In this informed, incisive and passionate commentary on the state of nature and conservation, Mark Avery reflects on our relationship with the wildlife around us. From the cats that pass through his garden to the chronic decline of farmland wildlife, from the Pasqueflowers he visits every spring to the proportion of national income devoted to saving nature – everything is connected, and everything is considered. This book analyses what is wrong with certain ways we do wildlife conservation but explores some of its many successes too. How can we do better to restore wildlife to everybody’s lives? We know how to conserve species and habitats – it’s time to roll out conservation measures on a much bigger scale. This is a societal choice in which every nature lover can play their part. Reflections sets out what is needed, and what part the state, environmental charities and we as individuals can play in making that happen. This highly personal work from a life embedded in and dedicated to nature does not shy away from the harsh realities we face, but its message, ultimately, is one of hope.

How can Taro and Yuko help to protect the sea turtles?   This new edition of a classic, pioneering story about turtle conservation is needed today more than ever.   Taro and Yuko help old Jiro San to clean up the beach, and one amazing evening they discover why their work is so important.    Now the beach is safe, sea turtles come out of the ocean to lay their eggs in the clean sand. And a few weeks later, the children watch the miracle of. baby turtles hatching and scurrying down to the sea.

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.

This book brings together 45 years' worth of experience-derived information about more than 7,000 micro- and macro- species, which form the unique bio-diversity of the world's largest mangrove ecosystem, as it struggles against the natural and anthropogenic threats. Up to 1770, the estimated area of Sundarbans was around 36,000 km2, but has reduced over time to 25,000 km2, due to reclamation. This loss and the related degradation of habitats has caused historical species extinction and population decline. Whereas biodiversity conservation within and beyond the protected areas has been the watchword since the 1990s ("biodiversity, aesthetic values and integrity"), the initial two hundred years of imperial and post-colonial forest management focused primarily on revenue and production forestry, to the detriment of the ecology of the area. It will be of interest to researchers, in zoology, botany, ecology and conservation, as well as professionals, such as foresters, environmentalists, conservationists, resource managers, planners, government agencies, academic institutions, NGOs and naturalists.

A comprehensive guide to the calls of the 44 species of bat currently known to occur in Europe. Following on from the popular British Bat Calls by Jon Russ, this new book draws on the expertise of more than forty specialist authors to substantially update all sections, further expanding the volume to include sound analysis and species identification of all European bats. Aimed at volunteers and professional alike, topics include the basics of sound, echolocation in bats, an introduction to acoustic communication, equipment used and call analysis. For each species, detailed information is given on distribution, emergence, flight and foraging behaviour, habitat, echolocation calls - including parameters of common measurements - and social calls. Calls are described for both heterodyne and time expansion/full spectrum systems. A simple but complete echolocation guide to all species is provided for beginners, allowing them to analyse call sequences and arrive at the most likely species or group. The book also includes access to a downloadable library of over 450 calls presented as sonograms in the species sections.

Wracked by guilt for breaking a childhood bond with her naturalist father and fearful for the future of the planet in light of the catastrophic impact of climate change, Annabel sets out on a personal journey of redemption. She seeks to reconnect with nature and wildlife in the one place she knows she can make a real difference - her own, barren, neglected garden. Guided by her eccentric, octogenarian neighbour, and with the ghost of her late father never far from her thoughts, Annabel begins to rediscover the therapeutic art of wildlife gardening. Her moving and often very funny green odyssey travels from an idyllic nature-filled childhood of hay meadows, hedgehogs and waxwings in the 1970s to the present day where biodiversity loss is reaching crisis point. The Guilty Gardener neatly blends quirky memoir with pertinent observation of our natural world while showcasing the key to successful wildlife gardening. Illustrated with exquisite line drawings, it reminds us of the simple necessity and beauty of nature and how rewilding can restore love, hope, even life itself. "This book is a lovely demonstration of the importance of gardening for wildlife and enjoying all the benefits this brings, both for our natural world and also for our own wellbeing." Estelle Bailey, CEO, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust

In Planting for Garden Birds find straightforward ideas and easy to achieve plans that will make your garden irresistible to birds. Packed with interesting facts, environmental and habitat information as well as easy to achieve planting ideas, this is a practical, illustrated guide for people wanting to encourage more birdlife to their outdoor space. By gardening sustainably, you can make a considerable difference to the wildlife populations in your immediate area, as well as in the country as a whole. While some birds are residents we’ll see from day to day, others are fleeting visitors – but they’re all potential guests in our gardens if we make the environment suitably welcoming. Planting for Garden Birds is aimed at the keen amateur gardener and those hoping to take their knowledge and experience to the next level. Planting for Garden Birds is part of a series of books aimed at encouraging wildlife into your garden. Other titles in the series are: Planting for Butterflies, Planting for Wildlife, Planting for Honeybees.

Thermal imaging is an exciting technology that can be applied as a powerful tool in a growing number of wildlife research, ecology and management applications. It allows us to see things that have been difficult or even impossible to detect using conventional methods, opening a window onto the worlds of cryptic, nocturnal, secretive and otherwise challenging species. This can offer a range of benefits such as increased accuracy, reduced costs, better efficiency and improvements to health and safety conditions. Yet the relevant information is often largely inaccessible to most wildlife professionals. Thermal Imaging for Wildlife Applications brings together key findings from academic research and applied field protocols, along with the author's wealth of practical experience, to inform and guide the reader in an approachable and understandable format. This comprehensive handbook includes chapters covering fundamentals of the technology, methods, equipment and detailed discussion of application types, as well as specific sections that focus on terrestrial mammals, bats, marine mammals and birds. The final chapter explores some of the many potential future uses of thermal imaging, before thorough references and a list of resources ensure that this will be the standard work on the subject for years to come.

This guide provides descriptions of when the bat species resident in Britain and Ireland use natural and human-made rock habitats, how they use them, and the environments each species occupies therein. For the first time it brings together findings from historical scientific investigations, useful photographic accounts and open-access biological records, along with a rich seam of new data – all in a practical and user-friendly structure. The book encompasses: ~ Descriptions of the features that a climber, caver or professional ecologist might encounter on and in rock habitats where bats roost. ~ Recording criteria for both the physical and environmental attributes of different features and situations. ~ Identification of suitability thresholds against which the recorded information can be compared to assess the likelihood that a specific feature might be exploited by a particular bat species. ~ Suggestions for how to avoid mistakes and difficulties when performing a survey. The intention is that using this book will help generate standardised biological records which can feed into the fully accessible online database at www.batrockhabitatkey.co.uk. These data will be analysed to search for patterns that can increase the confidence in the suitability thresholds and help build roost features that deliver the environment each species really needs. As well as offering many new insights, this book allows the reader to participate in cutting-edge research.

The world's oceans cover 70% of the earth's surface and are home to a myriad of amazing and beautiful creatures. However, the biodiversity of the oceans is incre- ingly coming under serious threat from many human activities including overfi- ing, use of destructive fishing methods, pollution and commercial aquaculture. In addition, climate change is already having an impact on some marine ecosystems. This book discusses some of the major threats facing marine ecosystems by cons- ering a range of topics, under chapters discussing biodiversity (Chapter 1), fisheries (Chapter 2), aquaculture (Chapter 3), pollution (Chapter 4) and the impacts of increasing greenhouse gas emissions (Chapter 5). It goes on to explore solutions to the problems by discussing equitable and sustainable management of the oceans (Chapter 6) and protecting marine ecosystems using marine reserves (Chapter 7). Presently, 76% of the oceans are fully or over-exploited with respect to fishing, and many species have been severely depleted. It is abundantly clear that, in general, current fisheries management regimes are to blame for much of the widespread degradation of the oceans. Many policy-makers and scientists now agree that we must adopt a radical new approach to managing the seas - one that is precautionary in nature and has protection of the whole marine ecosystem as its primary objective. This 'ecosystem-based approach' is vital if we are to ensure the health of our oceans for future generations.

This book provides, for the first time, a comprehensive overview of the fundamental roles that ecological interactions play in extinction processes, bringing to light an underground of hidden pathways leading to the same dark place: biodiversity loss.We are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction. We see species declining and vanishing one after another. Poached rhinos, dolphins and whales slaughtered, pandas surviving only in captivity are strong emotional testimonials of what is happening. Yet, the main threat to natural communities may be overshadowed by the disappearance of large species, with most extinctions happening unnoticed and involving less eye-catching organisms, such as parasites and pollinators. Ecosystems hide countless, invisible wires connecting organisms in dense networks of ecological interactions. Through these networks, perturbations can propagate from one species to another, producing unpredictable effects. In worst case scenarios, the loss of one species might doom many others to extinction. Ecologists now consider such mechanisms as a fundamental - and still poorly understood - driver of the ongoing biodiversity crisis. Hidden Pathways to Extinction makes the invisible links connecting the fates of species and organisms evident, exploring why complexity can enhance ecosystem stability and yet accelerate species loss. Page after page, Strona provides convincing evidence that we are primarily responsible for the fall in biodiversity, that we are falling too, and that we need to redouble our conservation efforts now, or it won't be long before we hit the ground.

- provides the first comprehensive overview of the history, theory and current practices of rewilding - edited by founding members of IUCN Rewilding Task Force (RTF) who have practiced and written about rewilding for many years - presents interdisciplinary chapters which address case studies from across the globe - will be appropriate for students, researchers, academics and practitioners

Harde band, meer as 400 volkleurfoto's

Ook beskikbaar in Engels - Guide to the Aloes of South Africa

Gids tot die Aalwyne van Suid-Afrika is die eerste volledige en moderne aalwyngids in Afrikaans. Dit is 'n volkleur-handleiding en die hoë gehalte foto's maak dit vir die algemene belangstellende sowel as die wetenskaplike maklik om aalwyne in die natuur en in tuine te identifiseer. Die inhoud weerspieël die nuutste wetenskaplike bevindings en bevat:
Volledige beskrywings van al 155 spesies wat tans deur aalwynkenners erken word, met inligting oor kenmerke waarvolgens die plante geïdentifiseer kan word, blomtyd, habitat en geografiese verspreiding, bewaringstatus, oorsprong van die wetenskaplike name, en volksname, asook algemene riglyne vir die kweek van die plante, en inligting oor hul tradisionele gebruike.
Meer as 400 kleurfoto's wat die habitat en groeivorm aantoon, sowel as nabyfoto's van die blomme en blare.
Verspreidingskaarte van al die spesies, as 'n verdere hulpmiddel vir identifisering.
'n Gebruikersvriendelike klassifikasiestelsel wat die aalwyne in 12 groepe verdeel, hoofsaaklik aan die hand van hul groeivorms.
Inleidende hoofstukke wat die fokus plaas op aalwynagtige plante (wat met aalwyne verwar kan word); medisinale, kosmetiese en tonikumgebruike; bewaring; kweking en vermeerdering; tuinmaak en landskapontwerp met aalwyne; hibriede en kultivars, plae en siektes; en verwantskappe en genuskonsepte.
'n Geïllustreerde woordelys van plantkundige terme, indeks tot die wetenskaplike en volksname, asook 'n literatuurlys vir verdere leeswerk.

Die outeurs: Ben-Erik van Wyk is 'n professor in Plantkunde aan die Universiteit van Johannesburg en het 'n navorsingsbelangstelling in plantsistematiek en plantbenutting. Hy is die skrywer van internasionale wetenskaplike topverkopers soos Medicinal Plants of the World en Food Plants of the World.
Gideon F. Smith is Hoofdirekteur van Biosistematiek en Versamelings by die Suid- Afrikaanse Nasionale Biodiversiteitsinstituut, professor in Plantwetenskap aan die Universiteit van Pretoria, en 'n navorsingsgenoot aan die Universiteit van Coimbra in Portugal. Hy is die skrywer of medeskrywer van meer as 40 boeke oor onder meer aalwyne, sukkulente, tuinbou, tuine, Angola, taksonomie en indringerplante.

Based on interviews with WWF representatives and other experts, this book explores WWF's approach to engagement in the Circumpolar North. It argues that the foundation of WWF's success in circumpolar engagement is based on four inter-related pillars: legacy, networks, scientific research and communication style. The book argues that WWF has made remarkable strides to distinguish itself in Arctic and northern engagement through its Global Arctic Programme and national organisations and associated offices in the Arctic states. However, WWF's work and successes are illustrative of the need for environmental and animal rights organisations to adopt a long-term strategy that show commitment to helping in the Arctic and North which factor in the needs and desires of northerners if they want their work to resonate and be welcomed by key northern audiences. -- .

An accessible and comprehensive guide to all things acoustic bat detection. This highly illustrated handbook provides an in-depth understanding of acoustic detection principles, study planning, data handling, properties of bat calls, manual identification of species, automatic species recognition, analysis of results, quality assurance and the background physics of sound. No other method of detecting bats is so popular and widespread in the context of environmental assessment and voluntary work as acoustic detection, and its increased use has driven the development of a large number of sophisticated devices and analytical methods. Acoustic detection has become a standard approach for establishing the presence of bats, carrying out species identification and monitoring levels of activity. The resolution, accuracy and scale with which these tasks can be done has risen dramatically with the availability of automated real-time recording. But anyone interested in acoustic recording will quickly recognise that there are still quite a few open questions about the limits and possibilities of acoustic detection. Clear definitions of how to handle the data are usually missing, for example, and there are no clearly described activity indices. In response to the lack of thorough information on the underlying science of acoustic detection, the authors present this handbook.

An accessible and thought-provoking introduction to timespans in the natural world, featuring more than 80 beautifully designed diagrams. Which organisms live the longest? How does the natural world recover from fire? How long do eggs take to hatch? What are the world's fastest and slowest growing plants? Which species invest the most in parental care? How Nature Keeps Time discovers the natural world's most important and intriguing patterns of time. Beautifully designed with stunning colour photography and more than 80 reader-friendly charts and diagrams, this witty book examines a broad range of species from across the world and throughout time. From the lifecycle of immortal jellyfish and identifying the perfect amount of time for a 'good sleep' to mass extinction and the destruction of the coral reef, Helen Pilcher tackles highly relevant and fascinating topics in this deeply entertaining read.

This edited book covers major importance of tropical forest diversity and its values to vegetation, wildlife, and the local community. It addresses the current issues and opportunities in the Southeast Asia's tropical forests. This book lays the groundwork for a better understanding of tropical forest ecosystem services. Ecosystem services has four concepts: provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services. In an era of rapid population growth and increasing pressure on tropical natural resources, ecosystem services have become central to the discussion of climate change mitigation. The values of tropical forest ecosystem services deserve to be the highlighted when it comes to shaping responsible behaviors towards sustainable development goals (SDGs). This book is of interest and useful to researchers and academics teaching in the field of tropical forest conservation, tropical ecosystems, tropical products technology, ecotourism, forest plantation management, bio industrial economy, agroforestry business and marketing. Professionals, foresters, industrial entrepreneurs, ecologists, and a valuable source of reference to the relevant researchers and students in the region.

The book aims at synthesizing our current knowledge of Acipenser sturio and its management. This species, one of the most widespread sturgeon species all over Western Europe ranging from the Black Sea to the Baltic, is now on the verge of extinction. Major aspects of its biology and management, including mismanagement, are provided in a historic perspective. Similarly, the changes in the restoration programs (in situ and ex situ) initiated in France and Germany are presented. As the species occurred in sympatry with Acipenser oxyrinchus in Germany and Poland and very recently in France as well, a brief outlook on restoration-management programs of A. oxyrinchus are also provided for both North America and Northern European countries, namely Germany and Poland. As conservation-restoration actions go beyond scientific issues, non-governmental stakeholders and marine professional fishermen's organizations have also been asked to contribute, and the key role of a French-German cooperation plan is underlined. A part of the book is devoted to perspectives. Illustrations of the European sturgeon, mainly in photographs, but also in stamps and paintings, are presented.