Peter Kareiva is the Chief Scientist and a Vice President for The Nature Conservancy, the world's largest environmental organization. He also maintains an appointment at Santa Clara University in California. Before moving to The Nature Conservancy, Dr. Kareiva was the Director of the Division of Conservation Biology at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Northwest Fisheries Science Center. He has served on the editorial boards of over a dozen different journals, has edited six books, and has been a faculty member at Brown University and the Universities of Washington and Virginia. He has received a Guggenheim fellowship and done research, consulting, teaching, or conservation work in twenty countries throughout Europe, Asia, and Latin America. He has authored more than 100 papers and articles, many of which were written in collaboration with colleagues in fisheries, agriculture, economics, and forestry. In 2007 he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science.

Michelle Marvier is a professor of Biology and Environmental Studies at Santa Clara University, where she has taught undergraduate courses in conservation science since 2000. She has published over 40 articles, is on the editorial board for Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, and regularly publishes articles with her undergraduate students. Dr. Marvier has also worked for NOAA Fisheries on salmon conservation and has served as an advisor to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and The Nature Conservancy on matters of statistics, monitoring, and risk analysis.

"Conservation Science was primarily written for undergraduates and beginning graduate students who are interested either in academic careers or in doing science-based conservation at government agencies, non-governmental organizations, or international institutions. It will also be of interest to those already involved in conservation who want to bolster their understanding of the field. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the science that drives conservation policy and action."--Publisher's description