The unifying theme of this project is the need for fully integrated interdisciplinary research to achieve biodiversity conservation and sustainable productivity in anthropogenically fragmented landscapes. Fragmentation threatens human well-being worldwide and demands a concerted, innovative effort by the research establishment. To achieve this, a new generation of professionals must be educated in a holistic and integrative fashion that facilitates interdisciplinary interaction and fosters an international perspective.

Agriculture and forest production activities, if poorly managed, threaten biodiversity and ecosystem function worldwide. These activities can result in natural habitat destruction and fragmentation. Protection of biodiversity is not only intrinsically vital, but ensures the continued supply of natural ecosystem services that support the viability of agricultural and forest production. Natural resource management must ensure the sustainability and continuing productivity of agricultural and forest ecosystems and permit biodiversity to be maintained within these systems. The interdependence of productivity and conservation is intimate because sustainable economic growth is essential for the conservation of biodiversity. The complex interactions between natural and managed ecosystems span multiple disciplines. Disparate and insular scientific disciplines are inadequate to understand these complexities. Thus, the need is acute for better disciplinary integration to achieve biodiversity conservation and sustainable productivity in anthropogenically fragmented landscapes. This project creates the educational and research infrastructures required to provide doctoral students the opportunity to work in interdisciplinary research teams addressing biodiversity conservation and sustainable productivity in anthropogenically fragmented landscapes. Such a perspective will have relevance in the diverse geographic and social settings in which production and natural ecosystems interact.