The tone around conservation is often pretty heavy and it’s hard not to feel a sense of despair. But maybe there are opportunities in the world of conservation that we are not fully taking into account. The truth is, organisms and ecosystems have built-in defense mechanisms to respond to rapid change that might just be the secret to combatting the negative effects of the Anthropocene.

In his new book, The Rescue Effect, author Michael Webster explores the many ways in which nature is responding to disruption. And what he details has big implications for how we think about evolution and how we conserve and protect species.