Conservation Biology at the University of Minnesota

Conservation Biology emerged as a discipline as it became increasingly clear that preserving, managing and restoring biological diversity was hindered by a lack of fundamental knowledge to drive decision-making. Determining how much land to set aside to preserve a particular species or ecosystem, assessing the risks of proposed technologies or land uses on biodiversity, and developing management strategies for populations are the kinds of problems that conservation biologists address. Most conservation biology problems are inherently interdisciplinary, requiring integration of natural and social sciences to be solved.

The University of Minnesota established one of the first graduate programs in the country in 1990. With strengths in ecology, natural resources, fisheries, aquatic biology and environmental social sciences, we have been ideally situated to pioneer scholarly work in Conservation Biology. Our graduate program is the most comprehensive in the country, offering MS, PhD, and joint J.D. degrees, and a minor. Our faculty and students work on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in the US and around the world.