Explore the animal kingdom with this pictorial atlas of the world's wildlife.

Where do animals build their homes? How do they survive in very hot and cold climates? Why are so many species endangered? Discover the answers to all these questions and many more in The Animal Atlas. This lavishly illustrated nature book takes children on a tour, continent by continent, to meet the animals of the world. Within each section, the book travels through different biomes, such as forests, deserts, and lakes; and specific regions, from the Everglades to the Galapagos, Himalayas, and Great Barrier Reef.

The Animal Atlas is packed with beautiful, life-like illustrations of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects that live all around the world, from the Amazon to Antarctica. Each species is carefully hand-drawn to show details of fur, feathers, or scales, while accompanying captions reveal fascinating facts about the animal's behaviour.

Maps, along with icons to represent each animal, show precisely where the animals are found. For example, Australia's iconic koala can be tracked down to the east coast of the country.

The book starts with an introduction to animal groups and habitats, and finishes with endangered species and a gallery of amazing, record-breaking animals. First published in 1992, this atlas has been updated for the 2020 edition and is a beautiful gift for a new generation of zoologists.

This book offers a theoretically-based study on crimes against protected wildlife in mainland China with first-hand empirical data collected over five years. It provides an overall examination of crimes against protected and endangered wildlife and an extensive account of the situation in China, where a significant portion of the illegal wildlife trade is currently happening. This emerging field has become an important topic for enforcement and governments alike yet remains an under-researched area. The collected data covers illegal tiger-parts trade, the illegal ivory trade, and the consumption of protected wildlife. The book will serve as a useful reference for scholars, law-enforcement agencies, lawyers, and conservation and wildlife-protection NGO groups to facilitate their understanding of the growing illegal trade in protected and endangered wildlife. The Illegal Wildlife Trade in China has three general aims: first, to contribute to the general development of green criminology and specifically to the literature of the illegal transactions of protected wildlife at the distribution stage. Second, it aims to understand how illegal transactions are carried out to create insights for policy makers and law enforcement professionals. Finally, Wong seeks to apply theoretical frameworks (such as that of trust, networks, and situational crime prevention) to the understanding of the distribution of illegal wildlife products in order to make contributions to ongoing sociological and criminological discussions.

This book sheds light on the major functions of microbial communities in aquaculture ecosystems, showing that by recycling nutrients, degrading organic matter and preventing disease outbreaks, a variety of microbes are truly beneficial to a wide range of aquaculture industries. It discusses how deteriorating environmental quality enables some microbial strains to trigger disease, describes the development of highly sustainable tools to improve water quality, and identifies crucial factors that endanger microbial homeostasis in aquaculture ecosystems. The book also covers post-antibiotic approaches for preventing and treating opportunistic microbial infections based on harnessing environmental and fish-associated microbial communities. Furthermore, it explores how manipulating and engineering these complex microbial communities using bio-agents such as probiotics, phages, natural nutritional additives, or with fine-tuned biofilters will open the door for new ways to develop a more sustainable and cost-effective aquaculture industry. Including an accessible presentation of modern high-throughput sequencing technology to identify host-microbial interactions in aquaculture ecosystems, this book is a valuable resource for scientists, aquaculture and fishery experts, sustainability enthusiasts and scholars in the areas of biology and marine agriculture.

Since the first edition of this book published in 2005, there has been an immense amount of new and fascinating work on the history, ecology, and evolution of the Mediterranean flora. During this time, human impacts have continued to increase dramatically, significantly influencing both the ecology and evolution of the region's biota. This timely and comprehensive update of the original text integrates a diverse and scattered literature to produce a synthetic account of Mediterranean plant evolutionary ecology. It maintains the accessible style of its previous version whilst incorporating recent work in a new structural framework. This is not a traditional "plant science" book per se, but a novel integration of history, ecology, biogeography, and evolution, all set in the context of a dramatically increasing human footprint. There is a particular emphasis on the role of human activities as an ecological factor and their subsequent impact on plant evolution. Conversely, it demonstrates how an understanding of the evolutionary ecology of the region's flora can be used to provide insights into its future conservation and management. Plant Evolution in the Mediterranean is aimed at all those who are interested in the biology of the Mediterranean region, whether it is taxonomy, ecology, evolution, conservation policy and management, or the regional history of its biodiversity in general. It will be of relevance and use to all graduate students and researchers of Mediterranean-type ecosystem ecology and geography, as well as professional ecologists, evolutionary biologists, conservation biologists, and environmental practitioners requiring a concise, authoritative overview of the topic.

100 Plants to Save the Bees highlights the best species to attract and sustain honey bees, bumble bees, and other native bees and pollinators. Nectar rich and/or high value pollen plants will include varieties of native wildflowers, garden plants, native trees and shrubs, and native as well as non native bee pasture plants from alfalfa to vetch. Full colour photographs of the plant in bloom - many featuring bees busy at work - are accompanied by at a glance information including which pollinators the plant attracts and all the necessary planting data. Regional and seasonal planting guidelines ensure everyone can plant at the right time and in the right place to save their bees.

Biostatistics with R provides a straightforward introduction on how to analyse data from the wide field of biological research, including nature protection and global change monitoring. The book is centred around traditional statistical approaches, focusing on those prevailing in research publications. The authors cover t-tests, ANOVA and regression models, but also the advanced methods of generalised linear models and classification and regression trees. Chapters usually start with several useful case examples, describing the structure of typical datasets and proposing research-related questions. All chapters are supplemented by example datasets, step-by-step R code demonstrating analytical procedures and interpretation of results. The authors also provide examples of how to appropriately describe statistical procedures and results of analyses in research papers. This accessible textbook will serve a broad audience, from students, researchers or professionals looking to improve their everyday statistical practice, to lecturers of introductory undergraduate courses. Additional resources are provided on www.cambridge.org/biostatistics.

Examines the beauty, history, and controversy of Voyageurs National Park.

Over 250,000 people visit Minnesota's only national park each year. This popularity raises crucial questions: Can timberwolves thrive amid snowmobiles and jet-skis? Can the thin layer of fragile soil atop the Precambrian shield, the oldest exposed rock on earth, survive the feet of campers? Voyageur Country explores these quandaries and presents the only complete history of this environmentally important region.

Voyageur Country describes the environmental significance of the park, beginning with its geologic and glacial history and continuing through current flora and fauna. Treuer then examines human influences on the land, including those of the Ojibwe Indians, French voyageurs, lumber barons, and wilderness advocates. The birth of the modern incarnation of Voyageurs as a national park is detailed, with accounts of the contributions of Sigurd Olson and other conservationists.

The first paperback edition of this modern classic includes an updated preface and chronology. Voyageur Country is an important launching point for considering the policy that guides our relationship with the land.

Bird migration between Europe and Africa is a fraught journey, particularly in the Mediterranean, where migratory birds are shot and trapped in large numbers. In Malta, thousands of hunters share a shrinking countryside. They also rub shoulders with a strong bird-protection and conservation lobby. Drawing on years of ethnographic fieldwork, this book traces the complex interactions between hunters, birds and the landscapes they inhabit, as well as the dynamics and politics of bird conservation. Birds of Passage looks at the practice and meaning of hunting in a specific context, and raises broader questions about human-wildlife interactions and the uncertain outcomes of conservation.

From the snub-nosed monkeys of China to the mountain gorillas of central Africa, our closest nonhuman relatives are in critical danger worldwide. A recent report, for example, warns that nearly 20 percent of the world's primates may go extinct within the next ten or twenty years. In this book Guy Cowlishaw and Robin Dunbar integrate cutting-edge theoretical advances with practical management priorities to give scientists and policymakers the tools they need to help keep these species from disappearing forever.
"Primate Conservation Biology" begins with detailed overviews of the diversity, life history, ecology, and behavior of primates and the ways these factors influence primate abundance and distribution. Cowlishaw and Dunbar then discuss the factors that put primates at the greatest risk of extinction, especially habitat disturbance and hunting. The remaining chapters present a comprehensive review of conservation strategies and management practices, highlighting the key issues that must be addressed to protect primates for the future.

This book highlights the fundamental association between aquaculture and engineering in classifying fish hunger behaviour by means of machine learning techniques. Understanding the underlying factors that affect fish growth is essential, since they have implications for higher productivity in fish farms. Computer vision and machine learning techniques make it possible to quantify the subjective perception of hunger behaviour and so allow food to be provided as necessary. The book analyses the conceptual framework of motion tracking, feeding schedule and prediction classifiers in order to classify the hunger state, and proposes a system comprising an automated feeder system, image-processing module, as well as machine learning classifiers. Furthermore, the system substitutes conventional, complex modelling techniques with a robust, artificial intelligence approach. The findings presented are of interest to researchers, fish farmers, and aquaculture technologist wanting to gain insights into the productivity of fish and fish behaviour.

"Very few people have spent as much time as William E. Glassley in such deep wilderness. So it would behoove us to pay attention even if he had not brought back such a fascinating, lovely, and useful set of observations. This is a remarkable book." Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and Oil and Honey "The profound mystery of our living Earth saturates this memorable book." John Elder, coeditor of The Norton Book of Nature Writing and author of Picking Up the Flute Greenland, one of the last truly wild places, contains a treasure trove of information on Earth's early history embedded in its pristine landscape. Over numerous seasons, William E. Glassley and two fellow geologists traveled there to collect samples and observe rock formations for evidence to prove a contested theory that plate tectonics, the movement of Earth's crust over its molten core, is a much more ancient process than some believed. As their research drove the scientists ever farther into regions barely explored by humans for millennia if ever Glassley encountered wondrous creatures and natural phenomena that gave him unexpected insight into the origins of myth, the virtues and boundaries of science, and the importance of seeking the wilderness within. An invitation to experience a breathtaking place and the fascinating science behind its creation, A Wilder Time is nature writing at its best. William E. Glassley is a geologist at the University of California, Davis, and an emeritus researcher at Aarhus University, Denmark, focusing on the evolution of continents and the processes that energize them. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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.

"The vital position of Africans in effective conservation has not been well described for the Western public, and "The Myth of Wild Africa takes an important step in redressing this lack of understanding. For anyone interested in the realities of conservation, it is a book well worth reading."--Dr. Amy Vedder, Biodiversity Program Coordinator, Wildlife Conservation Society

"A thoughtful and important examination of . . . the fatal fallacies of old-style conservation. The relationship between wildlife and people in Africa is as old as our species itself. The future of both must be taken into account together. Required reading for anyone who has ever cared about one or the other."--Thomas E. Lovejoy, Assistant Secretary for External Affairs, Smithsonian Institution

"I've never read any single other volume that has had as much impact on the problems, politics, and policies--and possible solution--of conservation in Africa."--Gary C. Clarke, Director Emeritus, Topeka, Kansas Zoological Park

Conservationist Grant Fowlds lives to save and protect Africa's rhinos, elephants and other iconic wildlife, to preserve their habitats, to increase their range and bring back the animals where they have been decimated by decades of war, as in Angola, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This vivid account of his work tells of a fellow conservationist tragically killed by the elephants he was seeking to save and a face-off with poachers, impoverished rural people exploited by rapacious local businessmen. Fowlds describes the impact of the Covid pandemic on conservation efforts, the vital wildlife tourism that sustains these and rural communities; and tells of conservationists' efforts to support people through the crisis. Lockdowns may have brought a welcome lull in rhino and other poaching, but also brought precious tourism to a standstill. He shows how the pandemic has highlighted the danger to the world of the illicit trade in endangered wildlife, some of it sold in 'wet markets', where pathogens incubate and spread. He describes a restoration project of apartheid-era, ex-South African soldiers seeking to make reparations in Angola, engulfed for many years in a profoundly damaging civil war, which drew in outside forces, from Cuba, Russia and South Africa, with a catastophic impact on that country's wildlife. Those who fund conservation, whether in the US, Zambia or South Africa itself, are of vital importance to efforts to conserve and rewild: some supposed angel-investors turn out to be not what they had appeared, some are thwarted in their efforts, but others are open-hearted and generous in the extreme, which makes their sudden, unexpected death an even greater tragedy. A passionate desire to conserve nature has also brought conservationists previously active in far-off Venezuela to southern Africa. Fowlds describes fraught meetings to negotiate the coexistence of wildlife and rural communities. There are vivid accounts of the skilled and dangerous work of using helicopters to keep wildebeest, carrying disease, and cattle apart, and to keep elephants from damaging communal land and eating crops such as sugar cane. He tells of a project to restore Africa's previously vast herds of elephants, particularly the famed 'tuskers', with their unusually large tusks, once prized and hunted almost to extinction. The range expansion that this entails is key to enabling Africa's iconic wildlife to survive, to preserving its wilderness and, in turn, helping humankind to survive. There is a heartening look at conservation efforts in Mozambique, a country scarred by years of war, which are starting to bear fruit, though just as a new ISIS insurgency creates havoc in the north of the country. What will humanity's relationship with nature be post-pandemic? Will we have begun to learn that by conserving iconic wildlife and their habitats we help to preserve and restore precious pockets of wilderness, which are so vital not only the survival of wildlife, but to our own survival on our one precious planet.

Pursuing a dream instilled by early David Attenborough television adventures, a young man from the industrial northwest of England is advised at school to become a veterinary surgeon as a first step towards a career working with wild animals in Africa. His misgivings about the values and justification of domestic veterinary practice are contrasted with a passion for wilderness and wildlife conservation. Early experiences in the vivid Uganda of Idi Amin are juxtaposed with life in a grey Pennines veterinary practice. Eventually arriving as a veterinary officer in newly independent Botswana he finds adventure with wild animals as a veterinarian and later as an ecologist, survey pilot, game capture operator and even a safari hunter, becoming a passionate conservationist... all while starting the first veterinary practice in the country.

*Levison Wood's documentary series on WALKING WITH ELEPHANTS is available to watch now on Channel 4* This book comes at a critical time. Fifty years ago, Africa was home to just over 1.3 million elephants, but by 1990 the number had halved. Meanwhile in the span of a lifetime, the human population has more than doubled. In Levison Wood's The Last Giants, he explores the rapid decline of one of the world's favourite animals. Filled with stories from his own time spent travelling with elephants in Africa, and documenting their migration in his Channel 4 series, Walking With Elephants, the book is a passionate wake-up call for this endangered species we take for granted. The Last Giants was written to inspire us all to act - to learn more and help save the species from permanent extinction.

Satellite remote sensing presents an amazing opportunity to inform biodiversity conservation by inexpensively gathering repeated monitoring information for vast areas of the Earth. However, these observations first need processing and interpretation if they are to inform conservation action. Through a series of case studies, this book presents detailed examples of the application of satellite remote sensing, covering both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, to conservation. The authors describe how collaboration between the remote sensing and conservation communities makes satellite data functional for operational conservation, and provide concrete examples of the lessons learned in addition to the scientific details. The editors, one at NASA and the other at a conservation NGO, have brought together leading researchers in conservation remote sensing to share their experiences from project development through to application, and emphasise the human side of these projects.

What is happening in our oceans? By describing their main elements, this book shows how and why the oceans are being transformed, and suggests possible future scenarios to address this complex, yet often-asked, question. The ocean is being dramatically transformed, but the magnitude of this transformation remains unclear since the ocean is largely inaccessible and still unknown: there is more information about the outer universe than about the deepest parts of our oceans. The author, a marine biologist with extensive research experience, offers a holistic view of our oceans. Focusing on fishing, pollution and the effects of climate change, he identifies and describes the changes occurring in all marine ecosystems, and discusses the long-passed state of equilibrium.

This book focuses on the use of microorganisms in relation to agriculture, aquaculture and related fields, ranging from biofertilizers to poultry production. The latest innovations are also included to provide insights into the unlimited potentials of microorganisms in these areas.Individual chapters explore topics such as probiotics in poultry, biopurification of wastewater, converting agrowastes into value-added applications and products, rice cultivation, surfactants and bacteriocin as biopreservatives, bioplastics, crop productivity, biofloc, and the production of natural antibiotics. This volume will be of particular interest to scientists, policymakers and industrial practitioners working in the fields of agriculture, aquaculture and public health.

Mushrooms, the first of a major new series of books on British natural history, provides a remarkable insight into the natural and human world of fungi. Peter Marren, in his inimitable, relaxed style, guides the reader through the extraordinary riches of this often overlooked group, from the amazing diversity of forms and lifestyles that populate the fungal landscape, to the pursuit of edible fungi for the pot, and the complexities of identification thrown up by our modern understanding of DNA. Throughout the book, the author tells a story rich in detail about how we have come to appreciate and, in some cases, fear the mushrooms and toadstools that are such an integral part of the changing seasons. Marren also provides a refreshingly candid view of our attempts to name species, the role of fungi in ecosystems, and our recent efforts to record and conserve them.

This book summarizes current advances in our understanding of how infectious disease represents an ecological interaction between a pathogenic microorganism and the host species in which that microbe causes illness. The contributing authors explain that pathogenic microorganisms often also have broader ecological connections, which can include a natural environmental presence; possible transmission by vehicles such as air, water, and food; and interactions with other host species, including vectors for which the microbe either may or may not be pathogenic. This field of science has been dubbed disease ecology, and the chapters that examine it have been grouped into three sections. The first section introduces both the role of biological community interactions and the impact of biodiversity on infectious disease. In turn, the second section considers those diseases directly affecting humans, with a focus on waterborne and foodborne illnesses, while also examining the critical aspect of microbial biofilms. Lastly, the third section presents the ecology of infectious diseases from the perspective of their impact on mammalian livestock and wildlife as well as on humans. Given its breadth of coverage, the volume offers a valuable resource for microbial ecologists and biomedical scientists alike.

This open access book presents the proceedings volume of the YOUMARES 8 conference, which took place in Kiel, Germany, in September 2017, supported by the German Association for Marine Sciences (DGM). The YOUMARES conference series is entirely bottom-up organized by and for YOUng MARine RESearchers. Qualified early career scientists moderated the scientific sessions during the conference and provided literature reviews on aspects of their research field. These reviews and the presenters' conference abstracts are compiled here. Thus, this book discusses highly topical fields of marine research and aims to act as a source of knowledge and inspiration for further reading and research.

Through a global and interdisciplinary lens, this book discusses, analyzes and summarizes the novel conservation approach of rewilding. The volume introduces key rewilding definitions and initiatives, highlighting their similarities and differences. It reviews matches and mismatches between the current state of ecological knowledge and the stated aims of rewilding projects, and discusses the role of human action in rewilding initiatives. Collating current scholarship, the book also considers the merits and dangers of rewilding approaches, as well as the economic and socio-political realities of using rewilding as a conservation tool. Its interdisciplinary nature will appeal to a broad range of readers, from primary ecologists and conservation biologists to land managers, policy makers and conservation practitioners in NGOs and government departments. Written for a scientifically literate readership of academics, researchers, students, and managers, the book also acts as a key resource for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses.