Reed Noss is a freelance writer, photographer, lecturer, and consultant in natural history, ecology, and conservation and serves as Chief Science Advisor with the Southeastern Grasslands Initiative. He was formerly Provost's distinguished research professor of biology at the University of Central Florida. He received a BS degree in education from the University of Dayton, an MS degree in ecology from the University of Tennessee, and a PhD in wildlife ecology from the University of Florida. He has served as editor-in-chief of Conservation Biology, science editor for Wild Earth magazine, and president of the Society for Conservation Biology. He is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His recent research topics include disturbance ecology; road ecology; ecosystem conservation and restoration; and vulnerability of species and ecosystems to sea-level rise. He has more than 300 publications, including eight books. His most recently published books are Forgotten Grasslands of the South: Natural History and Conservation (Island Press, 2013) and Fire Ecology of Florida and the Southeastern Coastal Plain (University Press of Florida, 2018). He is currently working on a book and multimedia project on the endangered ecosystems of North America and how we might save them.