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.

Notwithstanding the importance of modern technology, fieldwork remains vital, not least through helping to inspire and educate the next generation. Fieldwork has the ingredients of intellectual curiosity, passion, rigour and engagement with the outdoor world - to name just a few. You may be simply noting what you see around you, making detailed records, or carrying out an experiment; all of this and much more amounts to fieldwork. Being curious, you think about the world around you, and through patient observation develop and test ideas. Forty contributors capture the excitement and importance of fieldwork through a wide variety of examples, from urban graffiti to the Great Barrier Reef. Outdoor learning is for life: people have the greatest respect and care for their world when they have first-hand experience of it. The Editors are donating all royalties due to them to the environmental charity, The Field Studies Council, to support student fieldwork at the Council's field centres.

Rebirding takes the long view of Britain's wildlife decline, from the early taming of our landscape and its long-lost elephants and rhinos, to fenland drainage, the removal of cornerstone species such as wild cattle, horses, beavers and boar - and forward in time to the intensification of our modern landscapes and the collapse of invertebrate populations. It looks at key reasons why species are vanishing, as our landscapes become ever more tamed and less diverse, with wildlife trapped in tiny pockets of habitat. It explores how Britain has, uniquely, relied on modifying farmland, rather than restoring ecosystems, in a failing attempt to halt wildlife decline. The irony is that 94% of Britain is not built upon at all. And with more nature-loving voices than any European country, we should in fact have the best, not the most impoverished, wildlife on our continent. Especially when the rural economics of our game estates, and upland farms, are among the worst in Europe. Britain is blessed with all the space it needs for an epic wildlife recovery. The deer estates of the Scottish Highlands are twice the size of Yellowstone National Park. Snowdonia is larger than the Maasai Mara. The problem in Britain is not a lack of space. It is that our precious space is uniquely wasted - not only for wildlife, but for people's jobs and rural futures too. Rebirding maps out how we might finally turn things around: rewilding our national parks, restoring natural ecosystems and allowing our wildlife a far richer future. In doing so, an entirely new sector of rural jobs would be created; finally bringing Britain's dying rural landscapes and failing economies back to life.

For all persons seriously concerned about the destruction of natural environments in the contemporary world, this book presents a comprehensive rationale for preserving wild species and ecosystems. Bryan G. Norton appeals most centrally to "transformative value," the power of human contacts with wild species to transform and uplift the human spirit. Until now species preservationists have found a theoretical basis for their policies in the "demand" value of wild species for fulfilling certain narrowly defined human needs or in controversial and badly understood proposals about the "intrinsic" values of species. This work examines such rationales and diverges from them by pointing to new sources of value for wild species: they have worth because they can transform human values. Because of the central role of biological diversity in environmental concerns, the book also provides a fresh perspective on environmental ethics more generally. Why Preserve Natural Variety? is sponsored by the Center for Philosophy and Public Policy at the University of Maryland, as was The Preservation of Species: The Value of Biological Diversity, which was edited by Professor Norton. Originally published in 1986. 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.

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

A brilliant writer and gifted "big picture" thinker, David Ehrenfeld is one of America's leading conservation biologists. Becoming Good Ancestors unites in a single, up-to-date framework pieces written over two decades, spanning politics, ecology, and culture, and illuminating the forces in modern society that thwart our efforts to solve today's hard questions about society and the environment.
The book focuses on our present-day retreat from reality, our alienation from nature, our unthinking acceptance of new technology and rejection of the old, the loss of our ability to discriminate between events we can control and those we cannot, the denial of non-economic values, and the decline of local communities. If we are aware of what we are losing and why we are losing it, the author notes, all of these patterns are reversible. Through down-to-earth examples, ranging from a family canoe trip in the wilderness to the novels of Jane Austen to Chinese turtle and tiger farms, Ehrenfeld shows how we can use what we learn to move ourselves and our society towards a more stable, less frantic, and far more satisfying life, a life in which we are no longer compelled to damage ourselves and our environment, in which our children have a future, and in which fewer species are endangered and more rivers run clean. In the final chapter, he offers a dramatic view of the possibilities inherent in a fusion of the best elements of conservatism and liberalism.
Our society has an inherent sense of what is right, says Ehrenfeld, and the creativity and persistence to make good things happen. It is now time to apply our intelligence, guided by our moral judgment, to the very large problems we all face. This book is an important first step.

Nearly half the world's primate species use flooded habitats at one time or another, from swamp-going Congo gorillas and mangrove-eating proboscis monkeys, to uacaris in Amazonian riverside forests. This first-ever volume on the subject brings together experts from around the world in a ground breaking volume spanning fossil history, current biology and future research and conservation priorities. Flooded habitats are a vital part of tropical biology, both for the diversity of the species they house, and the complexity of their ecological interactions, but are often completely overlooked. This book will set the stage for a new wave of research on primates in these extraordinarily productive and highly threatened areas, and is ideal for researchers and graduate students in primatology, zoology, ecology, and conservation.

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 1990.

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

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.

It is now more than ten years since Bruce Brown began the Olympic Peninsula wanderings that led him to write this powerful account of how greed, indifference and environmental mismanagement have threatened the survival of the wild Pacific salmon and, as a result, the region's ecology and its people. Acclaimed by critics who likened it to Coming Into the Country by John McPhee and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Mountain in the Clouds has become a classic of natural history. As the struggle to protect Northwest salmon runs and the urgency of the fight against environmental deterioration escalates, Mountain in the Clouds remains an important and illuminating story, as timely now as when it was first written.

This volume is the first scholarly book on the antelope that dominate the savanna ecosystems of eastern and southern Africa. It presents a synthesis of research conducted over a span of fifty years, mainly on the wildebeests in the Ngorongoro and Serengeti ecosystems, where eighty percent of the world's total wildebeest population lives. Wildebeest and other grazing mammals drive the ecology and evolution of the savanna ecosystem. Estes describes this process as well as detailing the wildebeest's life history, focusing on its social organization and unique reproductive system, which are adapted to the animal's epic annual migrations. He also examines conservation issues that affect wildebeest, including range-wide population declines.

The Amazon Basin's rivers, estuaries and tributaries are home to as many as 1000 species of catfish. In this work, two scientists offer a natural history of the Amazon giant catfish and its central place as a source of food and income within the ecology and economy of the Amazon Basin. While focusing primarily on two species of giant catfish - known locally as Dourada and Piramutaba - the authors also present illustrated accounts of 13 distinct large fish. Their research yields strong statistical data and field observations that illustrate the catfishes' extensive migratory range and presents solid evidence of animal species requiring or using a large part of the basin for their ecological needs. This text also proposes techniques for the careful management of this resource to ensure its survival for future generations. This study should be a useful reference for marine and conservation biologists in the field, ecologists, resource management professionals and development workers.

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.

When biologist Brian Harvey saw a thousand fish blundering into a Brazilian dam, he asked the obvious: What's going to happen to them? The End of the River is the story of his long search for an answer. The End of the River is about people and rivers and the misuse of science. Harvey takes readers from a fisheries patrol boat on the Fraser River to the great Tsukiji fish market in Japan, with stops in the Philippines, Thailand, and assorted South American countries. Finally, in the arid outback of northeast Brazil, against a backdrop of a multi-billion dollar river project nobody seems to want, he finds a small-scale answer to his simple question. The End of the River is a journey with many companions. Some are literary, some are imaginary. But mostly they're real characters, human and otherwise: a six-foot endangered catfish, a Canadian professor with a weakness for Thai bar girls, a chain-smoking Brazilian Brunnhilde with a passion for her river, a drug-addled stick-up artist. The End of the River is about fishermen and fish farmers and even fish cops; there are scientists and shysters as well as a few Colombian narcotraficos and some very drunk, very hairy Brazilian men in thongs. Funny and sad, The End of the River is a new kind of writing about the environment, as far off the beaten track as you can get in a Land Rover driven by a female Colombian biologist whose favourite expression is "Oops - no road " "A wonderful and engaging read with a samba beat, on the plight of the planet's living waters. The End of the River is the book Nemo would write if he could. A great way to open peoples' eyes." - Thomas E. Lovejoy, President, Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment

We hear about pieces of ice the size of continents breaking off of Antarctica, rapidly melting glaciers in the Himalayas, and ice sheets in the Arctic crumbling to the sea, but does it really matter? Will melting glaciers change our lives? Absolutely. Glaciers are built and destroyed during ice ages and interglacial periods. These massive ice bodies hold three quarters of our freshwater, yet we don't have laws to protect them from climate change. When they melt, they increase sea levels, alter the Earth's reflectivity, wreak havoc for ocean and air currents, destabilize global ecosystems, warm our climate, and bring on floods that swamp millions of acres of coastal land. The critical ecological role they play to keep our global climate stable, and the environmental functions they provide, wither. And, as climate change warms glacier cores, collapsing glacier ice triggers tsunamis that send deadly massive ice blocks, rocks, earth, and billions of liters of water rushing down mountain valleys. It has happened before in the Himalayas, the Central Andes, the Rockies and Western Cascades, and the European Alps, and it will happen again. In his new book Meltdown, Jorge Daniel Taillant takes readers deeper into the cryosphere, connecting the dots between climate change, glacier melt, and the impacts that receding glacier ice brings to livability on Earth, to our environments, and to our communities. Taillant walks us through the little-known realm of the periglacial environment, a world of invisible subsurface rock glaciers that will outlive exposed glaciers as climate change destroys surface ice. He also looks at actions that can help stop climate change and save glaciers, exploring how society, politics, and our leaders have responded to address the global COVID-19 pandemic and yet largely continue to fail to address the even larger-looming and escalating-crisis of climate change. Our climate is deteriorating at a drastic rate, and it's happening right in front of us. Meltdown is about glaciers and their unfolding demise during one of the most critical moments of our planet's geological history. If we can reconsider glaciers in a whole new light and understand the critical role they play in our own sustainability, we may be able to save the cryosphere.

From Jack London to Aldo Leopold's "fierce green fire," wolves have been a central part of the American image. Many have even suggested that our national symbol, the bald eagle, be replaced with this noble creature who, like us, raises a family and is bold and loyal in protecting the pack. Brenda Peterson blends science, history, and memoir to dramatize the epic battle to restore wolves and thus the landscape and ecology of the continent. From the vicious exterminations carried out by pioneers and settlers; to the internationally celebrated triumph of the return of wolves to Yellowstone; to backlash, politics, and near-daily news of successful reintroductions, this is perhaps the most inspiring conservation story of our time. Brenda's central characters are two famous wolves: the powerful and prolific female "067," restored to Yellowstone only to be "legally" murdered, and Journey, a near-miraculous transcontinental survivor. Along with these are the scientists, ranchers, and activists who are fighting against fear, politics, greed, and scientific ignorance to bring wild wolves home to keep our environment whole.

A concise but comprehensive introduction to the biology of standing waters (lakes and ponds). As with other books in the Biology of Habitats Series, the emphasis in this book is on the organisms that dominate freshwater environments. Management and conservation aspects are also considered. The first edition of the book published in 1998 with a second, revised edition in 2005. There has been significant development in the field since the last revision appeared, particularly in the ecology of lakes and ponds in subtropical and tropical areas, and a new revision of this now classic text is timely.

The illegal trade in live apes, ape meat and body parts occurs across all ape range states and poses a significant and growing threat to the long-term survival of wild ape populations worldwide. What was once a purely subsistence and cultural activity, now encompasses a global multi-million-dollar trade run by sophisticated trans-boundary criminal networks. The challenge lies in teasing apart the complex and interrelated factors that drive the ape trade, while implementing strategies that do not exacerbate inequality. This volume of State of the Apes brings together original research and analysis with topical case studies and emerging best practices, to further the ape conservation agenda around killing, capture and trade. This title is also available as Open Access via Cambridge Core.

Zoos, aquariums, and wildlife parks are vital centers of animal conservation and management. For nearly fifteen years, these institutions have relied on "Wild Mammals in Captivity" as the essential reference for their work. Now the book reemerges in a completely updated second edition. "Wild Mammals in Captivity" presents the most current thinking and practice in the care and management of wild mammals in zoos and other institutions. In one comprehensive volume, the editors have gathered the most current information from studies of animal behavior; advances in captive breeding; research in physiology, genetics, and nutrition; and new thinking in animal management and welfare. In this edition, more than three-quarters of the text is new, and information from more than seventy-five contributors is thoroughly updated. The standard text for all courses in zoo biology, "Wild Mammals in Captivity" will, in its new incarnation, continue to be used by zoo managers, animal caretakers, researchers, and anyone with an interest in how to manage animals in captive conditions.