THE ROLE OF ORNITHOLOGY IN CONSERVATION OF THE AMERICAN-WEST

Joseph Grinnell, first Director of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley, was a dedicated and remarkabl y prescient conservationist, as well as a pioneer western omithologist . I-Ie was one of the first to recognize that birds have particular va lue in conservation because of their charisma, familiarity, and sensit ivity to environmental conditions. History has proven Grinnell right, as evidenced by the influence of birds and omithology in efforts to pr otect species and their habitats. However, threats to natural landscap es in western North America continue on a scale even Grinnell might no t have predicted. Omithologically-based conservation efforts must be r e-doubled, focused on subjects such as landscape and metapopulation mo dels specifically for western habitats, the use of large-scale data se ts, the genetic structure of species and populations, avian responses to environmental stressors and disease, and studies of birds in winter .