Whilst the science of conservation biology is thriving as a discipline, ultimately global conservation is failing. Why, when the majority of people say they value nature and its protection? David Johns argues that the loss of species and healthy ecosystems is best understood as human imposition of a colonial relationship on the non-human world - one of exploitation and domination. Global institutions benefit from transforming nature into commodities, and conservation is a low priority. This book places political issues at the forefront, and tackles critical questions of conservation efficacy. It considers the role of effective influence on decision making, key policy changes to reduce human footprint, and the centrality of culture in mobilising support. It draws on political lessons from successful social movements, including human anti-colonial struggles, to provide conservation biologists and practitioners in scientific and social science disciplines and NGOs with the tools and wider context to accelerate their work's impact.

From deep ocean trenches and the geographical poles to outer space, organisms can be found living in remarkably extreme conditions. This book provides a captivating account of these systems and their extraordinary inhabitants, 'extremophiles'. A diverse, multidisciplinary group of experts discuss responses and adaptations to change; biodiversity, bioenergetic processes, and biotic and abiotic interactions; polar environments; and life and habitability, including searching for biosignatures in the extraterrestrial environment. The editors emphasize that understanding these systems is important for increasing our knowledge and utilizing their potential, but this remains an understudied area. Given the threat to these environments and their biota caused by climate change and human impact, this timely book also addresses the urgency to document these systems. It will help graduate students and researchers in conservation, marine biology, evolutionary biology, environmental change and astrobiology better understand how life exists in these environments and their susceptibility or resilience to change.

A lyrical celebration of birdsong, and the rekindling of a deep passion for nature. 'At this time of year, blackbirds never simply fly: instead, like reluctantly retired officers, they're always "on manoeuvres", and it's easy to see from their constant agitation that for them every flower bed is a bunker, every shed a redoubt and every hedge-bottom a potential place of ambush' As the world went silent in lockdown, something else happened; for the first time, many of us started becoming more aware of the spring sounds of the birds around us. Birdsong in a Time of Silence is a lyrical, uplifting reflection on these sounds and what they mean to us. From a portrait of the blackbird - most prominent and articulate of the early spring singers - to explorations of how birds sing, the science behind their choice of song and nest-sites, and the varied meanings that people have brought to and taken from birdsong, this book ultimately shows that natural history and human history cannot be separated. It is the story of a collective reawakening brought on by the strangest of springs.

This innovative two-volume book highlights and examines the most important challenges facing farmers, conservationists, and policy makers, using examples of real-life, linked studies from a farmed landscape, which bridge the divide between the theory and practice of wildlife conservation on farmland. This set brings together Volume 1: Managing for nature on lowland farms and Volume 2: Conflict in the countryside. Volume 1 Using more than 30 years research from the author team at the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), this volume reveals how agricultural systems and wildlife interact, presenting examples from scales varying from landscape to microcosm, from populations to individuals, covering plants, invertebrates, birds, and mammals. It demonstrates the essential ecosystem services provided by agricultural land, and discusses the implications of agricultural development for natural habitats and biodiversity. Volume 2 Many of the encounters between farming and wildlife, especially vertebrates, involve some level of conflict which can cause disadvantage to both the wildlife and the people involved. Through a series of WildCRU case-studies, this volume investigates the sources of the problems, and ultimately of the threats to conservation, discussing a variety of remedies and mitigations, and demonstrating the benefits of evidence-based, inter-disciplinary policy.

Despite sporadic news coverage of extreme weather events, high-level climate change diplomacy, special UN days of celebration, and popular media references to impending ecological collapse, most students are not exposed to the detailed presentation and analysis of the international relations and diplomacy of environmental policy-making. Comprehensive and accessibly written for first-year or second-year undergraduates, the second edition of Global Ecopolitics provides students with a panoramic view of the policymakers and the structuring bodies involved in the creation of environmental policies. Detailing a considerable amount of environmental activity since its initial 2012 publication, this up-to-date second edition uses an applicable framework of systemic analysis and important case studies that push students to form their own conclusions about past efforts, present needs, and future directions.

Despite the 1989 global ivory trade ban, poaching and ivory smuggling have not abated. More than half of Tanzania's elephants have been killed for their ivory since 2007. A similarly alarming story can be told of the herds in northern Mozambique and across swathes of central Africa. But why the new upsurge? The popular narrative blames a meeting of two evils - criminal poaching and terrorism. But the answer is not that simple.Since ancient times, large-scale killing of elephants for their tusks has been driven by demand beyond Africa's range states from the Egyptian pharaohs through the industrialising West to the new wealthy business class of China. Elephant hunting in Africa is also governed by human-elephant conflict, traditional hunting practices and the impact of colonial exploitation and criminalisation.Ivory follows this complex history of the tusk trade in Africa, and explains why it is corruption, crime and politics, rather than insurgency, that we should worry about. In this ground-breaking work, Somerville argues that regulation - not prohibition - of the ivory trade is the best way to stop uncontrolled poaching.

Colin Speedie's new book takes us from swashbuckling hunts of giant sharks by reckless individuals with makeshift harpoons, through an age of mass slaughter, to the author's personal shark-tracking adventures in the name of conservation.There are few marine creatures as spectacular as the Basking Shark. At up to 11 metres in length and seven tonnes in weight, this colossal, plankton-feeding fish is one of the largest in the world, second only to the whale shark. Historically, Basking Sharks were a familiar sight in the northern hemisphere - off the coasts of Norway, Scotland, Ireland, Canada and the USA, for example. In an 18th Century world without electricity, they became the focus of active hunting for their huge livers containing large amounts of valuable oil, primarily used in lamps.Catch numbers were small enough to leave populations largely intact, but during the 20th Century a new breed of hunter joined the fray, some driven as much by a need for adventure as for financial gain. With improved equipment and experience, they exploited the shark on an industrial scale that drastically reduced numbers, leading to localised near-extinction in some areas.From the 1970's onward a new generation took to the seas, this time with conservation in mind to identify where the shark might still be found in the waters around the British Isles, employing new technologies to solve long-standing mysteries about the behaviour of this elusive creature. Using the best of both old and new research techniques, the case was built to justify the species becoming one of the most protected sharks in the oceans.Today, the Basking Shark is a much-loved cornerstone of our natural heritage. There are positive signs that the population has stabilised and may even be slowly recovering from the damage of the past, proving that timely conservation measures can be effective.Join us on a journey amidst wild seas, places, people and conservation history in the battle to protect this iconic creature - a true sea monster's tale.

This is an autobiographical account of a career in conservation and of an abiding love affair with Spirit of the Wilderness, a Piper Super Cub, two-seater, light aircraft. It tells of a partnership between man and machine, which proved invaluable in countless campaigns to support and conserve wildlife and wilderness areas in southern Africa. A chance encounter in 1953 with the late Dr Ian Player, South Africa's greatest name in conservation led to a career in that field which still continues after nearly sixty years. There are detailed and absorbing accounts of stewardship during the 1960s and 1970s of some of South Africa's best loved and most beautiful reserves; Lake St Lucia, iMfolozi, Ndumo, and later the Gorongosa National Park, Zinave and the Bazaruto Archipelago in Mozambique. There are tales of hair-raising episodes and some serious mishaps at the wheel of Spirit of the Wilderness, and on the ground, the author records what he was privileged to learn from the knowledge, experience and wisdom of indigenous game guards and local communities in South Africa and Mozambique. We encounter a huge diversity of flora and fauna, both terrestrial and marine, some of it now perilously endangered, and also a remarkable cast of fellow eminent conservationists, filmmakers, writers, sangomas, soldiers and bandits from two wars in Mozambique, and we are introduced to that country's then president Samora Machel, with whom Paul came to have an intriguingly cordial relationship.

The Coccinellidae are a family of beetles, known variously as ladybirds or ladybugs. In Britain alone, some 46 species belong to the Coccinellidae family, although only 26 of these are recognisably ladybirds. Composed largely of Professor Michael Majerus' lifetime work, and updated by two leading experts in the field, this book reveals intriguing insights into ladybird biology from a global perspective. The popularity of this insect group has been captured through societal and cultural considerations, coupled with detailed descriptions of complex scientific processes, to provide a comprehensive and accessible overview of these charismatic insects. Bringing together many studies on ladybirds, this book has been organised into themes, ranging from anatomy and physiology to ecology and evolution. This book is suitable for interested amateur enthusiasts, and researchers involved with ladybirds, entomology and biological control.

This book extends our understanding of hunting in colonial India in a number of significant ways. It tells the reader about the essential link between shikar and governance. An enormous amount of research has gone into this book, and in that it advances the study of hunting and empire, together with the conservation aftermath, in very significant ways.

A DAILY MAIL BOOK OF THE WEEK: 'particularly enjoyable' 'Somehow laugh-out-loud funny - passionate, warm and full of fascinating insights into the eccentric world of the field naturalist.' - Isabella Tree, author of Wilding Water voles are small, brownish, bewhiskered and charming. Made famous by 'Ratty' in The Wind in the Willows, once they were a ubiquitous part of our waterways. They were a totem of our rivers. Now, however, they are nearly gone. This is their story, and the story of a conservationist with a wild hope: that he could bring them back. Tom Moorhouse spent eleven years beside rivers, fens, canals, lakes and streams, researching British wildlife. Quite a lot of it tried to bite him. He studied four main species - two native and endangered, two invasive and endangering - beginning with water voles. He wanted to solve their conservation problems. He wanted to put things right. This book is about whether it worked, and what he learnt - and about what those lessons mean, not just for water voles but for all the world's wildlife. It is a book for anyone who has watched ripples spread on lazy waters, and wondered what moves beneath. Or who has waited in quiet hope for a rustle in the reeds, the munch of a stem, or the patter of unseen paws. Praise for Tom Moorhouse: 'The pages of this book are shot through with quicksilver light reflected from wet fur - not a lament for our rivers but a chorus of hope for their future.' - Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path 'Beautiful and important. Tom's book is extraordinary in its gentle curiosity and sympathy for his subjects. I love this book.' - Sir Tim Smit KBE, Executive Vice-Chairman and Co-founder of the Eden Project 'Terrific. Lightly but beautifully written. Very moving. Water voles are adorable little beasts. They are also tough, randy and stroppy, as Tom Moorhouse makes clear in this wry, amusing account of the often bloody, painful and frustrating business of conservation fieldwork. 'I hold stubbornly to optimism,' he declares, and his Elegy for a River demands that we do the same.' - Christopher Somerville, walking correspondent for The Times and author of The January Man

THE TIMES, ECONOMIST AND GUARDIAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017 It is accepted wisdom today that human beings have irrevocably damaged the natural world. Yet what if this narrative obscures a more hopeful truth? In Inheritors of the Earth, renowned ecologist and environmentalist Chris D. Thomas overturns the accepted story, revealing how nature is fighting back. Many animals and plants actually benefit from our presence, raising biological diversity in most parts of the world and increasing the rate at which new species are formed, perhaps to the highest level in Earth's history. From Costa Rican tropical forests to the thoroughly transformed British landscape, nature is coping surprisingly well in the human epoch. Chris Thomas takes us on a gripping round-the-world journey to meet the enterprising creatures that are thriving in the Anthropocene, from York's ochre-coloured comma butterfly to hybrid bison in North America, scarlet-beaked pukekos in New Zealand, and Asian palms forming thickets in the European Alps. In so doing, he questions our irrational persecution of so-called 'invasive species', and shows us that we should not treat the Earth as a faded masterpiece that we need to restore. After all, if life can recover from the asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs, might it not be able to survive the onslaughts of a technological ape? Combining a naturalist's eye for wildlife with an ecologist's wide lens, Chris Thomas forces us to re-examine humanity's relationship with nature, and reminds us that the story of life is the story of change.

This engaging personal account of one of America's most contested wildlife conservation campaigns has as its central character the black-footed ferret. Once feared extinct, and still one of North America's rarest mammals, the black-footed ferret exemplifies the ecological, social, and political challenges of conservation in the West, including the risks involved with intensive captive breeding and reintroduction to natural habitat.
David Jachowski draws on more than a decade of experience working to save the ferret. His unique perspective and informative anecdotes reveal the scientific and human aspects of conservation as well as the immense dedication required to protect a species on the edge of extinction.
By telling one story of conservation biology in practice--its routine work, triumphs, challenges, and inevitable conflicts--this book gives readers a greater understanding of the conservation ethic that emerged on the Great Plains as part of one of the most remarkable recovery efforts in the history of the Endangered Species Act.

We are living in the early stages of a looming worldwide extinction crisis. Abundant evidence shows that the current rate of species extinctions is nearing its highest level since the asteroid collision 65 million years ago, and that humans are largely responsible. This book addresses the urgent need to understand and find solutions to this crisis. Written by an international team of contributors who are among the best-known and most active experimental biologists working in the field of conservation biology today, it provides a unique approach by focusing on individual species rather than whole plant and animal communities. Emphasizing throughout how conservation biology can benefit from an experimental approach, the book looks at a wide range of terrestrial and aquatic species - from giant pandas and tree snails to sea turtles and Steller sea lions - and demonstrates what can be done both to preserve rare species and to combat invasive organisms. Finally, contributors show how we can bridge the gap between policy makers and research scientists in order to develop lasting solutions to these problems.

Embark on an action-packed, first-class tour and explore the homes of Earth's most awe-inspiring animals! This illustrated children's atlas brings the animal kingdom to life like never before through spectacular, specially commissioned 3D maps and artworks. A fact-filled adventure of a lifetime awaits, are you ready? Inside the pages of this visually stunning animal encyclopedia, you'll discover: - 3D maps show the habitats and geographic location of more than 100 incredible animals - Text on each spread providing relevant background information about each animal - Maps revealing the shrinking territories of some species to inform kids about endangered animals and how to protect them From African savanna elephants and Arctic wolves to giant pandas and polar bears, this educational book for kids shows you exactly where and how over 100 extraordinary animal species live. Detailed 3D maps and dynamic images give you a peek inside the habitat of each animal, as well as its geographic location. Filled with fun facts for kids revealing an astonishing amount of information about the behaviour of some of the most amazing animals. You'll discover where lions hunt their prey, which penguin lives closest to the South Pole, and where you might encounter the world's most deadly snakes. Perfect for home learning, this atlas book is great for children to dip into for school projects and is a fantastic addition to any family library. Complete the Series: If you enjoyed exploring the world's wildlife in What's Where in Earth: Animal Atlas, look out for more titles in this series from DK. It's perfect for children who are interested in animals, nature, ecology, geography and maps! From earthquakes to satellites, mummies to river monsters, discover our world as you've never seen it before in What's Where on Earth.

Observing the plants of the forest floor - the flowers, ferns, sedges and grasses - can be a vital way of understanding our relationship with British woodland. They tell us stories about its history and past management, and can be a visible sign of progress when we get conservation right. For centuries, woodland plants have also been part of our lives in practical ways as food and medicines, and they have influenced our culture through poetry, perfume and pub signs. In this insightful and original account, Keith Kirby explores how woodland plants in Great Britain have come to be where they are, coped with living in the shade of their bigger relatives, and responded to threats in the form of storms, fires, floods, the attentions of grazing herbivores and the effects of the changing seasons. Along the way, the reader is introduced to the work of important botanists who have walked the woods in the past, collecting information on where plants occur and why. In-depth profiles of some of our most important and popular ground flora species provide extra detail and insight. Beautifully illustrated, Woodland Flowers is a must for anyone who appreciates and wants to learn more about British woodland and its plants.

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.

With heart-shaped face, buff back and wings, and pure white underparts, the barn owl is a distinctive and much-loved bird which has fascinated people from many cultures throughout history. How did the barn owl colonise the world? What adaptations have made this bird so successful? How is the increasing impact of human disturbance affecting these animals? Answering these questions and more, Roulin brings together the main global perspectives on the evolution, ecology and behaviour of the barn owl and its relatives, discussing topics such as the high reproductive potential, physiology, social and family interaction, pronounced colour variation and global distribution. Accessible and beautifully illustrated, this definitive volume on the barn owl is for researchers, professionals and graduate students in ornithology, animal behaviour, ecology, conservation biology and evolutionary biology, and will also appeal to amateur ornithologists and nature lovers.

In Decolonizing Extinction Juno Salazar Parrenas ethnographically traces the ways in which colonialism, decolonization, and indigeneity shape relations that form more-than-human worlds at orangutan rehabilitation centers on Borneo. Parrenas tells the interweaving stories of wildlife workers and the centers' endangered animals while demonstrating the inseparability of risk and futurity from orangutan care. Drawing on anthropology, primatology, Southeast Asian history, gender studies, queer theory, and science and technology studies, Parrenas suggests that examining workers' care for these semi-wild apes can serve as a basis for cultivating mutual but unequal vulnerability in an era of annihilation. Only by considering rehabilitation from perspectives thus far ignored, Parrenas contends, could conservation biology turn away from ultimately violent investments in population growth and embrace a feminist sense of welfare, even if it means experiencing loss and pain.

This edited book, composed of chapters written by scholars of the geomatics-based, environmental and biological sciences, examines selected topics from the intersecting fields of geomatics (including remote sensing, geographical information science (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS), mapping and field survey methods) and conservation biology (including ecology and conservation policy), with case studies from West Africa, Canada, India and Malaysia. The focus is on some of the more important issues that dominate current intersections between developments in geomatics technology and those of conservation biology. Chapter One examines the history and themes of geomatics and applications to conservation biology research. Chapter Two presents a case study of geomatics-based research on the vital issue of vulture ecology, extinction and conservation in Central India. Chapter Three examines the relationship between people and elephants in the Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary and its surroundings in India, and it creates habitat suitability models from geomatics techniques to assess and predict elephant presence and potential human-elephant conflicts. Chapter Four examines the history and status of remote sensing as an aspect of geomatics, focusing mainly on satellite imagery. Chapter Five looks at development in GIS and takes an example of multidirectional landcover change from the West African savanna. Chapter Six looks at developments in GPS technology, especially concerning applications to the micro-habitats of bird presence and applications to mammal behavior. Chapter Seven looks at the subfield of animal geography, which looks at the subjective behavior of individual animals and the technology used to measure these detailed phenomena. Chapter Eight takes a case study of bird migration and habitat utilization in the swamps of coastal Malaysia. Chapter Nine looks at the utility of dated aerial photographs and supporting field methods in the evaluation of historical landcover change, covering periods before the development of modern imaging techniques and using an example from the West African savanna. This book makes an important contribution to the intersections of geomatics and conservation biology.

"A well-written and provocative, opinion-rich account of zoos, their history, and their goals and purposes. Hancocks has earned the right to speak authoritatively about these subjects, thanks to his tenure as director of two leading U. S. zoos. This book will appeal to general readers and to all persons interested in zoos and their role in conservation and education."--John Alcock, author of "Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach"

"Giraffes, elephants, gorillas, snakes, and toucans respond poorly to the usual conventions of human architecture. Zoo architects usually respond no less poorly to the needs of animals. David Hancocks draws on a lifetime's experience working as a zoo director and zoo architect to explore this dilemma, and offers a compelling vision for the future. This is an important book for those interested in conservation as well as for zoo and museum buffs."--William Conway, former President and General Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Bronx Zoo

"For over two decades David Hancocks has fervently tried to reform the fundamental character and mission of zoos. This book is his most thorough analysis of what is wrong with them and his most detailed and compelling plea for improvement. Every conscientious zoo administrator, curator, and keeper should read it from cover to cover with an open mind. Professionals in botanical gardens, museums, and nature parks should also consider this treatise because Hancocks advocates that a fusion of all of these institutions into a new entity better positioned to interpret the entire biosphere."-Mark A. Dimmitt, Director of Natural History, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

Conservation Biology for All provides cutting-edge but basic conservation science to a global readership. A series of authoritative chapters have been written by the top names in conservation biology with the principal aim of disseminating cutting-edge conservation knowledge as widely as possible. Important topics such as balancing conversion and human needs, climate change, conservation planning, designing and analyzing conservation research, ecosystem services, endangered species management, extinctions, fire, habitat loss, and invasive species are covered. Numerous textboxes describing additional relevant material or case studies are also included.
The global biodiversity crisis is now unstoppable; what can be saved in the developing world will require an educated constituency in both the developing and developed world. Habitat loss is particularly acute in developing countries, which is of special concern because it tends to be these locations where the greatest species diversity and richest centres of endemism are to be found. Sadly, developing world conservation scientists have found it difficult to access an authoritative textbook, which is particularly ironic since it is these countries where the potential benefits of knowledge application are greatest. There is now an urgent need to educate the next generation of scientists in developing countries, so that they are in a better position to protect their natural resources.