Rodolfo Dirzo is Professor of Biology and Earth Systems Science at Stanford University. Rodolfo's scientific work examines the study of species interactions in tropical ecosystems from California, Latin America, and other tropical areas of the world. Recent research highlights the decline of animal life (“defaunation”), and how this affects ecosystem processes/services (e.g. disease regulation). Rodolfo teaches ecology, natural history, conservation biology, and biocultural diversity at undergraduate and graduate levels at Stanford, and conducts science education programs with underserved children in the Bay Area.

Timestamps_____________________0:49 - Introduction to Rodolfo Dirzo8:39 - Defaunation & Global Trends in Animal declining populations15:13 - What is ecology?18:12 - Risks of declining animal populations27:49 - The Wolves in Yellowstone - Theory of trophic cascading34:24 - A slight digression on COVID-19 & Animal Trafficking38:42 - What is the sixth extinction & why is it significant?45:40 - What are the causes of the sixth impact?54:25 - Why Biological Loss is just as critical, if not more critical, as Climate Change1:05:21 - What can we learn from the previous mass extinctions?1:08:10 - What can we do to mitigate biodiversity loss?1:17:53 - Rodolfo’s Utopia

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