A Role for Honors in Conservation and Biodiversity Education (Research Essays)

INTRODUCTION The earth's biota is in the middle of its most severe rate of decline since the end of the Cretaceous, the period that encompassed the extinction of the dinosaurs roughly sixty-five million years ago (Glavine). Numerous anthropogenic practices have contributed significantly to these losses in biodiversity (Eldredge; Novacek and Cleland). For instance, habitat reductions as a result of expanding human land use (Franklin; Sala et al.; Harte; Falcucci et al.), environmental degradation due to pollution (Barker and Tingey; McNeely), introduction and establishment of non-native species (Wilcove et al.; Sala et al.), and climate change (Lovejoy and Hannah) are among the factors known to have contributed to declines in biodiversity. Alarmingly, results of at least one survey have revealed that the American public does not rank this biodiversity crisis highly (Novacek) despite the many negative consequences associated with significant reductions in biodiversity (Chapin et al.; Worm et al.).