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Essentials of Conservation Biology
Fifth Edition
Sinauer Associates, Inc., Publishers
Sunderland, Massachusetts U.S.A.
About the Cover
Brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) represent a conservation success story.
Pelican numbers had declined in the United States, with the pesticide DDT
identified as the cause of thinning eggshells and a lack of reproduction. Since its
listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 1970 and the banning of DDT,
brown pelican numbers have increased substantially. Because of this recovery,
the brown pelican was removed from listing under the Act in 2009. (Photograph
© Tom Vezo/Minden Pictures.)

Essentials of Conservation Biology, Fifth Edition

Copyright© 2010 by Sinauer Associates, Inc.
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part
without permission from the publisher.

For information, address:

Sinauer Associates, Inc., 23 Plumtree Road, Sunderland, MA 01375 USA
Fax: 413-549-1118
E-mail: orders@sinauer.com; publish@sinauer.com
Internet: www.sinauer.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Primack, Richard B., 1950-

Essentials of conservation biology / Richard B. Primack. - 5th ed.
p.cm.
ISBN 978-0-87893-640-3 (alk. paper)
1. Conservation biology. I. Title.
QH75.P752 2010
333. 95'16-dc22
2010011325

Printed in China

5 4 3 2 1
 To my family, Margaret, Dan, Will, and Jasper,
and the teachers who inspired me,
Carroll E. Wood Jr. {1921-2009} and Janis Antonovics
Brief Contents
PART I Major Issues That Define the Discipline 1
1 What Is Conservation Biology? 3
2 What Is Biological Diversity? 23
3 Where Is the World's Biological Diversity Found? 51

PART 11 Valuing Biodiversity 69

4 Ecological Economics and Direct Use Values 71
5 Indirect Use Value 91
6 Ethical Values 115

PART 111 Threats to Biological Diversity 131

7 Extinction 133
8 Vulnerability to Extinction 155
9 Habitat Destruction, Fragmentation, Degradation, and Global Climate Change 173
10 Overexploitation, Invasive Species, and Disease 215

PART IV Conservation at the Population and Species Levels 245

11 Problems of Small Populations 247
12 Applied Population Biology 273
13 Establishing New Populations 295
14 Ex Situ Conservation Strategies 313

PART V Practical Applications 339

15 Establishing Protected Areas 341
16 Designing Networks of Protected Areas 367
17 Managing Protected Areas 389
18 Conservation Outside Protected Areas 415
19 Restoration Ecology 437

PART VI Conservation and Human Societies 459

20 Conservation and Sustainable Development at the Local and National Levels 461
21 An International Approach to Conservation and Sustainable Development 493
22 An Agenda for the Future 523
Contents

PART I Major Issues That Define the Discipline 1

CHAPTER 1 What Is Conservation Biology? 3
The New Science of Conservation Biology 5 The Origins of Conservation Biology 11
Conservation Biology Complements European Origins 13
the Traditional Disciplines 6 American Origins 16
Conservatton Biology Is a Crisis Discipline 7
A New Science Is Born 19
Conservation Biology's Ethical Principles 7
Conservation Biology: A Dynamic and
BOX 1.1 Conservation Biology's Interdisciplinary Growing Field 19
Approach: A Case Study with Sea Turtles 8

CHAPTER 2 What Is Biological Diversity? 23

Species Diversity 24 BOX 2.2 Kelp Forests and Sea Otters: Shaping an
Ocean Ecosystem 37
What Is a Species? 25
Ecological Succession 39
BOX 2.1 Naming and Classifying Species 27
Species Interactions within Ecosystems 40
The Origin of New Species 29
Principles of Community Organization 40
Measuring Species Diversity 30
Keystone Species and Guilds 44
Genetic Diversity 33 Keystone Resources 47
Ecosystem Diversity 36 Ecosystem Dynamics 48
What Are Communities and Ecosystems? 36 Conclusion 49

CHAPTER 3 Where Is the World's Biological Diversity Found? 51

Two of the Most Diverse Ecosystems on How Many Species Exist Worldwide? 58
Earth 52 New Species Are Being Discovered All the Time 58
Tropical Rain Forests 53 Recently Discovered Communities 60
Coral Reefs 53
BOX 3.1 Conserving a World Unknown:
Patterns of Diversity 54 Hydrothermal Vents and Oil Plumes 62
Variation in Climate and Environment 54 Diversity Surveys: Collecting and Counting
Variation in Topography, Geological Age, and Species 62
Habitat Size 55 Estimating the Number of Species 63
Why Are There So Many Species in the The Need for More Taxonomists 66
Tropics? 56
viii Contents

PART II Valuing Biodiversity 69

CHAPTER 4 Ecological Economics and Direct Use Values 71
Why Economic Valuation Is Needed . 72 Assigning Economic Value to Biological
Diversity 80
Evaluating Development Projects 74
Cost-Benefit Analysis 74 Direct Use Values 81
Natural Resource Loss and the Wealth of Consumptive Use Value 81
Societies 76 Productive Use Value 84
Multiple Uses of a Single Resource:
BOX 4.1 Industry, Ecology, and Ecotourism in
A Case Study 87
Yellowstone Park 79

CHAPTER 5 Indirect Use Value 91

Nonconsumptive Use Value 91 Environmental Monitors 101
Ecosystem Productivity and Carbon Sequestration 93 Recreation and Ecotourism 101
Protection of Water and Soil Resources 94 Educational and Scientific Value 104
BOX 5.1 Prophecy Fulfilled: How Ecosystem The Long-Term View: Option Value 104
Services Became Front Page News 96 BOX 5.3 Mighty Multitudes of Microbes:
Waste Treatment and Nutrient Retention 98 Not to Be Ignored! 106
Climate Regulation 98 Existence Value 109
Species Relationships 99
Is Economic Valuation Enough? 111
BOX 5.2 How Much Are Bats Worth? A Case Study
of Texas Bats 100

CHAPTER 6 Ethical Values 115

Ethical Values of Biological Diversity 116 BOX 6.2 Religion and Conservation 122
Ethical Arguments for Preserving Biological Enlightened Self-Interest: Biodiversity and
Diversity 117 Human Development 124
BOX 6.1 Sharks: A Feared Animal in Decline 118
Deep Ecology 126

PART Ill Threats to Biological Diversity 131

CHAPTER 7 Extinction 133
Past Mass Extinctions 134 Estimating Extinction Rates with the Island
Biogeography Model 145
The Current, Human-Caused Mass Extinction 136
Extinction Rates and Habitat Loss 147
Background Extinction Rates 141
Assumptions and Generalizations in the Island
Extinction Rates on Islands 141 Biogeography Model 149
Time to Extinction 149
Extinction Rates in Aquatic Environments 142
Local Extinctions 150
BOX 7 .1 Invasive Species and Extinction in Island
Ecosystems 143
 Contents ix

CHAPTER Vulnerability to Extinction 155

Endemic Species and Extinction 156 Conservation Categories 165
Species Most Vulnerable to Extinction 158 Natural Heritage Data Centers 169
BOX 8.1 Why Are Frogs and Toads Croaking? 163

CHAPTER 9 Habitat Destruction, Fragmentation, Degradation,

and Global Climate Change 173
Human Population Growth and Its Impact 174 Pesticide Pollution 197

Habitat Destruction 177 BOX 9.1 Pesticides and Raptors: Sentinel Species
Warn of Danger 198
Threatened Rain Forests 180
Water Pollution 198
Other Threatened Habitats 184
Air Pollution 201
Marine Coastal Areas 185
Desertification 187 Global Climate Change 204
, -
Changes in Temperate and Tropical Climates 208
Habitat Fragmentation 189
Plants and Climate Change 209
Edge Effects 193
Rising Sea Levels and Warmer Waters 209
Two Studies of Habitat Fragmentation 195
The Overall Effect of Global Warming 211
Habitat Degradation and Pollution 196

CHAPTER 10 Overexploitation, Invasive Species, and Disease 215

Overexploitation 215 BOX 10.2 GM Os and Conservation Biology 230
Exploitation in the Modern World 217 Invasive Species in Aquatic Habitats 232
International Wildlife Trade 218 The Ability of Species to Become Invasive 234
BOX 10.1 Endangered Whales: Making Control of Invasive Species 236
a Comeback? 220 Disease 237
Commercial Harvesting 224
Implications of Invasive Species and Diseases for
What Can Be Done to Stop Overexploitation? 225 Human Health 241
Invasive Species 226
Conclusion 242
Invasive Species on Islands 228

PART IV Conservation at the Population

and Species Levels 245
CHAPTER 11 Problems of Small Populations 247
Essential Concepts for Small Populations 248 Other Factors That Affect the Persistence of Small
Minimum Viable Population {MVP} 248 Populations 264
Loss of Genetic Variability 250 Demographic Variation 264
Consequences of Reduced Genetic Variability 254
Environmental Variation and Catastrophes 266
Factors That Determine Effective Population
Size 257 Extinction Vortices 268
BOX 11.1 Rhino Species in Asia and Africa: Genetic
Diversity and Habitat Loss 262
x Contents

CHAPTER 12 Applied Population Biology 273

Methods for Studying Populations 275 Population Viability Analysis 285
Gathering Ecol~gica.l Information 275 Metapopulations 287
Monitoring Populations 276
Long-Term Monitoring of Species and
BOX 12.1 Three Primatologists Who Became Ecosystems 290
Activists 279

CHAPTER 13 Establishing New Populations 295

Three Approaches to Establishing New Learned Behavior of Released Animals 302
Populations 296 Establishing New Plant Populations 305
BOX 13.1 Wolves Return to a Cold Welcome 297 The Status of New Populations 309
Successful Programs with Animals 299

CHAPTER 14 Ex Situ Conservation Strategies 313

Ex Situ Conservation Facilities 316 Botanical Gardens and Arboretums 328
Zoos 316 Seed Banks 330
BOX 14.1 Love Alone Cannot Save the Giant BOX 14.2 Seed Savers and Crop Varieties 333
Panda 317 Conclusion 336
Aquariums 326

PART V Practical Applications 339

CHAPTER 15 Establishing Protected Areas 341
Establishment and Classification of Protected Creating New Protected Areas 349
Areas 342 Prioritization: What Should Be Protected? 351
Existing Protected Areas 343 Determining Which Areas Should Be Protected 352
Marine Protected Areas 345 Linking New Protected Areas to Reserve
BOX 15.1 The Phoenix Islands Protected Area: The Networks 360
World's Largest Marine Park 346 Gap Analysis 361
The Effectiveness of Protected Areas 347

CHAPTER 16 Designing Networks of Protected Areas 367

Issues of Reserve Design 368 BOX 16.1 Ecologists and Real Estate Experts Mingle
at The Nature Conservancy 377
Protected Area Size and Characteristics 369
Reserve Design and Species Preservation 373 Habitat Corridor Case Studies 380

Minimizing Edge and Fragmentation Effects 374 Landscape Ecology and Park Design 382
Networks of Protected Areas 375 Conclusion 386
Habitat Corridors 375
 Contents xi

CHAPTER 17 Managing Protected Areas 389

Monitoring as a Management Tool 392 Management and People 402
Identifying and Managing Threats 394 BOX 17 .2 Managing Leopards Together
with People 403
Managing Invasive Species 394
Zoning to Separate Conflicting Demands 404
Managing Habitat 396
Regulating Activities inside Protected Areas 407
BOX 17 .1 Habitat Management: The Key to Success
in the Conservation of Endangered BOX 17.3 Is Arctic Wildlife Management Compatible
Butterflies 397 with Oil Drilling? 408
Managing Water 399 Challenges in Park Management 410
Managing Keystone Resources 401

CHAPTER 18 Conservation Outside Protected Areas 415

The Value Qf Unpro_tected Habitat 417 Ecosystem Management 427
Conservation in Urban Areas 420 Case Studies 430
BOX 18.1 In Defense of Wildlife ... Send in the Managed Coniferous Forests 430
Soldiers 421 African Wildlife Outside Parks 432
Conservation in Agricultural Areas 423 Community-Based Wildlife Management
in Namibia 432
Multiple Use Habitat 425

CHAPTER 19 Restoration Ecology 437

Damage and Restoration 439 Restoration in Urban Areas 445
BOX 19.1 Can Many Small Projects Clean Up the Restoration of Some Major Communities 447
Chesapeake Bay? 441
Wetlands 447
Ecological Restoration Techniques 442 BOX 19.2 The Kissimmee River: Restoring a
Practical Considerations 443 Channelized River to Its Natural State 448
Case Studies 445 Lakes 449
Prairies 451
Wetlands Restoration in Japan 445
The Grand Canyon-Colorado River Ecosystem 445 Tropical Dry Forest in Costa Rica 453
The Future of Restoration Ecology 455
xii Contents

PART VI Conservation and Human Societies 459

CHAPTER 20 Conservation and Sustainable Development at the Local and
National Levels 461
Conservation at the Local Level 463 Conservation Beliefs 478
Land Trusts 463 Conservation Efforts That Involve Traditional
Societies 480
BOX 20.1 How Clean Is "Green"Energy? 465
BOX 20.2 People-Friendly Conservation in the
Local Legislation 467 Hills of Southwest India: Successes
Conservation at the National Level 469 and Failures 485
National Legislation 469 Evaluating Conservation Initiatives That Involve
Traditional Societies 489
The U.S. Endangered Species Act 471
Traditional Societies, Conservation, and
Sustainable Use 477

CHAPTER 21 An International Approach to Conservation and Sustainable

Development 493
International Agreements to Protect Species 495 Reforming Development Lending 511
BOX 21.1 The War for the Elephant: Is the Armistice BOX 21.2 How Much Will the Three Gorges Dam
Over? 497 Really Cost? 512

International Agreements to Protect Funding Sources and Programs 515

Habitat 499 National Environmental Funds 516
International Earth Summits 502 Debt-for-Nature Swaps 517
Marine Environments 518
Funding for Conservation 506
How Effective Is Conservation Funding? 518
The Role of International Development
Increased Funding Is Necessary for the Future 519
Banks 509

CHAPTER 22 An Agenda for the Future 523

Ongoing Problems and Possible Solutions 524 Challenges for Conservation Biologists 531
BOX 22.1 Conservation Education: Shaping the BOX 22.2 Environmental Activism Confronts the
Next Generation into Conservationists 525 Opposition 532
The Role of Conservation Biologists 531 Achieving the Agenda 533

Appendix 539

Chapter Opener Photograph Credits 543

Glossary 545

Bibliography 553

Index 587
Preface

After decades of public interest in nature and the environment, the United Nations
focused worldwide attention on conservation by declaring 2010 to be the Interna-
tional Year of Biodiversity. The general public has absorbed this message and is ask-
ing its political leaders to provide the policy changes needed to address this issue.
Conservation biology is the field that seeks to study and protect the living world
and its biological diversity (or biodiversity in its shortened form). The field emerged
during the last 35 years as a major new discipline to address the alarming loss of
biological diversity. The threats to biodiversity are all too real, as demonstrated by
the recent recognition. that fully one-third of amphibian species are in danger of ex-
tinction. At the same time, our need to remain hopeful is highlighted, for exam-
ple, by increasing sea turtle populations at many locations throughout the world
following comprehensive conservation efforts. Many examples described in this
book show that governments, individuals, and conservation organizations can work
together to make the world a better place for nature.
Evidence of the explosive increase of interest in conservation biology is shown
by the rapidly increasing membership in the Society for Conservation Biology, the
great intellectual excitement displayed in many journals and newsletters, and the
large numbers of new edited books and advanced texts that appear almost week-
ly. International conservation organizations have emerged to tackle conservation
issues with a multi-disciplinary approach, and an Encyclopedia of Life is being de-
veloped as an online resource to provide the needed information for conservation
issues.
University students continue to enroll enthusiastically and in large numbers in
conservation biology courses. Previous editions of Essentials of Conservation Biolo-
gy have provided a comprehensive textbook for this subject. (The Primer of Conser-
vation Biology, in its Fourth Edition, continues to fill the need for a "quick" guide
for those who want a basic familiarity with conservation biology.) The Fifth Edition
of Essentials provides a thorough introduction to the major concepts and problems
of the field. Like its predecessors, it is designed for use in conservation biology
courses, and also as a supplemental text for general biology, ecology, wildlife biol-
ogy, and environmental policy courses. The book is also intended to serve as a de-
tailed guide for professionals who require a comprehensive background in the sub-
ject. Readers should enjoy and benefit from the updated full-color illustration and
photo program. Highlighted synopses of major points in the text have been added
as sidebars and serve as useful study aids.
This Fifth Edition reflects the excitement and new developments in the field. It
provides coverage of the latest information available on a number of topics, includ-
ing the expanding system of marine protected areas and linkages between conser-
vation and global change. It also highlights new approaches culled from the liter-
ature on topics such as species reintroductions, population viability analysis,
protected areas management, and payments for ecosystem services. Also new to
this edition is an Instructor's Resource CD, available to qualified adopting instruc-
tors of the text. This IRCD includes electronic versions of all the figures, photos,
and tables from the textbook.
xiv Preface

In keeping with the international approach of conservation biology, I feel it is im-

portant to make the field accessible to as wide an audience as possible. With the as-
sistance of Marie Scavotto and the staff of Sinauer Associates, I have arranged an
active translation program, beginning in 1995 with translations into German and
Chinese in 1997. It became clear to me that the best way to make the material acces-
sible was to create regional or country-specific translations, identifying local scien-
tists to become coauthors and to add case studies, examples, and illustrations from
their own countries and regions that would be more relevant to the intended au-
dience. To that end, in the past 12 years, editions of Essentials have appeared in Ara-
bic, Hungarian, Romanian, and Spanish with a Latin American focus; and the Primer
has appeared in Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese (two editions), Czech, Estonian,
French with a Madagascar focus, Greek, Indonesian (two editions), Italian, Japan-
ese (two editions), Korean (two editions), Mongolian, Romanian, Russian, Spanish,
and Vietnamese. New editions of the Primer for France, South Asia, Pakistan, Turkey,
and the Czech Republic are currently in production. It is my hope that these trans-
lations will help conservation biology develop as a discipline with a global scope.
At the same time, examples from these translations find their way back into the
English language editions, thereby enriching the presentation.
I hope that readers of this book will want to find out more about the extinction
crisis facing species and ecosystems and how they can take action to halt it. I en-
courage readers to take the field's activist spirit to heart-use the Appendix to find
organizations and sources of information on how to help. If readers gain a greater
appreciation for the goals, methods, and importance of conservation biology, and
if they are moved to make a difference in their everyday lives, this textbook will
have served its purpose.

Acknowledgments
I sincerely appreciate the contribution of everyone who helped make this book ac-
curate and clear. Individual chapters in this edition were reviewed by Dana Bauer,
Patrick Bohlen, Katrina Brandon, Sue Bratton, Phil Cafaro, Linus Chen, Richard Cor-
lett, Chris Elphick, Richard Frankham, Elizabeth Freeman, Richard Griffiths, Susan
Jacobson, Christopher Johnson, Jeff McNeely, Michael Reed, Tom Ricciardi, Marcos
Robles, Eric Seabloom, Jodi Sedlock, Howard Snell, and Navjot Sodhi. Les Kaufman
of Boston University provided expertise on marine systems in all chapters.
Numerous people offered specialized input that helped make the boxes and case
studies current and accurate. I would particularly like to recognize the contribu-
tions of Kamal Bawa, Steve Bousquin, Marlin Bowles, David Bray, Jim Estes, Ed
Guerrant, Shen Guozhen, Kayri Havens, Rob Horwich, Daniel Janzen, Lukas Keller,
Cheryl Knot, Tom Kunz, Kerry Lagueux, Laurie Bingaman Lackie, Rodrigo Gamez
Lobo, Kathy MacKinnon, Elizabeth Marquard, Carlos Peres, Tom Power, Robert
Simmons, Lisa Sorenson, Michael Thompson, Sebastian Troenig, David Western,
Tony Whitten, Peter Wrege, Miriam Wyman, and Truman Young.
Rachel Morrison was the principal research assistant and organizer for the proj-
ect, with additional help from Jin Chung, Libby Ellwood, Elysia Heilig, Heather
Lieb, Farah Mohammedzadeh, Rebecca Norklun, Caroline Folgar, and Lily Smith.
Sydney Carroll and Kathaleen Emerson provided invaluable help in the produc-
tion of the book, with numerous suggestions on how to make the book friendlier
to student readers. Andy Sinauer, Chris Small, David McIntyre, Joan Gemme and
the rest of the Sinauer staff helped to transform the manuscript into a finished book.
Special thanks are due to my wife Margaret and my children Dan, Will, and Jasper
for encouraging me to fulfill an important personal goal by completing this book.
I would like to recognize Boston University for providing me with the facilities and
 Preface xv

environment that made this project possible and the many Boston University stu-
dents who have taken my conservation biology courses over the years. Their en-
thusiasm and suggestions have helped me to find new ways to present this mate-
rial. And lastly, I would like to express my great appreciation to my coauthors in
other countries who have worked with me to produce conservation biology text-
books in their own languages, which are critical for spreading the message of con-
servation biology to a wider audience.

Richard Primack
Boston, Massachusetts
April, 2010

Media and Supplements to accompany Essentials of

Conservation Biology, Fifth Edition
Instructor's Resource Library (ISBN 978-0-87893-638-0)
(Available to qualified adopting instructors.)

The Essentials of Conservation Biology Instructor's Resource Library includes all of

the textbook's figures (including photos) and tables, in several formats. Each fig-
ure has been formatted and optimized for excellent legibility when projected in the
classroom. Images are provided as both low-resolution and high-resolution JPEGs,
and a PowerPoint® presentation of all figures and tables is provided for each chap-
ter, making it easy to quickly incorporate figures into lecture presentations.
 PART

MAJOR ISSUES THAT

DEFINE THE DISCIPLINE

What Is Conservation Biology?

What Is Biological Diversity?
Where Is the World's Biological
Diversity Found?

The New Science of
Conservation Biology
Conservation Biology Comple-
ments the Traditional
Disciplines
Conservation Biology Is a Crisis
Discipline
Conservation Biology's Ethical
Principles
BOX 1.1 Conservation
Biology's Interdisciplinary
Approach: A Case Study
with Sea Turtles
The Origins of Conservation
Biology
European Origins
American Origins
A New Science Is Born
Conservation Biology: A
Dynamic and Growing Field
What Is Conservation
Biology?
opular interest in protecting the world's biological diver-
P sity-including its amazing range of species, its complex
ecosystems, and the genetic variation within species-
has intensified during the last few decades. It has become in-
creasingly evident to both scientists and the general public that
we are living in a period of unprecedented biodiversity* loss.
Around the globe, biological communities that took millions of
years to develop, including tropical rain forests, coral reefs,
temperate old-growth forests, and prairies, are being devastat-
ed by human actions. Thousands, if not tens of thousands, of
species and millions of unique populations are predicted to go
extinct in the coming decades (MEA 2005). Unlike mass extinc-
tions in the geological past, in which tens of thousands of
species died out following massive catastrophes such as aster-
oid collisions with the Earth and dramatic temperature changes,
today's extinctions have a human face. Never before in the his-
tory of life have so many species and ecosystems been threat-
ened with extinction in so short a period of time. Never before
has such devastation been caused by beings who claim reason,
a moral sense, and free will as their unique and defining charac-
teristics. The overwhelming cause of all this loss is the rapidly
expanding human population.
*Biological diversity is often shortened to biodiversity.
4 Chapter 1

10 During the last 160 years, the human population has

ex:eloded. It took more than 10,000 years for the num-
9 ✓ber of Homo sapiens to reach 1 billion, an event that oc-
curred sometime around the year 1850. Estimates for 2011
8 put the number of humans at 7 billion, with an estimat-
ed 9.4 billion by 2050 (Rosenberg 2009); at this size, even
~ 7 a modest rate of population increase adds tens of millions
t:::
0 of individuals each year (Figure 1.1 ). T~e threats to bio-
=
e 6 diver~ty are accelerating because of the demands of the
t::: rapidly increasing human population and its rising ma-
.9
-:;; 5 tenalcm'1:sum~on. £:eople_use_natl!ral ~s~:1~ces s ~ as
"3
0..
0
firewood, coal, oil, timber, fish, and game, and th~y con-
0..
t::: 4 vert natur~_l l_!9-~Jtats !o land dominatectQ~g!i~ulture,
rd
s;:l ci ties~-housing developments,·loggingL mining, ind ustri-
:r: 3 alplants, and ()ther human-acffvities., - - =
Worsening the situation is the fact that as countries de-
2 velop and industrialize, the consumption of resources by
their citizens increases. For example, the average citizen
·of the United States uses five times more energy than the
average globalcitizen, ten times more than the average
0 Chinese citizen, and 28 times more than the average In-
1850 1900 1950 2000 2050
(estimated) dian citizen (Worldwatch Institute 2008; Encyclopedia of
Year the Nations 2009). The ever-increasing number of human
FIGURE 1.1 The human population in 2010 stands at
beings and their intensifying use of natural resources have
around 6.8 billion. The World Resources Institute estimates direct and harmful consequences for the diversity of the
current annual population growth at 1.1 %, but even this living world. · '
modest growth rate will add more than 72 million people to Unless something is done to reverse the trend of
the planet in the next year. This number will escalate each human-caused extinctions, wonderful species that exem-
year as the increase is compounded. (Data from U.S. Census plify the natural world for us-such as giant pandas, but-
Bureau, www.census.gov.) terflies, songbirds, and whales-soon will be lost forev-
er from their wild habitats. Additionally, many thousands,
possibly millions, of less conspicuous plant, fungi, and invertebrate species and un-
countable numbers of microorganisms will join them in extinction unless their habi-
tats and populations are protected. The loss of these inconspicuous species may
prove to be devastating to the planet and its human inhabitants because of the roles
these species play in maintaining ecosystems.
In addition to species extinctions, the natural hydrologic and chemical cycles that
people depend on for clean wates anc! cle~I). air have been disrupted by deforesta-
tton and land_cleaflng, Soil erosion and pollution from agriculture and sewage dis-
charges cause massive damage to rivers, lakes, and oceans. The very climate of our
planet Earth has been disrupted by a combination of atmospheric pollution and de-
forestation. Genetic diversity within species has decreased as populations are re-
duced in size, even among species with seemingly healthy populations.
The main threat humans pose to the diversity of life is our destruction of natu-
ralhahitat, which stems from the growth a£ the hiumm populat.ion and our e~r-
increasing u~~_()~Q_m~e_s (Papworth et al. 2009). Sugih_abita_t des_truction inc!udes
tnedear~cu tting_Qf _9ld-gr_Q~tll_forests _in_fue _tempera te zone andin rain forests in
th~ics;over_ll~e-of grasslands for pastl!re, _draining of wetlandsLand pollut~~:m
offreshwater and_n:iarine ec:9s_ystems. Even when parcels of natural habitat are pre-
served as national parks, nature reserves, and marine protected areas, extreme vig-
ilance is required to prevent the extinction of their remaining species, whose num-
bers have been so dramatically reduced in the past that they are now particularly
vulnerable to extinction. Also, the environment in the preserved habitat fragments
 What Is Conservation Biology? 5

is so altered from its original condition that a site may no longer be suitable for
the continued existence of certain species.
There are many other threats facing modem ecosystems, including climate change
and invasive species. Efforts to protect a species in one area may be severely crip-
pled as a result of a rapid climate change to which the species cannot adapt (see
Chapter 9). Also. biol_ogica) cornmunities have been particularj.y,devastated by the
introduction of exotic species, some of which have been deliberately brought in
from other areas and established by people, such as domesticated animals and or-
namental plants, and some of which have been brought in accidentally, such as
weed species, insect pests, and new diseases. In many cases, particularly on islands,
these species have become invasive (see Chapter 10) and have displaced and elim-
inated native species.
Another major threat to biological diversity is the use of modem technolo to
over arvest anirna s an pants for loca an mtemationa markets. Hunters in trop-
ical forests now use guns and motorized vehicles, where before they used bows and
arrows and walked on foot. Fishing has changed from small wind- and hand-pow-
ered boats to large motorized fleets with freezers that can stay at sea for weeks or
months at aJirne. Entire forest, grassland, and ocean communities have been emp-
tied of their animal life and, in many cases, cleared of their plant life as well.
Pgwerful te_chnolo.gies allow alteration of the environment on a regional and even
a global scale. S_2tne ..9f t~ese transformations are inteptional, §llCh as the creatio:n
of darns and th~development of n_ew agrkultural land✓ but other change~, such as
iiirpolfution, strip-mining of entire hills, and damage to seabed habitats during
fishing, are by-prod~~ts of our 9-ctivities. Unregulated dumping ofchernicals and
sewage into streams, rivers, and lakes has polluted major freshwater and coastal
marine systems throughout the world and has driven significant numbers of species
toward extinction. Pollution has reached such high levels that even large marine
environments, such as the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Persian
Gulf, which were once assumed to be able to absorb pollution with no negative ef-
fects, are threatened with the loss of whole suites of formerly common species. Some_
ip.land water b~c!ies, such <!._S the Aral S~a, have been completely d~~d, along
with the many unique fish species that lived in them. Air pollution from factories
and cars has turned rainwater into an acid solution that weakens and kills moun-
tain trees downwind of industrial centers and, in tum, removes habitat for the an-
imals that depend on those plants. Scientists have warned that levels of air pollu-
tion have become severe enough to alter global climate patterns and strain the
capacity of the atmosphere to filter out harmful ultraviolet radiation. The impacts
of these events on ecosystems are enormous and ominous; they have also stimulat-
ed the growth of conservation biology.
Scientists now realize that man of the threats to biological diversit ares ner-
gis.tic-t a 1s, e negative e fects of several independent factors such as logging,
fire, poverty, and overhunting combine additively or even multiplicatively. Scien-
tists also know that the threats to biological diversity directly threaten human pop-
ulations because people are dependent on the natural environment for raw mate-
rials, food, medicines, and even the water they drink. And the poorest people are
the ones who will experience the greatest hardship from damaged environments.

The New Science of Conservation Biology

Many of us feel discouraged by the avalanche of species extinctions and the whole-
sale habitat destruction occurring in the world today. But it is possible-and indeed
necessary-to feel challenged in order to find ways to stop the destruction (Orr
2007). Actions taken-or bypassed-during the next few decades will determine
6 Chapter 1

how many of the world's species and natural areas will survive. People may some-
day look back on the first decades of the twenty-first century as an extraordinari-
ly exciting time, when a collaboration of determined people acting locally and in-
ternationally saved large numbers of species from extinction and even entire
ecosystems from destruction. Examples of such conservation efforts are described
later in this chapter and throughout this book.
~::> Conservation biology is an integrated, multidisciplinary scientific field that has
developed in response to the challenge of preserving species and ecosystems. It has
~egoals:
• to document the full range of biological diversity on Earth
• to investigate human impact on species, genetic variation, and ecosystems

\ • to develop practical approaches to prevent the extinction of species, main-

I
tain genetic diversity within species, and protect and restore biological com-
munities and their associated ecosystem functions ( ➔ IA n<Yrn0t1 v.f} d , r - ~, .-- -'

The first two of these goals involve the dispassionate search for factual knowledge
typical of scientific research. The third goal, however, defines conservation biology
as a normative discipline-that is, it embraces certain values and attempts to apply
scientific methods to achieving those values. Like medical science, which applies knowl-
edge gleaned from physiology, anatomy, biochemistry, and genetics to the goal of
achieving human health and eliminating illness, conservation biologists intervene to
prevent the human-enhanced loss of biodiversity, because they believe the preserva-
tion of species and ecosystems to be an ultimate good (Nelson and Vucetich 2009).

• Conservation Biology Complements the Traditional Disciplines

Conservation biology arose in the 1980s because the traditional applied disciplines
of resource management alone were not comprehensive enough to address the crit-
ical threats to biological diversity. Agriculture, forestry, wildlife management, and
fisheries biology have been concerned primarily with develop-
Conservation biology merges applied and ing methods to manage a small range of species for the market-
place and for recreation. These disciplines generally were not
theoretical biology and incorporates ideas
concerned with the protection of the full range of species and
and expertise from a broad range of fields
ecosystems, or at best, they regarded this as a secondary issue.
outside the natural sciences, toward the
Conservation biology complements the applied disciplines and
goal of preserving biodiversity. provides a more general theoretical approach to the protection
of biological diversity. It differs from these disciplines in its pri-
mary goal of long-term preservation of entire ecosystems, with economic factors
secondary.
The academic disciplines of population biology, taxonomy, ecology, and genet-
ics constitute the core of conservation biology, and many conservation biologists
have been drawn from these ranks. Others come from backgrounds in the applied
disciplines, such as forestry and wildlife management. In addition, many leaders
in conservation biology have come from zoos and botanical gardens, bringing with
them experience in locating rare and endangered species in the wild and then main-
taining and propagating them in captivity.
Conservation biology is also closely associated with environmentalism, a wide-
spread movement characterized by political and educational activism with the goal
of protecting the natural environment from destruction and pollution. Conserva-
tion biology is a scientific discipline whose findings often contribute to the envi-
ronmentalist movement but differs from it by being based in biological research.
Because much of the biodiversity crisis arises from human pressures, conserva-
tion biology also incorporates ideas and expertise from a broad range of other fields
(Figure 1.2) (Groom et al. 2006). For example, environmental law and policy pro-
 What Is Conservation Biology? 7

vide the basis for government protection of rare

and endangered species and critical habitats.
Environmental ethics provides a rationale for
preserving species. Ecological economists pro-
vide analyses of the economic value of biolog-
Basic Sciences Resource Management
ical diversity to support arguments for preser-
Anthropology Agriculture
vation. Ecosystem ecologists and climatologists Biogeography Community education
monitor the biological and physical character- Climatology and development
istics of the environment and develop models Ecology: Fisheries management
Community ecology Forestry
to predict environmental responses to distur- Ecosystem ecology Land-use planning and
bance. Social sciences, such as anthropology, so- Landscape ecology regulation
ciology, and geography, provide methods to in- Environmental studies: Management of captive
Ecological economics populations:
volve local people in actions to protect their Environmental ethics Zoos
immediate environment. Conservation educa- Environmental law Aquariums
tion links academic study and fieldwork to Ethnobotany Botanical gardens
Evolutionary biology Seed banks
solve environmental problems, teaching peo- Genetics Management of protected
ple about science and helping them realize the Population biology areas
value of the ,natural environment. Because it Sociology Sustainable development
Taxonomy Wildlife management
draws on the ideas and skills of so many sepa- Other biological, physical, Other resource conservation
rate fields, conservation biology can be consid- and social sciences and management activities
ered a truly multidisciplinary approach.
Another crucial difference between conserva-
tion biology and other purely academic disci-
elines is that conservation biology attempts to
address specific issues with solutions that can be
applied to actual threats to biodiversity (Box 1.1 ). FIGURE 1.2 Conservation biology represents a synthesis of many
These issues involve determining the best strate- basic sciences (left) that provide principles and new approaches for the
gies for protecting rare species, designing nature applied fields of resource management (right). The experiences gained
reserves, developing programs to maintain ge- in the field, in turn, influence the direction of the basic sciences. (After
netic variability in small populations, and recon- Temple 1991.)
ciling conservation concerns with the needs of
local people. The critical test for conservation biology is whether it can preserve and
restore species and ecosystems (Hall and Fleishman 2010). While much of conserva-
tion research remains overly academic, the goal is still to provide practical solutions
that managers can use in real situations.

Conservation Biology Is a Crisis Discipline

In many ways, conservation biology is a crisis discipline. Decisions about park
design, species management, and other aspects of conservation are made every day
under severe time pressure (Marris 2007). Conservation biologists and scientists
in related fields are well suited to provide the advice that governments, business-
es, and the general public need in order to make crucial decisions, but because of
time constraints, scientists are often compelled to make recommendations with-
out thorough investigation. Decisions must be made, with or without scientific
input, and conservation biologists must be willing to express opinions and take ac-
tion based on the best available evidence and informed judgment (Chan 2008). They
must also articulate a long-term conservation vision that extends beyond the im-
mediate crisis (Redford and Sanjayan 2003; Nelson and Vucetich 2009).

Conservation Biology's Ethical Principles

Earlier in the chapter, we mentioned that conservation biology is a normative dis-
cipline in which certain value judgments are inherent. Conservation biology rests
on an underlying set of principles that are generally accepted by members of the
discipline (Soule 1985):
8 Chapter 1

BOX 1.1 Conservation Biology's Interdisciplinary Approach:

A Case Study with Sea Turtles

■ Our ability to protect biological diversity has been strength-

ened in part because conservation biology has spearheaded
a wide range of local, national, and international efforts to
promote scientific research and policy changes that support
conservation. Certain endangered species are recovering as a
result of such measures. We can point to an expansion of our
knowledge base and the science of conservation biology, the
developing linkages with the fields of rural development and
social sciences, and our increased ability to restore degraded
environments. All of these suggest that progress is being made
despite the enormous, even overwhelming, tasks still ahead.
Throughout the world, scientists are using the approaches
of conservation biology to address challenging problems, as
illustrated by a Brazilian program for the conservation of high-
ly endangered sea turtles.
Sea turtles are in desperate trouble. Many sea turtle pop-
ulations have shrunk to less than 1% of their original sizes, In a protected feeding and nesting area around Rocas Atoll,
about 220 km from the coast of Brazil, Brazilian scientists
devastated by a combination of factors that includes de-
measure the length of an endangered green turtle (Chelonia
struction of their nesting habitat, hunting of adult turtles mydas). They will permanently tag the turtle as part of a com-
and collecting of turtle eggs for food, and high mortality prehensive conservation effort by Projeto TAMAR. (Photo-
due to entanglement in fishing gear. The nation of Brazil's graph courtesy of Projeto TAMARimage Bank.)
comprehensive approach to saving these fascinating, mys-
t erious creatures provides an illustration of the interdisci- The TAMAR survey found that turtle nesting beaches fell
plinary nature of conservation biology. into three main zones along 1100 km of the coastline be-
tween Rio de Janeiro and Recife, with loggerhead turtles
(Caretta caretta) the most abundant species and four other
Interdisciplinary approaches, the involvement of
species also present. The green turtle (Che/onia mydas) was
local people, and the restoration of important
the only species nesting on Brazil's offshore islands.
environments and species all attest to progress
Interviews with villagers and observations of beaches re-
in the science of conservation biology.
vealed that adult turtles and turtle eggs were being harvest-
ed intensively, with people often collecting virtually every tur-
Sea turtles spend their lives at sea, with only the females tle egg laid. In many areas, the construction of resorts, houses,
returning to land to lay eggs on sandy beaches. When the commercial developments, and beach roads had damaged
Brazilian government set out to design a conservation pro- and reduced the available nesting area on beaches. Shadows
gram, planners discovered that no one knew exactly which cast by the buildings changed the temperature of the sand in
species of sea turtles were found in Brazil, how many tur- which the eggs incubated, which biologists now know to be
tles there were, where they laid their eggs, and how local a critical factor in determining the sex of a developing turtle
people were affecting them. To overcome this lack of basic embryo. On some beaches, almost all of the emerging turtles
information, in 1980 the Brazilian government established were females, affecting the ability of the species as a whole
the National Marine Turtle Conservation Program, called to reproduce successfully. Additionally, the light from the
Projeto TAMAR* (Marcovaldi and Marcovaldi 1999; Marco- buildings at night disoriented emerging hatchlings: instead
valdi and Chaloupka 2007). The project began with a 2-year of heading straight to the ocean, they often wandered in
survey of Brazil's 6000 kilometers of coastline, using boats, wrong directions and became exhausted. Of the young tur-
horses, and foot patrols, combined with hundreds of inter- tles that did make it to sea, many were caught in the nets of
views with villagers. TAMAR divers aided in these efforts by fishermen, where they suffocated and died.
tagging and monitoring sea turtle populations in the water.
This data-gathering phase is an important initial step in *TAMAR is an acronym for "TArtarugas MARinas," which is Por-
many conservation projects. tuguese for "marine turtles."

BOX 1 .1 (continued)
Information from the TAMAR survey was critical to legis-
lation passed in 1986 in Brazil that led to the complete pro-
tection of sea turtles and the establishment of two new bi-
ological reserves and a marine national park to protect
important nesting beaches. While creating protected areas
is important in conservation efforts, ongoing management
activities are also needed. Projeto TAMAR chose an innova-
tive and comprehensive approach to protecting the turtles
on the ground. They established conservation stations at
each of 21 main nesting beaches. The Brazilian government
grants TAMAR complete responsibility for and control of the
beaches within these stations. Each station has a manager,
several university interns, and local employees. More than
85% of TAMAR's 1000 employees live on the coast; many are
former fish_ermen wh_o bring their knowledge of sea turtles
to bear on conservation . These local employees have be-
come strong advocates for the turtles because their wages
from Projeto TAMAR and the related tourist industry are
linked to the continuing presence of these animals.
The stations' personnel regularly patrol the conservation
areas on foot and by vehicle, measuring turtles for size and
permanently flipper-tagging all adults observed on the beach .
In places where predators are abundant, some nests are cov-
ered with wire mesh fitted with small gaps to protect the eggs
and then allow movement of the baby turtles after they hatch.
Alternatively, the eggs are collected and brought to nearby
hatchery areas, where they are reburied (Almeida and Mendes
2007). These measures allow baby turtles emerging from pro-
tected nests or hatcheries to enter the ocean just as if they
had emerged from natural nests. TAMAR protects over 4000
turtle nests each year and has protected around 100,000 nests
and approximately 7 million hatch lings in the years since its
inception. On average, the number of turtle nests on the
beaches has also been increasing by an impressive 20% a year
(Marcovaldi and Chaloupka 2007).
TAMAR is also working with the Brazilian government
to protect and manage the nesting beaches on the offshore
islands. The project has extended its mission to include pre-
venting turtles from getting caught in fishing nets while feed-
ing in coastal waters. TAMAR provides fishermen with infor-
mation about the importance of turtles and about fishing
gear designed to prevent turtle capture. Fishermen are also
taught techniques for reviving turtles caught in their nets
so the turtles will not suffocate. Their increasing apprecia-
tion of turtles and their awareness of the new laws lead most
fishermen to cooperate with these policies. However, acci-
dental capture remains a leading cause of turtle mortality.
Projeto TAMAR plays a positive role in the villages where
it operates. In many areas, TAMAR is the primary source
of income for the local people, often providing child care
What Is Conservation Biology? 9
facilities and small medical and dental clinics. Villagers are
employed in making turtle-themed crafts to sell to tourists.
To increase awareness of the program at the local level ,
TAMAR personnel give talks about marine conservation in
village schools and organize hatch ling release ceremonies.
The project reaches a wide audience in Brazil through
coverage in popular articles and on television programs. In
addition, TAMAR operates sea turtle educational centers
where hundreds of thousands of tourists, most of whom
are from Brazil, visit each year. The tourists get to see con-
Projeto TAMAR generates publicity for sea turtle conservation
by staging festive events involving tourists, school groups,
and local people, such as this release of hatchlings that were
incubated in the safety of a protected hatchery. (Courtesy of
Projeto TAMAR Image Bank.)
servation in action and receive a large dose of conservation
education; in turn, they support the project through their
purchase of souvenirs.
Projeto TAMAR has tried to involve the next generation
of concerned conservationists in current projects, helping
student interns experience success with a real-life conser-
vation project. Hopefully, the awareness raised by Projeto
TAMAR will extend gradually to other conservation programs.
As a result of Projeto TAMAR's efforts in protecting thou-
sands of adult turtles, tens of thousands of nests, and mil-
lions of hatchlings, sea turtle numbers in Brazil have stabi-
lized and even show signs of increasing. The project has
changed people's attitudes, both in coastal villages and in the
wider Brazilian society. By integrating conservation goals with
community education and development, Projeto TAMAR has
improved the future for sea turtles and for local people in-
volved with their conservation.
10 Chapter 1

• The diversity of species and ecosystems should be preserved. The rich diversity of
iife should be protected. In general, most people agree with this principle
because they enjoy biological diversity. The hundreds of millions of visi-
tors each year to zoos, national parks, botanical gardens, and aquariums tes-
tify to the general public's interest in observing different species and ecosys-
tems (Figure 1.3). Genetic variation within species also sparks popular interest,
as shown by the wide appeal of pet shows, agricultural expositions, flower
exhibitions, and large numbers of specialty clubs (African violet societies,
rose societies, etc.). Home gardeners pride themselves on how many types
of plants they have in their gardens, while bird-watchers compete to see how
many species they can identify in one day or in their lifetimes. It has even
been suggested that humans may have a genetic predisposition to like bio-
logical diversity, called biophilia, from the Greek root words bio or "life" and
philia or "loving"; that is, to love living things (Kellert 1997; Corral-Ver-
dugo et al. 2009).
• The untimel extinction o opulations and species should be prevented. The ordi-
-nary extinction of species and populations as a result o natural processes
is an ethically neutral event. Ihrough the millennia of geological time, the
n!_tural extinction of each species has tended to be balanced by the evolu-
tion of new species. The local loss of a population of a species likewise is u~u-
ally offset by the establishment of a new population through dispersal. How-
ever, as a result of human activity, the rate of extinction has increased by
more than a hundredfold (see Chapter 7). Virtually all of the hundreds of
vertebrate species-and the presumed tens of thousands of invertebrate
species-that have gone extinct in the last few centuries have been wiped
out by humans. Many people now recognize their 'role and responsibility
in causing and, more important, in preventing extinctions.

FIGURE 1.3 People enjoy seeing the diversity of life, as shown by the growing popularity
of butterfly gardens. (Photograph by Richard B. Primack.)
 What Is Conservation Biology? 11

• Ecological complexity should be maintained. Many of the most interesting prop-

'erties of biological diversity are only expressed in natural environments. For
example, complex coevolutionary and ecological relation-
ships exist among some tropical flowers, the hummingbirds
There are ethical reasons why people want
that visit the flowers to drink nectar, and the mites that live
to conserve biological diversity, such as a
in the flowers and use the hummingbirds' beaks as "buses"
belief that species have intrinsic value. Also,
to travel from flower to flower. These relationships would
no longer exist if the hummingbirds, mites, and plants were people may be naturally disposed to appre-
housed separately and in isolation at zoos and botanical gar- ciate and value biodiversity.
dens. While the biological diversity of species may be par-
tially preserved in zoos and gardens, the ecological complexity that exists in
natural communities will be largely lost without the preservation of wild
lands and aquatic environments.
• Evolution should continue. Evolutionary adaptation is the process that eventu-
ally leads to new species and increased biological diversity. Therefore, it is
important to allow populations to continue to evolve in nature. Human
processes that limit or even prevent populations from evolving, such as elim-
ination of uniquemountain populations or populations at the northern edge
of a species range, should be avoided. _!:reserving species in captivity when
they are no longer able to survive in the wild is a possible stopgap means of
rescue, but such s ecies are then cut off from the ecolo ical rocesses that
a owed them to evolve. In those cases, the species may no longer be able to
survive in the wild if released. Such evolution is particularly important in the
modern world, with a rapidly changing climate and other human impacts.
• Biolo ical diversity has intrinsic value. Species and the ecosystems in which
they live possess va ue o their own ("intrinsic value") regardless of their
economic, scientific, or aesthetic value to human society. This value is con-
ferred not only by their evolutionary history and unique ecological role, but
also by their very existence (see Chapter 6 for a more complete discussion of
this topic). This position is in sharp contrast to an economic viewpoint, which
would assign a monetary value to each species or ecosystem on the basis of
the goods and services that it provides or potentially could provide to hu-
mans. A purely economic viewpoint often leads to a decision to move for-
ward with a highly destructive development project and to ignore the intrin-
sic value of biological diversity.
These principles cannot be proved or disproved, and accepting all of them is not
a requirement for conservation biologists. Religious people who are active in the
conservation movement but do not believe in the theory of evolution, for instance,
may not accept some of these principles. Nonetheless, this set of ethical and ideo-
logical statements forms the philosophical foundation of the discipline and sug-
gests research approaches and practical applications. As long as one or two of these
principles are accepted, there is enough rationale for conservation efforts.

The Origins of Conservation Biology

The origins of conservation biology can be traced to religious and philosophical be-
liefs concerning the relationship between human societies and the natural world
(Dudley at al. 2009; Higuchi and Primack 2009; also see Chapter 6). In many of the
world's religions, people are seen as both physically and spiritually connected to
the plants and animals in the surrounding environment (Figure 1.4). In Chinese Tao-
ism, Japanese Shintoism, Indian Hinduism, and Buddhist philosophies, some sa-
cred wilderness areas and natural settings are valued and protected for their capac-
ity to provide intense spiritual experiences. Many Christian monastaries and
12 Chapter 1

FIGURE 1.4 Tanah Lot Temple is a Hindu temple on the island of Bali in Indonesia. Its
coastal setting allows worshippers to experience the connection of the human spirit with
the natural world. (Photograph© Hemis/ Alamy.)

religious centers similarly protect the surrounding nature as an important part of

their mission. These philosophies see a direct connection between the natural world
and the spiritual world, a connection that breaks when the natural world is al-
tered or destroyed by human activity. Strict adherents to the Jain and Hindu reli-
gions in India believe that all killing of animal life is wrong. In Islamic, Judaic, and
Christian teachings alike, people are given the sacred responsibility to be guardians
of nature. Many of the leaders of the early Western environmental movement that
helped to establish parks and wilderness areas did so because of strong personal
convictions that developed from their Christian religious beliefs.
Biological diversity often has immediate significance to traditional societies whose
people live close to the land and water. In Native American tribes of the Pacific
Northwest, hunters undergo purification rituals in order to be considered worthy
of hunting animals. The Iroquois, a Native American group, considered how their
actions would affect the lives of their descendants after seven generations. Hunt-
ing and gathering societies, such as the Penan of Borneo, give thousands of names
to individual trees, animals, and places in their surroundings to create a cultural
landscape that is vital to the well-being of the tribe. This type of relationship to
the natural world was described eloquently at the Fourth World Wilderness Con-
gress in 1987 by the delegate from the Kuna people of Panama (Gregg 1991):
For the Kuna culture, the land is our mother and all living things that we live on
are her brothers in such a manner that we must take care of her and live in a
harmonious manner with her, because the extinction of one thing is also the end
of another.

In an ecological and cultural history of the Indian subcontit)ent, Gadgil and Guha
(1992) argue that the belief systems, religions, and myths of hunter-gatherer soci-
eties and stable agricultural societies tend to emphasize conservation themes and
the wise use of natural resources because these groups have learned over time to
 What Is Conservation Biology? 13

live within the constraints of a fixed resource base. In contrast, the belief systems
of communities that raise livestock, and rapidly expanding agricultural and indus-
trial societies, emphasize the rapid consumption and destruction of natural resources
as a way to maximize growth and assert control over other groups. These groups
move to new localities when the resources of any one place are exhausted. Modern
industrial states represent the extreme of such societies. Their excessive and waste-
ful consumption requires the transportation of resources to urban centers in ever-
widening circles of resource depletion. However, what will we do when the re-
sources are all gone?

European Origins
To the European mind, the prevalent view has been that God created nature for
humans' use and benefit. In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, God instructs Adam
and Eve to "be fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth and subdue it; have domin-
ion over every living thing that moves upon the Earth." The biblical instruction sup-
ports a dominant tenet of Western philosophy: Nature should be converted into
wealth as rapidly as possible and used for the benefit of humans. This point of view
justifies neatly all land uses and implies that to leave land unused is to misuse God's
gift-a foolish, if not downright sinful, mistake. In medieval Europe, wilderness gen-
erally was perceived to be useless land and was often believed to be inhabited by
evil spirits or monsters, in contrast to the orderly qualities and appearance of agri-
cultural landscapes. This perspective of nature was not true in all places and in every
period, but it describes a general perception that is different from our view today.
This anthropocentric (human-centered) view of nature led to the exploitation
and degradation of vast resources in the regions colonized by European countries
from the sixteenth century onward (Diamond 1999). In practice, the wealth and ben-
efits that came from this policy accrued primarily to the citizens of the colonial pow-
ers, while the needs of non-European native peoples were largely disregarded. The
long-term ramifications for the forests, fisheries, and other natural resources them-
selves were not considered at all; the unexplored territories of the Americas, Asia,
Africa, and Australia seemed so vast and rich that it was inconceivable to the colo-
nial powers that their natural resources could ever be depleted.
An important element of the conservation movement did develop in Europe,
however, based on the experiences of scientific officers-often imbued with Roman-
tic idealism-who were sent to assist in the development of colonies in the eigh-
teenth and nineteenth centuries (Subashchandran and Ramachandra 2008). These
scientists were trained to make detailed observations on the biology, natural his-
tory, geography, and anthropology of the colonial regions. Many of them expected
to find the indigenous people living in wonderful harmony with nature. Instead,
they found devastated forests, damaged watersheds, and newly created poverty.
In European colonies throughout the world, perceptive scientific officers came to
see that protection of forests was necessary to prevent soil erosion, provide water
for irrigation and drinking, maintain wood supplies, and prevent famine. Some colo-
nial administrators also argued that certain intact forests should remain uncut be-
cause of their necessary role in ensuring a steady supply of rainfall in adjacent agri-
cultural areas-foreshadowing modern concern with global climate change. Such
arguments led directly to conservation ordinances. On the Indian Ocean island of
Mauritius, for example, the French colonial administration in 1769 stipulated that
25% of landholdings should remain forested to prevent erosion, degraded areas
should be planted with trees, and forests growing within 200 meters of water should
be protected. In order to prevent water pollution and the destruction of fish popu-
·lations, various colonial governments passed laws in the late eighteenth century reg-
ulating the.Pollutants being discharged by sugar mills and other factories. On a larg-
er scale, British scientists working in India issued a report in 1852 urging the
14 Chapter 1

establishment of forest reserves throughout the vast subcontinent, managed by pro-

fessional foresters, in order to avert environmental calamities and economic losses.
In particular, the report linked deforestation to decreased rainfall and water sup-
plies, which resulted in famine among the local people. The report was embraced
by the leadership of the British East India Company, who could see that conserva-
tion made good economic sense. This system of forest reserves was widely adopt-
ed in other parts of the colonial world, such as Southeast Asia, Australia, and Africa,
and it influenced forestry in North America as well. It is also true that many of these
new systems of resource management, implemented with a command-and-control
mentality, resulted in dramatic failures when reality did not conform to manage-
ment plans. A further irony is that, prior to colonization, indigenous peoples in these
regions often had well-developed systems of natural resource management that were
swept aside by the colonial governments (Subashchandran and Ramachandra 2008).
Many of the themes of contemporary conservation biology were established in
European scientific writings of a century or more ago. The possibility of species
extinction was demonstrated by the loss of wild cattle (Bos primigenius, also known
as the aurochs) from Europe in 1627 and the extinction of the dodo bird (Raphus
cucullatus) in Mauritius in the 1680s (Figure 1.5). To address the problem of the
decline and possible extinction of the wisent, also known as the European bison
(Bison bonasus), the Polish king in 1561 established a nature reserve that prohibit-
ed hunting. The Bialowieza Forest represented one of the earliest deliberate Euro-
pean efforts to conserve a species. While this action failed to preserve the original
population of wild wisent, the wisent was reintroduced into the forest in 1951.
The Bialowieza Forest, which extends from modern Poland into Belarus, remains
today one of Europe's most important nature reserves, preserving one of the last
remaining stands of the great forests that formerly covered Europe.
_In Europe, expression of concern for the protection of wildlife began t ~ d
widel in the late nineteenth century (Galbraith et al. 1998). The combination of
both an increasing area o an under cultivation and more widespread use of
firearms for hunting led to a marked reduction in wild animals. In Britain, many

(A) (B)

FIGURE 1.5 (A) Roland Savery's figure of the dodo in his picture of the Fall of Adam, in
the Royal Gallery at Berlin. This illustration was painted using a live dodo which was
brought to Europe in the early seventeenth century before the species went extinct. (B)
One of Europe's first nature reserves was established to protect the wisent in Poland. (B,
photograph© Liz Leyden/istockphoto.com.)
 What Is Conservation Biology? 15

culturally and ecologically significant species-great bustards (Otis tarda), ospreys

(Pandion haliaetus), sea eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla), and great auks (Pinguinus im-
pennis)-became extinct in the wild around this time. Other species showed simi-
lar rapid declines. These dramatic changes stimulated the formation of the British
conservation movement, leading to the founding of the Commons, Open Spaces
and Footpaths Preservation Society in 1865, the National Trust for Places of Historic
Interest or Natural Beauty in 1895, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
in 1899. Altogether, these groups have preserved about 900,000 hectares* (ha) of
open land. In the twentieth century, government action produced laws such as the
National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act, passed in 1949 for the "protec-
tion and public enjoyment of the wider countryside," and the Wildlife and Coun-
tryside Act, passed in 1981 for the protection of endangered species, their habitat,
and the marine environment. Because of the intensive human use of the British land-
scape, conservation efforts in Britain have traditionally emphasized the preserva-
tion and management of relatively small fragments of land. Rare and declining habi-
tats, such as the chalk grasslands and old growth forests, continue to be a major
concern in conservation efforts.
Many oth~r European countries also have strong traditions
of nature conservation and land protection, most notably Den- As demonstrated by the conservation
mark, Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland. In tradition in Europe, habitat degradation
these countries as well, conservation is enacted by both the gov- and species loss can catalyze long-lasting
ernment and private conservation organizations. Over the last conservation efforts.
two decades, regional initiatives to protect species, habitats, and
ecosystem processes have been expanded and coordinated by the European Union.
Similar efforts have been made in other countries settled by European peoples, such
as Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.

*For an explanation of the term hectare and other measurements, see Table 1.1.

' TABLE 1.1 Some Useful Units of Measurement

Length
1 meter (m)
1 kilometer (km)
1 centimeter (cm)
1 millimeter (mm)
1 m = 39.4 inches= ~3.3 feet
1 km = 1000 m = 0.62 mile
1 cm= 1/100 m = 0.39 inch
1 mm= 1/1000 m = 0.039 inch

Area
square meter (m2) Area encompassed by a square, each side of
which is 1 meter
1 hectare (ha) 1 ha = 10,000 m 2 = 2.47 acres
100 ha = 1 square kilometer (km2)

Mass
1 kilogram (kg) 1 kg = 2.2 pounds
1 gram (g) 1 g =1/1000 kg= 0.035 ounce
1 milligram (mg) 1 mg= 1/1000 g = 0.000035 ounce

Temperature
°C = 5/9(°F - 32)
degree Celsius (°C)
0°C = 32° Fahrenheit (the freezing point of water)
100°C = 212° Fahrenheit (the boiling point of water)
20°C = 68° Fahrenheit ("room temperature")
16 Chapter 1

American Origins
Among the first major intellectual figures in the United States arguing for the pro-
tection of natural areas were the nineteenth-century philosophers Ralph Waldo
Emerson and Henry David Thoreau (Callicott 1990). Emerson, in his transcenden-
talist writings, saw nature as a temple in which people could commune with the
spiritual world and achieve spiritual enlightenment (Emerson 1836). Thoreau was
both an advocate for nature and an opponent of materialistic society, believing that
people needed far fewer possessions than they sought. To prove his point, he lived
simply in a cabin near Walden Pond, writing about his ideas and experiences in a
book Walden , publishPd in J854 that has had a si nificant impact on man en-
erations of students and environmentalists. Thoreau believe t at the experience
of nature was a necessary counterweight to the weakening tendencies of civiliza-
tion. In his collection of essays (1863) he argued emphatically that
[in] wilderness is the preservation of the world .... The story of Romulus and
Remus [the founders of the Roman Empire] being suckled by a wolf is not a
meaningless fable. The founders of every state which has risen to eminence have
drawn their nourishment and vigor from a similar wild source.

This concern for preserving wilderness, large areas that remain essentially un-
occupied, unmanaged, and unmodified by human beings, is a continuing and dom-
inant theme in the American conservation movement up to the present time (Con-
gressional Research Service and Saundry 2009). It contrasts sharply with the
traditional European view that because landscapes developed over thousands of
years of human interaction, further management is appropriate in attempts to reach
conservation objectives (Cooper 2000).
Eminent American wilderness advocate John Muir used the transcendental
themes of Emerson and Thoreau in his campaigns to preserve natural areas. Ac-
cording to Muir's reservationist ethic, natural areas such as forest groves, moun-
tamto s, and w iritual values that are enera superior to t e tan-
gi le material gain obtained by their exploitation (Muir 1901). T is philosop y
emphasized the needs of pfolosophers, poets, artists, and spiritual seekers-who
require the beauty and stimulus of nature for their development-over the needs
of ordinary people, who require jobs and material goods from the natural environ-
ment. Some see this view as undemocratic and elitist, arguing that it disregards
the very real material needs of food, clothing, shelter, and employment, which may
require economic exploitation of the wilderness. Yet one does not have to be a mem-
ber of the elite in order to appreciate natural beauty: All human beings share these
impulses, and Muir's arguments for the spiritual and artistic value of nature did
not limit its accessibility or its benefits to a single stratum of society. That wilder-
JOHN MUIR ness can benefit all of society can be seen today in special programs, such as Out-
(1838-1914) ward Bound, that use experiences with nature and wilderness to challenge and en-
rich the character development and self-confidence of teenagers and young adults,
some of whom might otherwise succumb to drugs, crime, despair, or apathy.
In addition to advocating the preservation of nature on the grounds of human spir-
itual needs, Muir WgS among the first American conservationists to explicitly state
that nature has intrinsic value-value in and of itself, apart from its value to human-
.~ Muir argued on biblical grounds that because God had created nature and indi-
vidual species, to destroy them was undoing God's work. In Muir's view, species
have an equal place with people in God's scheme of nature (Muir 1916, p. 139):
Why should man value himself as more than a small part of the one great unit of
creation? And what creature of all that the Lord has taken the pains to make is
not essential to the completeness of that unit-the cosmos? The universe would
be incomplete without the smaHest transmicroscopic creature that dwells beyond
our conceitful eyes and knowledge.
 What Is Conservation Biology? 17

Muir also viewed biological communities as assemblages of species evolving togeth-

er and dependent on one another, foreshadowing the views of modem ecologists.
An alternative view of nature, known as the resource conser\'ation_ethi-4,W-.as..de-
yeloped by Gifford Pinchot, the dynamic first head of the Tr S Forpst Service (Meine
et al. 2006; Ebbin 2009). According to Pinchot, the world consists essentiall of two
~omponents, human beings an na ra resources. He defined natural resources as
the commodities and qualities found in nature, including timber, fodder, clean water,
wildlife, and even beautiful landscapes (Pinchot 1947). The proper use of natural re-
sources, according to the resource conservation ethic, is whatever will further "the
greatest good of the greatest number [of people] for the longest time." Its first prin-
ciple is that resources should be fairly distributed among present individuals, and
between present and future generations. In this definition, we see the origins of sus-
tainable use doctrines and modem attempts by ecological economists to put a mon-
etary value on natural resources. As defined by the World Commission on Environ-
ment and Development (1987), "sustainable development is development that meets
the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to GIFFORD PINCHOT
meet their own needs." ~roJDJ:he ~~p~ctive of conservation biology, sustainable de- (1865-1946)
velopment is development that best meets present and future human needs without
damaging the environment and biological diversity (Davies 2008; Czech 2008).
The second principle of the resource conservation ethic is that resources should
be used with efficiency-that is, they should be put to the best possible use and not
wasted. Efficiency implies that there can be an ordering of uses, with some favored
over others, or possibly a "multiple use" of resources. In this view, appreciation of
natural beauty and other aesthetic and intellectual experiences can be considered
competing uses of nature, which in some situations will take precedence over ma-
terial uses, although in practice, "multiple use" land managers have usually given
precedence to material uses.
Although the resource conservation ethic can be linked to resource economics to
determine the "best" or most profitable use of the land, such methods use market
forces to determine value and thus have a tendency to minimize or even disre-
gard the costs of environmental degradation and to discount the future value of re-
sources. Consequently, Pinchot argued that government bodies are needed to reg-
ulate and control natural resources such as forests and rivers with a long-term
perspective to prevent their destruction. The resource conservation ethic came to
dominate American thinking in the twentieth century because of its democratic so-
cial philosophy and because it supported American efforts to increase control over
nature. Government bodies that manage natural resources for multiple use, such
as the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service, are the legacy of
this conservationist approach, in contrast to the generally preservationist philoso-
phy of the National Park Service.
The resource conservation ethic was the philosophy initially embraced by the in-
fluential biologist Aldo Leopold in his early years as a government forester. Even-
tually, however, he came to believe that the resource conservation ethic was inad-
equate because it viewed the land merely as a collection of individual goods that
can be used in different ways. Leopold began to consider nature as a landscape
organized as a system of interrelated processes (Leopold 1939a) and remarked:
The emergence of ecology has placed the economic biologist in a peculiar dilem-
ma: with one hand he points out the accumulated findings of his search for utili-
ty, or lack of utility, in this or that species; with the other he lifts the veil from a
biota so complex, so conditioned by interwoven cooperations and competitions,
that no man can say where utility begins or ends.

Leopold eventually came to the conclusion that the most important goal of conser- ALDO LEOPOLD
vation is to maintain the health of natural ecosystems and ecological processes (Leopold (1887-1948)
18 Chapter 1

2004). As a result, he and many others lobbied successfully for certain parts of nation-
al forests to be set aside as wilderness areas (Shafer 2001). He also considered humans
part of the ecological community rather than standing apart from
and exploiting nature, as the proponents of the resource conserva-
Discussions qf natural resources, ecosystem
tion ethic argued. Despite Leopold's philosophical shift, he remained
management, and sustainable development committed to the idea that humans should be involved in land man-
are major themes throughout the field of agement, seeking a middle ground between overexploitation and
conservation biology. total control over nature, on the one hand, and complete preserva-
tion of land with no human presence or activity, on the other.
Leopold's synthesis has been termed the land ethic. In his writings and in prac-
tice at his talllly farm, Leopold advocated a land use policy in which human use
of natural resources was compatible with, or even enhanced, biological diversity
(Leopold 1939b, 1949). Integrating human activity into preservationist philosophy
also makes practical sense because complete exclusion of human impact from nat-
ural reserves has always been very difficult and is now becoming impossible be-
cause of human population growth, air pollution, and global climate change. An
approach that combines ideas of both Leopold and Pinchot has been developed,
known as ecosystem management, which places the highest management priority
on cooperation among businesses, conservation organizations, government a en-
cies, private citizens, an o er meres e parties to prov1 e or uman needs and
t~ aintam the health of wild species and ecosystems. -
Development of these philosophies has taken place alongside the growth of many
U.S. conservation organizations, such as the Wilderness Society, the Audubon So-
ciety, Ducks Unlimited, and the Sierra Club; the development of the national and
state park systems; and the passing of numerous environmental laws. Elements of
each of these differing philosophies are present in contemporary writings, the stat-
ed goals of conservation organizations, and government policy in both the United
States and other countries. Disagreements over policy and practice among and with-
in conservation organizations, individual conservationists, and government depart-
ments continue to reflect these long-term philosophical differences. This continu-
ing debate over elements of conservation philosophy and ethics is necessary in
deciding how to balance the long-term needs of protecting biological diversity with
the more immediate needs of modern society for natural resources.
Environmental activists, writers, and educators have applied these diverse
philosophies in ways that have benefited and transformed society. Ellen Swallow
Richards (1842-1911) was one such influential individual, though she had great dif-
ficulty obtaining a professional position as a chemist, a field not open to women
at that time. After being appointed as chemistry instructor at the Massachusetts In-
stitute of Technolo , she develo ed the first course in the new subject of ecolo .
In her many public activities she emphasized the nee to protect t e natural envi-
ronment as a key element in maintaining public health. Richards was particularly
concerned with how water quality was affected by sewage and industrial wastes,
and she began to test the quality of water in rivers and lakes. Her procedures led
to the first water quality standards in the country and eventually to the develop-
ment of modern sewage treatment plants that help protect public drinking supplies
ELLEN SWALLOW
as well as the natural environment.
RICHARDS
Another key figure was.Rachel Carson (1907-1964). In her widely read book Silent
(1842-1911) Spring (1962), she documented the role of pesticides and the chemical industry in
the loss of bird populations. At first she was heavily criticized by representatives
of the chemical industry. However, her tireless campaigning led to bans on DDT
in many countries and to better regulation of other toxic chemicals, and it was
crucial to the development of the modern environmental movement. The recov-
ery of numerous bird species, such as falcons, eagles, and ospreys, in the years fol-
 What Is Conservation Biology? 19

lowing the ban on DDT proved that her observations were correct (see Box 9.1).
Carson was especially effective in changing public opinion through writing popu-
lar books, some specifically written for children.
Within the American conservation movement, other writers have prophetically
warned about the increasing destruction of biological diversity and the natural
environment (Meine 2001). Key authors extend from G. P. Marsh, with his Man and
Nature: Or, Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action (1864), and Fairfield
Osborn, author of Our Plundered Planet (1948), up to former U.S. Vice President
Albert Gore, author of An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warm-
ing and What We Can Do About It (2006), and Jared Diamond, with his decisive
historical analysis Collapse (2005). These authors have found a receptive general au-
dience and have galvanized citizens by the millions to join efforts to protect birds
and other wildlife; to conserve mountains, seashores, wetlands, and other habitats;
and to limit environmental pollution (Leisher 2008). Over the past decade, a new RACHEL CARSON
crop of writers has emerged to address growing concern with global climate change (1907-1964)
and damage to the world's oceans.

A New Sdence Is Born

By the early 1970s scientists throughout the world were aware of an acceleratin
10 og1ca diversity crisis, but there was no cen ra orum or or anization to address
t e issue. e growing num er of people thinking about conservation issues and
·conductmg research needed to be able to communicate with each other to develop
new ideas and approaches._Ecologist Michael Soule organized the First Internation-
al Conference on Conservation Biology in 1978, which met at the San Diego Wild
Animal Park, so that wildlife conservationists, zoo managers, and academics could
discuss their common interests. At that meeting, Soule proposed a new interdisci-
plinary approach that could help save plants and animals from the threat of human-
caused extinctions. Subsequently, Soule, along with colleagues including Paul Ehrlich
of Stanford University and Jared Diamond of the University of California at Los
Angeles, began to develop conservation biology as a discipline that would combine
the practical experience of wildlife, forestry, and fisheries management with the
theories of population biology and biogeography. In 1985, this core of scientists
founded the Society for Conservation Biology.

Conservation Biology: A Dynamic and Growing Field

The field of conservation biolo has set itself some im osin -and absolutely crit-
ical-tasks: to describe the Earth's biolo · a iversit , to restore w at 1s egraded,
and to protect what is remaining. Fortunately, the field is up to sue tas s.
chcators hsted below show Just how dynamic the field is today.
• Conservation biology has resulted in government action, both nationallJj._JJJ1fLl]J-
ternationally. The protection of biological diversity has emerged as a major
goal of many national governments, as shown by the widespread govern-
ment action being taken on behalf of conservation biology: laws such as the
U.S. Endangered Species Act; Red Lists of endangered species in the Euro-
pean Union; new national parks and protected areas; international treaties,
such as the Convention on Biological Diversity; and increased regulations
on trade and harvesting of endangered species, most notably the Conven-
tion on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
• Conservation biology programs and activities are being funded as never bef!!._]1:. Major
funding agencies have made conservation biology a primary recipient for
funding. For example, the Global Environment Facility, a special program
20 Chapter 1

established by the United Nations and the World

Bank, has allocated $8.6 billion in funding and $36
billion in cofinancing for more than 2400 projects
in over 165 countries involving conservation and
environmental protection (www.thegef.org/ gef).
Major foundations, such as the MacArthur Foun-
dation, the Ford Foundation, and the Pew Chari-
table Trusts, also make conservation activities a
2010 International Yearof Biodiversity major priority.
FIGURE 1.6 The United Nations has declared 2010 to be the In- • Conservation biology's goals have been adopted by
ternational Year of Biodiversity. (Courtesy of the Secretariat ·traditional conservation or anizations. Large, es-
of the Convention on Biological Diversity.) ta 1s e conservation organizations such as
The Nature Conservancy, the World Wildlife
Fund, and Birdlife International, which former-
ly had a restricted set of priorities, have embraced the broader goals of con-
servation biology, making science central to decision making.
• Conservation biology's goals are being incorporated into international scientific ac-
twities and policy. For example, in 2005, over 1300 scientists from 95 countries
completed the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, promoting the value of
biodiversity to the public, government officials, and funding agencies as well
as describing actions needed to protect it. The United Nations has declared
2010 to be the Year of Biodiversity (Figure 1.6). In addition, innovative, open-
access projects such as Encyclopedia of Life, Tree of Life, and the Global Bio-
diversity Information Facility are producing a comprehensive list of all known
species and related databases of species distribution, evolutionary relation-
ships, conservation status, habitat, and documented museum specimens.
• Conservation biology's aims and goals are reaching a broader audience through in-
creased media coverage (Morrell 1999). The latest findings of the field reach an
even wider audience through popular magazines such as National Geograph-
ic, National Wildlife, Scientific American, and Environment;
newspapers such as the New York Times; and nature television
Since its formal inception in 1985, the field programs such as those found on Nova and on the National
of conservation biology has continued to Geographic Channel. The prominence of environmental con-
grow in scope and influence. The United cerns was highlighted by the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace
Nations has even designated 2010 as the Prize to former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the Intergov-
Year of Biodiversity. ernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for bringing the
issue of global climate change to public attention.
• Conservation biology courses and curricula are expanding. More than 150 Amer-
ican, Canadian, European, and Australian colleges and universities, and nu-
merous universities in other countries, have established graduate programs
in conservation biology and biological diversity; large numbers of courses are
being taught at all levels (see also www.gradschools.com). This development
in higher education is driven by the interests of students (Van Heezik and
Seddon 2005), the changing research activities of professors, and the will-
ingness of foundations to support new programs.
• Conservation biology has a ra idly expanding professional society. The Society for
Conservation Biology (SCB) has ecome one of the fastest-growing and most
exciting societies in biology (Figure 1. 7). The SCB now has more than 10,000
professional members in 120 countries (www.conbio.org), equaling the size
of the Ecological Society of America, which was founded more than 90 years
ago. The growing membership in the SCB reflects the perceived relevance of
this new discipline.
 What Is Conservation Biology? 21

Despite the threats to biological diversity, we can detect many positive signs that
allow conservation biologists to remain cautiously hopeful. The number of people
living in extreme poverty has been in decline since the Industrial Revolution, and
the rate of human population growth has slowed (Sachs 2008). The number of pro-
tected areas around the globe continues to increase, with a dramatic expansion in
the number of marine protected areas. In just 2006, the South Pacific country of Kiri-
bati established the world's largest marine sanctuary. Moreover, our ability to pro-
tect biological diversity has been strengthened due to a wide range of local, nation-
al, and international efforts. Certain endangered species are now recovering as a
FIGURE 1. 7 The Society for
result of conservation measures. We can point to an expansion of our knowledge Conservation Biology has a
base and the science of conservation biology, the developing linkages with rural de- simple, yet powerful, logo
velopment and social sciences, and our increased ability to restore degraded envi- showing the circle of life, with-
ronments. All of these suggest that progress is being made despite the enormous in which we live. The ocean
tasks still ahead. waves in the center symbolize
the changes that lie ahead. The
logo can also be viewed as a
bird, which provides us with
Summary beauty; on closer look, we see
that its wings are really rustling
1. Thousands of species are goin extinct, genetic variation is being lost, millions of pop- leaves. (Courtesy of the Society
ulations are isappearing, and entire ecos stems are being estroyed as a result o for Conservation Biology.)
numan activities. onservation biology is a e~tic:_ dis~e combining basTcand
~p1iecfresearch to describe biological diversitict'oclirnent the threats it faces from
human activities, and develop methods to protect and restore biological diversity.
2. Conservation biology rests on a number of underlying assumptions that are accept-
ed oy~most conservat10n biologists: b1olog1cal d1vers1ty, including the range of
species, genetic vanahon, 610log1cal communities, and ec;:osystem interactions,
should be preserved; the extinction of species by human activities should be pre-
-vented; the !=Om lex inter chon of s ec1es m natural communffies sncmld be main-
tained; evolutionary change should continue; and biological diversity has va ue in
and of itself.
3. Conservation biology draws on both scientific and religious/philosophical tradi-
tions. European scientists in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries reacted to the
aestruction of forests and water pollution in their colonies by proposing some of the
first environmental legislation. The decline and extinction of species in Europe led
to the establishment of the first nature reserves and an active popular interest in con-
servation. In the United States, Henry David Thoreau and John Muir argued for the
preservation of wilderness and the intrinsic value of species. Gifford Pinchot pro-
posed developing a balance among competing natural resource needs for present
and future societies. Aldo Leopold advocated striking a balance between managing
land for ecological processes and satisfying human needs. These philosophies -still
guide land management, and elements of them can be found in the current doctrines
of conservation organizations and government departments.

For Discussion
1. How is conservation biology fundamentally different from other branches of biolo-
gy, such as physiology, genetics, or cell biology? How is it different from environ-
mentalism?
2. What do you think are the major conservation and environmental problems facing
the world today? What are the major problems facing your local community? What
ideas for solving these problems can you suggest? (Try answering this question now,
and once again when you have completed this book.)
22 Chapter 1

3. Consider the public land management and private conservation organizations with
which you are familiar. Would you consider their guiding philosophies to be clos-
est to the resource conservation ethic, the preservation ethic, or the evolutionary-eco-
logical land ethic? What factors allow them to be successful or limit their effective-
ness? Learn more about these organizations through their publications and Web sites.
4. How would you characterize your own viewpoint about the conservation of biodi-
versity and the environment? Which of the religious or philosophical viewpoints of
conservation biology stated here do you agree or disagree with? How do you, or
could you, put your viewpoint into practice?

Suggested Readings
Chan, K. M. A. 2008. Value and advocacy in conservation biology: Crisis discipline or dis-
cipline in crisis? Conservation Biology 22: 1-3. Conservation biologists need to be more
effective advocates on behalf of biodiversity.
Czech, B. 2008. Prospects for reconciling the conflict between economic growth and biodi-
versity conservation with technological progress. Conservation Biology 22: 1389-1398. Is
it possible to balance ever greater human use of natural resources with the need to pro-
tect biodiversity?
Diamond, J. 2005. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Viking Press, New York. An
eminent biologist describes patterns of environmental catastrophe that have destroyed
human societies in the past and that threaten us today.
Dudley, N., L. Higgins-Zogib, and S. Mansourian. 2009. The links between protected areas,
faiths, and sacred natural sites. Conservation Biology 23: 568-577. In many places, local peo-
ple are already protecting biodiversity.
Hall, J. A. and E. Fleishman. 2010. Demonstration as a means to translate conservation sci-
ence into practice. Conservation Biology 24: 120-127. Conservation biologists need to demon-
strate to the public and government how their ideas work in practice.
Leisher, C. 2008. What Rachel Carson knew about marine protected areas. BioScience 58:
478-479. The key to effective MPAs is often getting local people involved.
Leopold, A. 1949. A Sand County Almanac. Oxford University Press, New York. Leopold's
evocative essays articulate his "land ethic," defining human duty to conserve the land
and the living things that thrive upon it.
Marris, E. 2007. What to let go. Nature 450: 152-155. In this time of crisis, scientists are iden-
tifying species and ecosystems that are the highest priorities for funding and conserva-
tion action.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA). 2005. Ecosystems and Human Well-Being. 4 vols.
Island Press, Washington, D.C. Detailed report and summary by the world's leading sci-
entists documenting the importance of ecosystem services.
Morell, V. 1999. The variety of life. National Geographic 195 (February): 6-32. Special issue
includes beautifully illustrated articles about biodiversity, threats to its existence, and key
conservation projects.
Nelson, M. P. and J. A. Vucetich. 2009. On advocacy by environmental scientists: What,
whether, why, and how. Conservation Biology 23: 1090-1101. Scientists have a responsibil-
ity to be advocates as well as researchers.
Orr, D. W. 2007. Optimism and hope in a hotter time. Conservation Biology 21: 1392-1395. Hope
means to learn the truth and then have the courage to act accordingly.
Papworth, S. K., J. Rist, L. Coad, and E. J. Milner-Gulland. 2009. Evidence for shifting base-
line syndrome in conservation. Conservation Letters 2: 93-100. People often forget what
biodiversity was like in the past.
Van Heezik, Y. and P. J. Seddon. 2005. Conservation education structure and content of grad-
uate wildlife management and conservation biology programs: An international perspec-
tive. Conservation Biology 19: 7-14. Conservation education programs are increasing and
are highly diverse.
World Resources Institute (WRI). 2005. World Resources 2005: The Wealth of the Poor-Manag-
ing Ecosystems to Fight Poverty. World Resources Institute, Washington, D.C. Massive body
of data on biodiversity and the human condition.
KEY JOURNALS IN THE FIELD Biodiversity and Conservation, Biological Conservation, Bio-
Science, Conservation Biology, Conservation Letters, Ecological Applications, Journal of Ap-
plied Ecology, National Geographic

Species Diversity
What Is a Species?
BOX 2.1 Naming and
Classifying Species
The Origin of New Species
Measuring Species Diversity
Genetic Diversity
Ecosystem Diversity
What Are Communities and
Ecosystems?
BOX 2.2 Kelp Forests and Sea
Otters: Shaping an Ocean
Ecosystem
Ecological Succession
Species Interactions within
Ecosystems
Principles of Community
Organization
Keystone Species and Guilds
Keystone Resources
Ecosystem Dynamics
Conclusion
What Is Biological Diversity?
he protection of biological diversity is central to conser-
T vation biology. Conservation biologists use the term bio-
logical diversity, or simply biodiversity, to mean the com-
plete range of species and biological communities, as well as
the genetic variation within species and all ecosystem process-
~ By this definition, biodiversity must be considered on_three
levels: -
l. Species diversity. All the species on Earth, including single-
celled bacteria and protists as well as the species of the mul-
--- -- -
ticellula~ kingdoD?-~plants, fungi, and animals)
~--
2. Genetic diversity. The genetic variation within species, both
among geographically separate populations and among in-
dividuals within single populations
3. EcosYE_em diversity. The different biological communities and
their associations with the chemical and physical environ-
ment (the ecosystem) (Figure 2.1 )
All three levels of biological diversity are necessary for the
continued survival of life as we know it, and all are important
to people (Levin 2001; MEA 2005). Species diversity reflects the
entire range of evolutionar and ecological ada tations f
species to articular environments. It provides people with
24 Chapter 2

FIGURE 2.1 Biological diversi-

ty includes genetic diversity Genetic diversity
(the genetic variation found
within each species), species
diversity (the range of species
in a given ecosystem), and
community/ ecosystem diversi-
ty (the variety of habitat types Species diversity
and ecosystem processes ex-
tending over a given region).
(After Palumbi 2009.)

/ I I

Community/ecosystem diversity

resources and resource alternatives-for example, a tropical rain forest or a tem-

perate swamp with many species produces a wide variety of plant and animal prod-
ucts that can be used as food, shelter, and medicine. Genetic diversity is necessg_cy
for any species to maintain reproductive vitality, resistance to disease, and the abil-
ity to adapt to changing conditions (Lailae et al. 2010). In domestic plants and an-
imals, genetic diversity is of particular value in the breeding programs necessary
to sustain and improve modern agricultural species and their disease resistance.
Ecosystem diversity results from the collective response of species to different envi-
ronmental conditions. Biological communities found in deserts, grasslands, wet-
lands, and forests support the continuity of proper ecosystem functioning, which
provides crucial services to people, such as water for drinking and agriculture, flood
control, protection from soil erosion, and filtering of air and water. We will now ex-
amine each level of biodiversity in tum.

Species Diversity
Species diversity includes the entire range of species found on Earth. Recognizing
and classifying species is one of the major goals of conservation biology (Morell
1999). How do biologists identify individual species among the mass of living or-
ganisms on Earth, many of them small in size and with few distinguishing features?
And what is the origin of new species? Identifying the process.whereby one species
evolves into one or more new species is one of the ongoing accomplishments of
modem biology. The origin of new species is normally a slow process, taking place
 What Is Biological Diversity? 25

over hundreds, if not thousands, of generations. The evolution of higher taxa, such
as new genera and families, is an even slower process, typically lasting hundreds
of thousands or even millions of years. In contrast, human activities are destroying
in only a few decades the unique species built up by these slow natural processes.

What Is a Species?
A species is generally defined in one of two ways:
1. ~ group of individuals that is morphologically,* physiologically, or biochem-
ically distinct from otner groups in some important charac_teristic is t h ~
phological definition of species.
2. A_group of individu~ls that can potentially breed among themselves_in_t&
.wild and that do not breed with individuals of other groups is the _biologi-
cal definition of species.
Because the methods and assumptions used are different, these two approach-
es to distinguishing species sometimes do not give the same results. Increasingly,
differences in DNA sequences and other molecular markers distinguish species that
look almost tdentical, _such as types of bacteria (Janzen et al. 2009).
The mor holo ical definition of species is the one most commonly used by tax-
onomists, biologists who specialize int e identification of unknowns ecimens and
the classification of species (Figure 2.2). In practice, t e biological definition of species

*An individual's morphology is its form and structure-or, to put it more simply (if not totally
accurately), its appearance.

(A) (B)

:·..=~. 1 i· •

f ~:
~
•
..
·~ ~+

'
. II i'
'· '
:'i· : ' ,·

FIGURE 2.2 (A) An entomologist collects moth specimens that land on a lighted white
sheet. (B) An ornithologist at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University
classifying collections of orioles: Black-cowled Oriole (Icterus prosthemelas) from Mexico
and Baltimore Orioles (Icterus galbula) which occur throughout eastern North America. (A,
photograph© The Natural History Museum/ Alamy; B, photograph courtesy of Jeremiah
Trimble, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University© President and Fellows
of Harvard College.)
26 Chapter 2

is difficult to use, because it requires a knowledge of which individuals actually

have the potential to breed with one another and their relationships to each other-
information that is rarely available. As a result, practicing field biologists learn to
recognize one or more individuals that look different from other individuals and
might represent a different species, sometimes referring to them as !!l.~rpho-species
or another such term until taxonomists can give them official scientific names (Box
2.1 ; Norden et al. 2009).
Problems in distinguishing and identifying species are more common than many
people realize (Bickford et al. 2007; Haig et al. 2006). For example, a single species
may have several varieties that have observable morphological
differences, yet the varieties are similar enough to be considered
Using morphological and genetic information
a single biological species. Different varieties of dogs, such as
to identify species is a major activity for tax- German shepherds, collies, and beagles, all belong to ones e ·
onomists; taxonomists have only described and readily interbreed espite t e conspicuous morphological
about one-third of the earth's species. differences among them (Figure 2.3). Alternatively, closely relat-
ed "sibling" species appear very similar in morphology and
physiology, yet they are biologically separate and do not interbreed. ~~tice, bi-
ologists often find it difficult to distin uish variation within a sin le species from
variation between closely related species. For example, genetic analysis o ew
Zealand's unique reptile, the tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus), revealed
that there are actually two distinct species of tuatara, both deserving
scientific recognition and conservation protection (Hay et al. 2003). And
scientists are still debating whether the African elephant is one wide-
spread, variable species or is actually three separate species: a savan-
na species, a forest species, and a desert species.
Taxonomists are now aware that in many cases what were thought to
be separate populations of the same species are in fact genetically distinct,
different species. Increasingly, differences in DNA sequences and other
molecular markers are being used to distinguish species that look virtu-
ally identical, including many species of bacteria, plants, and even ani-
mals. Conservation biolo · ts and taxonomists are now developing a sys-
tem that w i entify the species o a vmg organism based on t TINA e
~!11- any tissue sample, a method termed DNAl>arcoo~{Valentini ef ar.
2009). Using sucfi an approach, researchers found that a common small
black wasp in Costa Rica that was thought to parasitize many different
species of catepillar, was actually composed of many distinct wasp species,
each of which parasitized different caterpillar species Ganzen et al. 2009).
Such a situation has been dubbed ~yptic biodiversity-~e wide-
spre~d existence of undescribed species that have been wrongly clas-
sified and rou ed with a similar-appearing species (Seidel et al. 2009f'
""'iohrrther complicate matters, indivi u o re a ed but distinct species
may occasionally mate and produc~ hybrids, intermediate forms that blur
~tinction betw.P.en species. S o ~ s hybrids are better suited to
their environment than either parent species, and they can go on to form
new species. Hybridization is particularly common among plant species
in disturbed habitats~Hybridization in both plants and animals frequ~Et-
ly occurs when a few individuals of a rare species are surro~y
~ e numbers of a closely related spec~es. For example, the endangered
thiopian wolf (Canis simensis) frequently mates with domestic dogs, and
declining British populations of the European wildcat (Felis silvestris) are
FIGURE 2.3 Breeds of dogs have been bred
for different characteristics, including size, being swamped with genetic material due to matings with domestic cats.
shape, color, and behavior, yet they still inter- In the United States, protection of the e n d a n g e r e d ~ ~
breed and are considered one species. (Pho- was almost withdrawn because morphological and genetic evidence
tograph© Moodboard/Photolibrary.com.) demonstrated that many of the remaining individuals are hybrids formed
 What Is Biological Diversity? 27

BOX 2.1 Naming and Classifying Species

■ Taxonomy is the science of classifying living things. The
goal of modern taxonomy is to create a system of classifica-
tion that reflects the evolution of groups of species from
their ancestors. By identifying the relationships between
species, taxonomists help conservation biologists identify
species or groups that may be evolutionarily unique and/or
particularly worthy of conservation efforts. Information
about the taxonomy, ecology, morphology, distribution, and
status of species is being organized into central databases
accessible via the Internet, such as the Tree of Life (www.tol
web.org). In modern classification, the following groupings
apply:
Similar species are grouped into a genus (plural, genera):
the Blackburnian warbler (Dendroica Jusca) and many
similar warbler species belong to the genus Dendroica.
Similar genera are grouped into a family: all wood war-
bler genera belong to the family Parulidae.
Similar families are grouped into an order: all songbird
families belong to the order Passeriformes.
Similar orders are grouped into a class: all bird orders be-
long to the class Aves.
Similar classes are grouped into a phylum (plural, phyla):
all vertebrate classes belong to the phylum Chordata.

Kingdom: Animalia

>1,000,000 species
\~~. •
.
:VT'l,,..~a
'
'

' . " ~:1

,,

~.',,
. -~rz~
,/2'•,.,·/
I

~· ~- ri
. , ... '!/_,
~ • I

:.
.
,

.'.
•

.... ' ' '' ' "

'
.

Phylum: Chordata
, .. ,,,, ~~~ .. •

'· ·..._.:. • -~~

ltif..;:.·.•w.:.-·1~
~ - · - -·<··
40,000 species .~~ .. .
.
. ((((/
. . ~ .........._.. ... . . ~,...
. ;

"'::· ';~
Class: Aves (birds) I ,;.,

, .

8600 species
'

Order: Passeriformes ---::~·

(songbirds) ,.,._,;,:-'

5160 species . ~ / ·- (_ ~ ,.~~

Family: Parulidae
(New World '
warblers)
125 species
_- -<:\i.

Genus: Dendroica
(various warblers)
28 species

Species: Dendroica Jusca

Blackburnian warbler

Blackbumian warblers (Dendroica Ju.sea) are related to more and more

other animals at successively higher levels of taxonomic organization. (continued)
28 Chapter 2

BOX 2 .1 (continued)

Similar phyla.are grouped into a kingdom: all animal
classes belong to the kingdom Animalia.*
Biologists throughout the world have agreed to use a
standard set of scientific, or Latin, names when discussing
species. The use of scientific names avoids the confusion
that can occur when using common names; the Latin names
are standard across countries and languages. Scientific
species names consist of two words. This naming system,
known as binomial nomenclature, was developed in the
eighteenth century by the Swedish biologist Carolus Lin-
*Until recently, most modern biologists recognized five kingdoms
in the living world: plants, animals, fungi, monerans (single-
celled species without a nucleus and without mitochondria, such
as bacteria), and protists (more complex single-celled species
with a nucleus and mitochondria). With the increasing sophistica-
tion of molecular techniques, many biologists now use a system
of classification with six kingdoms within three domains: Bacteria
(common bacteria), Archaea (ancient bacteria that live in extreme
environments, such as hypersaline pools, hot springs, and deep
sea vents), and the Eucarya (all organisms with a membrane-
bound nucleus, including animals, plants, fungi, and protists).
naeus. In the scientific name for the Blackburnian warbler,
Dendroica fusca, Dendroica is the genus name and fusca is
the species name. The genus name is somewhat similar to
a person's family name in that many people can have the
same family name (Sullivan), while the species name is sim-
ilar to a person's given name (Margaret).
Scientific names are written in a standard way to avoid
confusion. The first letter of the genus name is always cap-
italized, whereas the species name is almost always low-
ercased. Scientific names are italicized in print or under-
lined when handwritten. Sometimes scientific names are
followed by a person's name, as in Homo sapiens Linnaeus,
indicating that Linnaeus was the person who first proposed
the scientific name given to the human species. When many
species in a single genus are being discussed, or if the iden-
tity of a species within a genus is uncertain, the abbrevia-
tions spp. or sp., respectively, are sometimes used (e.g., Den-
droica spp.). If a species has no close relatives, it may be the
only species in its genus. Similarly, a genus that is unrelat-
ed to any other genera may form its own family.

from extensive mating with common coyotes (Canis latrans) (www.redwolves.com).

Even distantly related and historically isolated species may interbreed when brought
into contact by humans. The endangered California tiger salamader (Ambystoma cal-
iforniense) and the introduced barred tiger salamander (A. mavortium) are thought to
have evolved from a common ancestor 5 million years ago, yet they readily mate in
California (Figure 2.4). These hybrid salamanders have a higher fitness than the na-
tive species, further complicating the conservation of this endangered species (Fitz-
patrick and Shaffer 2007).
Much more work is needed to catalog and classify the world's species. At best,
taxonomists have described only one-third of the world's species, and perhaps as

FIGURE 2.4 The hybrid tiger

salamander (left) is larger than
its parent species, California
tiger salamander (right), and is
increasing in abundance. Note
the much larger head of the hy-
brid salamander. (Photograph
courtesy of H. Bradley Shaffer.)
 What Is Biological Diversity? 29

little as a few percent. The inability to clearly distinguish one species from anoth-
er, whether due to similarities of characteristics or to confusion over the correct sci-
entific name, often slows down efforts at species protection. It is difficult to write
precise, effective laws to protect a species if scientists and lawmakers are not cer-
tain what name should be used. At the same time, species are going extinct before
they are even described. Tens of thousands of new species are being described each
year, but even this rate is not fast enough. The key to solving this problem is to train
more taxonomists, especially for work in the species-rich tropics (Wilson 2003). We'll
return to this topic in Chapter 3.

The Origin of New Species

D1e biochemical similarity of all living species and the uniform use of DNA as the
genetic code indicate that life on Earth originated only once, about 3.5 billion years
ago. From one original species came the millions of species found on Earth today.
The process of new species formatiQn, known as ~peciation, continues tQ4!y and
wiU most likely continue into the future. - ~
This process, whereby one original species evolves into one or more new and
distinct species, was first described by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace
more than 100 years ago (Darwin 1859; Futuyma 2009). Their theory of the origin
of new species is widely accepted today in the scientific community* and contin-
ues to be further refined and developed, along with the science of genetics. The
wealth of new information that is continuously provided by the fossil record, along
with the extensive modern research in molecular biology, has provided additional
support for the ideas of Darwin and Wallace.
The theory of evolution is both simple and elegant. Imagine a population of a
species-mountain rabbits living in Canada, for example. Individuals in the pop-
ulation tend to produce more offspring than can survive in that place. Most off-
spring will die before reaching maturity. In the population, each pair of rabbits will
produce numerous litters of six or more offspring, yet on average, in a stable pop-
ulation, only two of those offspring will survive to adulthood. Individuals in the
population show variations in certain characteristics (such as fur thickness), and
some of these characteristics are inherited; that is, they are passed from parents to
offspring via genes. These genetic variations are caused both by mutations-spon-
taneous changes in the chromosomes-and by the rearrangement of chromosomes
that occurs during sexual reproduction. Within the rabbit population, some indi-
viduals have thicker fur than others because of such genetic differences. These
differences will enable some individuals to grow, survive, and reproduce better than
others, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as survival of the fittest. Our hypo-
thetical thick-furred rabbits will be more likely to survive cold winters than rabbits
with thinner fur. As a result of the improved survival ability associated with acer-
tain genetic characteristic, the individuals possessing that characteristic will be more
likely to produce offspring than the others; over time, the genetic composition of
the population will change. After a series of cold winters, more thick-furred rabbits
will have survived and produced thick-furred offspring, while more thin-furred
rabbits will have died. Consequently, more rabbits in the population will have thick-
er furthan in previous generations. At the same time, another population of the
same species living in a lowland area or further south could be undergoing selec-
tion for individuals with thinner fur in response to warming conditions.
In the process a£ evolution . populations often genetically adapt to change~
their environment. These changes may be biological (new food sources, new com-

*That evolution occurs is regarded by virtually all biologists as fact. Several popular and scholarly
books (e.g., Futuyma 2009; Shanks 2004) discuss religion-based arguments (and intelligent-design ar-
guments) against evolution and why most scientists do not accept such arguments.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 CHRISTOPHE

était bien le peuple qui se dévoue, qui

se bat, et qui se laisse tromper.
CATHERINE DE MÉDICIS.

L’inconnu, assis sur un banc et enveloppé dans sa cape,

appartenait évidemment à la classe la plus élevée de la société. La
finesse de son linge, la coupe, l’étoffe et l’odeur de ses vêtements, la
façon et la peau de ses gants indiquaient un homme de cour, de
même que sa pose, sa fierté, son calme et son coup d’œil
indiquaient l’homme de guerre. Son aspect inquiétait d’abord et
disposait au respect. On respecte un homme qui se respecte lui-
même. Petit et bossu, ses manières réparaient en un moment les
désavantages de sa taille. Une fois la glace rompue, il avait la gaieté
de la décision, et un entrain indéfinissable qui le rendait aimable. Il
avait les yeux bleus, le nez courbe de la maison de Navarre, et la
coupe espagnole de cette figure si accentuée, qui devait être le type
des rois Bourbons.
En trois mots, la scène prit un intérêt immense.
—Eh! bien, dit Chaudieu au moment où le jeune Lecamus
acheva sa phrase, ce batelier est la Renaudie, et voici monseigneur
le prince de Condé, ajouta-t-il en montrant le petit bossu.
Ainsi ces quatre hommes représentaient la foi du Peuple,
l’intelligence de la Parole, la Main du soldat et la Royauté cachée
dans l’ombre.
—Vous allez savoir ce que nous attendons de vous, reprit le
ministre après une pause laissée à l’étonnement du jeune Lecamus.
Afin que vous ne commettiez point d’erreur, nous sommes forcés de
vous initier aux plus importants secrets de la Réformation.
Le prince et la Renaudie continuèrent la parole du ministre par un
geste, après qu’il se fut tu pour laisser le prince parler lui-même, s’il
le voulait. Comme tous les grands engagés en des complots, et qui
ont pour système de ne se montrer qu’au moment décisif, le prince
garda le silence, non par couardise: dans ces conjonctures, il fut
l’âme de la conspiration, ne recula devant aucun danger et risqua sa
tête; mais par une sorte de dignité royale, il abandonna l’explication
de cette entreprise au ministre, et se contenta d’étudier le nouvel
instrument dont il fallait se servir.
—Mon enfant, dit Chaudieu, dans le langage des Huguenots,
nous allons livrer à la Prostituée romaine une première bataille.
Dans quelques jours, nos milices mourront sur des échafauds, ou
les Guise seront morts. Bientôt donc le roi et les deux reines seront
en notre pouvoir. Voici la première prise d’armes de notre Religion
en France, et la France ne les déposera qu’après avoir tout conquis:
il s’agit de la Nation, voyez-vous, et non du Royaume. La plupart des
grands du royaume voient où veulent en venir le cardinal de Lorraine
et le duc son frère. Sous le prétexte de défendre la Religion
Catholique, la maison de Lorraine veut réclamer la couronne de
France comme son patrimoine. Appuyée sur l’Église, elle s’en est
fait une alliée formidable, elle a les moines pour soutiens, pour
acolytes, pour espions. Elle s’érige en tutrice du trône qu’elle veut
usurper, en protectrice de la maison de Valois qu’elle veut anéantir.
Si nous nous décidons à nous lever en armes, c’est qu’il s’agit à la
fois des libertés du peuple et des intérêts de la noblesse également
menacés. Étouffons à son début une faction aussi odieuse que celle
des Bourguignons qui jadis ont mis Paris et la France à feu et à
sang. Il a fallu un Louis XI pour finir la querelle des Bourguignons et
de la Couronne; mais aujourd’hui un prince de Condé saura
empêcher les Lorrains de recommencer. Ce n’est pas une guerre
civile, mais un duel entre les Guise et la Réformation, un duel à
mort: nous ferons tomber leurs têtes, ou ils feront tomber les nôtres.
—Bien dit! s’écria le prince.
—Dans ces conjonctures, Christophe, reprit la Renaudie, nous
ne voulons rien négliger pour grossir notre parti, car il y a un parti
dans la Réformation, le parti des intérêts froissés, des nobles
sacrifiés aux Lorrains, des vieux capitaines indignement joués à
Fontainebleau d’où le cardinal les a bannis en faisant planter des
potences pour y accrocher ceux qui demandaient au roi l’argent de
leurs montres et les payes arriérées.
—Voilà, mon enfant, reprit Chaudieu remarquant une sorte
d’effroi chez Christophe, voilà ce qui nous oblige à triompher par les
armes au lieu de triompher par la conviction et par le martyre. La
reine-mère est sur le point d’entrer dans nos vues, non qu’elle veuille
abjurer, elle n’en est pas là, mais elle y sera peut-être forcée par
notre triomphe. Quoi qu’il en soit, humiliée et désespérée de voir
passer entre les mains des Guise la puissance qu’elle espérait
exercer après la mort du roi, effrayée de l’empire que prend la jeune
reine Marie, nièce des Lorrains et leur auxiliaire, la reine Catherine
doit être disposée à prêter son appui aux princes et aux seigneurs
qui vont tenter un coup de main pour la délivrer. En ce moment,
quoique dévouée aux Guise en apparence, elle les hait, elle
souhaite leur perte et se servira de nous contre eux; mais
Monseigneur se servira d’elle contre tous. La reine-mère donnera
son consentement à nos plans. Nous aurons pour nous le
connétable, que Monseigneur vient d’aller voir à Chantilly, mais qui
ne veut bouger que sur un ordre de ses maîtres. Oncle de
Monseigneur, il ne le laissera jamais dans l’embarras, et ce
généreux prince n’hésite pas à se jeter dans le danger pour décider
Anne de Montmorency. Tout est prêt, et nous avons jeté les yeux sur
vous pour communiquer à la reine Catherine notre traité d’alliance,
les projets d’édits et les bases du nouveau gouvernement. La cour
est à Blois. Beaucoup des nôtres y sont; mais ceux-là sont nos
futurs chefs... Et, comme Monseigneur, dit-il en montrant le prince,
ils ne doivent jamais être soupçonnés: nous devons nous sacrifier
tous pour eux. La reine-mère et nos amis sont l’objet d’une
surveillance si minutieuse, qu’il est impossible d’employer pour
intermédiaire une personne connue ou de quelque importance, elle
serait incontinent soupçonnée et ne pourrait communiquer avec
madame Catherine. Dieu nous doit en ce moment le berger David et
sa fronde pour attaquer Goliath de Guise. Votre père,
malheureusement pour lui bon catholique, est le pelletier des deux
reines, il a toujours à leur fournir quelque ajustement, obtenez qu’il
vous envoie à la cour. Vous n’éveillerez point les soupçons et ne
compromettrez en rien la reine Catherine. Tous nos chefs peuvent
payer de leur tête une imprudence qui laisserait croire à la
connivence de la reine-mère avec eux. Là où les grands, une fois
pris, donnent l’éveil, un petit comme vous est sans conséquence.
Voyez! les Guise ont tant d’espions que nous n’avons eu que la
rivière pour pouvoir causer sans crainte. Vous voilà, mon fils, comme
la sentinelle obligée de mourir à son poste. Sachez-le! si vous êtes
surpris, nous vous abandonnons tous, nous jetterons sur vous, s’il le
faut, l’opprobre et l’infamie. Nous dirons au besoin que vous êtes
une créature des Guise à laquelle ils font jouer ce rôle pour nous
perdre. Ainsi nous vous demandons un sacrifice entier.
—Si vous périssez, dit le prince de Condé, je vous engage ma foi
de gentilhomme que votre famille sera sacrée pour la maison de
Navarre: je la porterai dans mon cœur et la servirai en toute chose.
 —Cette parole, mon prince, suffit déjà, reprit Christophe sans
songer que ce factieux était un Gascon. Nous sommes dans un
temps où chacun, prince ou bourgeois, doit faire son devoir.
—Voilà un vrai Huguenot! Si tous nos hommes étaient ainsi, dit la
Renaudie en posant une main sur l’épaule de Christophe, nous
serions demain les maîtres.
—Jeune homme, reprit le prince, j’ai voulu vous montrer que si
Chaudieu prêche, si le gentilhomme est armé, le prince se bat. Ainsi
dans cette chaude partie tous les enjeux se valent.
—Écoutez, dit la Renaudie, je ne vous remettrai les papiers qu’à
Beaugency, car il ne faut pas les compromettre pendant tout le
voyage. Vous me trouverez sur le port: ma figure, ma voix, mes
vêtements seront si changés, que vous ne pourrez me reconnaître.
Mais je vous dirai: Vous êtes un guêpin? et vous me répondrez: Prêt
à servir. Quant à l’exécution, voici les moyens. Vous trouverez un
cheval à la Pinte-Fleurie, proche Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois. Vous y
demanderez Jean-le-Breton, qui vous mènera à l’écurie, et vous
donnera l’un de mes bidets connu pour faire ses trente lieues en huit
heures. Sortez par la porte de Bussy, Breton a une passe pour moi,
prenez-la pour vous, et filez en faisant le tour des villes. Vous
pourrez ainsi arriver au petit jour à Orléans.
—Et le cheval? dit le jeune Lecamus.
—Il ne crèvera pas avant Orléans, reprit la Renaudie. Laissez-le
avant l’entrée du faubourg Bannier, car les portes sont bien gardées,
il ne faut pas éveiller les soupçons. A vous, l’ami, à bien jouer votre
rôle. Vous inventerez la fable qui vous paraîtra la meilleure pour
arriver à la troisième maison à gauche en entrant dans Orléans; elle
appartient à un certain Tourillon, gantier. Vous frapperez trois coups
à la porte en criant:—Service de messieurs de Guise! L’homme est
en apparence un guisard enragé, mais il n’y a que nous quatre qui le
sachions des nôtres; il vous donnera un batelier dévoué, un autre
guisard de sa trempe, bien entendu. Descendez incontinent au port,
vous vous y embarquerez sur un bateau peint en vert et bordé de
blanc. Vous aborderez sans doute à Beaugency demain matin à
midi. Là, je vous ferai trouver une barque sur laquelle vous
descendrez à Blois sans courir de dangers. Nos ennemis les Guise
ne gardent pas la Loire, mais seulement les ports. Ainsi, vous
pourrez voir la reine dans la journée ou le lendemain.
—Vos paroles sont gravées là, dit Christophe en montrant son
front.
Chaudieu embrassa son enfant avec une singulière effusion
religieuse, il en était fier.
—Dieu veille sur toi! dit-il en montrant le couchant qui rougissait
les vieux toits couverts en bardeau et qui glissait ses lueurs à travers
la forêt de poutres où bouillonnaient les eaux.
—Vous êtes de la race du vieux Jacques Bonhomme! dit la
Renaudie à Christophe en lui serrant la main.
—Nous nous reverrons, monsieur, lui dit le prince en faisant un
geste d’une grâce infinie et où il y avait presque de l’amitié.
D’un coup de rame, la Renaudie mit le jeune conspirateur sur
une marche de l’escalier qui conduisait dans la maison, et la barque
disparut aussitôt sous les arches du Pont-au-Change.
Christophe secoua la grille en fer qui fermait l’escalier sur la
rivière et cria; mademoiselle Lecamus l’entendit, ouvrit une des
croisées de l’arrière-boutique et lui demanda comment il se trouvait
là. Christophe répondit qu’il gelait et qu’il fallait d’abord le faire
entrer.
—Notre maître, dit la Bourguignonne, vous êtes sorti par la porte
de la rue, et vous revenez par celle de l’eau? Votre père va joliment
se fâcher.
Christophe, étourdi par une confidence qui venait de le mettre en
rapport avec le prince de Condé, la Renaudie, Chaudieu, et encore
plus ému du spectacle anticipé d’une guerre civile imminente, ne
répondit rien, il monta précipitamment de la cuisine à l’arrière-
boutique; mais en le voyant, sa mère, vieille catholique enragée, ne
put retenir sa colère.
—Je gage que les trois hommes avec lesquels tu causais là sont
des Réf... demanda-t-elle.
 —Tais-toi, ma femme, dit aussitôt le prudent vieillard en cheveux
blancs qui feuilletait un gros livre.—Grands fainéants, reprit-il en
s’adressant à trois jeunes garçons qui depuis longtemps avaient fini
leur souper, qu’attendez-vous pour aller dormir? Il est huit heures, il
faudra vous lever à cinq heures du matin. Vous avez d’ailleurs à
porter chez le président de Thou son mortier et sa robe. Allez-y tous
trois en prenant vos bâtons et vos rapières. Si vous rencontrez des
vauriens comme vous, au moins serez-vous en force.
—Faut-il aussi porter le surcot d’hermine que la jeune reine a
demandé, et qui doit être remis à l’hôtel de Soissons où il y a un
exprès pour Blois et pour la reine-mère? demanda l’un des commis.
—Non, dit le syndic, le compte de la reine Catherine se monte à
trois mille écus, il faudrait bien finir par les avoir, je compte aller à
Blois.
—Mon père, je ne souffrirai pas qu’à votre âge et par le temps
qui court, vous vous exposiez par les chemins. J’ai vingt-deux ans,
vous pouvez m’employer à ceci, dit Christophe en lorgnant une boîte
où devait être le surcot.
—Êtes-vous soudés au banc? cria le vieillard aux apprentis qui
soudain prirent leurs rapières, leurs manteaux et la fourrure de
monsieur de Thou.
Le lendemain, le Parlement recevait au palais, comme président,
cet homme illustre qui, après avoir signé l’arrêt de mort du conseiller
du Bourg, devait, avant la fin de l’année, avoir à juger le prince de
Condé.
—La Bourguignonne, dit le vieillard, allez demander à mon
compère Lallier s’il veut venir souper avec nous en fournissant le vin,
nous donnerons la fripe, dites-lui surtout d’amener sa fille.
Le syndic du corps des pelletiers était un beau vieillard de
soixante ans, à cheveux blancs, à front large et découvert. Fourreur
de la cour depuis quarante ans, il avait vu toutes les révolutions du
règne de François Ier, et s’était tenu dans sa patente royale malgré
les rivalités de femmes. Il avait été témoin de l’arrivée à la cour de la
jeune Catherine de Médicis à peine âgée de quinze ans; il l’avait
observée pliant sous la duchesse d’Étampes, la maîtresse de son
beau-père, pliant sous la duchesse de Valentinois, maîtresse de son
mari, le feu roi. Mais le pelletier s’était bien tiré de ces phases
étranges, où les marchands de la cour avaient été si souvent
enveloppés dans la disgrâce des maîtresses. Sa prudence égalait sa
fortune. Il demeurait dans une excessive humilité. Jamais l’orgueil ne
l’avait pris en ses piéges. Ce marchand se faisait si petit, si doux, si
complaisant, si pauvre à la cour, devant les princesses, les reines et
les favorites, que cette modestie et sa bonhomie avaient conservé
l’enseigne de sa maison. Une semblable politique annonçait
nécessairement un homme fin et perspicace. Autant il paraissait
humble au dehors, autant il devenait despote au logis; il était absolu
chez lui. Très-honoré par ses confrères, il devait à la longue
possession de la première place dans son commerce une immense
considération. Il rendait d’ailleurs volontiers service, et parmi ceux
qu’il avait rendus, un des plus éclatants était certes l’assistance qu’il
prêta longtemps au plus fameux chirurgien du seizième siècle,
Ambroise Paré, qui lui devait d’avoir pu se livrer à ses études. Dans
toutes les difficultés qui survenaient entre marchands, Lecamus se
montrait conciliant. Aussi l’estime générale consolidait-elle sa
position parmi ses égaux, comme son caractère d’emprunt le
maintenait en faveur à la cour. Après avoir brigué par politique dans
sa paroisse les honneurs de la fabrique, il faisait le nécessaire pour
se conserver en bonne odeur de sainteté près du curé de Saint-
Pierre-aux-Bœufs, qui le regardait comme un des hommes de Paris
les plus dévoués à la religion catholique. Aussi, lors de la
convocation des États-généraux, fut-il nommé tout d’une voix pour
représenter le tiers-état par l’influence des curés de Paris qui dans
ce temps était immense. Ce vieillard était un de ces sourds et
profonds ambitieux qui se courbent pendant cinquante ans devant
chacun, en se glissant de poste en poste, sans qu’on sache
comment ils sont arrivés, mais qui se trouvent assis et au repos là
où jamais personne, même parmi les plus audacieux, n’aurait osé
s’avouer un pareil but au commencement de la vie: tant était forte la
distance, tant d’abîmes étaient à franchir et où l’on devait rouler!
Lecamus, qui avait une immense fortune cachée, ne voulait courir
aucun péril et préparait un brillant avenir à son fils. Au lieu d’avoir
cette ambition personnelle qui souvent sacrifie l’avenir au présent, il
avait l’ambition de famille, sentiment perdu de nos jours, étouffé par
la sotte disposition de nos lois sur les successions. Lecamus se
voyait premier président au parlement de Paris dans la personne de
son petit-fils.
Christophe, filleul du fameux de Thou l’historien, avait reçu la
plus solide éducation; mais elle l’avait conduit au doute et à
l’examen qui gagnait les étudiants et les Facultés de l’Université.
Christophe faisait en ce moment ses études pour débuter au
barreau, ce premier degré de la magistrature. Le vieux pelletier
jouait l’hésitation à propos de son fils: il paraissait tantôt vouloir faire
de Christophe son successeur, tantôt en faire un avocat; mais
sérieusement il ambitionnait pour ce fils une place de conseiller au
parlement. Ce marchand voulait mettre la famille Lecamus au rang
de ces vieilles et célèbres familles de bourgeoisie parisienne d’où
sortirent les Pasquier, les Molé, les Miron, les Séguier, Lamoignon,
du Tillet, Lecoigneux, Lescalopier, les Goix, les Arnauld, les fameux
échevins et les grands prévôts des marchands parmi lesquels le
trône trouva tant de défenseurs. Aussi, pour que Christophe pût
soutenir un jour son rang, voulait-il le marier à la fille du plus riche
orfévre de la Cité, son compère Lallier, dont le neveu devait
présenter à Henri IV les clefs de Paris. Le dessein le plus
profondément enfoncé dans le cœur de ce bourgeois était
d’employer la moitié de sa fortune et la moitié de celle de l’orfévre à
l’acquisition d’une grande et belle terre seigneuriale, affaire longue et
difficile en ce temps. Mais ce profond politique connaissait trop bien
son temps pour ignorer les grands mouvements qui se préparaient: il
voyait bien et voyait juste, en prévoyant la division du royaume en
deux camps. Les supplices inutiles de la place de l’Estrapade,
l’exécution du couturier de Henri II, celle plus récente du conseiller
Anne du Bourg, la connivence actuelle des grands seigneurs, celle
d’une favorite, sous le règne de François Ier, avec les Réformés,
étaient de terribles indices. Le pelletier avait résolu de rester, quoi
qu’il arrivât, catholique, royaliste et parlementaire; mais il lui
convenait, in petto, que son fils appartînt à la Réformation. Il se
savait assez riche pour racheter Christophe s’il était par trop
compromis; puis si la France devenait calviniste, son fils pouvait
sauver sa famille, dans une de ces furieuses émeutes parisiennes
dont le souvenir vivait dans la bourgeoisie, et qu’elle devait
recommencer pendant quatre règnes. Mais ces pensées, de même
que Louis XI, le vieux pelletier ne se les disait pas à lui-même, sa
profondeur allait jusqu’à tromper sa femme et son fils. Ce grave
personnage était depuis longtemps le chef du plus riche, du plus
populeux quartier de Paris, celui du centre, sous le titre de
quartenier qui devait devenir si célèbre quinze ans plus tard. Vêtu de
drap comme tous les bourgeois prudents qui obéissaient aux
ordonnances somptuaires, le sieur Lecamus (il tenait à ce titre
accordé par Charles V aux bourgeois de Paris, et qui leur permettait
d’acheter des seigneuries et d’appeler leurs femmes du beau nom
de Demoiselle), n’avait ni chaîne d’or, ni soie, mais un bon pourpoint
à gros boutons d’argent noircis, des chausses drapées montant au-
dessus du genou, et des souliers de cuirs agrafés. Sa chemise de
fine toile sortait en gros bouillons, selon la mode du temps, par sa
veste entr’ouverte et son haut-de-chausses. Quoique la belle et
large figure de ce vieillard reçût toute la clarté de la lampe, il fut alors
impossible à Christophe de deviner les pensées ensevelies sous la
riche carnation hollandaise de son vieux père; mais il comprit
néanmoins tout le parti que le vieillard voulait tirer de son affection
pour la jolie Babette Lallier. Aussi, en homme qui avait pris sa
résolution, Christophe sourit-il amèrement en entendant inviter sa
future.
Quand la Bourguignonne fut partie avec les apprentis, le vieux
Lecamus regarda sa femme en laissant voir alors tout son caractère
ferme et absolu.
—Tu ne seras pas contente que tu n’aies fait pendre cet enfant,
avec ta damnée langue? lui dit-il d’une voix sévère.
—Je l’aimerais mieux justicié mais sauvé, que vivant et
Huguenot, dit-elle d’un air sombre. Penser qu’un enfant qui a logé
neuf mois dans mes entrailles n’est pas bon catholique et mange de
la vache à Colas, qu’il ira en enfer pour l’éternité!
Elle se mit à pleurer.
 —Vieille bête, lui dit le pelletier, laisse-le donc vivre, quand ce ne
serait que pour le convertir! Tu as dit, devant nos apprentis, un mot
qui peut faire bouter le feu à notre maison et nous faire cuire tous
comme des puces dans les paillasses.
La mère se signa, s’assit et resta muette.
—Or çà, toi, dit le bonhomme en jetant un regard de juge à son
fils, explique-moi ce que tu faisais là sur l’eau avec... Viens ici que je
te parle, dit-il en empoignant son fils par le bras et l’attirant à lui...
avec le prince de Condé, souffla-t-il dans l’oreille de Christophe qui
tressaillit.—Crois-tu que le pelletier de la cour n’en connaisse pas
toutes les figures? Et crois-tu que j’ignore ce qui se passe?
Monseigneur le Grand-Maître a donné l’ordre d’amener des troupes
à Amboise. Retirer des troupes de Paris et les envoyer à Amboise,
quand la cour est à Blois, les faire aller par Chartres et Vendôme, au
lieu de prendre la route d’Orléans, est-ce clair? il va y avoir des
troubles. Si les reines veulent leurs surcots, elles les enverront
chercher. Le prince de Condé a peut-être résolu de tuer messieurs
de Guise qui, de leur côté, pensent peut-être à se défaire de lui. Le
prince se servira des Huguenots pour se défendre. A quoi servirait le
fils d’un pelletier dans cette bagarre? Quand tu seras marié, quand
tu seras avocat en parlement, tu seras tout aussi prudent que ton
père. Pour être de la nouvelle religion, le fils d’un pelletier doit
attendre que tout le monde en soit. Je ne condamne pas les
réformateurs, ce n’est pas mon métier; mais la cour est catholique,
les deux reines sont catholiques, le Parlement est catholique; nous
les fournissons, nous devons être catholiques. Tu ne sortiras pas
d’ici, Christophe, ou je te mets chez le président de Thou, ton
parrain, qui te gardera près de lui nuit et jour et te fera noircir du
papier au lieu de te laisser noircir l’âme en la cuisine de ces damnés
Genevois.
—Mon père, dit Christophe en s’appuyant sur le dos de la chaise
où était le vieillard, envoyez-moi donc à Blois porter le surcot à la
reine Marie et réclamer notre argent de la reine-mère, sans cela, je
suis perdu! et vous tenez à moi.
 —Perdu? reprit le vieillard sans manifester le moindre
étonnement. Si tu restes ici, tu ne seras point perdu, je te retrouverai
toujours.
—On m’y tuera.
—Comment?
—Les plus ardents des Huguenots ont jeté les yeux sur moi pour
les servir en quelque chose, et si je manque à faire ce que je viens
de promettre, ils me tueront en plein jour, dans la rue, ici, comme on
a tué Minard. Mais si vous m’envoyez à la cour pour vos affaires,
peut-être pourrai-je me justifier également bien des deux côtés. Ou
je réussirai sans avoir couru aucun danger et saurai conquérir ainsi
une belle place dans le parti, ou si le danger est trop grand, je ne
ferai que vos affaires.
Le père se leva comme si son fauteuil eût été de fer rougi.
—Ma femme, dit-il, laisse-nous, et veille à ce que nous soyons
bien seuls, Christophe et moi.
Quand mademoiselle Lecamus fut sortie, le pelletier prit son fils
par un bouton et l’emmena dans le coin de la salle qui faisait
l’encoignure du pont.
—Christophe, lui dit-il dans le tuyau de l’oreille comme quand il
venait de lui parler du prince de Condé, sois Huguenot, si tu as ce
vice-là, mais sois-le avec prudence, au fond du cœur et non de
manière à te faire montrer au doigt dans le quartier. Ce que tu viens
de m’avouer me prouve combien les chefs ont confiance en toi. Que
vas-tu donc faire à la cour?
—Je ne saurais vous le dire, répondit Christophe, je ne le sais
pas encore bien moi-même.
—Hum! hum! fit le vieillard en regardant son fils, le drôle veut
trupher son père, il ira loin.—Or çà, reprit-il à voix basse, tu ne vas
pas à la cour pour porter des avances à messieurs de Guise ni au
petit roi notre maître, ni à la petite reine Marie. Tous ces cœurs-là
sont catholiques; mais je jurerais bien que l’Italienne a quelque
chose contre l’Écossaise et contre les Lorrains, je la connais: elle
avait une furieuse envie de mettre la main à la pâte! le feu roi la
craignait si bien qu’il a fait comme les orfévres, il a usé le diamant
par le diamant, une femme par une autre. De là, cette haine de la
reine Catherine contre la pauvre duchesse de Valentinois, à qui elle
a pris le beau château de Chenonceaux. Sans monsieur le
connétable, la duchesse était pour le moins étranglée... Arrière, mon
fils, ne te mets pas entre les mains de cette Italienne qui n’a de
passion que dans la cervelle: mauvaise espèce de femme! Oui, ce
qu’on t’envoie faire à la cour te causera peut-être un grand mal de
tête, s’écria le père en voyant Christophe prêt à répondre. Mon
enfant, j’ai des projets pour ton avenir, tu ne les dérangerais pas en
te rendant utile à la reine Catherine; mais, Jésus! ne risque point ta
tête! et ces messieurs de Guise la couperaient comme la
Bourguignonne coupe un navet, car les gens qui t’emploient te
désavoueront entièrement.
—Je le sais, mon père, dit Christophe.
—Es-tu donc aussi fort que cela? Tu le sais et tu te risques!
—Oui, mon père.
—Ventre de loup-cervier, s’écria le père qui serra son fils dans
ses bras, nous pourrons nous entendre: tu es digne de ton père.
Mon enfant, tu seras l’honneur de la famille, et je vois que ton vieux
père peut s’expliquer avec toi. Mais ne sois pas plus Huguenot que
messieurs de Coligny. Ne tire pas l’épée, tu seras homme de plume,
reste dans ton futur rôle de robin. Allons, ne me dis rien qu’après la
réussite. Si tu ne m’as rien fait savoir quatre jours après ton arrivée à
Blois, ce silence me dira que tu seras en danger. Le vieillard ira
sauver le jeune homme. Je n’ai pas vendu pendant trente-deux ans
des fourrures sans connaître l’envers des robes de cour. J’aurai de
quoi me faire ouvrir les portes.
Christophe ouvrait de grands yeux en entendant son père parler
ainsi, mais il craignit quelque piége paternel et garda le silence.
—Eh! bien, faites le compte, écrivez une lettre à la reine, je veux
partir à l’instant, sans quoi les plus grands malheurs arriveraient.
—Partir! Mais comment?
 —J’achèterai un cheval. Écrivez, au nom de Dieu!
—Hé! la mère? de l’argent à ton fils, cria le pelletier à sa femme.
La mère rentra, courut à son bahut et donna une bourse à
Christophe, qui, tout ému, l’embrassa.
—Le compte était tout prêt, dit son père, le voici. Je vais écrire la
lettre.
Christophe prit le compte et le mit dans sa poche.
—Mais tu souperas au moins avec nous, dit le bonhomme. Dans
ces extrémités, il faut échanger vos anneaux, la fille à Lallier et toi.
—Eh! bien, je vais l’aller querir, s’écria Christophe.
Le jeune homme se défia des incertitudes de son père dont le
caractère ne lui était pas encore assez connu; il monta dans sa
chambre, s’habilla, prit une valise, descendit à pas de loup, la posa
sur un comptoir de la boutique, ainsi que sa rapière et son manteau.
—Que diable fais-tu? lui dit son père en l’entendant.
Christophe vint baiser le vieillard sur les deux joues.
—Je ne veux pas qu’on voie mes apprêts de départ, j’ai tout mis
sous un comptoir, lui répondit-il à l’oreille.
—Voici la lettre, dit le père.
Christophe prit le papier et sortit comme pour aller chercher la
jeune voisine.
Quelques instants après le départ de Christophe, le compère
Lallier et sa fille arrivèrent, précédés d’une servante qui apportait
trois bouteilles de vin vieux.
—Hé! bien, où est Christophe? dirent les deux vieilles gens.
—Christophe? s’écria Babette, nous ne l’avons pas vu.
—Mon fils est un fier drôle! il me trompe comme si je n’avais pas
de barbe. Mon compère, que va-t-il arriver? Nous vivons dans un
temps où les enfants ont plus d’esprit que les pères.
 —Mais il y a longtemps que tout le quartier en fait un mangeur de
vache à Colas, dit Lallier.
—Défendez-le sur ce point, compère, dit le pelletier à l’orfévre, la
jeunesse est folle, elle court après les choses neuves; mais Babette
le fera tenir tranquille, elle est encore plus neuve que Calvin.
Babette sourit; elle aimait Christophe et s’offensait de tout ce que
l’on disait contre lui. C’était une de ces filles de la vieille bourgeoisie,
élevée sous les yeux de sa mère qui ne l’avait pas quittée: son
maintien était doux, correct comme son visage; elle était vêtue en
étoffes de laine de couleurs grises et harmonieuses; sa gorgerette,
simplement plissée, tranchait par sa blancheur sur ses vêtements;
elle avait un bonnet de velours brun qui ressemblait beaucoup à un
béguin d’enfant; mais il était orné de ruches et de barbes en gaze
tannée, ou autrement couleur de tan, qui descendaient de chaque
côté de sa figure. Quoique blonde et blanche comme une blonde,
elle paraissait rusée, fine, tout en essayant de cacher sa malice sous
l’air d’une fille honnêtement éduquée. Tant que les deux servantes
allèrent et vinrent en mettant la nappe, les brocs, les grands plats
d’étain et les couverts, l’orfévre et sa fille, le pelletier et sa femme,
restèrent devant la haute cheminée à lambrequins de serge rouge
bordée de franges noires, disant des riens. Babette avait beau
demander où pouvait être Christophe, la mère et le père du jeune
Huguenot donnaient des réponses évasives; mais quand les deux
familles furent attablées, et que les deux servantes furent à la
cuisine, Lecamus dit à sa future belle-fille:—Christophe est parti pour
la cour.
—A Blois! faire un pareil voyage sans m’avoir dit adieu! dit-elle.
—L’affaire était pressée, dit la vieille mère.
—Mon compère, dit le pelletier en reprenant la conversation
abandonnée, nous allons avoir du grabuge en France: les Réformés
se remuent.
—S’ils triomphent, ce ne sera qu’après de grosses guerres
pendant lesquelles le commerce ira mal, dit Lallier incapable de
s’élever plus haut que la sphère commerciale.
 —Mon père, qui a vu la fin des guerres entre les Bourguignons et
les Armagnacs, m’a dit que notre famille ne s’en serait pas sauvée si
l’un de ses grands-pères, le père de sa mère, n’avait pas été un
Goix, l’un de ces fameux bouchers de la Halle qui tenaient pour les
Bourguignons, tandis que l’autre, un Lecamus, était du parti des
Armagnacs; ils paraissaient vouloir s’arracher la peau devant le
monde, mais ils s’entendaient en famille. Ainsi, tâchons de sauver
Christophe, peut-être dans l’occasion nous sauvera-t-il.
—Vous êtes un fin matois, compère, dit l’orfévre.
—Non! répondit Lecamus. La bourgeoisie doit penser à elle, le
peuple et la noblesse lui en veulent également. La bourgeoisie
parisienne donne des craintes à tout le monde, excepté au roi qui la
sait son amie.
—Vous qui êtes si savant et qui avez tant vu de choses,
demanda timidement Babette, expliquez-moi donc ce que veulent
les Réformés.
—Dites-nous ça, compère, s’écria l’orfévre. Je connaissais le
couturier du feu roi et le tenais pour un homme de mœurs simples,
sans grand génie; il était quasi comme vous, on lui eût baillé Dieu
sans confession, et cependant il trempait au fond de cette religion
nouvelle, lui! un homme dont les deux oreilles valaient quelque cent
mille écus. Il devait donc avoir des secrets à révéler pour que le roi
et la duchesse de Valentinois aient assisté à sa torture.
—Et de terribles! dit le pelletier. La Réformation, mes amis, reprit-
il à voix basse, ferait rentrer dans la bourgeoisie les terres de
l’Église. Après les priviléges ecclésiastiques supprimés, les
Réformés comptent demander que les nobles et bourgeois soient
égaux pour les tailles, qu’il n’y ait que le roi au-dessus de tout le
monde, si toutefois on laisse un roi dans l’État.
—Supprimer le trône! s’écria Lallier.
—Hé! compère, dit Lecamus, dans les Pays-Bas, les bourgeois
se gouvernent eux-mêmes par des échevins à eux, lesquels élisent
eux-mêmes un chef temporaire.
 —Vive Dieu! compère, on devrait faire ces belles choses et rester
Catholiques, s’écria l’orfévre.
—Nous sommes trop vieux pour voir le triomphe de la
bourgeoisie de Paris, mais elle triomphera, compère! dans le temps
comme dans le temps! Ah! il faudra bien que le roi s’appuie sur elle
pour résister, et nous avons toujours bien vendu notre appui. Enfin la
dernière fois, tous les bourgeois ont été anoblis, il leur a été permis
d’acheter des terres seigneuriales et d’en porter les noms sans qu’il
soit besoin de lettres expresses du roi. Vous comme moi le petit-fils
des Goix par les femmes, ne valons-nous pas bien des seigneurs?
Cette parole effraya tant l’orfévre et les deux femmes, qu’elle fut
suivie d’un profond silence. Les ferments de 1789 piquaient déjà le
sang de Lecamus qui n’était pas encore si vieux qu’il ne pût voir les
audaces bourgeoises de la Ligue.
—Vendez-vous bien, malgré ce remue-ménage? demanda Lallier
à la Lecamus.
—Cela fait toujours du tort, répondit-elle.
—Aussi ai-je bien fort l’envie de faire un avocat de mon fils, dit
Lecamus, car la chicane va toujours.
La conversation resta dès lors sur un terrain de lieux communs,
au grand contentement de l’orfévre qui n’aimait ni les troubles
politiques, ni les hardiesses de pensée.
Maintenant, suivons Christophe.
Les rives de la Loire, depuis Blois jusqu’à Angers, ont été l’objet
de la prédilection des deux dernières branches de la race royale qui
occupèrent le trône avant la maison de Bourbon. Ce beau bassin
mérite si bien les honneurs que lui ont faits les rois, que voici ce
qu’en disait naguère l’un de nos plus élégants écrivains:
 «Il existe en France une province qu’on n’admire jamais
assez. Parfumée comme l’Italie, fleurie comme les rives du
Guadalquivir, et belle, en outre, de sa physionomie
particulière, toute Française, ayant toujours été Française,
contrairement à nos provinces du Nord abâtardies par le
contact allemand, et à nos provinces du Midi qui ont vécu en
concubinage avec les Maures, les Espagnols et tous les
peuples qui en ont voulu; cette province pure, chaste, brave
et loyale, c’est la Touraine! La France historique est là!
L’Auvergne est l’Auvergne, le Languedoc n’est que le
Languedoc; mais la Touraine est la France, et le fleuve le plus
national pour nous est la Loire qui arrose la Touraine. On doit
dès lors moins s’étonner de la quantité de monuments
enfermés dans les départements qui ont pris le nom et les
dérivations du nom de la Loire. A chaque pas qu’on fait dans
ce pays d’enchantements, on découvre un tableau dont la
bordure est une rivière ou un ovale tranquille qui réfléchit
dans ses profondeurs liquides un château, ses tourelles, ses
bois, ses eaux jaillissantes. Il était naturel que là où vivait de
préférence la Royauté, où elle établit si longtemps sa cour,
vinssent se grouper les hautes fortunes, les distinctions de
race et de mérite, et qu’elles s’y élevassent des palais grands
comme elles.»

N’est-il pas incompréhensible que la Royauté n’ait point suivi

l’avis indirectement donné par Louis XI de placer à Tours la capitale
du royaume. Là, sans de grandes dépenses, la Loire pouvait être
rendue accessible aux vaisseaux de commerce et aux bâtiments de
guerre légers. Là, le siége du gouvernement eût été à l’abri des
coups de main d’une invasion. Les places du Nord n’eussent pas
alors demandé tant d’argent pour leurs fortifications aussi coûteuses
à elles seules que l’ont été les somptuosités de Versailles. Si Louis
XIV avait écouté le conseil de Vauban, qui voulait lui bâtir sa
résidence à Mont-Louis, entre la Loire et le Cher, peut-être la
révolution de 1789 n’aurait-elle pas eu lieu. Ces belles rives portent
donc, de place en place, les marques de la tendresse royale. Les
châteaux de Chambord, de Blois, d’Amboise, de Chenonceaux, de
Chaumont, du Plessis-lez-Tours, tous ceux que les maîtresses de
nos rois, que les financiers et les seigneurs se bâtirent à Véretz,
Azay-le-Rideau, Ussé, Villandri, Valençay, Chanteloup, Duretal, dont
quelques-uns ont disparu, mais dont la plupart vivent encore, sont
d’admirables monuments où respirent les merveilles de cette époque
si mal comprise par la secte littéraire des moyen-âgistes. Entre tous
ces châteaux, celui de Blois, où se trouvait alors la cour, est un de
ceux où la magnificence des d’Orléans et des Valois a mis son plus
brillant cachet, et le plus curieux pour les historiens, pour les
archéologues, pour les Catholiques. Il était alors complétement isolé.
La ville, enceinte de fortes murailles garnies de tours, s’étalait au
bas de la forteresse, car ce château servait en effet tout à la fois de
fort et de maison de plaisance. Au-dessus de la ville, dont les
maisons pressées et les toits bleus s’étendaient, alors comme
aujourd’hui, de la Loire jusqu’à la crête de la colline qui règne sur la
rive droite du fleuve, se trouve un plateau triangulaire, coupé de
l’ouest par un ruisseau sans importance aujourd’hui, car il coule
sous la ville; mais qui, au quinzième siècle, disent les historiens,
formait un ravin assez considérable, et duquel il reste un profond
chemin creux, presque un abîme entre le faubourg et le château.
Ce fut sur ce plateau, à la double exposition du nord et du midi,
que les comtes de Blois se bâtirent, dans le goût de l’architecture du
douzième siècle, un castel où les fameux Thibault le Tricheur,
Thibault le Vieux et autres, tinrent une cour célèbre. Dans ces temps
de féodalité pure où le roi n’était que primus inter pares, selon la
belle expression d’un roi de Pologne, les comtes de Champagne, les
comtes de Blois, ceux d’Anjou, les simples barons de Normandie,
les ducs de Bretagne menaient un train de souverains et donnaient
des rois aux plus fiers royaumes. Les Plantagenet d’Anjou, les
Lusignan de Poitou, les Robert de Normandie alimentaient par leur
audace les races royales, et quelquefois, comme du Glaicquin, de
simples chevaliers refusaient la pourpre, en préférant l’épée de
connétable. Quand la Couronne eut réuni le comté de Blois à son
domaine, Louis XII, qui affectionna ce site peut-être pour s’éloigner
du Plessis, de sinistre mémoire, construisit en retour, à la double
exposition du levant et du couchant, un corps de logis qui joignit le
château des comtes de Blois aux restes de vieilles constructions
desquelles il ne subsiste aujourd’hui que l’immense salle où se
tinrent les États-Généraux sous Henri III. Avant de s’amouracher de
Chambord, François Ier voulut achever le château en y ajoutant deux
autres ailes, ainsi le carré eût été parfait; mais Chambord le
détourna de Blois, où il ne fit qu’un corps de logis qui, de son temps
et pour ses petits-enfants, devint tout le château. Ce troisième
château bâti par François Ier est beaucoup plus vaste et plus orné
que le Louvre, appelé de Henri II. Il est ce que l’architecture dite de
la Renaissance a élevé de plus fantastique. Aussi, dans un temps où
régnait une architecture jalouse et où de moyen-âge on ne se
souciait guère, dans une époque où la littérature ne se mariait pas
aussi étroitement que de nos jours avec l’art, La Fontaine a-t-il dit du
château de Blois, dans sa langue pleine de bonhomie: «Ce qu’a fait
faire François Ier, à le regarder du dehors, me contenta plus que tout
le reste: il y a force petites galeries, petites fenêtres, petits balcons,
petits ornements sans régularité et sans ordre, cela fait quelque
chose de grand qui me plaît assez.»
Le château de Blois avait donc alors le mérite de représenter
trois genres d’architecture différents, trois époques, trois systèmes,
trois dominations. Aussi, peut-être n’existe-t-il aucune demeure
royale qui soit sous ce rapport comparable au château de Blois.
Cette immense construction offre dans la même enceinte, dans la
même cour, un tableau complet, exact de cette grande
représentation des mœurs et de la vie des nations qui s’appelle
l’Architecture. Au moment où Christophe allait voir la cour, la partie
du château qui, de nos jours, est occupée par le quatrième palais
que s’y bâtit soixante-dix ans plus tard, pendant son exil, Gaston, le
factieux frère de Louis XIII, offrait un ensemble de parterres et de
jardins aériens pittoresquement mêlés aux pierres d’attente et aux
tours inachevées du château de François Ier. Ces jardins
communiquaient par un pont d’une belle hardiesse, et que les
vieillards du Blésois peuvent encore se souvenir d’avoir vu démolir, à
un parterre qui s’élevait de l’autre côté du château et qui, par la
disposition du sol, se trouvait au même niveau. Les gentilshommes
attachés à la reine Anne de Bretagne, ou ceux qui de cette province
venaient la solliciter, conférer avec elle ou l’éclairer sur le sort de la