Fundamental research and conservation practices: An indispensable dialogue

It is fashionable, nowadays. to talk about conservation biology, whoever yo u are, researcher or manager of a protected area. Everybody knows that cons ervation is a true science, with its specialized journals, its scientific s ocieties and its textbooks. However, the coupling of words "conservation biology" holds two ambiguities : (1) it focusses on science, but a science of action - a "crisis discipline" as written by Michael Soule; (2) conservation biology is not just biology. Taking into account these two ambiguities leads to a true revolution in the usual thinking about science. In the field of conservation, such an upheav al asks for a dialogue between scientists and wildlife managers for both pa rts: research obtains more relevance and conservation more efficiency.