Herons and their close relatives, the egrets and bitterns, comprise sixty species in total and are found all over the world except in polar regions, and are a strikingly beautiful part of the wetlands they inhabit. They are particularly abundant and popular in South West USA, especially Florida. Herons are a diverse group, easily recognised by their long legs, necks and bills. Many species are notable for their sociality as they feed, roost, and nest together in single or mixed species assemblages. The authors have extensive experience of research and observation of these birds and this book provides an up to date comprehensive review of the herons of the world. Covering their biology, distribution, description, systematics, breeding, feeding, and conservation, James Hancock and James Kushlan have distilled their lifetimes' research on the heron into one volume. This volume is complemented by beautiful colour paintings especially painted for the book, colour photographs, and distribution maps.

This book is the most up to date work on honeycreepers, covering the life history, relationships, and biology of the birds. The honeycreepers, with their bright colouration, and canary-like songs, are famed for their unique evolutionary history as a geographically isolated group that has undergone a spectacular burst of adaptions to the islands of the Hawaiian archipelago.

Those who are unfamiliar with grebes tend to think of them as odd ducks, but their strange behaviours reveal them to be fascinating and intriguing birds. Grebes are unusual and unique in many ways: their habit of feather-eating; their method of sunbathing; their special method of underwater propulsion; the unusual structure of their feet; their courtship behaviour; and their floating nests. As the birds are dependent upon shallow wetlands, they are strongly affected and threatened by our use of their habitats, leading to dwindling populations and even extinction of some species. In this new addition to the Bird Families of the World series Jon Fjeldsa, a renowned expert on the grebes, provides an overview of the results of all the research that has been done on grebes. Part I contains a brief presentation of the grebe family, constraints of diving, the relationships between grebes and divers, and the morphology of grebes. Part II covers their biogeography, ecological distribution, feeding ecology, behaviour and communication, breeding biology, environmental threats, and conservation. Part III follows with 22 species accounts, including distribution maps. The plates section contains sixteen stunning paintings showing all the grebe species, by Jon Fjeldsa. The Grebes, like its companion volumes in the series, will be an indispensable work of reference for ornithologists, whether professional or amateur.

Wildlife Forensics: Methods and Applications provides an accessible and practical approach to the key areas involved in this developing subject. The book contains case studies throughout the text that take the reader from the field, to the lab analysis to the court room, giving a complete insight into the path of forensic evidence and demonstrating how current techniques can be applied to wildlife forensics.

The book contains approaches that wildlife forensic investigators and laboratory technicians can employ in investigations and provides the direction and practical advice required by legal and police professionals seeking to gain the evidence needed to prosecute wildlife crimes.

The book will bring together in one text various aspects of wildlife forensics, including statistics, toxicology, pathology, entomology, morphological identification, and DNA analysis.

This book will be an invaluable reference and will provide investigators, laboratory technicians and students in forensic Science/conservation biology classes with practical guidance and best methods for criminal investigations applied to wildlife crime.Includes practical techniques that wildlife forensic investigators and laboratory technicians can employ in investigations. Includes case studies to illustrate various key methods and applications. Brings together diverse areas of forensic science and demonstrates their application specifically to the field of wildlife crime. Contains methodology boxes to lead readers through the processes of individual techniques. Takes an applied approach to the subject to appeal to both students of the subject and practitioners in the field. Includes a broad introduction to what is meant by 'wildlife crime', how to approach a crime scene and collect evidence and includes chapters dedicated to the key techniques utilized in wildlife investigations. Includes chapters on wildlife forensic pathology; zooanthropological techniques; biological trace evidence analysis; the importance of bitemark evidence; plant and wildlife forensics; best practices and law enforcement.

This advanced text focuses on the uses of distance sampling to estimate the density and abundance of biological populations. It addresses new methodologies, new technologies and recent developments in statistical theory and is the follow up companion to Introduction to Distance Sampling (OUP, 2001). In this text, a general theoretical basis is established for methods of estimating animal abundance from sightings surveys, and a wide range of approaches to analysis of sightings data is explored. These approaches include: modelling animal detectability as a function of covariates, where the effects of habitat, observer, weather, etc. on detectability can be assessed; estimating animal density as a function of location, allowing for example animal density to be related to habitat and other locational covariates; estimating change over time in populations, a necessary aspect of any monitoring programme; estimation when detection of animals on the line or at the point is uncertain, as often occurs for marine populations, or when the survey region has dense cover; survey design and automated design algorithms, allowing rapid generation of sound survey designs using geographic information systems; adaptive distance sampling methods, which concentrate survey effort in areas of high animal density; passive distance sampling methods, which extend the application of distance sampling to species that cannot be readily detected in sightings surveys, but can be trapped; and testing of methods by simulation, so that performance of the approach in varying circumstances can be assessed. Authored by a leading team this text is aimed at professionals in government and environment agencies, statisticians, biologists, wildlife managers, conservation biologists and ecologists, as well as graduate students, studying the density and abundance of biological populations.

'Modest, down to earth and full of humour, this is one of the best books about filming I've ever read.' MICHAEL PALIN 'Extraordinary: Gavin's easy prose and gasp-making encounters make for a gripping and very funny read. It's a rollercoaster ride with a complete professional. I loved it.' JOANNA LUMLEY '[Gavin is] a great cameraman with infinite patience, but also a writer with great powers of observation and expression. Brilliant!' ALAN TITCHMARSH _________ From Gavin Thurston, the award-winning Blue Planet II and Planet Earth II cameraman with a foreword by Sir David Attenborough comes extraordinary and adventurous true stories of what it takes to track down and film our planet's most captivating creatures. Gavin has been a wildlife photographer for over thirty years. Against a backdrop of modern world history, he's lurked in the shadows of some of the world's remotest places in order to capture footage of the animal kingdom's finest: prides of lions, silverback gorillas, capuchin monkeys, brown bears, grey whales, penguins, mosquitoes - you name it he's filmed it. Come behind the camera and discover the hours spent patiently waiting for the protagonists to appear; the inevitable dangers in the wings and the challenges faced and overcome; and the heart-warming, life-affirming moments the cameras miss as well as capture. What other readers are saying about Journeys in the Wild: 'It's touching, it's thought provoking and its emotional...Go pick it up. It's an absolute inspiration of a book.' Goodreads 'Full of unbelievable anecdotes from decades of work, some absolutely hilarious, this book left me in complete wonder.' Goodreads 'An amazing read and I would heartily recommend it to everyone I know.' Goodreads

The bowerbirds are confined to the great island of New Guinea and the island continent of Australia, and their immediately adjacent islands. They are medium-sized birds, omnivorous and largely solitary. They are unique in the avian world in that the males build elaborate 'bowers': structures of sticks, grasses or other plant stems on or close to the ground for display and courtship, often incorporating objects such as colourful fruits, flowers, feathers, bones, stones, shells, insect skeletons, and numerous other natural (and human-made) objects. The highly sophisticated building, decorating, collecting, arranging, thieving, singing, and courtship posturing and dancing by males is primarily to attract and impress females. As much of it is performed in the absence of females, however, some consider it possible that males may also enjoy such activities for their own sake. The bowers and the birds' behaviour associated with them have been much studied by behavioural ecologists searching for evolutionary and ecological explanations of behavioural patterns. The authors' aims include: (a) making the reader aware of the broader significance of bowerbirds to general biological studies and (b) providing references to key literature on theoretical issues. Part I contains general chapters on bowerbird evolution, behaviour, environment, demography, courtship patterns, breeding biology, and sexual selection. Part II follows with 21 species accounts, giving comprehensive information on the birds in their natural state, including distribution maps and sonographs. Complementing the species accounts are superb colour plates by Eustace Barnes, especially commissioned for this volume. The Bowerbirds, like its companions in the series, is an indispensable work of reference for everyone interested in birds.

A valuable and unique contribution both to environmental ethics and public policy analysis of the preservation of species question. Norton provides a critical overview of the range of thought on the issue, presents a new and comprehensive rationale for preservation of both species and ecosystems, and addresses policy issues. 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 editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover 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.

Lively, colorful, and skillfully made fabric "portraits" of 182 endangered species bring them to real, vibrant life. Each portrait features fascinating animal and plant facts from rescuers, scientists, conservationists, and more: where they live, what their superpowers are, why they are at risk, and how we can help. Dedicated and passionate people who work to protect endangered species share details of their roles and specialties, the planning behind conservation measures, threats to healthy habitats, and inspiring success stories. This book fosters eco-awareness and responsibility with a hopeful and positive tone, not only educating but inspiring action. A percentage of money earned by the author from the sale of this book will be donated to the Sea Turtle Conservancy and to the WILD Foundation.

'A must read for all wildlife lovers' Dominic Dyer Foxes, buzzards, crows, badgers, weasels, seals, kites - Britain and Ireland's predators are impressive and diverse and they capture our collective imagination. But many consider them to our competition, even our enemies. The problem is that predators eat what we farm or use for sport. From foxes and ravens attacking new-born lambs to weasels eating game-bird chicks, predators compete with us, putting them directly into the firing line. Farming, fishing, sport and leisure industries want to see numbers of predators reduced, and conservation organisations also worry that predators are threatening some endangered species. Other people, though, will go to great lengths to protect them from any harm. This clashing of worlds can be intense. So, what do we do? One of the greatest challenges facing conservation today is how, when and where to control predators. It is a highly charged debate. Mary Colwell travels across the UK and Ireland to encounter the predators face to face. She watches their lives in the wild and discovers how they fit into the landscape. She talks to the scientists studying them and the wildlife lovers who want to protect them. She also meets the people who want to control them to protect their livelihoods or sporting interests. In this even-handed exploration of the issues, Mary provides a thoughtful and reasoned analysis of the debates surrounding our bittersweet relationship with predators.

The Great Auk is one of the world's most famous extinct birds. This curious seabird was flightless, stood upright like a human, and sported an enormous beak. In this fascinating book, Jeremy A. Gaskell takes the reader on a tour of some of the wildest and coldest places on earth as he tries to uncover the facts behind its disappearance, and the reasons why attempts to save it were in vain.

Shorebirds are model organisms for illustrating the principles of ecology and excellent subjects for research. Their mating systems are as diverse as any avian group, their migrations push the limits of endurance, and their foraging is easily studied in the open habitats of estuaries and freshwater wetlands. This comprehensive text explores the ecology, conservation, and management of these fascinating birds. Beginning chapters examine phylogenetic relationships between shorebirds and other birds, and cover shorebird morphology, anatomy, and physiology. A section on breeding biology looks in detail at their reproductive biology. Because shorebirds spend much of their time away from breeding areas, a substantial section on non-breeding biology covers migration, foraging ecology, and social behavior. The text also covers shorebird demography, population size, and management issues related to habitat, predators, and human disturbances. Throughout, it emphasizes applying scientific knowledge to the conservation of shorebird populations, many of which are unfortunately in decline.

From the red grouse to the Ethiopian bush-crow, bird populations around the world can provide us with vital insights into the effects of climate change on species and ecosystems. They are among the best studied and monitored of organisms, yet many are already under threat of extinction as a result of habitat loss, overexploitation and pollution. Providing a single source of information for students, scientists, practitioners and policy-makers, this book begins with a critical review of the existing impacts of climate change on birds, including changes in the timing of migration and breeding and effects on bird populations around the world. The second part considers how conservationists can assess potential future impacts, quantifying how extinction risk is linked to the magnitude of global change and synthesising the evidence in support of likely conservation responses. The final chapters assess the threats posed by efforts to reduce the magnitude of climate change.

From the red grouse to the Ethiopian bush-crow, bird populations around the world can provide us with vital insights into the effects of climate change on species and ecosystems. They are among the best studied and monitored of organisms, yet many are already under threat of extinction as a result of habitat loss, overexploitation and pollution. Providing a single source of information for students, scientists, practitioners and policy-makers, this book begins with a critical review of the existing impacts of climate change on birds, including changes in the timing of migration and breeding and effects on bird populations around the world. The second part considers how conservationists can assess potential future impacts, quantifying how extinction risk is linked to the magnitude of global change and synthesising the evidence in support of likely conservation responses. The final chapters assess the threats posed by efforts to reduce the magnitude of climate change.

From climate change to species extinction, humanity is confronted with an increasing array of societal and environmental challenges that defy simple quantifiable solutions. Complexity-based ecology provides a new paradigm for ecologists and conservationists keen to embrace the uncertainty that is pressed upon us. This book presents key research papers chosen by some sixty scholars from various continents, across a diverse span of sub-disciplines. The papers are set alongside first person commentary from many of the seminal voices involved, offering unprecedented access to experts' viewpoints. The works assembled also shed light on the process of science in general, showing how the shifting of wider perspectives allows for new ideas to take hold. Ideal for undergraduate and advanced students of ecology and conservation, their educators and those working across allied fields, this is the first book of its kind to focus on complexity-based approaches and provides a benchmark for future collected volumes.

"Ambitious and fascinating... Mooallem] seamlessly blends reportage from the front lines of wildlife conservation with a lively cultural history of animals in America." --"New York Times Book Review"
Journalist Jon Mooallem has watched his little daughter's world overflow with animals butterfly pajamas, appliqued owls--while the actual world she's inheriting slides into a great storm of extinction. Half of all species could disappear by the end of the century, and scientists now concede that most of America's endangered animals will survive only if conservationists keep rigging the world around them in their favor. So Mooallem ventures into the field, often taking his daughter with him, to move beyond childlike fascination and make those creatures feel more real. "Wild Ones" is a tour through our environmental moment and the eccentric cultural history of people and wild animals in America that inflects it--from Thomas Jefferson's celebrations of early abundance to the turn-of the-last-century origins of the teddy bear to the whale-loving hippies of the 1970s. In America, "Wild Ones" discovers, wildlife has always inhabited the terrain of our imagination as much as the actual land.
The journey is framed by the stories of three modern-day endangered species: the polar bear, victimized by climate change and ogled by tourists outside a remote northern town; the little-known Lange's metalmark butterfly, foundering on a shred of industrialized land near San Francisco; and the whooping crane as it's led on a months-long migration by costumed men in ultralight airplanes. The wilderness that "Wild Ones" navigates is a scrappy, disorderly place where amateur conservationists do grueling, sometimes preposterous-looking work; where a marketer maneuvers to control the polar bear's image while Martha Stewart turns up to film those beasts for her show on the Hallmark Channel. Our most comforting ideas about nature unravel. In their place, Mooallem forges a new and affirming vision of the human animal and the wild ones as kindred creatures on an imperfect planet.
With propulsive curiosity and searing wit, and without the easy moralizing and nature worship of environmental journalism's older guard, "Wild Ones" merges reportage, science, and history into a humane and endearing meditation on what it means to live in, and bring a life into, a broken world.
--And don't miss the album based on the book: WILD ONES by Black Prairie. Digital release on May 14; physical release on June 11--

The chronicle of a family's first year alone in Alaskan wilderness, here is a poetic exploration into what we value in life. In 1992 Jean Aspen took her husband, Tom, and their young son to live in Alaska's interior mountains where they built a cabin from logs, hunted for food, and let the vast beauty of the Arctic close around them. Jean had faced Alaska's wilderness alone before in a life-altering experience she shared in Arctic Daughter. Cut off from the rest of the world for more than a year, now her family would discover strength and beauty in their daily lives. They candidly filmed themselves and later produced a companion documentary, ARCTIC SON: Fulfilling the Dream, which shows on PBS stations across the nation. From an encounter with a grizzly bear at arm's length to a challenging six-hundred-mile river passage back to civilization, Arctic Son chronicles fourteen remarkable months alone in the Brooks Range. At once a portrait of courage, a lyrical odyssey, and authentic adventure, this is a family's extraordinary journey into America's last frontier.

Current dominant thinking and practice in the private and public sectors asserts that peoples' development needs are in conflict with, or mutually exclusive to, the need to conserve the biosphere on which we depend. Consequently, we are asked to either diminish development in the name of conservation or diminish conservation in the name of development. Efforts to identify complementary objectives, or mutually acceptable trade-offs and compromises indicate, however, that this does not always have to be the case. This first volume in the State of the Apes series draws attention to the evolving context within which great ape and gibbon habitats are increasingly interfacing with extractive industries. Intended for a broad range of policy makers, industry experts, decision makers, academics, researchers and NGOs, these publications aim to influence debate, practice and policy, seeking to reconcile ape conservation and welfare, and economic and social development, through objective and rigorous analysis.

This book provides a guide to habitat creation and repair, from the ethics and principles to the practical detail of designing habitats for wildlife. With chapters spanning all the major types of habitat to be found in the UK, the book gives advice on deciding when habitat creation is the correct path to follow, and then covers all steps from site survey through to the final design and actual realization of the scheme. For each habitat, the book describes the options, problems, and solutions most likely to be encountered, and gives examples of good and bad habitat creation in practice. No other such comprehensive and up-to-date book currently exists on habitat creation.

This latest addition to the Long-Term Ecological Research Network series gives an overarching account of the recovery and management of a forest watershed ecosystem. It synthesizes and cross-references important and rare-to find, long-term data in 14 chapters that deal with the hydrologic, biogeochemical, and ecological processes of mixed deciduous forests. The data is representative of the entire U.S., and shows the effects of commercial clearcutting using examples from the Southeastern U.S. and a range of East coast forests. It includes responses of both forest and stream components of the watershed and provides unique insights into the interrelationships between the effects of natural disturbances (floods, droughts, insects, and disease, etc.) versus management disturbances. Clearly illustrating the importance and need for long-term research to evaluate recovery processes of long-lived ecosystems, the work will serve academics, professionals, and students seeking to understand more fully the effects of forest-cutting on forest and stream ecosystems.

Thoroughly researched and finely crafted, "After the Grizzly" traces the history of endangered species and habitat in California, from the time of the Gold Rush to the present. Peter S. Alagona shows how scientists and conservationists came to view the fates of endangered species as inextricable from ecological conditions and human activities in the places where those species lived.
Focusing on the stories of four high-profile endangered species--the California condor, desert tortoise, Delta smelt, and San Joaquin kit fox--Alagona offers an absorbing account of how Americans developed a political system capable of producing and sustaining debates in which imperiled species serve as proxies for broader conflicts about the politics of place. The challenge for conservationists in the twenty-first century, this book claims, will be to redefine habitat conservation beyond protected wildlands to build more diverse and sustainable landscapes.

Sir Arthur George Tansley (1871 1955) was an English botanist who made significant contributions to the development of ecology and the conservation movement. In this volume, which was first published in 1945, Tansley discusses the ways in which English natural habitats might be preserved in the face of post-war modernisation processes. The book puts forward the thesis that English rural beauty can only be protected through 'the deliberate conservation of much of our native vegetation', a process that must be achieved through a proper understanding of plant ecology. This process, of course, runs in tandem with the aim of protecting the various forms of animal life which find their homes within a diversity of habitats. The text also contains numerous photographic figures and a detailed index. This is a fascinating book that will be of value to anyone with an interest in ecology and botany.

The conservation of biological diversity depends on people's knowledge and actions. This book presents the theory and practice for creating effective education and outreach programmes for conservation. The authors describe an exciting array of techniques for enhancing school resources, marketing environmental messages, using social media, developing partnerships for conservation, and designing on-site programmes for parks and community centres. Vivid case studies from around the world illustrate techniques and describe planning, implementation, and evaluation procedures, enabling readers to implement their own new ideas effectively. Conservation Education and Outreach Techniques, now in its second edition and updated throughout, includes twelve chapters illustrated with numerous photographs showing education and outreach programmes in action, each incorporating an extensive bibliography. Helpful text boxes provide practical tips, guidelines, and recommendations for further exploration of the chapter topics. This book will be particularly relevant to conservation scientists, resource managers, environmental educators, students, and citizen activists. It will also serve as a handy reference and a comprehensive text for a variety of natural resource and environmental professionals.

Scores of wild species and ecosystems around the world face a variety of human-caused threats, from habitat destruction and fragmentation to rapid climate change. But there is hope, and it, too, comes in a most human form: zoos and aquariums. Gathering a diverse, multi-institutional collection of leading zoo and aquarium scientists as well as historians, philosophers, biologists, and social scientists, The Ark and Beyond traces the history and underscores the present role of these organizations as essential conservation actors. It also offers a framework for their future course, reaffirming that if zoos and aquariums make biodiversity conservation a top priority, these institutions can play a vital role in tackling conservation challenges of global magnitude. While early menageries were anything but the centers of conservation that many zoos are today, a concern with wildlife preservation has been an integral component of the modern, professionally run zoo since the nineteenth century. From captive breeding initiatives to rewilding programs, zoos and aquariums have long been at the cutting edge of research and conservation science, sites of impressive new genetic and reproductive techniques. Today, their efforts reach even further beyond recreation, with educational programs, community-based conservation initiatives, and international, collaborative programs designed to combat species extinction and protect habitats at a range of scales. Addressing related topics as diverse as zoo animal welfare, species reintroductions, amphibian extinctions, and whether zoos can truly be “wild,” this book explores the whole range of research and conservation practices that spring from zoos and aquariums while emphasizing the historical, scientific, and ethical traditions that shape these efforts. Also featuring an inspiring foreword by the late George Rabb, president emeritus of the Chicago Zoological Society / Brookfield Zoo, The Ark and Beyond illuminates these institutions’ growing significance to the preservation of global biodiversity in this century.