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In his Feb. 17 Distinguished Research Lecture, CU ������ý���� Professor Dan Doak will address the question, ‘What can we do that will actually help species survive?’

Anyone who’s ever encountered a fly or a housecat might be surprised to learn that most species on Earth are naturally rare, and that truly widespread, common species are, in fact, the exception rather than the rule. Because of this, understanding and helping species persist is a bigger challenge than most people realize.

New pressures from human activity have pushed many species closer to extinction, and many now need active management to survive. However, effective conservation isn’t just about understanding a species' biology; it also depends on management choices and political decisions that shape what’s possible and how scientific information is used.

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Dan Doak, a CU ������ý���� professor of environmental studies and Byers Family Chair in Environmental Studies, has studied species survival and climate change throughout his research career.

This will be the focus of Dan Doak’s Feb. 17 Distinguished Research Lecture “Saving Species with Science: 30 Years of Conservation Setbacks and Successes.”

Throughout his career, Doak, a ������ý���� professor of environmental studies, and his collaborators have worked with endangered species worldwide—from sea otters and spotted owls to gorgonian corals and alpine plants—asking a simple but urgent question: How do we better understand endangerment and what can we do to help endangered species survive?

While Doak was committed to conservation from a young age, it was toward the end of graduate school that he realized that combining an appreciation of species’ biological intricacies with mathematical modeling approaches could yield important insights into the analysis of conservation problems and the formulation of solutions that can direct species management. Since then, a major part of his research has focused on rare species management, including the development of general approaches and addressing the needs of specific species.

In his Distinguished Research Lecture, Doak will share three stories showing how conservation science works in the real world, where ecological research meets human values, policies and tough choices. Through the California condor, a rare Rocky Mountain wildflower and the island fox, he will explore how our understanding of extinction risk has improved even as challenges facing wildlife mount.

About Dan Doak

Dan Doak��is a professor and the Byers Family Chair in the Department of Environmental Studies.

He earned his PhD at the University of Washington and was a professor at both the University of California Santa Cruz and the University of Wyoming before joining CU ������ý���� in 2012.

His research features the development and use of modeling methods to better understand ecological patterns and processes and field work that investigates the ecological dynamics of multiple plant and animal species. This research includes work on the conservation and management of endangered species, climate change impacts on wild species and communities and basic research on species interactions and population dynamics.

In the first of these areas, Doak has worked to better understand the degree of endangerment and the most effective management methods for species including sea otters, island foxes, California condors, Mediterranean purple gorgonian corals and multiple rare plants.

His climate change research includes development of analysis and modeling methods, as well as a continuing 25-year study of arctic and alpine plants and their responses to climate across a wide latitude range in western North America.

Finally, he has worked with colleagues to better understand the ways that spatial patterns and changing contexts can shape ecological interactions. This area of work includes field studies of how termites create spatial structures in the East African savanna and the ways that changing ecological contexts can mediate the impacts of sea otters on kelp forest communities. 

About the Distinguished Research Lectureship

The��Distinguished Research Lectureship��is among the highest honors given by faculty to a faculty colleague at CU��������ý����. Each year, the Research and Innovation Office requests nominations from faculty for this award, and a faculty review panel recommends one or more faculty members as recipients.

The lectureship honors tenured faculty members, research professors (associate or full) or adjoint professors who have been with CU ������ý���� for at least five years and are widely recognized for a distinguished body of academic or creative achievement and prominence, as well as contributions to the educational and service missions of CU��������ý����. Each recipient typically gives��a lecture in the fall or spring following selection and receives a $2,000 honorarium.

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