Santa Clara University

Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences

Peter Kareiva

 

Peter Kareiva

Dean's Executive Professor

Office: Varsi Hall 215
Phone: (408) 551-3081
Email: pkareiva@TNC.ORG

B.A., Duke University, Durham, NC;
Magna Cum Laude in Zoology, 1973
M.S., University of California, Irvine; Environmental Biology, 1976
Ph.D., Cornell University, Ithaca, NY;
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 1981

Curriculum Vitae

Teaching and Research Vision

Conservation and environmentalism suffer from a "good intentions are enough" syndrome. In other words, there are innumerable strategies and tools for protecting the environment or conserving biodiversity, all of which do some good. But they differ greatly in how much good they accomplish per unit investment. Many popular ideas in conservation do not stand up to critical scrutiny?they are more symbolic than practical. Because I work for a large conservation NGO that seeks to spend its money responsibly, my research is aimed at evaluating the cost-effectiveness of different conservation strategies. My teaching also focuses on this theme. A common activity in my research and in Capstone class assignments entails dredging up data regarding a commonly used conservation tool or approach, critically analyzing those data, and synthesizing the results in order to influence future decisions and planning. The key is to ask questions for which the answer can change how institutions go about their business. I strongly believe undergraduate students contribute to meaningful publications that do make a difference. Over my academic career I have published nine papers with undergraduates; this is why I have chosen to be a part-time faculty member at Santa Clara University?so I can continue to work with undergraduates while my main job is Chief Scientist for The Nature Conservancy.

Courses Taught
ENVS 101: Capstone Seminar

 

Representative Publications

Kareiva, P. and M. Marvier. 2011. Conservation Science: Balancing the Needs of People and Nature. Roberts & Co. Book website.

Davies, Z. G., P. Kareiva, P. R. Armsworth. 2010. Temporal patterns in the size of conservation land transactions. Conservation Letters 3: 29?37.

McDonald R. I., R. T. T. Forman, P. Kareiva. 2010. Open space loss and land inequality in United States? cities, 1990?2000. PLoS ONE 5(3): e9509.

Kareiva, P., H. Tallis, T. H. Ricketts, G. C. Daily, and S. Polasky (eds). 2010. Natural Capital: Theory and Practice of Mapping Ecosystem Services. Oxford University Press, New York, NY.

Girvetz, E. H., C. Zganjar, G. T. Raber , E. P. Maurer, P. Kareiva, J. J. Lawler. 2009. Applied climate-change analysis: The Climate Wizard tool. PLoS ONE 4: e8320

McDonald, R. I., R. T. T. Forman, P. Kareiva, R. Neugarten, D. Salzer, J. Fisher. 2009. Urban effects, distance, and protected areas in an urbanizing world. Landscape and Urban Planning 93:63?75.

Lawler, J. J., T. H. Tear, C. Pyke, M. R. Shaw, P. Gonzalez, P. Kareiva, L. Hansen, L. Hannah, K. Klausmeyer, A. Aldous, C. Bienz, and S. Pearsall. 2009. Resource management in a changing and uncertain climate. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 8:35-43.

West, J. M., S. H. Julius, P. Kareiva, C. Enquist, J. J. Lawler, B. Petersen, A. E. Johnson, M. R. Shaw. 2009. US natural resources and climate change: Concepts and approaches for management adaptation. Environmental Management 44:1001-1021.

Nelson, E., G. Mendoza, J. Regetz, S. Polasky, H. Tallis, D. R. Cameron, K. M. A. Chan, G. C. Daily, J. Goldstein, P. M. Kareiva, E. Lonsdorf, R. Naidoo, T. H. Ricketts, M .R. Shaw. 2009. Modeling multiple ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, commodity production, and tradeoffs at landscape scales. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 7: 4-11.

Kareiva, P., A. Chang, and M. Marvier. 2008. Development and conservation goals in World Bank projects. Science 321:1638-1639.

McDonald, R. I., P. Kareiva, and R. T.T. Forman. 2008. The implications of current and future urbanization for global protected areas and biodiversity conservation. Biological Conservation 141: 1695-1703.

Tallis, H., P. Kareiva, M. Marvier, and A. Chang. 2008. An ecosystem services framework to support both practical conservation and economic development. PNAS 105:9457-9464.

Goldman, R. L., H. Tallis, P. Kareiva and G. C. Daily. 2008. Field evidence that ecosystem service projects support biodiversity and diversify options. PNAS 105: 9445?9448.

Kareiva, P. and M. Marvier. 2007. Conservation for the people. Scientific American 297: 50-57.

Kiesecker J., T. Comendant, T. Grandmason, E. Gray, C. Hall, R. Hilsenbeck, P. Kareiva, L. Lozier, P. Naehu, A. Rissman, R. Shaw, and M. Zankel. 2007. Conservation easements in context: A quantitative analysis of their use by The Nature Conservancy. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 5: 125-130.

Rissman A., L. Lozier, T. Comendant, P. Kareiva, J. Kiesecker, R. Shaw, and A. Merenlender. 2007. Conservation easements: Biodiversity protection and private use. Conservation Biology 21: 709-718.

Wilson, K. A., E. C. Underwood, S. A. Morrison, K. R. Klausmeyer, W. W. Murdoch, B. Reyers, G. Wardell-Johnson, P. A. Marquet, P. W. Rundel, M. F. McBride, R. L. Pressey, M. Bode, J. M. Hoekstra, S. Andelman, M. Looker, C. Rondinini, P. Kareiva, M. R. Shaw, H. P. Possingham. 2007. Conserving biodiversity efficiently: What to do, where, and when. PLoS Biology 5: 1850-1857.
 

Publications with ESI Students
  Kilbane, C.A., and Kareiva, P. 2007. Incentives for employing conservation easements in Washington State. Natural Areas Journal 27: 116-117.
  Yuan-Farrell, C., Marvier, M., Press, D. and P. Kareiva. 2005. Conservation easements as a conservation strategy: is there a sense to the spatial distribution of easements? Natural Areas Journal 25: 282-289.
  Kareiva, P., Yuan-Farrell, C., and C. O'Connor. 2005. Whales are big and it matters. In J Estes (editor) The Influence of Whales and Whaling on Ocean Ecosystems, University of California Press.
  O'Connor, C., M. Marvier, and P. Kareiva. 2003. Biological versus social, economic, and political priority-setting in conservation. Ecology Letters 6(8): 706-711.
 

 Kareiva, P., M. Marvier, S. West, and J. Hornisher. 2002. Slow-moving journals hinder conservation efforts. Nature 420:15.

                                     

 

 
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