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For many citizens and policymakers, the empirical relationship between economic growth and biodiversity conservation has not been sufficiently established for purposes of identifying the types of economic policies amenable to biodiversity conservation. Some think economic growth conflicts with biodiversity conservation; others think economic growth conduces biodiversity conservation. With panel data from 1997-2011, encompassing US continental states, we developed a series of statistical models to investigate the relationships among species endangerment, human population, and economic growth as indicated by GDP and per capita GDP. Species endangerment is highly correlated with population and GDP, and per capita GDP is a significant regressor of species endangerment. Across US continental states, competitive exclusion of non-human species occurs via human economic growth and population growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article responds to an article in the current 2007 issue which is critical of the authors' earlier publication in the journal. The authors agree that populations of most states are growing, that cities are sprawling, and that species around growing cities may be imperiled by urban population growth and expansion. To do an actual experiment using cities with a control would be unrealistic. The statistical findings of the authors was that there was no evidence that spatial-distribution aspects of sprawl are ecologically relevant, but that human population growth was the primary cause of species imperilment in the U.S.