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Conservation

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We may never know all the ways life on earth is connected. But Stanford researchers are constantly discovering new links in our natural systems, and how our activities affect them.

More than half the earth’s surface has been transformed by human activities, setting off a chain reaction with  consequences ranging from lost habitat and farmland to species extinction, climate change, and disease transmission. To stop and perhaps reverse this trend, Stanford researchers are improving our knowledge of how earth’s natural systems function and how we help or hurt those processes. Their research illustrates the impacts of human population growth and patterns of consumption on the environment, as well as consequences of lost species and disruption of our natural systems. In so doing, they provide the foundational knowledge for advancing conservation solutions that can help restore degraded lands and waters, while reducing the impact of human activity on air, water and biodiversity.