If one had to identify a single metaphorical image for an energy-transferring, nutrient-recycling ecosystem on earth, it may well take the form of a dung beetle.
Click play to listen. Recorded on November 10, 2007.
The natural world as humans have known it first evolved more than 90 million years ago. According to Novacek, senior vice president and provost of science at the American Museum of Natural History, that tremendous history is now in danger of coming to an end. His talk recounts the ecological history of the earth, culminating in the evolution of humans who took possession of the Earth. Our ancient roles as exterminators and then cultivators changed the planet ad infinitum.
Novacek explains that we should try to engage the evolutionary future of our own and other species in a paleontologically informed way.
