"We need to tell you something Lily!" they buzzed. "It's about the wildflowers ..."Lily Katinka thinks she is the most beautiful flower in Dudley's garden. But she's rather worried because Dudley has allowed the end of the lawn to grow wild, and it seems so untidy! Adding to her dismay, the 'ugly weeds and scruffy grasses' are getting a lot of attention from the bees and the butterflies. What is so special about the bottom of the garden? Lily Katinka has to find out ... Perfect for children and families who love a heartwarming and beautifully illustrated story about the hidden world of wildflowers in the garden. This edition features an author's note filled with surprising details about bees - for example, did you know that honey bees make a special food out of pollen called bee bread? A beautiful book inside and out 'An important lesson that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes and it's not just looks that take centre stage' ~ Kraftireader 'A beautiful story about a Lily who thinks she's the most important plant in the garden ... engaging and memorable' ~ Goodreads reviewer

This is an abridged and updated version of the award-winning publication 'Virginia's Endangered Species' (1991). An introduction summarises Virginia's natural habitats, conservation laws, and the responsibilities of the various state agencies involved in the conservation of biotic diversity in the Commonwealth. Most of the book consists of one-page descriptions and discussions of those species of plant and animal that are officially listed as endangered or threatened in Virginia. A beautiful colour photograph and map of occurrence is provided for almost every species. This guide is written in a style and format that will be enjoyed and understood by both professionals and laypersons. Its size, conciseness, and price make it an especially versatile, accessible, and useable reference and field tool for all who are interested in understanding and protecting Virginia's vulnerable natural heritage. The entries are from accounts prepared by more than 80 biologists from throughout Virginia. It contains the most current information available in printed form on the subject of vulnerable species in Virginia.

Before commercial whaling was outlawed in the 1980s, diplomats, scientists, bureaucrats, environmentalists, and sometimes even whalers themselves had attempted to create an international regulatory framework that would allow for a sustainable whaling industry. In Whales and Nations, Kurkpatrick Dorsey tells the story of the international negotiation, scientific research, and industrial development behind these efforts —and their ultimate failure. Whales and Nations begins in the early twentieth century, when new technology revived the fading whaling industry and made whale hunting possible on an unprecedented scale. By the 1920s, declining whale populations prompted efforts to develop “rational�—what today would be called sustainable—whaling practices. But even though almost everyone involved with commercial whaling knew that the industry was on an unsustainable path, Dorsey argues, powerful economic, political, and scientific forces made failure nearly inevitable. Based on a deep engagement with diplomatic history, Whales and Nations provides a unique perspective on the challenges facing international conservation projects. This history has profound implications for today’s pressing questions of global environmental cooperation and sustainability. Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QsLlM5KTx0

A leading figure in the emerging field of extinction studies, Thom van Dooren puts philosophy into conversation with the natural sciences and his own ethnographic encounters to vivify the cultural and ethical significance of modern-day extinctions. Unlike other meditations on the subject, Flight Ways incorporates the particularities of real animals and their worlds, drawing philosophers, natural scientists, and general readers into the experience of living among and losing biodiversity. Each chapter of Flight Ways focuses on a different species or group of birds: North Pacific albatrosses, Indian vultures, an endangered colony of penguins in Australia, Hawaiian crows, and the iconic whooping cranes of North America. Written in eloquent and moving prose, the book takes stock of what is lost when a life form disappears from the world -- the wide-ranging ramifications that ripple out to implicate a number of human and more-than-human others. Van Dooren intimately explores what life is like for those who must live on the edge of extinction, balanced between life and oblivion, taking care of their young and grieving their dead.He bolsters his studies with real-life accounts from scientists and local communities at the forefront of these developments. No longer abstract entities with Latin names, these species become fully realized characters enmeshed in complex and precarious ways of life, sparking our sense of curiosity, concern, and accountability toward others in a rapidly changing world.

Network thinking and network analysis are rapidly expanding features of ecological research. Network analysis of ecological systems include representations and modelling of the interactions in an ecosystem, in which species or factors are joined by pairwise connections. This book provides an overview of ecological network analysis including generating processes, the relationship between structure and dynamic function, and statistics and models for these networks. Starting with a general introduction to the composition of networks and their characteristics, it includes details on such topics as measures of network complexity, applications of spectral graph theory, how best to include indirect species interactions, and multilayer, multiplex and multilevel networks. Graduate students and researchers who want to develop and understand ecological networks in their research will find this volume inspiring and helpful. Detailed guidance to those already working in network ecology but looking for advice is also included.

Darwin's "Origin of Species" and Dobzhansky's "Genetics and the Origin of Species" have been the cornerstones of modern evolutionary and population genetic theory for the past hundred years, but in the twenty-first century, biologists will face graver problems of extinction. In this collection, a team of leading biologists demonstrates why the burgeoning field of conservation biology must continue to rely on the insights of population genetics if we are to preserve the diversity of living species. Technological and theoretical developments throughout the 1990s have allowed for important new insights into how populations have evolved in response to past selection pressures, while providing a broad new understanding of the genetic structure of natural populations. The authors explore these advances and argue for the applicability of new genetic methods in conservation biology.

The volume covers such topics as the reasons for extinctions, the best ways to measure biodiversity, and the benefits and drawbacks of policies like captive breeding. "Genetics and the Extinction of Species" is a rich source of information for biologists and policymakers who want to learn more about the host of tools, theories, and approaches available for conserving biodiversity.

In addition to the editors, the contributors to the volume are William Amos, Rebecca Cann, Kathryn Rodriguez-Clark, Leslie Douglas, Leonard Freed, Paul Harvey, Kent Holsinger, Russell Lande, and Helen Steers.

Join Joe Shute as he travels across Britain tracing the history of our seasons and discovering how they are changing. We talk about them. We plan our lives around them. The changing seasons are part of us all. But what happens when the weather changes beyond recognition? Joe Shute has spent years unpicking Britain's love affair with the weather, poring over the centuries of folklore, customs and rituals our seasons have inspired. But in recent years Shute has noticed a curious thing: the British seasons are changing far faster and far more profoundly than we realise. Daffodils in December, frogspawn in November, swallows that no longer fly home, floods, wildfires and winters without snow. Nothing is behaving as it should, sending nature into an increasing state of flux. In Forecast, Shute travels all over Britain tracing the history of the seasons, and discovering the extent to which we are now growing disconnected from them. While documenting these warped rhythms caused by the changing weather, he records the parallels in his personal journey as he and his wife struggle to conceive a child. This is a book that races to keep up with the march of the seasons as they rapidly change course. It examines how the weather is reshaping the world around us, and asks what happens to centuries of culture, memory and identity when the very thing they subsist on is slipping away.

For all persons seriously concerned about the destruction of natural environments in the contemporary world, this book presents a comprehensive rationale for preserving wild species and ecosystems. Bryan G. Norton appeals most centrally to "transformative value," the power of human contacts with wild species to transform and uplift the human spirit. Until now species preservationists have found a theoretical basis for their policies in the "demand" value of wild species for fulfilling certain narrowly defined human needs or in controversial and badly understood proposals about the "intrinsic" values of species. This work examines such rationales and diverges from them by pointing to new sources of value for wild species: they have worth because they can transform human values.

Because of the central role of biological diversity in environmental concerns, the book also provides a fresh perspective on environmental ethics more generally. Why Preserve Natural Variety? is sponsored by the Center for Philosophy and Public Policy at the University of Maryland, as was "The Preservation of Species: The Value of Biological Diversity," which was edited by Professor Norton.

Originally published in 1988.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Two hundred sixty million years ago, life on Earth suffered wave after wave of cataclysmic extinctions, with the worst wiping out nearly every species on the planet. The Worst of Times delves into the mystery behind these extinctions and sheds light on the fateful role the primeval supercontinent, known as Pangea, might have played in causing these global catastrophes. Drawing on the latest discoveries as well as his own firsthand experiences conducting field expeditions to remote corners of the world, Paul Wignall reveals what scientists are only now beginning to understand about the most prolonged and calamitous period of environmental crisis in Earth's history. Wignall shows how these series of unprecedented extinction events swept across the planet, killing life on a scale more devastating than the dinosaur extinctions that would follow. The Worst of Times unravels one of the great enigmas of ancient Earth and shows how this ushered in a new age of vibrant and more resilient life on our planet.

A lyrical celebration of birdsong, and the rekindling of a deep passion for nature. "At this time of year, blackbirds never simply fly: instead, like reluctantly retired officers, they're always 'on manoeuvres', and it's easy to see from their constant agitation that for them every flower bed is a bunker, every shed a redoubt and every hedge-bottom a potential place of ambush" As the world went silent in lockdown, something else happened; for the first time, many of us started becoming more aware of the spring sounds of the birds around us. Birdsong in a Time of Silence is a lyrical, uplifting reflection on these sounds and what they mean to us. From a portrait of the blackbird - most prominent and articulate of the early spring singers - to explorations of how birds sing, the science behind their choice of song and nest-sites, and the varied meanings that people have brought to and taken from birdsong, this book ultimately shows that natural history and human history cannot be separated. It is the story of a collective reawakening brought on by the strangest of springs.

Published to coincide with the Global Summit on illegal wildlife trade to be hosted by David Cameron in London in February 2014, Trading to Extinction is a unique and devastating record of this tragic industry. The book explores the sad truths behind this multi billion-dollar industry and is one of the most comprehensive photographic documents on the wildlife trade, spanning more than 10 years and offering a rare view into this illicit business. It is a shocking tale of cruelty, crime and human greed. This is an industry which, like the drugs trade, is fuelled by money, and whose tentacles encircle the world, from the remote forests of Asia to the trafficking hubs of Beijing, Bangkok, London, Tokyo and New York. A poacher who kills a rhino and removes its horn in India gets $350. That same horn sells for $1,000 in a nearby market town. By the time it reaches Hong Kong, Beijing or the Middle East, the horn is worth $60,000 per kilogram, rivalling the street value of cocaine, and even the price of gold. Tiger bones are worth up to $700 per kilo. Meanwhile the price of ivory is increasing so rapidly that some people are buying it as an investment commodity. The numbers are truly staggering. Trading to Extinction combines the powerful black and white photographs of Patrick Brown with texts by Ben Davies, who has spent more than a decade investigating the black market trade in wildlife. He takes the reader on a first hand journey into the seedy world of the illegal animal trade and its gruesome pursuit of profit, as well as describing international efforts to stop it. Both Patrick Brown and Ben Davies are recognised experts in the subject and their insight and knowledge provides a staggering overview of this hideous industry.

Ponds and pools are a common feature of our landscape – there are at least ten times as many ponds as lakes in the UK – and they are also important wildlife habitats. This book provides a comprehensive and detailed account of these freshwater habitats. The first chapter discusses what ponds, pools and puddles are, how they differ from rivers and lakes, their origin – natural or man-made, the different types of ponds and their abundance and distribution in Britain. A second chapter looks at ponds as ancient natural habitats that have existed for millennia on the earth’s surface. Ancient pond communities, as preserved in inter- and post-glacial sediments, are compared with modern pond communities. This chapter also examines the physical and chemical environment of ponds, covering aspects such as size, shape and depth, hydrology, oxygen and temperature. Ponds, pools and puddles are important wildlife habitats; they are as rich in species as rivers, and support rare and uncommon taxa including about half of Britain’s Red Data Book wetland plant and animal species. The authors give a comprehensive survey of the variety of plant and animal life for which ponds, pools and puddles are a habitat, with a chapter each on plants, invertebrates, amphibians, and fish, birds and mammals. The book discusses the importance of ponds to each of these groups and the ways in which the organisms exploit ponds, describing their habitats and major variations in life cycles. The pond ecosystem and colonisation and succession are discussed in two further chapters, before the final chapter, which is devoted to the subject of conservation and how best to protect and manage ponds and pond wildlife in Britain today. In spite of their evident importance, ponds have been largely ignored by freshwater biologists during this century. Ponds, Pools and Puddles makes an invaluable contribution to raising awareness of these popular, yet frequently underrated freshwater habitats, giving them the attention they rightly deserve.

Conflicts over the conservation of biodiversity are increasing and are serious obstacles to wildlife conservation efforts worldwide. Changing patterns in land use, over-exploitation, pollution, climate change and the threat posed by invasive species all challenge the way we currently maintain and protect biodiversity - from the local management of single species to the international management of resources. Integrating approaches from different academic disciplines, policy makers and practitioners, this volume offers a radically new, cross-disciplinary, multi-scale approach to deal with conflicts. Groundbreaking strategies for conservation are analysed and a large section of the book is devoted to exploring case studies of conflict from around the world. Aimed primarily at academics, researchers and students from disciplines relating to conservation, ecology, natural resources management and environmental governance, this book will be equally valuable to conservation NGOs and practitioners, and the policy community at national and international levels.

Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) is one of the most complex and urgent issues facing wildlife management and conservation today. Originally focused on the ecology and economics of wildlife damage, the study and mitigation of HWC has gradually expanded its scope to incorporate the human dimensions of the whole spectrum of human-wildlife relationships, from conflict to coexistence. Having the conflict-to-coexistence continuum as its leitmotiv, this book explores a variety of theories and methods currently used to address human-wildlife interactions, illustrated by case studies from around the world. It presents some key concepts in the field, such as values, emotions, social identity and tolerance, and a variety of insights and solutions to turn conflict into coexistence, from individual level to national scales, including conservation marketing, incremental and radical innovation, strategic planning, and socio-ecological systems. This volume will be of interest to a wide range of readers, including academics, researchers, students, practitioners and policy-makers.

The Canary Islands is a popular destination for birders and travellers with an interest in wildlife and nature, and one of the best places in the world to see several scarce species such as the Houbara Bustard. They also hold a number of endemic birds that occur nowhere else, such as the emblematic Blue Chaffinch.

This beautifully illustrated guide covers all the birds found in the islands, providing concise descriptions for easy identification and plates for easy identification of all species. It's the perfect guide for any visitor to these sun-kissed islands.

"Some plants are inherently rare, while others become rare through our actions." Rare Plants explores what makes the world's most uncommon plants so exceptional, and by what means they have become so scarce. From highlands to jungles, many of our most extraordinary plants are vanishing at shocking rates, and this exquisitely illustrated book explores 40 of these mysterious species. Featuring stunning archive images and expert insight from the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, Rare Plants explores both the beauty and necessity of our endangered plant life.

The relationship between economic growth and the environment is at the forefront of public attention and poses serious challenges for policymakers around the world. Economic Analysis of Environmental Policy, a textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses, provides a rigorous and thorough explanation of modern environmental economics, applying this exposition to contemporary issues and policy analysis.

Opening with a discussion of contemporary pollution problems, institutional players and the main policy instruments at our disposal, Ross McKitrick develops core theories of environmental valuation and optimal control of pollution. Chapters that follow cover issues like tradable permits, regulatory standards, emission taxes, and polluter liability as well as advanced topics like trade and the environment, sustainability, risk, inequality, and self-monitoring. Throughout, McKitrick uses clear, intuitive, and coherent analytical tools, so that students, academics, and practitioners can develop their policy analysis skills while comprehending the debates and challenges at the frontier of this exciting and rapidly-developing field.

How did the Seregenti become an internationally renowned African conservation site and one of the most iconic destinations for a safari? In this book, Thomas M. Lekan illuminates the controversial origins of this national park by examining how Europe's greatest wildlife conservationist, former Frankfurt Zoo director and Oscar-winning documentarian Bernhard Grzimek, popularized it as a global destination. In the 1950s, Grimzek and his son Michael began a quest to save the Serengeti from modernization and "overpopulation" by remaking an imperial game reserve into a gigantic zoo for the earth's last great mammals. Grzimek, well-known to German audiences through his long-running television program, A Place for Animals, used the film Seregenti Shall Not Die to convince ordinary Europeans that they could save nature. Yet their message sidestepped the uncomfortable legacies of German colonial exploitation in the region that had endangered animals and excluded local people. After independence, Grzimek raised funds, brokered diplomatic favors, and convinced German tourists to book travel packages-all to persuade Tanzanian leader Julius Nyerere that wildlife would fuel the young nation's economic development. Grzimek helped Tanzania to create almost a dozen new national parks by 1975, but wooing tourists conflicted with rights of the Maasai and other African communities to inhabit the landscape on their own terms. Grzimek's global priorities eventually clashed with Nyerere's nationalist ones, as a more self-assertive Tanzania resented conservationists' meddling and failed promises. A story that demonstrates the conflicts between international conservation, nature tourism, decolonization, and national sovereignty, Our Gigantic Zoo explores the legacy of the man who portrayed himself as a second Noah, called on a sacred mission to protect the last vestiges of paradise for all humankind.

The musteloids are the most diverse super-family among carnivores, ranging from little known, exotic, and highly-endangered species to the popular and familiar, and include a large number of introduced invasives. They feature terrestrial, fossorial, arboreal, and aquatic members, ranging from tenacious predators to frugivorous omnivores, span weights from a 100g weasel to 30kg giant otters, and express a range of social behaviours from the highly gregarious to the fiercely solitary. Musteloids are the subjects of extensive cutting-edge research from phylogenetics to the evolution of sociality and through to the practical implications of disease epidemiology, introduced species management, and climate change. Their diversity and extensive biogeography inform a wide spectrum of ecological theory and conservation practice. The editors of this book have used their combined 90 years of experience working on the behaviour and ecology of wild musteloids to draw together a unique network of the world's most successful and knowledgeable experts. The book begins with nine review chapters covering hot topics in musteloid biology including evolution, disease, social communication, and management. These are followed by twenty extensive case studies providing a range of comprehensive geographic and taxonomic coverage. The final chapter synthesises what has been discussed in the book, and reflects on the different and diverse conservation needs of musteloids and the wealth of conservation lessons they offer. Biology and Conservation of Musteloids provides a conceptual framework for future research and applied conservation management that is suitable for graduate level students as well as professional researchers in musteloid and carnivore ecology and conservation biology. It will also be of relevance and use to conservationists and wildlife managers.

We live in an era marked by an accelerating rate of species death, but since the early days of the discipline, anthropology has contemplated the death of languages, cultural groups, and ways of life. The essays in this collection examine processes of-and our understanding of-extinction across various domains. The contributors argue that extinction events can be catalysts for new cultural, social, environmental, and technological developments-that extinction processes can, paradoxically, be productive as well as destructive. The essays consider a number of widely publicized cases: island species in the Galapagos and Madagascar; the death of Native American languages; ethnic minorities under pressure to assimilate in China; cloning as a form of species regeneration; and the tiny hominid Homo floresiensis fossils ("hobbits") recently identified in Indonesia. The Anthropology of Extinction offers compelling explorations of issues of widespread concern. -- Indiana University Press

Winner of the 2022 Marsh Book of the Year Award A long-awaited volume in the New Naturalist series examining the trees of Britain. Trees are immensely valuable. They give shape to our lives with wood, the material that makes our homes, our books, our belongings; they nourish us with the air we breathe and the fruits we eat; and they sustain us, with their shade and the comfort of their presence. They are also fascinating - they are the biggest and oldest living organisms on the planet and are essential components of many of the landscapes of Britain. Trees have been vital in determining the ecology of our planet as well as the development of human cultures and communities, yet how much do we really understand about them? How do trees live? How do they fit into their environments? Why are they so important to ecosystems on earth, and to us? And what does the future hold for trees? Can they solve the problems of climate change by absorbing enough carbon dioxide, and would we run out of oxygen if all the world's trees disappeared? Do trees really talk to each other? There is much to learn about these silent giants. Ecologist Peter Thomas explores all these questions and many more, delving into the often hidden life of trees, using examples from around the world, from common trees to the unusual and bizarre. This comprehensive introduction to all aspects of tree biology and ecology presents the latest scientific and botanical discoveries and explores the wonders and mysteries of trees.

'Shearwater is sheer delight, a luminous portrait of a magical seabird which spans the watery globe' Daily Mail. 'Charming and impassioned ... a rich tribute to an extraordinary bird.' Horatio Clare, author of A Single Swallow and Heavy Light. A very personal mix of memoir and natural history from the author of Liquid Gold. Ten weeks into its life, a Manx shearwater chick will emerge from its burrow and fly 8,000 miles from the west coast of the British Isles to the South Atlantic. It will be unlikely to touch land again for four years. Part memoir, part homage to wilderness, Shearwater traces the author's 50-year obsession with one of nature's supreme travellers. In the finest tradition of nature writing, Roger Morgan-Grenville, author of Liquid Gold - described by Mary Colwell (Curlew Moon) as 'a book that ignites joy and warmth' - unpicks the science behind its incredible journey; and into the story of a year in the shearwater's life, he threads the inspirational influence of his Hebridean grandmother who instilled in him a love of wild places and wild animals. Full of lightly-worn knowledge, acute human observation and self-deprecating humour, Shearwater brings to life a truly mysterious and charismatic bird.

A wide-ranging collection of essays from new and established voices writing about nature, environment, conservation, biodiversity and the challenges that London faces to protect green spaces from urban development as well as the drive towards rewilding. The first of four books about London's wildlife, this edition focuses on the green spaces of Richmond Deer Park, Barnes Wetlands, Kew Gardens, Gunnersbury Triangle, Crane Park, Chiswick House, Bushy Park and many others.

Jaguars of the Northern Pantanal: Panthera Onca at the Meeting of the Waters details the lives and behaviors of this subpopulation of jaguars through one-of-a-kind photographs from 26 international photographers, as well as illustrations, maps, waypoints, scientific insights, field journal excerpts and personal narratives. The book seeks to understand how locals can coexist with these cats while benefitting financially through ecotourism. Users will find this book to be a conceptual model to apply to other subpopulations in order to save jaguars throughout North and South America. It is an ideal resource for researchers and practitioners in wildlife conservation, naturalism ecotourism and biologists.