Beavers are represented by two extant species, the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) and the North American beaver (Castor canadensis); each has played a significant role in human history and dominated wetland ecology in the northern hemisphere. Their behaviour and ecology both fascinate and perhaps even infuriate, but seemingly never fail to amaze. Both species have followed similar histories from relentless persecution to the verge of extinction (largely through hunting), followed by their subsequent recovery and active restoration which is viewed by many as a major conservation success story. Beavers have now been reintroduced throughout Europe and North America, demonstrating that their role as a keystone engineer is now widely recognised with proven abilities to increase the complexity and biodiversity of freshwater ecosystems. What animals other than humans can simultaneously act as engineers, forest workers, carpenters, masons, creators of habitats, and nature managers? Over the last 20 years, there has been a huge increase in the number of scientific papers published on these remarkable creatures, and an authoritative synthesis is now timely. This accessible text goes beyond their natural history to describe the impacts on humans, conflict mitigation, animal husbandry, management, and conservation. Beavers: Ecology, Behaviour, Conservation, and Management is an accessible reference for a broad audience of professional academics (especially carnivore and mammalian biologists), researchers and graduate students, governmental and non-governmental wildlife bodies, and amateur natural historians intrigued by these wild animals and the extraordinary processes of nature they exemplify.

The only hope for successful conservation of America's threatened, endangered, and at-risk wildlife is through voluntary, cooperative partnerships that focus on private land, where over 75% of at-risk species can be found. Private landowners form the bedrock of these partnerships, and they have a long history of rising to meet the challenge of conservation. But they can't do it alone. This book is a guide for private landowners who want to conserve wildlife. Whether engaged in farming, ranching, forestry, mining, energy development, or another business, private working lands all have value as wildlife habitat, with the proper management and financial support. This book provides landowners and their partners with a roadmap to achieve conservation compatible with their financial and personal goals. This book introduces the art and language of land management planning as well as regulatory compliance with laws such as the Endangered Species Act of 1973. It categorizes and explains the tools used by wildlife professionals to implement conservation on private lands. Moreover it documents the multitude of federal, state, local, and private opportunities for landowners to find financial and technical assistance in managing wildlife, from working with a local NGO to accessing the $6 billion per year available through the federal Farm Bill.

‘In Clive, we have an ever-fascinating guide to Britain’s heathery districts, not only marvelling at the wildlife of such wild places, but also celebrating their diverse origins, uses and cultural resonances’ - ANDREW BYFIELD Heathlands are so much more than simply purple carpets of heather. They are ancient landscapes found throughout Britain that support a complex of inter-related species and an immense diversity of habitats. They also possess a unique human history defined by the struggle between pastoralism and the competing demands of those who seek exclusive use of the land. In this latest addition to the British Wildlife Collection, Clive Chatters introduces us to Britain’s heathlands and their anatomy. He then takes the reader on a geographical heathland tour – from the maritime sub-arctic of the Shetlands to the mild wetness of the Atlantic coast – with an in memoriam nod to those heaths that have been erased from common memory and understanding. He concludes with a review of how people have perceived and used heathland wildlife over the ages, and sets out a future vision for this iconic landscape, its unique habitats and the species that live there. Most of our heaths are pale shadows of their former selves. However, Chatters argues, it is not inevitable that the catastrophic losses of the recent past are the destiny of our remaining heaths. Should we wish, their place in the countryside as an integral part of British culture can be secured.

This booklet, together with the following two, -which are well under way and will succeed it at intervals of, we hope, no more than six months, sets the stage for a new editorial enterprise in the field of brain science. The accent is on the functional aspects of brains rather than on their develop ment, hence the title of the series. The central question being how neural activity is related to behavior, there will be, naturally, a wide scatter of sub jects, and Heiligenberg's monograph on electric fish may be considered typ ical of the expected standard deviation from the mean. Deviations in other directions may go as far as the sensory neuron, or brain theory, or aphasia, or farther. The next contributions planned for the series are: Precht, Neuronal Operations in the Vestibular System, and Movshon, Genes and Environment in the Development of the Visual Cortex. Our aim is to ap proach the central area by means of something like an evolving handbook of brain science. The individual monographs should describe promising and successful approaches, even in areas where the last word is far from being said. Besides originaI monographs and compounds of the author's own published papers, reviews are also we1come if they are more than the sum of the parts. The publisher promises speedy publication, and the editors will see that the manuscripts will be readable as well as interesting. Tubingen, Summer 1977 V."

The second edition of this widely cited textbook continues to provide a concise but comprehensive introduction to cave and subterranean biology, describing this fascinating habitat and its biodiversity. It covers a range of biological processes including ecosystem function, evolution and adaptation, community ecology, biogeography, and conservation. The authors draw on a global range of examples and case studies from both caves and non-cave subterranean habitats. One of the barriers to the study of subterranean biology has been the extraordinarily large number of specialized terms used by researchers; the authors explain these terms clearly and minimize the number that they use. This new edition retains the same 10 chapter structure of the original, but the content has been thoroughly revised and updated throughout to reflect the huge increase in publications concerning subterranean biology over the last decade.

Pangolins: Science, Society and Conservation brings together experts from around the world to document the most up-to-date scientific knowledge on pangolins and their conservation. It chronicles threats facing the species, explores the current initiatives required to protect them, and looks ahead at the future of pangolin science and conservation efforts. Led by a team of editors with more than 20 years collective experience in pangolin conservation, this book includes accounts of the species' evolution, morphology, and systematics. It discusses the role of pangolins in historically symbolic, mythological, and ritualistic practices across Africa, Asia, and Europe, as well as contemporary practices including international trafficking. Chapters in the latter portion of this book focus on conservation solutions, including law enforcement and international policy, behavior change, local community engagement, ex situ conservation, tourism, and other interventions needed to secure the future of the species. Pangolins: Science, Society and Conservation is the latest volume in Elsevier's species-specific series, Biodiversity of the World: Conservation from Genes to Landscapes. This book is a valuable resource for researchers and students in species conservation science, planning, and policymaking.

At the start of the nineteenth century, Passenger Pigeons were perhaps the most abundant birds on the planet, numbering literally in the billions. The flocks were so large and so dense that they blackened the skies, even blotting out the sun for days at a stretch. Yet by the end of the century, the most common bird in North America had vanished from the wild. In 1914, the last known representative of her species, Martha, died in a cage at the Cincinnati Zoo.

This stunningly illustrated book tells the astonishing story of North America's Passenger Pigeon, a bird species that--like the Tyrannosaur, the Mammoth, and the Dodo--has become one of the great icons of extinction. Errol Fuller describes how these fast, agile, and handsomely plumaged birds were immortalized by the ornithologist and painter John James Audubon, and captured the imagination of writers such as James Fenimore Cooper, Henry David Thoreau, and Mark Twain. He shows how widespread deforestation, the demand for cheap and plentiful pigeon meat, and the indiscriminate killing of Passenger Pigeons for sport led to their catastrophic decline. Fuller provides an evocative memorial to a bird species that was once so important to the ecology of North America, and reminds us of just how fragile the natural world can be.

Published in the centennial year of Martha's death, "The Passenger Pigeon" features rare archival images as well as haunting photos of live birds.

On the Alaska Peninsula, where exceptional landscapes are commonplace, a small river attracts attention far beyond its scale. Each year, from summer to early fall, brown bears and salmon gather at Brooks River to create one of North America's greatest wildlife spectacles. As the salmon leap from the cascade, dozens of bears are there to catch them (with as many as forty-three bears sighted in a single day), and thousands of people come to watch in person or on the National Park Service's popular Brooks Falls Bearcam. The Bears of Brooks Falls tells the story of this region and the bears that made it famous in three parts. The first forms an ecological history of the region, from its dormancy 30,000 years ago to the volcanic events that transformed it into the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. The central and longest section is a deep dive into the lives of the wildlife along the Brooks River, especially the bears and salmon. Readers will learn about the bears' winter hibernation, mating season, hunting rituals, migration patterns, and their relationship with Alaska's changing environment. Finally, the book explores the human impact, both positive and negative, on this special region and its wild population.

What does a mammoth smell like? Do dinosaurs bob their heads as they walk, like today’s birds? Do aurochs moo like cows? You may soon find out.

From the Siberian permafrost to balmy California, scientists across the globe are working to resurrect all kinds of extinct animals, from ones that just left us to those that have been gone for many thousands of years. Their tools in this hunt are both fossils and cutting-edge genetic technologies. Some of these scientists are driven by sheer curiosity; others view the lost species as a powerful weapon in the fight to save rapidly disappearing ecosystems.

Science journalist Torill Kornfeldt travelled the world to meet the men and women working to bring extinct animals back from the dead. Along the way, she saw a mammoth that has been frozen for 20,000 years, and visited the places where these furry giants once walked. It seems certain that they and other lost species will walk the earth again, but what world will that give us? And is any of this a good idea?

A unified theory of conservation that addresses the broad problem of conservation, the principles that inform conservation choices, and the application of those principles to the management of the natural world. The conservation of natural resources, like that of any other asset, involves trade-offs. Yet, in a world faced with the harsh realities of climate change, crafting the right environmental policies is an increasingly urgent task. In Conservation, Charles Perrings and Ann Kinzig bring together new research in economics and biodiversity to investigate conservation decisions and the theory behind them. Perrings and Kinzig apply the concept of conservation broadly to examine how the principles of conservation apply to the management of the natural world. They demonstrate that the same basic principles serve as the foundation of all rational conservation decisions, from managing financial assets to safeguarding at-risk ecosystems. Whether someone is deciding to hold or dispose of a stock or whether to exploit or preserve a natural resource, they are better off choosing to conserve a resource when its value to them, if conserved, is greater than its value when converted. The book also considers the context of such conservation decisions. Just as national tax rules influence choices about financial investments, environmental regulations within countries, and environmental agreements between countries, impact the decisions regarding natural resources. Building on their basic theory of conservation, Perrings and Kinzig address key issues in the field of environmental economics, including the valuation of ecosystem services and environmental assets; the limits on the substitutability of produced and natural capital; and the challenges posed by the often weak markets for ecosystem services oriented toward the public good. They also address the problem of scale: while decisions might be easier to make at the local level, many conservation policies need to apply at either the national or international level to succeed. Written by experts from both social and hard sciences, this book presents a unified theory of conservation and provides a model for a more effective way to approach the vitally important issue.

Most people are familiar with the dodo and the dinosaur, but extinction has occurred throughout the history of life, with the result that nearly all the species that have ever existed are now extinct. Today, species are disappearing at an ever increasing rate, whilst past losses have occurred during several great crises. Issues such as habitat destruction, conservation, climate change, and, during major crises, volacanism and meteorite impact, can all contribute towards the demise of a group. In this Very Short Introduction, Paul B. Wignall looks at the causes and nature of extinctions, past and present, and the factors that can make a species vulnerable. Summarising what we know about all of the major and minor exctinction events, he examines some of the greatest debates in modern science, such as the relative role of climate and humans in the death of the Pleistocene megafauna, including mammoths and giant ground sloths, and the roles that global warming, ocean acidification, and deforestation are playing in present-day extinctions ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

The third in a trilogy of global overviews of conservation of diverse and ecologically important insect groups. The first two were Beetles in Conservation (2010) and Hymenoptera and Conservation (2012). Each has different priorities and emphases that collectively summarise much of the progress and purpose of invertebrate conservation. Much of the foundation of insect conservation has been built on concerns for Lepidoptera, particularly butterflies as the most popular and best studied of all insect groups. The long-accepted worth of butterflies for conservation has led to elucidation of much of the current rationale of insect species conservation, and to definition and management of their critical resources, with attention to the intensively documented British fauna leading the world in this endeavour. In Lepidoptera and Conservation, various themes are treated through relevant examples and case histories, and sufficient background given to enable non-specialist access. Intended for not only entomologists but conservation managers and naturalists due to its readable approach to the subject.

The much-loved giant panda, a secretive denizen of the dense bamboo forests of western China, has become an icon worldwide of progress in conservation and research. This volume, written by an international team of scientists and conservationists including Chinese researchers whose work has not been available in English, tells the promising story of how the giant panda returned from the brink of extinction. The most important sourcebook on giant pandas to date, it is the first book since 1985 to present current panda research and the first to place the species in its biological, ecological, and political contexts. More than a progress report on a highly endangered species, Giant Pandas: Biology and Conservation details the combination of scientific understanding, local commitment, and government involvement that has been brought into play and asks what more needs to be done to ensure the panda's survival. The book is divided into four parts - Evolutionary History of the Giant Panda, Studies of Giant Panda Biology, Pandas and Their Habitats, and Giant Panda Conservation. It combines the latest findings from the field and the laboratory together with panel and workshop summaries from a recent international conference. Taken together, the chapters highlight how international cooperation has led to better management in the wild and in captivity. The volume also shows how concepts such as buffer zones, links between forest fragments, multiple-use areas, and cooperation with local people who have a stake in the resources - highly relevant concepts for conservation problems around the world - have been key to the panda's survival.

From foraging patterns in a single tree to social interactions across a home range, how primates use space is a key question in the field of primate behavioral ecology. Drawing on the latest advances in spatial analysis tools, this book offers practical guidance on applying geographic information systems (GIS) to central questions in primatology. An initial methodological section discusses niche modelling, home range analysis and agent-based modelling, with a focus on remote data collection. Research-based chapters demonstrate how ecologists apply this technology to a suite of topics including: calculating the intensity of use of both range and travel routes, assessing the impacts of logging, mining and hunting, and informing conservation strategies.

This book addresses the multidisciplinary challenges in biodiversity conservation with a focus on wildlife crime and how forensic tools can be applied to protect species and preserve ecosystems. Illustrated by numerous case studies covering different geographical regions and species the book introduces to the fundamentals of biodiversity conflicts, outlines the unique challenges of wildlife crime scenes and reviews latest techniques in environmental forensics, such as DNA metagenomics. In addition, the volume explores the socio-economic perspective of biodiversity protection and provides an overview of national and international conservation laws. The field of conservation medicine stresses the importance of recognizing that human health, animal health, and ecosystem health are inextricably interdependent and the book serves as important contribution towards achieving the UN Sustainable Developmental Goals, in particular SDG 15, Life on Land. The book addresses graduate students, scientists and veterinary professionals working in wildlife research and conservation biology.

Croak is a collection of delightful quotes and gorgeous photographs celebrating the underappreciated beauty of frogs. It will delight anyone with a fondness of these fascinating creatures, and may surprise others who haven't yet come to appreciate the members of the animal kingdom who 'croak'. As amphibians, frogs are part of the most threatened group of land animals. They come in every shape and form, from round blobs to leaf-like mimics; they live on every continent in the world except for Antarctica; and they have a huge variety of lifestyles and reproductive modes, from giving birth to live young and carrying babies around on their backs to living their entire lives in deep caves underground! Croak will open your eyes to their vibrant variety and the urgent need to protect our amphibian friends. Many of the stunning, colourful images in Croak were taken by author Phil Bishop on his travels around the world. They showcase frogs in their natural habitats, paired with quotes from famous faces such as Cameron Diaz and John Steinbeck. Simultaneously amusing and illuminating, this is the perfect coffee table book to be dipped into occasionally, or to be read all at once by budding frog-aficionados. So if you're interested in what frogs were up to 65 million years ago, or how they are related to 10% of all Nobel prizes, pick up Croak and find out all about these wonderful creatures.

As humans continue to encroach on wildlands, quality and quantity of wildlife habitat decreases before our eyes. A housing development here, a shopping mall there, a few more trees cut here, another road put in there, each of these diminishes available habitat. Unless the cumulative effects of multiple simultaneous development projects are recognized and incorporated at the beginning of project development, we will continue to see wildlife habitat disappear at unprecedented rates. Divided into two parts, Cumulative Effects in Wildlife Management emphasizes the importance of recognizing cumulative effects and highlights the necessity of their bearing on future policy. It begins with an outline of the differences between direct, indirect, and cumulative effects of anthropogenic impacts on wildlife habitat and addresses the similarities and differences in US and Canadian policies, legal and economic ramifications, and the confusion that stems from lack of consideration, communication, and forward planning. Section 1 also describes the current standard means of quantifying cumulative effects as proposed by the Council on Environmental Quality. Section 2 presents a series of case studies that deepen our appreciation of how anthropogenic influences interconnect and how this heightened level of understanding influences our ability to make informed decisions. Case studies include cumulative effects in the Canadian Arctic, border issues with Mexico, suburban and exurban landscapes, scenic resources, and the cumulative impacts of energy development on sage-grouse. Without a conscious knowledge of what is happening around us, we will not be able to incorporate an effective land ethic, and natural resources will be the ultimate loser. Cumulative Effects in Wildlife Management brings to light the crucial connections between human expansion and habitat destruction for those managers and practitioners charged with protecting wildlife in the face of

This book describes in fascinating detail the wildlife, wild places and wild personalities that occupied Angola’s conservation landscape through four decades of war and a decade of peace. Intrigues, assassinations, corruption, greed and incompetence ? during the colonial era, through the horrific war and most especially throughout the crony-capitalist kleptocracy of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos ? have resulted in the extinction of most of its formerly abundant wildlife populations and the decay and erosion of a once endless Eden. This is the first book to integrate the political, economic and environmental threads that account for the post-colonial tragedy of one of Africa’s most biologically diverse countries. A corrupt government has robbed the country of its vast oil and diamond wealth, of its environmental health, of its morality and of its soul. It was not always so. The author was appointed ecologist to Angola’s National Parks in 1971. But the vast open spaces, peaceful stillness and tropical luxuriance that he found during the four years they spent exploring and developing the country’s wildlife reserves was not to last. The powder keg of anger against centuries of colonial exploitation ? of slavery, of forced labour and of an abusive system of penal settlement ? could not be contained. Bloody nationalist uprisings led to the abandonment of Angola by Portugal and the transition from random guerrilla skirmishes with a colonial army into a brutal civil war that cost over one million lives. Despite its scarred history, the author believes the country can still rebuild its national parks and save much of its wildlife and wilderness. But this can only happen if the current ageing autocracy makes space for a new generation of Angolan conservationists.

The Pond. Nothing in the countryside is more humble or more valuable. Its the moorhens reedy home, the frogs ancient breeding place, the kill zone of the beautiful dragonfly. More than a hundred rare and threatened fauna and flora depend on it. Written in gorgeous prose, Still Water tells the seasonal story of the wild animals and plants that live in and around the pond, from the mayfly larvae in the mud to the patrolling bats in the night sky above. It reflects an era before the water was polluted with chemicals and the land built on for housing, a time when ponds shone everywhere like eyes in the land, sustaining life for all, from fish to carthorse. Still Water is a loving biography of the pond, and an alarm call on behalf of this precious but overlooked habitat. Above all, John Lewis-Stempel takes us on a remarkable journey deep, deep down into the nature of still water.

Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) has classically been defined as a situation where wildlife impacts humans negatively (physically, economically, or psychologically), and where humans likewise negatively impact wildlife. However, there is growing consensus that the conflict between people about wildlife is as important as the conflict between people and wildlife. HWC not only affects the conservation of one species in a particular geographic area, but also impacts the willingness of an individual, a community, and wider society to support conservation programs in general. This book explores the complexity inherent in these situations, covering the theory, principles, and practical applications of HWC work, making it accessible and usable for conservation practitioners, as well as of interest to researchers more concerned with a theoretical approach to the subject. Through a series of case studies, the book's authors and editors tackle a wide variety of subjects relating to conflict, from the challenges of wicked problems and common pool resources, to the roles that storytelling and religion can play in conflict. Throughout the book, the authors work with a Conservation Conflict Transformation (CCT) approach, adapted from the peacebuilding field to address the reality of conservation today. The authors utilise one of CCT's key analytic components, the Levels of Conflict model, as a tool to provide insight into their case studies. Although the examples discussed are from the world of marine conservation, the lessons they provide are applicable to a wide variety of global conservation issues, including those in the terrestrial realm. Human-Wildlife Conflict will be essential reading for graduate students and established researchers in the field of marine conservation biology. It will also be a valuable reference for a global audience of conservation practitioners, wildlife managers, and other conservation professionals.

On the black markets of Southeast Asia, rhino horn is worth more than gold, cocaine and heroin. This is the chilling story of a two-year-long investigation into a dangerous criminal underworld and the merciless syndicates that will stop at nothing to obtain their prize. It is a tale of greed, folly and corruption, and of an increasingly desperate battle to save the rhino — which has survived for more than fifty million years — from extinction.

Killing for Profit is a compelling, meticulous and revelatory account of one of the world’s most secretive trades. It exposes the poachers, gangsters, con men, mercenaries, killers, gunrunners, diplomats, government officials and crime bosses behind the slaughter.

And it follows the bloody trail from the front lines of the rhino wars in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique to the medicine markets of Vietnam and the lair of a wildlife-trafficking kingpin on the banks of the Mekong River in Laos…

Australia is home to an incredible diversity of native animals. While Australian animals are among the most unique in the world, they are also among the most endangered, with hundreds currently on the brink of extinction. We must act quickly if we are to save these species, as once gone, they are gone forever. Extinct is a collection of artworks from established and emerging Australian fine artists, each depicting an Australian animal that has already, for various reasons, tumbled over the edge into extinction. Extinct laments their loss, but also celebrates their former existence, diversity and significance. The stunning artworks are accompanied by stories of each animal, highlighting the importance of what we have lost, so that we appreciate what we have not lost yet. FEATURES Features original artworks by over 40 of Australia's contemporary and most distinguished artists, including those from Indigenous and migrant backgrounds and artists with intellectual disabilities. Highlights many species that have never been depicted or photographed before, or those for which only a handful of visual references exist. Presents physical descriptions and meticulously researched, fascinating facts about the behaviour and biology of these lost species. Includes previously unheard stories of these extinct species, drawn from Indigenous histories, colonial commerce and European settlement. Extinct features artworks from Bernard Ollis, Brook Garru Andrew, Bruce Goold, Chris O'Doherty (AKA Reg Mombassa), Sally Robinson, Eliza Gosse and Jenny Watson.

An inspiring meditation on the intersection of science, nature, and spirit that shows readers how to deepen their connection to the natural world. Science. Nature. Spirit. They do not, need not, and should not overlap completely. But at that center where they do intersect? When we stand in that singular, curving triangle looking upon our troubled, beloved earth? At that crossroads there is intelligence, and sacredness, and wildness, and grace. There is clear-sighted hope in a time of despair. There is resistance. There is joy. In this beautiful, thoughtful, and inspiring book, ecophilosopher, naturalist, and award-winning author Lyand Lynn Haupt offers serious invitation to ecological consciousness and action - a swift and beautiful manual inspiring readers to stand in a new way for the natural world. With Haupt's own changing and growing perceptions as a life-long student of nature as a through-line, FROG CHURCH offers an antidote to the plagues of modern life based in science, spirituality, and nature. In this mystifying time of climate upheaval that affects the earth so dramatically, people are afraid and uncertain of where to turn, where to direct their inborn love of nature. FROG CHURCH delivers much-needed solace while inspiring readers to engage with the wild earth in new ways. The intertwining of science, nature, and spirit shows readers how to get grounded and move forward on our beloved, imperiled world.