AMNH Spring Symposium

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Date
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
CENTER FOR BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION
SPRING SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE
April 17 and 18, 1997

The American Museum of Natural History's Center for Biodiversity and
Conservation is presenting a major international symposium on the nature of
species extinctions on April 17 and 18, 1997.

On April 17, the symposium will feature the latest scientific research and
findings on the role that humans and other forces have played in the
extinction process. On April 18, participants will assess the effectiveness
of various approaches to sustaining valuable biological resources and to
preventing further irrevocable species loss.


SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE

THURSDAY, APRIL 17:

HUMANS AND OTHER CATASTROPHES: EXPLAINING PAST EXTINCTIONS AND THE
EXTINCTION PROCESS

7:30 a.m. REGISTRATION

8:30 a.m. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
Michael J. Novacek, Senior Vice President and Provost, AMNH Ross D.E.
MacPhee, Curator and Chairman of Mammalogy, AMNH

PARTICIPANTS (in alphabetical order):

John Alroy, Smithsonian Institution
"Reorganization of Late Quaternary Mammal Faunas and Causes of Mass Extinction"

David A. Burney, Fordham University
"Rates and Processes of Landscape Transformation and Extinction: Islands as
Experiments in Human Ecology"

Niles Eldredge, AMNH
"Cretaceous Meteor Showers, the Human Ecological "Niche," and the Sixth
Extinction"

Tim F. Flannery, Australian Museum
"Emerging Patterns in Australasian Quaternary Extinctions"

Russell W. Graham, Denver Museum of Natural History, Thomas W. Stafford,
Jr., University of Colorado Holmes A. Semken, Jr., University of Iowa
"Pleistocene Extinctions: Chronology, Non-Analog Communities, and
Environmental Change"

Gary Haynes and B. Sunday Eiselt, University of Nevada "The Power of
Pleistocene Hunter-gatherers: A Forward and Backward Search for the
Evidence About Mammoth Extinction"

R.N. Holdaway, Palaecol Research
"Differential Vulnerability in the New Zealand Vertebrate Fauna"

Helen James, Smithsonian Institution
Douglas Siegel-Causey, National Science Foundation "Prehistoric Extinctions
in Hawaii: The Search for Causes"

Ross D.E. MacPhee, AMNH
Preston A. Marx, Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center "Disease and Extinction"

Paul S. Martin, University of Arizona "Prehistoric Overkill: Three Decades
of Discovery and Debate"

Norman Owen-Smith, University of the Witwatersrand "The Interaction of
Humans, Megaherbivores and Habitats in the Late Pleistocene Extinction
Event"

Melanie L.J. Stiassny, AMNH
"Vanishing from Freshwater: Species Decline and the Machinery of Extinction"

A.J. Stuart, Norfolk Museum Services/Castle Museum "The Role of Humans in
Late Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinction, with Particular
Reference to Northern Eurasia and North America"

7:00 p.m. PLENARY ADDRESS
Stuart Pimm, University of Tennessee
"Extinctions, Geographic Ranges, and Patterns of Loss"

7:45 p.m. RECEPTION



FRIDAY, APRIL 18

PREVENTING EXTINCTION: ADVANCES IN BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

8:30 a.m. REGISTRATION

9:00 a.m. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
Ellen V. Futter, President, AMNH
Francesca T. Grifo, Director, CBC

EXPLAINING PAST EXTINCTIONS AND THE EXTINCTION PROCESS Tim F. Flannery,
Australian Museum
Ross D.E. MacPhee, AMNH

THE ROLE OF SCIENCE
David Ehrenfeld, Rutgers University
Michael J. Novacek, AMNH

MANAGING NATURAL RESOURCES FOR DIVERSITY Gary Hartshorn, Organization for
Tropical Studies Marianne Cramer, Central Park Conservancy

THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION Judy Braus, World Wildlife Fund
Carol Fialkowski, Chicago Wilderness

THE IMPACT OF CONSERVATION POLICY
Speakers to be announced.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL
Paul Johnson*, Natural Resource Conservation Service

* invited


REGISTRATION AND INFORMATION

To register, please send the information below to conference@amnh.org.

NAME:
TITLE:
AFFILIATION:
ADDRESS:
CITY:
STATE:
ZIP CODE:
PHONE NUMBER:
FAX:
E-MAIL:

Please indicate which sessions you will attend:

- I will attend HUMANS AND OTHER CATASTROPHES on Thursday, April 17 - I
will attend PREVENTING EXTINCTION on Friday, April 18 - I will attend the
PLENARY ADDRESS and RECEPTION - I cannot attend, but would like conference
materials and subsequent reports


For further information, call 212-769-5742, or e-mail conference@amnh.org.


The programs and publications of the Center for Biodiversity and
Conservation are made possible by the generous support of The Starr
Foundation. Additional support for this symposium has been provided by the
Rockefeller Brothers Fund.


SPECIAL EXHIBITION

The Spring Symposium is being presented in conjunction with the special
exhibition ENDANGERED! EXPLORING A WORLD AT RISK, on view at the American
Museum through September 1. The exhibition examines the causes and effects
of species and habitat endangerment and extinction, and explains the issues
surrounding the prevention of future species loss.


LOCATION AND TRANSPORTATION

The Museum is located on Central Park West between 77th and 81st Streets.
All symposium attendees should enter the Museum via the 77th Street
Entrance (between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue)

BY SUBWAY
Take the IND 8th Avenue "B" or "C" train to 81st Street and Central Park
West, or the IRT Broadway Local "1" or "9" train to 79th Street and walk 2
blocks east.

BY BUS
On the West Side, take the "M10" bus uptown or downtown to 77th Street and
Central Park West; or take the "M79" cross-town bus to the intersection of
81st Street and Central Park West.

PARKING
The Museum parking lot is temporarily closed. For public transportation and
local parking information, please call 212-769-5100.

Attendees are asked to make their own arrangements for travel and
accommodation. For hotel information, please e-mail conference@amnh.org or
call 212-769-5742.


CENTER FOR BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION

The Center for Biodiversity and Conservation is a multi-departmental
facility dedicated to enhancing the use of rigorous scientific data to
effectively mitigate critical threats to global biodiversity.


For more information about the Center:

Center for Biodiversity and Conservation American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th Street
New York, N.Y. 10024-5192
Tel: 212-769-5742
Fax: 212-769-5292




___________________________________________________________________

Dr. Norman MacLeod
Micropalaeontological Research
N.MacLeod@nhm.ac.uk (E-mail)

Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum,
Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD

Office Phone: 0171-938-9006
Dept. FAX: 0171-938-9277
E-mail: N.MacLeod@nhm.ac.uk
___________________________________________________________________