Over the last decade, the field of plant ecology has significantly developed and expanded, especially in research concerning the herb layer and ground vegetation of forests. This revised second edition of The Herbaceous Layer in Forests of Eastern North America accounts for that growth, presenting research that approaches the ecology of the herb layer of forests from a variety of disciplines and perspectives. The book synthesizes the research of top ecologists and biologists on herbaceous layer structure, composition, and dynamics of a variety of forest ecosystem types in eastern North America. The 2003 first edition of The Herbaceous Layer in Forests of Eastern North America was praised for containing the most extensive listing of herb-layer literature in existence. This second edition brings this material up to date, revised to include current research and data. The book incorporates quantitative data to support analyses that was previously unavailable during the publication of the first edition. Also featured are six entirely new chapters, focused on the response of the herbaceous layer to a wide variety of natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Building on the over 1,200 references and sources of the first edition, the second edition of The Herbaceous Layer in Forests of Eastern North America is an invaluable resource for plant ecologists, forest ecologists, and conservationists.

Felines of the World: Discoveries in Taxonomic Classification and History provides the most recent taxonomic, paleontological, phylogenetic and DNA advances of wild felid and domestic cat species following guidelines dictated by the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group. It highlights the importance of felines and their role as predators in maintaining the ecological biome balance in which they have evolved. The book delves into the anatomical, evolutionary and zoogeographic features of fossil and current felid species. Each species is described in detail, detailing its classification, habitat and biological habits. This book also presents the most updated threat and conservation status of each species. This book is an ideal resource for zoologists and paleontologists, primarily those interested in the evolution and features of extinct and extant felines.

This book uses primary documents as a lens through which to examine historical and present-day efforts to protect endangered species in the United States and around the world. In this thought-provoking work, author Edward P. Weber examines the values, policies, challenges, and approaches to endangered species conservation over the past 200 years. Using primary source documents and in-depth analysis of the issues, the reference tracks the evolution of species protection and conservation in the United States, and offers a brief look at global programs in the United States and other parts of the world. The book surveys how different countries are faring in protecting their plant and animal life, and considers which guidelines and programs hold the most promise for success in the future. Chapters compare and contrast past and present attitudes regarding endangered species and extinction and identify the influence of major organizations and individuals central to the debate over endangered species. Judiciously selected primary documents also explore the impact of species endangerment and loss on natural ecosystems—and ultimately, on humankind itself.

Global change threatens ecosystems worldwide, and tropical systems with their high diversity and rapid development are of special concern. We can mitigate the impacts of change if we understand how tropical ecosystems respond to disturbance. For tropical forests and streams in Puerto Rico this book describes the impacts of, and recovery from, hurricanes, landslides, floods, droughts, and human disturbances in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico. These ecosystems recover quickly after natural disturbances, having been shaped over thousands of years by such events. Human disturbance, however, has longer-lasting impacts. Chapters are by authors with many years of experience in Puerto Rico and other tropical areas and cover the history of research in these mountains, a framework for understanding disturbance and response, the environmental setting, the disturbance regime, response to disturbance, biotic mechanisms of response, management implications, and future directions. The text provides a strong perspective on tropical ecosystem dynamics over multiple scales of time and space.

A one-of-a-kind introduction to the major issues and controversies dominating the heated debate over U.S. forest policy today. Forest Conservation Policy: A Reference Handbook chronicles the dramatic history, current status, and global influence of U.S. forest policy. Beginning with the foundations of early forest law during the colonial period through the rise of the Conservation Movement in the wake of 19th century massive forest exploitation, this reference also discusses the environmental challenges that have rewritten recent U.S. forest policy and explores future policy directions. What are the effects of forest destruction on biological diversity? Has the sustainable forest management movement been effective? Given the fact that individual landowners control the greatest share of U.S. forestland, how are forests on private lands regulated? Students and concerned citizens alike will discover answers to these and other critical questions regarding what is left of the nation's dwindling forests. Subject-indexed description of the major issues dominating the current debates over the future of forest policy Exhaustive references to government and nongovernment forestry organizations at both the national and regional levels

A special volume in the Chinese Research Perspectives on the Environment series, this English-language volume is an edited collection of articles selected from the Chinese-language Annual Report on Actions to Address Climate Change (2012): Climate Finance and Low Carbon Development. This volume provides information on how China views the challenge of climate change and seeks to rectify the extraordinary confusion found in the West on China's green energy future and its larger perspectives on this extraordinarily crucial topic. Contributors in this volume provide a bigger picture of international negotiations on climate change; discuss China's national actions on green energy and sustainability and how national policies are implemented at the local level; and examine challenges and potential of developing green energy resources in China.

Australia's varied grasslands have suffered massive losses and changes since European settlement, and those changes continue under increasingly intensive human pressures for development and agricultural production. The values of native grasslands for conservation of endemic native biodiversity, both flora and fauna, have led to strong interests in the protection of remaining fragments, especially near urban centres, and documentation of the insects and other inhabitants of grasslands spanning tropical to cool temperate parts of the country. Attention to conservation of grassland insects in Australia is relatively recent, but it is increasingly apparent that grasslands harbour many localised and ecologically specialised endemic species. Their conservation necessarily advances from very incomplete documentation, and draws heavily on lessons from the far better-documented grasslands elsewhere, most notably in the northern hemisphere, and undertaken over far longer periods. From those cases, and the extensive background to grassland management to harmonise conservation with production and amenity values through honing use of processes such as grazing, mowing and fire, the needs and priorities for Australia can become clearer, together with needs for grassland restoration at a variety of scales. This book is a broad overview of conservation needs of grassland insects in Australia, drawing on the background provided elsewhere in the world on the responses to disturbances, and the ecological importance, of some key insect groups (notably Orthoptera, Hemiptera and Lepidoptera) to suggest how insect conservation in native, pastoral and urban grasslands may be advanced. The substantial references given for each chapter facilitate entry for non-entomologist grassland managers and stewards to appreciate the diversity and importance of Australia's grassland insects, their vulnerabilities to changes, and the possibilities for conserving them and the wider ecological roles in which they participate.

Biodiversity of Pantepui: The Pristine "Lost World" of the Neotropical Guiana Highlands provides the most updated and comprehensive knowledge on the biota, origin, and evolution of the Pantepui biogeographical province. It synthesizes historical information and recent discoveries, covering the main biogeographic patterns, evolutionary trends, and conservational efforts. Written by international experts on the biodiversity of this pristine land, this book explores what makes Pantepui a unique natural laboratory to study the origin and evolution of Neotropical biodiversity under the influence of only natural drivers. It discusses the organisms living in Pentepui, including algae, plants, several groups of invertebrates, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. The latter portion of the book delves into the effects of human activity and global warming on Pantepui, and current conservational efforts to combat these threats. Biodiversity of Pantepui is an important resource for researchers in ecology, biogeography, evolution, and conservation, who want to understand the biodiversity and natural history of this region, and how to help conserve and protect the Guiana Highlands from environmental and human damages.

Professor Linda M. Fedigan, Member of the Order of Canada and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, has made major contributions to our understanding of the behavioural ecology of primates. Furthermore, Linda Fedigan pioneered and continues to advance scholarship on the role of women in science, as well as actively promoting the inclusion of women in the academy. A symposium in honour of her career was held in Banff (Alberta, Canada) in December 2016, during which former and current students and collaborators, as well as scientists with similar research interests, presented and discussed their work and their connections to Linda Fedigan. These presentations and discussions are here presented as chapters in this festschrift. The original works presented in this book are organized around four major research areas that have been greatly advanced and influenced by Linda Fedigan: Primate life histories Sex roles, gender, and science Primate-environment interactions Primate adaptation to changing environments

In 1906, American humorist Mark Twain published a sixty-page essay entitled "What is man?" Consisting of an interminable dialogue between a senior citizen (who believes that man is just a machine) and a young man (who believes nothing in particular but is open to persuasion), it wasn't one of his finest books. But at least he tried. Authors since then seem to have avoided the subject like the plague, often tackling the respective roles of men and women in society but seldom asking deeper questions about what it means to be human. When the psalmist asked, "What is man?" (Psalm 8 v.4) he was, I think, seeking an altogether more profound answer. Avoidance of the subject is all the more strange because there has never been a time like our own when curiosity about human origins and destiny has been greater, or the answers on offer more hotly disputed. It's a safe bet that any attempt to give the "big picture" on the origin, nature and specialness of mankind will be contentious -which might explain why writers have generally fought shy of it. Yet at heart it is the question most of us really do want answered, because the answer defines that precious thing we call our identity, both personally and as a race. The Psalmist did, of course, offer his own answer three millennia ago. Man, he claimed, was created by God for a clearly defined purpose - to exercise dominion over planet earth and (by implication) to ultimately share something of the glory of the divine nature. The rest, as they say, is history, but it's not a happy tale. As Mark Twain says in another essay; "I can't help being disappointed with Adam and Eve". Not surprisingly, then, a large proportion of humanity today are looking for alternative solutions, accepting the challenge of the Psalmist's question without embracing the optimism of his answer. In this book we are going to consider the alternative solutions on offer by considering what it means to be human against the backgrounds of cosmology (man's place in the universe), biology (man's place in the animal kingdom), and psychology (man's consciousness and mind). Finally, we return to the biblical context, arguing that the Psalmist got it right after all.Don't let the science-sounding stuff put you off. Like its popular prequel, "Who made God? Searching for a theory of everything", this book is written with a light touch in a reader-friendly and often humorous style. It is intended specifically for the non-expert, with homely verbal illustrations designed to explain and unpack the technicalities for the lay-person. As Dr. Paul Copan (Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics, Palm Beach Atlantic University) says, "Edgar Andrews has a way of making the profound accessible. His scholarship informs the reader about key questions of our time, offering wise guidance and illumination."

Islands with large colonies of seabirds are found throughout the globe. Seabird islands provide nesting and roosting sites for birds that forage at sea, deposit marine nutrients on land, and physically alter these islands. Habitats for numerous endemic and endangered animal and plant species, seabird islands are therefore biodiversity hotspots with high priority for conservation.
Successful campaigns to eradicate predators (e.g., rats and cats) from seabird islands have been conducted worldwide. However, removal of predators will not necessarily lead to natural recovery of seabirds or other native species. Restoration of island ecosystems requires social acceptance of eradications, knowledge of how island food webs function, and a long-term commitment to measuring and assisting the recovery process.
This book, written collaboratively by and for ecologists and resource managers, provides the first large-scale cross-system compilation, comparison, and synthesis of the ecology of seabird island systems. Offering a new conceptual framework into which to fit the impacts of seabirds on island ecology, this is an essential resource for academics and resource managers alike.

Despite an increasing global awareness of environmental concerns, setting internationally binding and ambitious commitments has proven exceedingly complex. As states are seeking alternative methods to support global environmental protection, this book takes a closer look at the possibility of using national trade measures that make market access conditional on the environmental impact of the production process abroad. Inspired by accepted practice in other fields of law, Barbara Cooreman illustrates that the extraterritorial character of these environmental trade measures is not necessarily inconsistent with WTO law by proposing an extraterritoriality decision tree for trade measures targeting foreign production processes. Identifying key challenges through varied case studies, the author demonstrates that states can indeed use their market to further environmental progress, when the state's environment is affected and where a minimum level of international legal support exists for the environmental concern at issue. The book shows that current WTO laws leave more room for action than often thought and concludes that WTO law is no excuse for environmental inaction. Practical and comparative, this book will appeal to scholars of both environmental and trade law. It also offers a valuable tool to aid judges and lawmakers alike in determining the lawfulness of a measure.

Why does it benefit some male and female animals to live separately? Sexual segregation, wherein the sexes of a species live apart for long periods of time, has far-reaching consequences for the ecology, behavior, and conservation of hooved mammals, which are called ungulates. Award-winning researcher R. Terry Bowyer has spent the past four decades unravelling the causes and consequences of this perplexing phenomenon by studying ungulates and the large carnivores that prey upon them. In Sexual Segregation in Ungulates, Bowyer's critical, thought-provoking approach helps resolve long-standing disagreements concerning sexual segregation and offers future pathways for species and habitat conservation. He highlights important elements of the natural history of wild ungulate species, including bighorn sheep and elk. He then uses this perspective to frame and test hypotheses illuminating the motivations behind sexual segregation. He investigates the role of sexual segregation in mechanisms underpinning ungulate mating systems, sexual dimorphism, paternal behavior, and population dynamics. Bowyer's research spans ecosystems from deserts to the Arctic and involves most species of ungulates inhabiting the North American continent. He also provides a timely review of sexual segregation for species of plants and other animals, including humans. Covering definitions, theory, findings, and practical applications of related study, Bowyer describes the behavioral patterns related to sexual segregation, explains how to detect these patterns, and considers the implications of sexual segregation for new approaches to conservation and management of ungulates and other species of wildlife. This book is essential reading for scientists and all those interested in the conservation and management of species, including wildlife professionals, hunters, outdoor enthusiasts, and naturalists.

A concise yet thorough overview of the environmental issues, problems, and controversies facing the world's largest and most populous continent-Asia. Asia tackles the tough issues, the complex problems, and the political controversies surrounding the environment of this vast landmass. This volume encompasses everything from economics, land use, energy and transportation, to air pollution, rivers and lakes, oceans, and species and habitat protection. In Malaysia, unchecked discharges of industrial waste and human sewage led the government to label 42 of its rivers officially "dead." According to some estimates, Southeast Asia alone accounts for more than half of the world's total transport of sediment to the oceans. In the Philippines, the Chico River dam project, which would have subjected 100,000 tribespeople to relocation, was canceled when the World Bank withdrew funding after fierce resistance from the indigenous people. This fascinating book offers a comprehensive look at how the most populated continent on earth contends with its complicated environment. Interesting sidebar articles, tables and figures, and photographs Overview maps of the continent and a listing of environment-related organizations on the Internet