Effectively tackling this issue–and empoweringboth local and national governments and institu-tions–will require visionary and far-sightedapproaches that are able to justify investment ofscarce resources to long-term capacity buildingobjectives in the face of immediate conservationproblems

·Conservation history: how has conservationchanged since its inception?

irst, the sheer extent to which we have domi-nated the biosphere (terrestrial, freshwater, andmarine) (Ehrlich and Ehrlich 2008) means that wehave no choice but to integrate conservation ef-forts with other human activities.

Terms of Service

Already there are widespread changes in thephysical environment, primarily involving thesolid and liquid phases of water. Northern hemi-sphere lakes are freezing later in the autumn andthe ice is breaking up earlier in the spring.

Although the great majority of invasive speciesare introduced, occasionally native plantspecies have become invasive, spreadingrapidly into previously unoccupied habitats.

Small populations are vulnerable to local extinc-tion, but a species has a greater likelihood ofpersistence where there are a number of localpopulations interconnected by occasional move-ments of individuals among them

Most areas of high human population densityhave suffered heavy habitat destruction.

Twenty-five nationshave lost virtually all of their forest cover, andanother 29 more than nine-tenths of their forest(MEA 2005). Tropical forests are disappearingat up to 130 000 km2a year

First, there areinstances in which the same species is knownunder more than one name (synonymy). This ismore frequent amongst widespread species,which may show marked geographic variationin morphology, and may be described anew re-peatedly in different regions. Second, one namemay actually encompass multiple species (hom-onymy). This typically occurs because these spe-cies are very closely related, and look very similar(cryptic species), and molecular analyses may berequired to recognize or confirm their differences

For convenience,they can be divided into three groups: geneticdiversity, organismal diversity, and ecologicaldiversity

respect for the natural world

That thread weaves through related themes andconcepts in conservation, including wildernessprotection, sustained yield, wildlife protectionand management, the diversity-stability hypoth-esis, ecological restoration, sustainability, andecosystem health.

At the time, there were few documented reports of human health effects

In the Great Lakes, domesticated mink virtually stopped producing pups (11, 12) and herring gull chicks were dying in their eggs (13). In Florida's Lake Apopka, alligators began dying off, with many males afflicted with physically disabled genitalia (14, 15)

The prevalence of EDCs in our environment and our bodies represents a significant global public health challenge.

We will specifically focus on DNA methylation since they are the most documented epigenetic marks so far and because more and more analytical and technical tools are being developed for studying DNA methylation patterns in natural populations (Table S1).

DNA methylation patterns are more likely to reflect the short‐term “ecological background” of individuals.

It is now largely acknowledged that biodiversity conservation should not only focus on rare and iconic species, but also focus on ecosystems as whole unit on the one hand, and on genes as a key element of species' adaptability on the other hand (Eizaguirre & Baltazar‐Soares, 2014)

with the former becoming more

There are many apparently simplemeasures that, although program-matically hard to implement, couldpotentially have major publichealth impact.

Further efforts to explainthe obesity epidemic on a geneticbasis have been disappointing

It is imperative that thismind-set is changed

are present in sperm andmay persist through zygosis andmeiosis

and paternal obesity inducespancreatic dysfunction in female off-spring

(at least in rats)

eductions infamily size in Europe and Chinamight be contributing with respectto the increased prevalence ofmetabolic disease.

This hypothesis hasrecently been tested in a cohort of30-year old adults, where thosewho were first-born were signifi-cantly fatter than those with oldersiblings

the re-sultant mismatch could contributeto the modern day epidemic ofobesity and other chronic non-communicable diseas

The potential fitness costs of pre-dicting a rich environment and end-ing up in a nutritionally poor envi-ronment are likely to be greaterthan those of predicting a poorenvironment and ending up in arich environmen

if the fetus is then born to amore nutritionally rich world, it ismore likely to have a physiologymismatched to that environment

Thus, a fetus which is exposedto signals which it interprets asreflecting nutrient deficiency will setits metabolic trajectory for an envi-ronment of limited energy availabil-ity.

chil-dren of lower birth weight as adultshave appetite abnormalities (

There is also an increasing body ofevidence suggesting that assistedreproductive technologies, such asin vitro fertilization, can affect off-spring outcome

apparently normalbirth weight

it had theunfortunate consequence ofprompting subsequent experimen-tal and clinical studies to focus onthose born small.

This may explain some ofthe scepticism in accepting the evi-denceforearlylifeeffectswithinthenormative range of developmentalexposures having lifelong conse-quences for human health

evolutionary biologyconcepts.

Tera-tology

here is alsoincreasing evidence of potentialadvantage persisting across gen-erations;

The toadsare called out from hibernation by the thunder that accom-panies the first spring storm in the Sonoran desert. (Unfor-tunately, motorcycles produce the same sounds, causingthese toads to come out from hibernation and die in thescorching Arizona sunlight.

. For instance, when newlyhatched wood frog (Rana sylvetica) tadpoles are reared intanks containing the predatory larval dragonfly,Anax(con-fined in mesh cages so that they cannot kill the tadpoles),the tadpoles in the predator-filled tanks grow smaller thanthose in similar tanks without the caged predators.

For this to happen, themore fit phenotype would have to be formed even in theabsence of the environmental induce

The genomenot only acts, but it reacts. It responds to the environmentby changing its expression patterns

The last two criteria are very important because theyeliminate the effects of the environment on development

developmental plasticity

The second upheaval came in the1960s, when the paradigms of molecular genetics overtookthose of physiology (Gilbert, 1996; Keller, 1995). One nolonger studied the “whole organism.” Rather, differentialgene expression became the dominant model

problems that have traditionally been segregated into fields,such as immunology, larval ecology, pest management, lifehistory strategies, neurobiology, and even dentistry.

Ecological developmental biology is the meeting of devel-opmental biology with the real world.

Look at the race and dray-horse, or at the greyhound and mastiff. Their whole frames, and even their mental characteristics, have been modified; but if we could trace each step in the history of their transformation--and the latter steps can be traced--we should not see great and simultaneous changes, but first one part and then another slightly modified and improved. Even when selection has been applied by man to some one character alone--of which our cultivated plants offer the best instances-- it will invariably be found that although this one part, whether it be the flower, fruit, or leaves, has been greatly changed, almost all the other parts have been slightly modified. This may be attributed partly to the principle of correlated growth, and partly to so-called spontaneous variation.

I have already endeavoured to explain how plants became twiners, namely, by the increase of a tendency to slight and irregular revolving movements, which were at first of no use to them; this movement, as well as that due to a touch or shake, being the incidental result of the power of moving, gained for other and beneficial purposes

It is not easy to imagine two objects more widely different in appearance than a bristle or vibraculum, and an avicularium like the head of a bird; yet they are almost certainly homologous and have been developed from the same common source, namely a zooid with its cell.

Perhaps the lesser number of teeth in the proportion of four to seven in the upper halves of the two jaws of the plaice, to twenty-five to thirty in the lower halves, may likewise be accounted for by disuse

From the highly developed structure of the shoveller's beak we may proceed (as I have learned from information and specimens sent to me by Mr. Salvin), without any great break, as far as fitness for sifting is concerned, through the beak of the Merganetta armata, and in some respects through that of the Aix sponsa, to the beak of the common duck

Assuming that an insect originally happened to resemble in some degree a dead twig or a decayed leaf, and that it varied slightly in many ways, then all the variations which rendered the insect at all more like any such object, and thus favoured its escape, would be preserved, while other variations would be neglected and ultimately lost; or, if they rendered the insect at all less like the imitated object, they would be eliminated. There would indeed be force in Mr. Mivart's objection, if we were to attempt to account for the above resemblances, independently of natural selection, through mere fluctuating variability; but as the case stands there is none.

A structure which has been developed through long-continued selection, when it ceases to be of service to a species, generally becomes variable, as we see with rudimentary organs; for it will no longer be regulated by this same power of selection.

As these variations seem of no special use to the plants, they cannot have been influenced by natural selection.

but now we know this to be the case

when one part is modified, so will be other part

The most striking modifications, excellently adapted for some purpose, might, as was formerly remarked, be acquired by successive variations, if slight, first in one part and then in another; and as they would be transmitted all together, they would appear to us as if they had been simultaneously developed. The best answer, however, to the above objection is afforded by those domestic races which have been modified, chiefly through man's power of selection, for some special purpose.

The study of evolution, which in the past was often equated with changes in gene frequencies in populations, has become more holistic and integrative. Researchers are increasingly interested in exploring how interactions among genes, individuals, and environments have shaped the evolutionary process, both at micro- and macrolevels. At the same time, large challenges such as global warming, novel infectious diseases, and threats to biodiversity are increasing, and the opportunity for evolutionary biologists to contribute to their resolution has never been greater.

Realizing the full potential inherent in evolutionary biology is, however, far from assured. The task of integrating evolutionary knowledge within and across scales of biological organization, as discussed above, requires development of many comparative databases and analytical tools. We would do well to collaborate broadly, cultivating new expertise, and to watch out for the unexpected, as analyses of new kinds of data can reveal that preconceptions are unfounded.