Conservation Paleobiology: Leveraging Knowledge of the Past to Inform Conservation and Restoration Gregory P. Dietl, 1, 2 Susan M. Kidwell, 3 Mark Brenner, 4 David A. Burney, 5 Karl W. Flessa, 6 Stephen T. Jackson, 6, 7 and Paul L. Koch 8 1 Paleontological Research Institution, Ithaca, New York 14850 2 Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853; email: gpd3@cornell.edu 3 Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637 4 Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 5 National Tropical Botanical Garden, Kalaheo, Hawaii 96741 6 Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 7 Southwest Climate Science Center, US Department of the Interior, Tucson, Arizona 85719 8 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, California 95064 Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 2015. 43:79–103 The Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences is online at earth.annualreviews.org This article’s doi: 10.1146/annurev-earth-040610-133349 Copyright c  2015 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved Keywords biotic response, ecology, environmental stressors, evolution, geohistorical records Abstract Humans now play a major role in altering Earth and its biota. Finding ways to ameliorate human impacts on biodiversity and to sustain and restore the ecosystem services on which we depend is a grand scientific and societal challenge. Conservation paleobiology is an emerging discipline that uses geohistorical data to meet these challenges by developing and testing mod- els of how biota respond to environmental stressors. Here we (a) describe how the discipline has already provided insights about biotic responses to key environmental stressors, (b) outline research aimed at disentangling the effects of multiple stressors, (c) provide examples of deliverables for managers and policy makers, and (d ) identify methodological advances in geohistorical analysis that will foster the next major breakthroughs in conservation out- comes. We highlight cases for which exclusive reliance on observations of living biota may lead researchers to erroneous conclusions about the nature and magnitude of biotic change, vulnerability, and resilience. 79 Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 2015.43:79-103. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org Access provided by 162.234.15.149 on 01/03/17. For personal use only.