Elliott A. Norse

Elliott A. Norse

Elliot A. Norse is a marine and forest conservation biologist. His Ph.D. and postdoctoral research in the 1970s examined the ecology of blue crabs (Callinectes spp.) in Jamaica, Curacao, Mexico, Panama, and Columbia. Since then, he has devoted his career to incorporating conservation biology into environmental decision making as a staff member or consultant for US federal agencies, international governmental organizations, scientific professional societies, conservation organizations, and foundations. His writings include more than 50 publications on environmental policy, conservation biology, marine ecology, forest ecology, and human-caused climatic change.

In 1986, as Public Policy Director of the Ecological Society of America, Elliot Norse worked with The Wilderness Society to write Conserving Biological Diversity in Our National Forests.

He is also the author of Ancient Forests of the Pacific Northwest (Island Press, 1989), Global Marine Biological Diversity: A Strategy For Building Conservation Into Decision Making (Island Press, 1993), and Marine Conservation Biology: The Science of Maintaining the Sea's Biodiversity (Island Press, 2005).

Marine Conservation Biology

The Science of Maintaining the Sea's Biodiversity

Humans are terrestrial animals, and our capacity to see and understand the importance and vulnerability of life in the sea has trailed our growing ability to harm it. While conservation biologists are working to address environmental problems humans have created on land, loss of marine biodiversity, including extinctions and habitat degradation, has received much less attention.

Global Marine Biological Diversity

A Strategy For Building Conservation Into Decision Making

Global Marine Biological Diversity presents the most up-to-date information and view on the challenge of conserving the living sea and how that challenge can be met.

Ancient Forests of the Pacific Northwest

Ancient Forests of the Pacific Northwest provides a global context for what is happening in the Pacific Northwest, analyzing the remaining ancient forest and the threats to it from atmospheric changes and logging. It shows how human tampering affects an ecosystem, and how the Pacific Northwest could become a model for sustainable forestry worldwide.