This text is a history of the world's oldest global conservation body - the World Conservation Union, established in 1948 as a forum for governments, non-governmental organizations and individual conservationists. The author draws on unpublished archives to reveal the often turbulent story of the IUCN and its achievements in, and influence on, conservation and environmental policy worldwide - establishing national parks and protected areas and defending threatened species.

This is a readable, informative and up-to-date account of the patterns and controls on biodiversity. The author describes major trends in species richness, along with uncertainties in current knowledge. The various possible explanations for past and present species patterns are discussed and explained in an even-handed and accessible way. The implications of global climate change and habitat loss are considered, along with current strategies for preserving what we have. This book examines the state of current understanding of species richness patterns and their explanations. As well as the present day world, it deals with diversification and extinction, in the conservation of species richness, and the difficulties of assessing how many species remain to be discovered. The scientifically compelling subject of vegetation-climate interaction is considered in depth. Written in an accessible style, the author offers an up-to-date, rigorous and yet eminently comprehensible overview of the ecology and biogeography of species richness. He departs from the often heavy approach of earlier texts, without sacrificing rigor and depth of information and analysis. Prefacing with the aims of the book, Chapter 1 opens with an explanation of latitudinal gradients, including a description of major features of the striking gradients in species richness, exceptions to the rule, explanations, major theories and field and experimental tests. The following chapter plumbs the depth of time, including the nature of the fossil record, broad timescale diversity patterns, ecosystem changes during mass extinctions and glaciations and their influence on species richness. Chapters 3 and 4 consider hotspots and local scale patterns in species richness while Chapter 5 looks at the limitations and uncertainties on current estimates of richness, the last frontiers of species diversity and the process of identifying new life forms. The last three chapters cover humans and extinctions in history and prehistory, current habitat and global change, including the greenhouse effect, and the race to preserve what we still have, including parks, gene banks and laws.

Biofuels and Rural Poverty makes an original contribution to the current controversial global debate on biofuels, in particular the consequences that large-scale production of transport fuel substitutes can have on rural areas, principally in developing countries but also in some poor rural areas of developed countries. Three key concerns are examined from a North-South perspective: ecological issues (related to land use and biodiversity), pro-poor policies (related to food and land security, gender and income generation) and equity of benefits within the global value chain. Can biofuels be pro-poor? Can smallholder farmers be equitably integrated in the biofuels global supply chain? Is the biofuels production chain detrimental to biodiversity? Most other books available on biofuels take a technical approach and are aimed at addressing energy security or climate change issues. This title focuses on the socio-economic impacts on rural people's livelihoods, offering a unique perspective on the potential role of biofuels in reducing rural poverty.

Post-industrial urban spaces typically include abandoned factories, disused rail lines, old pits and quarries, and de-commissioned landfills. In these places, different visions compete for dominance with respect to current and future land uses. Neighbours often view such urban greenspace as polluted, unkempt and weedy, harbouring undesirable biophysical features and people. These are spaces that often become the focus of some form of revitalization, reinvestment and restoration. From the perspective of civic authorities and urban planners, transforming post-industrial landscapes into disciplined and tended greenspace creates the urban conditions and signals of popular contemporary taste that attract investors, gentrifiers, and tourists. But post-industrial spaces are also places where unique and unpredictable human and ecological associations can emerge spontaneously. Such places may contain considerable ecological integrity and biodiversity and host human populations who find a home and respite in such ecologies. They also tell stories of an industrial and urban past that should be acknowledged, understood and (if suitable) celebrated. This volume explores the environmental justice and injustice dimensions of emerging urban post-industrial landscapes, including the ecological politics, cultural representations and aesthetics of these spaces. This book was published as a special issue of Local Environment.

Loss of biodiversity is one of the great environmental challenges facing humanity but unfortunately efforts to reduce the rate of loss have so far failed. At the same time, these efforts have too often resulted in unjust social outcomes in which people living in or near to areas designated for conservation lose access to their territories and resources. In this book the author argues that our approach to biodiversity conservation needs to be more strongly informed by a concern for and understanding of social justice issues. Injustice can be a driver of biodiversity loss and a barrier to efforts at preservation. Conversely, the pursuit of social justice can be a strong motivation to find solutions to environmental problems. The book therefore argues that the pursuit of socially just conservation is not only intrinsically the right thing to do, but will also be instrumental in bringing about greater success. The argument for a more socially just conservation is initially developed conceptually, drawing upon ideas of environmental justice that incorporate concerns for distribution, procedure and recognition. It is then applied to a range of approaches to conservation including benefit sharing arrangements, integrated conservation and development projects and market-based approaches such as sustainable timber certification and payments for ecosystem services schemes. Case studies are drawn from the author's research in Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Laos, Bolivia, China and India.

The richer countries spend about US$165 billion yearly on overseas aid, mainly to keep human development going. These efforts are undermined by climate change, water-catchment damage, biodiversity loss, and desertification, and their interactions with social systems at all scales, which few aid designs or evaluations fully address. This must change if aid performance is to be improved. Constraints to be overcome include limited understanding of the very complex systems that aid investments affect, and of the ecology behind climate change adaptation and mitigation. Aid Performance and Climate Change targets these problems and others, by explaining how to use multiple points of view to describe each aid investment as a complex system in its own unique context. With examples throughout, it reviews cases, ideas, and options for mitigation using technology and ecology, and for adaptation by preserving resilience and diversity, while exploring related priorities, treaties, and opportunities. Combining an empirical, eye-witness approach with methodological conclusions, this book is an essential resource for those looking to improve aid design and evaluation, and will be a necessary tool in training the next generation of aid professionals to respond to the causes and consequences of climate change.

The world is losing species and biodiversity at an unprecedented rate. The causes go deep and the losses are driven by a complex array of social, economic, political and biological factors at different levels. Immediate causes such as over-harvesting, pollution and habitat change have been well studied, but the socioeconomic factors driving people to degrade their environment are less well understood. This book examines the underlying causes. It provides analyses of a range of case studies from Brazil, Cameroon, China, Danube River Basin, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Tanzania and Vietnam, and integrates them into a new and interdisciplinary framework for understanding what is happening. From these results, the editors are able to derive policy conclusions and recommendations for operational and institutional approaches to address the root causes and reverse the current trends. It makes a contribution to the understanding of all those - from ecologists and conservationists to economists and policy makers - working on one of the major challenges we face.

A practical guide to the protection and management of ecosystems against invasions by non-indigenous plant species. The authors seek to offer an accessible account of the subject and how to protect natural habitats. The majority of countries suffer from invasive plants and there are case studies from North America, Europe, Australia, South and South East Asia and the Pacific and Atlantic islands. There is also a list of invasive species, with their countries of origin and regions of introduction.

In the Andes mountainous region of South America grasslands known as paramos provide important ecosystem services like sustaining biodiversity, securing carbon sequestration and providing water storage. However, many paramos regions are subject to land use change due to expanding agriculture, intensified grazing and land burning. These are usually caused by socio-economic factors driving local communities to increase their income generation. Trying to achieve a better understanding of the paramos is often restricted to exploring specific details and does not follow an integrated approach or a comprehensive ecosystem analysis. In this research the focus is on better understanding the dominant ecohydrological processes and their interactions. An integrated approach is followed using in-situ measurements, field experiments, laboratory analyses, and numerical modelling. Also, different hydroinformatics tools are used to identify and quantify the ecosystem services provided by the paramos. Moreover, a framework is developed that allows a more realistic quantification and mapping of the main ecosystem services. The approach was carried out for a test site in an Ecological area in North Ecuador. The findings show a clear difference in ecosystem services depending on their altitudinal range and type of vegetation. These results can be used to further develop environmental management and landscape planning strategies, in order to better meet the social goals. This research is aligned with the priorities advocated in the IPCC Report (2007) 'to improve representation of the interactive coupling between ecosystems and the climate system', and with SDG #15: Life on Land 'By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services'.

The relentless loss of biodiversity is among the greatest problems facing the world today. The third edition of this established textbook provides an updated and comprehensive overview of the essential background, concepts, and tools required to understand how genetics can be used to conserve species, reduce threat of extinction, and manage species of ecological or commercial importance. This edition is thoroughly revised to reflect the major contribution of genomics to conservation of populations and species. It includes two new chapters: "Genetic Monitoring" and a final "Conservation Genetics in Practice" chapter that addresses the role of science and policy in conservation genetics. New genomic techniques and statistical analyses are crucial tools for the conservation geneticist. This accessible and authoritative textbook provides an essential toolkit grounded in population genetics theory, coupled with basic and applied research examples from plants, animals, and microbes. The book examines genetic and phenotypic variation in natural populations, the principles and mechanisms of evolutionary change, evolutionary response to anthropogenic change, and applications in conservation and management. Conservation and the Genomics of Populations helps demystify genetics and genomics for conservation practitioners and early career scientists, so that population genetic theory and new genomic data can help raise the bar in conserving biodiversity in the most critical 20 year period in the history of life on Earth. It is aimed at a global market of applied population geneticists, conservation practitioners, and natural resource managers working for wildlife and habitat management agencies. It will be of particular relevance and use to upper undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in conservation biology, conservation genetics, and wildlife management.

The Handbook of Australasian Biogeography is the most comprehensive overview of the biogeography of Australasian plants, fungi and animal taxa in a single volume. This volume is unique in its coverage of marine, freshwater, terrestrial, and subterranean taxa. It is an essential publication for anyone studying or researching Australasian biogeography. The book contains biogeographic reviews of all major plant, animal and fungal groups in Australasia by experts in the field, including a strong emphasis on invertebrates, algae, fungi and subterranean taxa. It discusses how Australasia is different from the rest of the world and what other areas share its history and biota.

Ethnoprimatology is situated at the intersection between the biological and cultural subfields of anthropology. Research on the interface between human and nonhuman primates has been steadily increasing since 1997, when the term ethnoprimatology was first coined. Although there have been studies on human-nonhuman primate interactions in the tropical Americas, no single comprehensive volume has been published that integrates this information to fully understand it in this region. Eighteen novel chapters written by outstanding scholars with various backgrounds are included in this edited volume. They refer to the complex interconnections between different indigenous peoples with New World monkeys that sympatrically share their ancestral territories. Geographically, the range covers all of the Neotropics, from southern Mexico through northern Argentina. This work includes topics such as primates as prey and food, ethnozoology/ethnoecology, cosmology, narratives about monkeys, uses of primates, monkeys as pets, and ethnoclassification. Multiple views as well as diverse theoretical and methodological approaches are found within the pages. In sum, this is a compendium of ethnoprimatological research that will be prized by anthropologists, ethnobiologists, primatologists, conservationists, and zoologists alike. "This book... provides a historical benchmark for all subsequent research in ethnoprimatology in the Neotropics and beyond." - Leslie E. Sponsel, University of Hawaii at Manoa.

For centuries, denuded landscapes, fouled streams, and dirty air were accepted by society as part of the price that had to be paid for mineral production. Even initial environmental legislation devised by industrialized countries in the 1960s and 1970s was largely designed without mining in mind. And developing countries had little in the way of environmental policy. With the advent of sustainability in the 1990s, times have changed. Today's economic development, many now feel, must not come at the expense of an environmentally degraded future. Current policies toward mining are under rigorous review, and mineral-rich developing countries are designing environmental policies where none existed before. In Mining and the Environment, noted analysts offer viewpoints from Australia, Chile, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European community on issues and challenges of metal mining.

The countryside is changing faster than ever. Fifty years of conservation achievements in the UK are now being confronted by a new complexion of economic forces that are driving change in the countryside. At the same time new ideas in conservation are altering the role that conservation is being asked to play in negotiating the transition from past to future. This revised edition of Bill Adams classic work Future Nature tackles the new challenges in the countryside and wildlife conservation head-on through a new Introduction and Postscript with updated arguments about naturalness and our social engagement with nature, and complemented by a new Foreword by Adrian Phillips. Concepts such as biodiversity and sustainability, and changes in our understanding, appreciation and concern for nature, offer unprecedented opportunities. Bill Adams explores the scientific, cultural and economic significance of conservation. He argues that conservation must move beyond the boundaries of parks and reserves to embrace the whole countryside. The importance of conservation for the future is enormous. It holds the potential to create new spaces for nature, both in the landscape and in our lives and imaginations. This factual, beautifully written and thought-provoking book offers a fundamental reassessment of conservation, its importance, and how to achieve it. Published with BANC

Most of the world's population lives on or near the coasts. Every nation not completely landlocked has used the sea as its supposedly self-cleansing garbage dump. Now the effects are being felt. There is not a coast in the world which is not dangerously polluted. Sewage, oil, plastics, industrial effluents, radioactive waste have been added to ungoverned development, all of which are busily destroying otherwise robust inshore eco-systems. Hinrichsen, basing his work on United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) research and his own extensive travels, has described the situation in the Mediterranean, the Gulf, the Indian Ocean, the South-East Asian Seas and the Eastern Pacific. He covers both the disasters and the growing successes in dealing with them, and he points the way to the sort of international deal needed to rescue a vast resource in danger of complete destruction. His book is both a call to action and a sign of hope. Originally published in 1990

The annual Evolutionary Biology Meetings in Marseilles serve to gather leading scientists, promote the exchange of ideas and encourage the formation of international collaborations.

This book contains the most essential contributions presented at the 14th Evolutionary Biology Meeting, which took place in September 2010. It comprises19 chapters organized according to the following categories:

. Evolutionary Biology Concepts

. Biodiversity and Evolution

. Macroevolution

. Genome Evolution

Offering an up-to-date overview of recent results in the field of evolutionary biology, this book is an invaluable source of information for scientists, teachers and advanced students. "

The establishment of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) points to the crucial role attributed to science and knowledge for the successful implementation of biodiversity politics by both scientists and policy-makers. With the increased importance of biodiversity in international politics, and in part inspired by the success the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has had in raising awareness of global warming, the call for an 'IPCC for Biodiversity' was successful. The Politics of Knowledge and Global Biodiversity gives a full overview of the process of its implementation as finalised in 2013 and proposes an innovative conceptual framework that puts this specific case into a more general perspective of international politics and relations. It provides a detailed empirical analysis of the knowledge politics associated with the establishment of IPBES and its conceptual framework and methodological approach is grounded in a theoretical perspective. This pioneering work is the first to examine IPBES in this way and is essential reading for researchers and scholars of International Relations, Environmental and Biodiversity Politics, Science-Policy Interfaces and Global Environmental Governance. It will also be of interest to political scientists and social scientists.

If you are responsible for oak management, Managing Oak Forests in the Eastern United States is for you. It is the definitive practical guide for anyone interested in improving stewardship of eastern oak forests. Organized into three sections, the first section, "Background and Biology: Setting the Stage," helps you establish a solid understanding of the history and ecology of eastern oak ecosystems. It examines the question "Why do we manage oaks?" and looks at some of the challenges faced in oak management such as fire, wildlife management, and oak regeneration. It also provides a description and distribution of oak forests across the eastern United States and discusses the biology of oaks. The second section, "Silviculture: What Is in the Tool Box," gives you a practical understanding of how management can be implemented in eastern oak forests. It covers natural regeneration, artificial regeneration, and use of prescribed fires, competition control, and intermediate treatments. The third and final section, "Managing Oaks: How Do I Make It Work for Me?" helps you clarify your objectives and chart a course to bring about the desired outcomes for the forests you are managing. This section assists you in evaluating your progress in managing your oaks and what changes you will need to make. It provides details on management objectives for upland oaks, woodlands and savannahs, and bottomland oaks. It also gives you guidance on managing deer impacts on oak forests. The last chapter is specifically designed to help you get started.

Many mushrooms - or the 'fruits of fungi' - are extremely valuable, wild-gathered products which are utilised for both their medicinal properties and as food. In many of the world's tropical and temperate forests, they are the primary source of income for the people who live there. These forests range from temperate woodlands and small forests to high altitude forests in the Himalaya and tropical miombo woodlands in south-central Africa. In south-west China, over 200 species of wild fungi in 64 genera are commercially traded while in Europe and North America, woodlands and small forests are the source of many highly-prized mushrooms and an essential resource for many small enterprises and collectors. Yet the increased demand for timber has resulted in the rapid expansion of forestry, which in turn has destroyed the natural habitat of many fungi, unbalancing both forest economics and ecology. Despite the economic, social and cultural values of fungi, there is a general lack of understanding of their importance to local livelihoods and forest ecology. This book aims to fill this gap and extends the People and Plants Conservation Series beyond the plant kingdom into the related world of fungi and mushrooms. It demonstrates the crucial roles that fungi play in maintaining forest ecosystems and the livelihoods of rural people throughout the world while providing good practice guidelines for the sustainable management of this resource and an assessment of economic value. It brings together the perspectives of biologists, anthropologists and forest and woodland managers to provide a unique inter-disciplinary and international overview of the key issues.

Indian screw pine family Pandanaceae represents three genera, in which genus Pandanus and Benstonea are distributed in two hotspots in India the Western Ghats and the Northeast Himalayan region. For the first time, Indian Pandanaceae has been assessed for its taxonomic status and phylogenetic relationship. The extensive survey by the authors led to the discovery of three new Pandanus species (two from the Western Ghats and one from the Northeast Himalaya). The present taxonomic revision confirmed total number of Pandanus species to 14 that are distributed in the Southern India (9 species) and Northeast Himalayan region (5 species). Genus Benstonea is represented by two species, one from Southern India and another species common to both regions. A detailed species identification key is given along with conservation status of each species following IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria (2001). The study revealed that, out of 16 Pandanus and Benstonea species, six species are under threatened categories.

In recent years, a chloroplast DNA-based molecular phylogenetic approach has been followed to understand the evolutionary relationship among the plant species. The interrelationship among the 14 Pandanus species at infrageneric level has been worked out using this approach, which has led to the rearrangement of some species to the subgenera proposed by Stone (1974). Moreover, the close relationship between Pandanus and Benstonea has been confirmed and the interrelationship of Indian Pandanus genus in global context is given. This book also describes the economic importance of each Pandanus species.

The idea that nature provides services to people is one of the most powerful concepts to have emerged over the last two decades. It is shaping our understanding of the role that biodiverse ecosystems play in the environment and their benefits for humankind. As a result, there is a growing interest in operational and methodological issues surrounding ecosystem services amongst environmental managers, and many institutions are now developing teaching programmes to equip the next generation with the skills needed to apply the concepts more effectively. This handbook provides a comprehensive reference text on ecosystem services, integrating natural and social science (including economics). Collectively the chapters, written by the world's leading authorities, demonstrate the importance of biodiversity for people, policy and practice. They also show how the value of ecosystems to society can be expressed in monetary and non-monetary terms, so that the environment can be better taken into account in decision making. The significance of the ecosystem service paradigm is that it helps us redefine and better communicate the relationships between people and nature. It is shown how these are essential to resolving challenges such as sustainable development and poverty reduction, and the creation of a green economy in developing and developed world contexts.

This book integrates a variety of issues such as regional settings of productivity and nutrient cycling; plankton of coastal and shelf systems; plankton, climate change and human-induced changes; harmful algae and their impacts; and gelatinous zooplankton. This book explores the intriguing marine plankton communities of the SWA region of South America encompassing low to high latitude environments, framed by a complex hydrographic background and global climate change. This vast and iconic region has been largely under-recognized and under-studied. However, in recent years a strong interest has emerged along with the acknowledgment of its high biological productivity. The book concludes by discussing conservation in the region, highlighting regional biodiversity hotspots where the challenges of climate change, habitat loss, and other threats to biodiversity may be particularly acute. Plankton Ecology of the Southwestern Atlantic is a timely synthesis of the field, setting a new baseline for future research. It will be important reading for both researchers and graduate students, and will also be of interest and use to a professional audience of oceanographers, conservation biologists, stake holders and educated science enthusiasts

Biology and Management of Invasive Quagga and Zebra Mussels in the Western United States is a synthesis of the biology and management of invasive mussels from scientists and managers working on invasive quagga and zebra mussels in the western United States. Invasive dreissenid mussels have spread throughout southwestern United States at unprecedented speeds, and present a unique threat to native ecosystems. This book documents the efforts, both successful and unsuccessful, of individuals and agencies after dreissenid mussels invaded the West. Although the book is designed specifically for scientists and managers fighting invasive mussels in western waterbodies, it offers an opportunity for scientists and lake managers worldwide to compare successful strategies relevant to their unique situation. It includes guidance documents and protocols related to early detection, prevention, regulation, monitoring, and control of these invasive pests in the West. It compares quagga and zebra mussels in the western United States with those mussels colonizing the Great Lakes and European waters.

Agriculture and food production have a large footprint on the landscape globally and compete for space with land for nature conservation. This book explores the competition between the food needs of a growing human population and the conservation of biodiversity as intensified by the emerging use of crops for energy production. As concern about the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on climate grows and oil prices increase, energy production from agricultural crops has become a significant industry. At the same time, growth in food demand due to population growth has been accelerated by growing affluence associated with economic growth in major developing countries increasing per capita consumption. Consumers are concerned that the price of food will continue to increase sharply as a result of this competition but a loss of biodiversity may be another major outcome. Drawing on his expertise in plant conservation genetics, the author provides a balanced appraisal of the potential for developing new or improved crops for food or bioenergy production in the context of climate change, while at the same time protecting biodiversity.

The field of ecohydraulics integrates hydrodynamic and eco-dynamic processes. While hydrodynamic processes are usually well described by partial differential equations (PDE's) based on physical conservation principles, ecosystem dynamics often involve specific interactions at the local scale. Because of this, Cellular Automata (CA) are a viable paradigm in ecosystem modelling. All cells in a CA system update their states synchronously at discrete steps according to simple local rules. The classical CA configuration consists of uniformly distributed cells on a structured grid. But in the field of hydrodynamics, the use of unstructured grids has become more and more popular due to its flexibility to handle arbitrary geometries. The main objective of this research is to identify whether the CA paradigm can be extended to unstructured grids. To that end the concept of Unstructured Cellular Automata (UCA) is developed and various UCA configurations are explored and their performance investigated. The influence of cell size was analyzed in analogy with the Finite Volume Method. A characteristic parameter -min distance of UCA- was put forward and tested by numerical experiments. Special attention was paid to exploring the analogies and differences between the discrete CA paradigm and discrete numerical approximations for solving PDE's. The practical applicability of UCA in ecohydraulics modelling is explored through a number of case studies and compared with field measurements.