This edited volume is a timely and comprehensive summary of the New Zealand lizard fauna. Nestled in the south-west Pacific, New Zealand is a large archipelago that displays the faunal signatures of both its Gondwanan origins, and more recent oceanic island influences. New Zealand was one of the last countries on Earth to be discovered, and likewise, the full extent of the faunal diversity present within the archipelago is only just starting to be appreciated. This is no better exemplified than in lizards, where just 30 species (20 skinks, 10 geckos) were recognized in the 1950s, but now 104 are formally or informally recognized (61 skinks, 43 geckos). Thus, New Zealand contains one of the most diverse lizard faunas of any cool, temperate region on Earth. This book brings together the world's leading experts in the field to produce an authoritative overview of the history, taxonomy, biogeography, ecology, life-history, physiology and conservation of New Zealand lizards.

By providing multiple economic goods and ecosystem services, Latin American forests play a key role in the environmental, social and economic welfare of the region's countries. From the tropical forests of Central America to the Mediterranean and temperate vegetation of the southern cone, these forests face a myriad of phytosanitary problems that negatively impact on both conservation efforts and forest industry. This book brings together the perspectives of several Latin American researchers on pest and disease management. Each chapter provides modern views of the status and management alternatives to problems as serious as the impact of introduced exotic insects and diseases on Pinus and Eucalyptus plantations throughout the continent, and the emergence of novel insect outbreaks in tropical and temperate native forests associated with global warming. It is a valuable guide for researchers and practitioners working on forest health in Latin America and around the world.

Amphibian species around the world are unusually vulnerable to a variety of threats, by no means all of which are properly understood. Volume 11 in this major series will be published in parts devoted to the causes of amphibian decline and to conservation measures in regions of the world; this Part 3 is concerned with Western Europe (Britain, Ireland, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and Portugal). Experts from each country contribute a chapter describing the ecological background and the conservation status of affected species, with an emphasis on native species. As well as infectious diseases and parasites (also covered in a general chapter), threats take the form of introduced and invasive species, pollution, destruction and alteration of habitat, and climate change. These are discussed as they affect each species. All these countries have monitoring schemes and conservation programmes, whose origins and activities are described. Recommendations for action are also made. Edited by leading scholars in the field, Volume 11, when complete, will therefore provide a definitive survey of the amphibian predicament and a stimulus to further research with the objective of arresting the global decline of an entire class of animal.

While studies of San children have attained the peculiar status of having delineated the prototype for hunter-gatherer childhood, relatively few serious ethnographic studies of San children have been conducted since an initial flurry of research in the 1960s and 1970s. Based on the author's long-term field research among several San groups of Southern Africa, this book reconsiders hunter-gatherer childhood using "play" as a key concept. Playfulness pervades the intricate practices of caregiver-child interactions among the San: immediately after birth, mothers have extremely close contact with their babies. In addition to the mother's attentions, other people around the babies actively facilitate gymnastic behavior to soothe them. These distinctive caregiving behaviors indicate a loving, indulgent attitude towards infants. This also holds true for several language genres of the San that are used in early vocal communication. Children gradually become involved in various playful activities in groups of children of multiple ages, which is the major locus of their attachment after weaning; these playful activities show important similarities to the household and subsistence activities carried out by adults. Rejuvenating studies of San children and hunter-gatherer childhood and childrearing practices, this book aims to examine these issues in detail, ultimately providing a new perspective for the understanding of human sociality.

Why do females in male-philopatric species seem to show larger variation in their life history strategies than males in female-philopatric species? Why did females in human societies come to show enormous variation in the patterns of marriage, residence and mating activities? To tackle these important questions, this book presents the latest knowledge about the dispersing females in male-philopatric non-human primates and in human societies. The non-human primates that are covered include muriquis, spider monkeys, woolly monkeys, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and some species of colobine monkeys. In these non-human primate species females typically leave their natal group before sexual maturation and start reproduction in other groups into which they immigrate. However, there is a large variation as some females may breed in their natal group with some risks of inbreeding with their male relatives and some females may associate with males of multiple groups at the same time after leaving their natal group. Such variation seems to provide better strategies for reproduction depending on local circumstances. Although knowledge about female dispersal patterns and life history is indispensable for understanding the dynamic structure of primate societies, it is still not known how females behave after leaving their natal groups, how many groups they visit before finally settling down and which kinds of groups they choose to immigrate into, due to the large variation and flexibility and the difficulty of tracking females after natal dispersal. To encourage further progress in this important field, this volume provides new insights on evolution of female dispersal by describing factors influencing variations in the dispersal pattern across primates and a hypothesis for the formation of human families from the perspectives of female life history. This book is recommended reading for researchers and students in primatology, anthropology, animal behavior and evolution and for anyone interested in primate societies and human evolution.

The book brings to light the most recent findings on the biogeography, biodiversity, host plant induction and natural history of gall inducing insects in the Neotropical region.We attempt to summarize the work done so far in the region, promote several syntheses on many aspects such as host induction, host specialization, distribution among the several vegetation types and zones, the origin of super hosts and the mechanisms leading to geographical patterns in their distribution.Furthermore, the book constructs new perspectives for deeper understanding of galling insect evolutionary ecology and biogeopgraphy in the region."

The list of challenges facing nonhuman primates in the 21st century is a long one. The expansion of palm oil plantations to feed a growing consumer class is eating away at ape and monkey habitats in Southeast Asia and Central Africa. Lemurs are hunted for food in the poorest parts of Madagascar while monkeys are used as medicine in Brazil. Traditional cultural beliefs are maintaining demand for animal body parts in West African markets while viral YouTube videos of "cute" and "cuddly" lorises have increased their market value as pets and endangered their populations. These and other issues are addressed in this book by leading researchers in the field of ethnoprimatology, the study of human/nonhuman primate interactions that combines traditional primatological methodologies with cultural anthropology in an effort to better understand the nuances of our economic, ritualistic, and ecologic relationships.

Large ungulates in tropical forests are among the most threatened taxa of mammals. Excessive hunting, degradation of and encroachments on their natural habitats by humans have contributed to drastic reductions in wild ungulate populations in recent decades. As such, reliable assessments of ungulate-habitat relationships and the spatial dynamics of their populations are urgently needed to provide a scientific basis for conservation efforts. However, such rigorous assessments are methodologically complex and logistically difficult, and consequently many commonly used ungulate population survey methods do not address key problems. As a result of such deficiencies, key parameters related to population distribution, abundance, habitat ecology and management of tropical forest ungulates remain poorly understood. This book addresses this critical knowledge gap by examining how population abundance patterns in five threatened species of large ungulates vary across space in the tropical forests of the Nagarahole-Bandipur reserves in southwestern India. It also explains the development and application of an innovative methodology - spatially explicit line transect sampling - based on an advanced hierarchical modelling under the Bayesian inferential framework, which overcomes common methodological deficiencies in current ungulate surveys. The methods and results presented provide valuable reference material for researchers and professionals involved in studying and managing wild ungulate populations around the globe.

Deep inside caves, at the bottoms of oceans and lakes, beneath the ground: these concealed habitats are absent of sunlight. This strange and fascinating world of complete darkness is not a solitary place-it is inhabited by millions of life forms. Yet most humans-creatures of daylight-have never seen any of them. Until now. In this fascinating-sometimes eerie-book, extreme wildlife photographer and scientist Dante Fenolio brings the denizens of these shadowy haunts into focus. Life in the Dark shows us the many ways in which life forms have adapted to lightless environments, including refinements of senses, evolution of unique body parts, and illumination using "biological flashlights." With more than 200 mesmerizing color photographs, Life in the Dark unveils bizarre creatures like the firefly squid, the giant Amazonian catfish, the Chinese cavefish, and even the human bot fly, which lives in the darkness beneath its host's skin. Fenolio's rich and vibrant images shed new light on the world's fascinating creatures of darkness.

Large terrestrial mammalian herbivores play critical roles in ecosystems by acting as regulators of energy and nutrient cycles, modulators of plant community composition and grassland-woodland transitions, agents of seed dispersal, and as prey for large carnivores. Though large herbivores represent a prominent component of mammalian assemblages throughout South and Southeast Asia, little is known about their roles in ecosystems in the region. This volume presents, for the first time, a collection of studies on the ecology of the rich and diverse large herbivore assemblages of South and Southeast Asia. Prepared by experts on herbivores of the region, it covers a comprehensive range of topics, including their evolutionary history, behavioural, nutritional, and population ecology, patterns of diversity across environmental gradients, roles as seed dispersers and regulators of plant growth, community compositions, and their conservation in the face of hunting and global change.

With over 43,000 species, spiders are the largest predacious arthropod group. They have developed key characteristics such as multi-purpose silk types, venoms consisting of hundreds of components, locomotion driven by muscles and hydraulic pressure, a highly evolved key-lock mechanism between the complex genital structures, and many more unique features. After 300 million years of evolutionary refinement, spiders are present in all land habitats and represent one of the most successful groups of terrestrial organisms. Ecophysiology combines functional and evolutionary aspects of morphology, physiology, biochemistry and molecular biology with ecology. Cutting-edge science in spiders focuses on the circulatory and respiratory system, locomotion and dispersal abilities, the immune system, endosymbionts and pathogens, chemical communication, gland secretions, venom components, silk structure, structure and perception of colours as well as nutritional requirements. Spiders are valuable indicator species in agroecosystems and for conservation biology. Modern transfer and application technologies research spiders and their products with respect to their value for biomimetics, material sciences, and the agrochemical and pharmaceutical industries.

Insects, when studied from the ecological perspective, provide a great opportunity for scientific studies emphasizing population theory. The simple fact of being successful organisms for their ability to colonize different habitats or even for their high reproductive potential, increases the interest of ecologists in conducting studies focused on population and community level. Mathematical models are powerful tools that can capture the essence of many biological systems and investigate ecological patterns associated to ecological stability dependent on endogenous and exogenous factors. This proposal comes from the idea of adding experiences of researchers interested in working at the interface between mathematical and computation theory and problems centered on entomology, showing how mathematical modelling can be an important tool for understanding population dynamics, behavior, pest management, spatial structure and conservation.

Insects are the most ecologically important multicellular heterotrophs in terrestrial systems. They play critical roles in ecological food webs, remain devastating agricultural and medical pests, and represent the most diverse group of eukaryotes in terms of species numbers. Their dominant role among terrestrial heterotrophs arises from a number of key physiological traits, and in particular by the developmental and evolutionary plasticity of these traits. Ecological and Environmental Physiology of Insects presents a current and comprehensive overview of how the key physiological traits of insects respond to environmental variation. It forges conceptual links from molecular biology through organismal function to population and community ecology. As with other books in the Series, the emphasis is on the unique physiological characteristics of the insects, but with applications to questions of broad relevance in physiological ecology. As an aid to new researchers on insects, it also includes introductory chapters on the basics and techniques of insect physiology ecology.

'A do-er, not a dreamer, Gow has become one of our most outspoken rewilders.' Countryfile Magazine 'In this warm and funny autobiography, [Gow] writes with a whimsical fluency about the moments of humour and pathos in an unusual life.' Country Life 'Gow reinvents what it means to be a guardian of the countryside.' Guardian 'Courageous, visionary, funny.' Isabella Tree, author of Wilding Tearing down fences literally and metaphorically, Birds, Beasts and Bedlam recounts the adventures of Britain's most colourful rewilder, Derek Gow. How he raised a sofa-loving wild boar piglet, transported a raging bison bull across the UK, got bitten by a Scottish wildcat and restored the ancient white stork to the Knepp Estate with Charlie Burrell and Isabella Tree. After a Shetland ewe captured a young Derek's heart, he grew up to become a farmer with a passion for ancient breeds. But when he realised how many of our species were close to extinction, even on his own land, he tore up his traditional Devon farm and transformed it into a rewilding haven for beavers, water voles, lynx, wildcats, harvest mice and more. Birds, Beasts and Bedlam is the story of a rewilding maverick and his single-minded mission to save our wildlife.

The Tropics are home to the greatest biodiversity in the world, but tropical species are at risk due to anthropogenic activities, mainly land use change, habitat loss, invasive species, and pathogens. Over the past 20 years, the avian malaria and related parasites (Order: Haemosporida) systems have received increased attention in the tropical regions from a diverse array of research perspectives. However, to date no attempts have been made to synthesize the available information and to propose new lines of research. This book provides such a synthesis by not only focusing on the antagonistic interactions, but also by providing conceptual chapters on topics going from avian haemosporidians life cycles and study techniques, to chapters addressing current concepts on ecology and evolution. For example, a chapter synthesizing basic biogeography and ecological niche model concepts is presented, followed by one on the island biogeography of avian haemosporidians. Accordingly, researchers and professionals interested in these antagonistic interaction systems will find both an overview of the field with special emphasis on the tropics, and access to the necessary conceptual framework for various topics in ecology, evolution and systematics. Given its conceptual perspective, the book will appeal not only to readers interested in avian haemosporidians, but also to those more generally interested in the ecology, evolution and systematics of host-parasite interactions.

In a world where habitats are constantly changing and the impact of anthropization on the environment is increasingly intense, interactions between human and wildlife are becoming more and more complex. Some species pose problems for human activities while many others need to be helped in order to continue to exist. This book follows the first volume called 'Problematic Wildlife', edited by F.M. Angelici and published by Springer in 2016, which has had considerable success with readers and critics. The volume includes 21 chapters divided into 7 parts devoted specific topics which are approached in a multidisciplinary way. There are both review chapters and specific cases, always bearing in mind the interest for an international audience. The book is useful both for scientists, wildlife specialists, conservationists, zoologists, ecologists, university students, nature managers, and for those who live in contact with wildlife and its problems, such as farmers, shepherds, hunters, urban planners, and staff of parks and nature reserves. Its ultimate goal is to offer scientific and pragmatic approaches to manage each categories of problematic species.

This volume critically reviews all previously published work of parasites that interact with krill (order Euphausiacea) updating misconceptions and summarizing the diversity of epibionts, ectoparasites, mesoparasites and endoparasites that interact with these crustaceans. As far as we know, there is a lack of books about parasites of marine crustaceans not targeted to fisheries and aquaculture. Thus, this would be the most complete and integrative monograph of parasites of marine zooplankton and micro nektonic organisms worldwide. Krill form immense aggregations and serve as food for multiple planktonic and nektonic predators playing a crucial role in pelagic food web. Besides, several species are also used for human consumption. For these reasons there is a growing concern about the health issues that krill parasites may impose on other species, including us. This book provides a comprehensive review of parasites of a crustacean order that can extrapolate to potential parasites in other crustacean taxa worldwide.

The contributed volume puts emphasis on a superior role of water in (bio)systems exposed to a mechanical stimulus. It is well known that water plays an extraordinary role in our life. It feeds mammalian or other organism after distributing over its whole volume to support certain physiological and locomotive (friction-adhesion) processes to mention but two of them, both of extreme relevance. Water content, not only in the mammalian organism but also in other biosystems such as whether those of soil which is equipped with microbiome or the ones pertinent to plants, having their own natural network of water vessels, is always subjected to a force field.The decisive force field applied to the biosystems makes them biomechanically agitated irrespective of whether they are subjected to external or internal force-field conditions. It ought to be noted that the decisive mechanical factor shows up in a close relation with the space-and-time scale in which it is causing certain specific phenomena to occur.The scale problem, emphasizing the range of action of gravitational force, thus the millimeter or bigger force vs. distance scale, is supposed to enter the so-called macroscale approach to water transportation through soil or plants' roots system. It is merely related to a percolation problem, which assumes to properly inspect the random network architecture assigned to the biosystems invoked. The capillarity conditions turn out to be of prior importance, and the porous-medium effect has to be treated, and solved in a fairly approximate way.The deeper the scale is penetrated by a force-exerting and hydrated agent the more non-gravitational force fields manifest. This can be envisaged in terms of the corresponding thermodynamic (non-Newtonian) forces, and the phenomena of interest are mostly attributed to suitable changes of the osmotic pressure. In low Reynolds number conditions, thus in the (sub)micrometer distance-scale zone, they are related with the corresponding viscosity changes of the aqueous, e.g. cytoplasmatic solutions, of semi-diluted and concentrated (but also electrolytic) characteristics. For example, they can be observed in articulating systems of mammals, in their skin, and to some extent, in other living beings, such as lizards, geckos or even insects. Through their articulating devices an external mechanical stimulus is transmitted from macro- to nanoscale, wherein the corresponding osmotic-pressure conditions apply. The content of the proposed work can be distributed twofold. First, the biomechanical mammalian-type (or, similar) systems with extraordinary relevance of water for their functioning will be presented, also including a presentation of water itself as a key physicochemical system/medium. Second, the suitably chosen related systems, mainly of soil and plant addressing provenience, will be examined thoroughly. As a common denominator of all of them, it is proposed to look at their hydrophobic and/or (de)hydration effects, and how do they impact on their basic mechanical (and related, such as chemo-mechanical or piezoelectric, etc.) properties. An additional tacit assumption employed throughout the monograph concerns statistical scalability of the presented biosystems which is equivalent to take for granted a certain similarity between local and global system's properties, mostly those of mechanical nature. The presented work's chapters also focus on biodiversity and ecological aspects in the world of animals and plants, and the related systems. The chapters' contents underscore the bioinspiration as the key landmark of the proposed monograph.

The goal of this book is to search for a balance between simple and analyzable models and unsolvable models which are capable of addressing important questions on population biology. Part I focusses on single species simple models including those which have been used to predict the growth of human and animal population in the past. Single population models are, in some sense, the building blocks of more realistic models -- the subject of Part II. Their role is fundamental to the study of ecological and demographic processes including the role of population structure and spatial heterogeneity -- the subject of Part III. This book, which will include both examples and exercises, is of use to practitioners, graduate students, and scientists working in the field.

Fisheries resources are an important component of natural resources. It is an important source of high-quality animal protein and food for humans, which provides employment, economic benefits and social welfare for people engaged in fishing activities. It also has played an important role in food safety, economic development, and foreign trade. Fisheries resources economics is an important branch of both applied economics and resource economics. Its research object is fishery resources and its economic problems. The economics of fishery resources is to focus on the relationship between the demand for human economic activities and the supply of fishery resources, as well as between fishery resources and its development. This book expounds the reasons for the economic problems of fishery resources and the theoretical principles for solving them, so as to reveal the objective rules of the allocation of fishery resources in different regions and at different times, to coordinate the relationship between the utilization of fishery resources and economic development, and to realize the sustainable development of fishery economy. This book will also provide learning materials for undergraduates, graduate students and practitioners engaged in fishery resources development and scientific management.

This book will provide the state-of-the-art on most of the topics involved in the ecology and conservation of birds of prey. With chapters authored by the most recognized and prestigious researchers on each of the fields, this book will become an authorized reference volume for raptor biologists and researchers around the world.

Members of the genus Campylobacter are commonly found in the gastrointestinal tract of mammals and birds, and can be commensal or pathogenic in nature. In this book, internationally recognized experts critically review and provide novel insights into important aspects Campylobacter research.

This volume represents a comprehensive examination of the newly recognized callimico/marmoset clade, which includes the smallest anthropoid primates on earth. It will explore these diminutive primates in their entirety, with sections on phylogeny, taxonomy and functional anatomy, behavioral ecology, reproductive physiology, as well as address critical conservation issues and the need for conservation action. The topics specifically selected for this volume are pivotal for understanding the evolutionary adaptations and divergence of any primate group, and especially one as diverse and curious as this. The discoveries of new taxa over the last fifteen years along with new genetic data have transformed this group from three genera (one with only a distant relationship to the others) and five recognized species, to five closely related genera, comprising at least 22 species. This volume will be the first to synthesize data on these newly recognized taxa.

This volume is an international endeavor, bringing together primary callimico and marmoset researchers from around the globe, including Brazil and the United States as well as Greece, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany. One of the merits of this volume is that it will serve as a readily accessible work that includes the major findings of several key international researchers whose work has not been easily available to English-speaking scholars. In addition, it draws together lab and field researchers, geneticists, anatomists, and behaviorists in an integrated volume that will provide the most detailed and thorough work on either callimicos or marmosets to date. This volume will also provide a timely forum for identifying future avenues of action necessary for more fully understanding and protecting this intriguing primate radiation.

This book focuses on the use of molecular tools to study small populations of rare and endangered mammals, and presents case studies that apply an evolutionary framework to address innovative questions in the emerging field of mammalian conservation genomics using a highly diverse set of novel molecular tools. Novel and more precise molecular technologies now allow experts in the field of mammology to interpret data in a more contextual and empirical fashion and to better describe the evolutionary and ecological processes that are responsible for the patterns they observe. The book also demonstrates how recent advances in genetic/genomic technologies have been applied to assess the impact of environmental/anthropogenic changes on the health of small populations of mammals. It examines a range of issues in the field of mammalian conservation genomics, such as the role that the genetic diversity of the immune system plays in disease protection and local adaptation; the use of noninvasive techniques and genomic banks as a resource for monitoring and restoring populations; the structuring of population by physical barriers; and genetic diversity. Further, by integrating research from a variety of areas - including population genetics, molecular ecology, systematics, and evolutionary and conservation biology - it enables readers to gain a deeper understanding of the conservation biology of mammals that are at increasing risk of extinction at local, regional and global scales. As such, it offers a unique resource for a broad readership interested in the conservation biology of mammals and conservation management strategies to better preserve biodiversity.

This book examines the contents, influence, and potential of a personal selection of modern books published over the last fifty years that have been relevant to improving welfare. The works selected comprise three earlier classics that mainly deal with animal experimentation and intensive farming, as well as five that concentrate on specific subject areas, namely history, science, applied ethics, politics and law, that are important to protecting the welfare of animals against suffering inflicted by humans. The books are arranged in the order of their publication date, and for each one a few related works are also mentioned or discussed. This collection provides a broad understanding of animal protection issues, and provides the necessary basis for an informed and comprehensive approach to improving the welfare of animals. The books selected have been influential and they have the potential to improve animal welfare in the future.