importance going into it, I quickly realized my understanding was that of a child accepting a lesson from his mother because she is the authority (i.e. “because I said so”). Much of my base knowledge of ecosystem functions and interactions fall into that category of “someone more knowledgeable than me said this was good or that was bad and therefore it must be so”, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing when it comes to the natural sciences. However, I’m finally at a point in my life where my curiosity and thirst for knowledge have grown to where I can’t help but ask: why? Granted, I am well-versed in the finer points of specific ecological fields I have worked with, like the long list of essential functions of wetlands or the importance of biodiversity for overall river health. The questions my class on conservation biology helped me come up with are mostly related to how the proper functioning of all the planet’s ecosystems all rely on biodiversity why that is.

Looking through my textbook, Essentials of Conservation Biology by R.B. Primack, I immediately realized I left out some important details in my personal definition of biodiversity, which was focused on ecosystem diversity. Namely, the two other levels of biodiversity that Primack uses to define the concept: species diversity and genetic diversity. After reflecting on my omissions, I still stick by my original definition since it seems to line up more with the intent of this class, but I’ll probably rework it to mention the importance of genetic diversity.