Eric Sanderson Biography

Eric W. Sanderson is a Senior Conservation Ecologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society. Sanderson received his Ph.D. in ecology (emphasis in ecosystem and landscape ecology) from the University of California Davis in 1998 while studying with Dr. Susan Ustin. Starting at WCS in 1998 he established the “Landscape Ecology and Geographic Analysis” program to bring landscape thinking and geographic analysis tools into the conservation practices of the WCS. In 2002 Dr. Sanderson and colleagues created the Human Footprint map the first look at human influence globally at less than 1 square mile resolution. He is also an expert on species conservation planning and has contributed to efforts to save lions tigers Asian bears jaguars tapirs peccaries American crocodiles North American bison and Mongolian gazelle; and landscape planning conservation efforts in Argentina Tanzania Mongolia and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the Adirondack Park in the USA. He has edited two scientific volumes and written numerous scientific papers.
His work has been featured in the New York Times National Geographic Magazine CNN NPR and The New Yorker. He is also the director of The Mannahatta Project an effort to reconstruct the original ecology of Manhattan Island at the time of European discovery in the early seventeenth century. In 2009 he published a book “Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City” illustrated by Markley Boyer. From May 20 – October 12 2009 Dr. Sanderson curated an exhibition based on the Mannahatta Project on display at the Museum of the City of New York. Sanderson also guided creation of this website that allows users to explore Mannahatta in comparison to Manhattan today (see Explore page). For teachers curriculum materials about Mannahatta are available through our Download page.

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