Bridging Ecology, Culture, and Governance for Effective Conservation

Website: http://biodiversity.tamu.edu

This interdisciplinary program is a collaboration of the departments of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences, and Ecosystems Sciences and Management of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University.  It is funded by the National Science Foundation’s Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Program.  Other partners include Colleges of Sciences, Liberal Arts, Geosciences, and Veterinary Medicine.  External partnerships include Conservation International and the US National Park Service.

The vision of Applied Biodiversity Science (ABS) is to achieve integration between biodiversity research and on-the-ground conservation practices.

Three pillars support the program:

• integrated research in biological and social sciences;
• cross-disciplinary research and collaboration with conservation institutions and actors in the field;
• application of conservation theory to practice

Research teams of faculty mentors and students, in collaboration with international partners, will develop complementary dissertations related to two research themes: (A) Ecological Functions and Biodiversity; and (B) Communities and Governance. The ABS-IGERT will produce scientists prepared to understand ecological functions of local ecosystems, and also the activities and needs of surrounding communities in wider social, economic, and political contexts.

Please see the ABS website for more information: http://biodiversity.tamu.edu/