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.

The number of primates on the brink of extinction continues to grow, and the need to respond with effective conservation measures has never been greater. This book provides a comprehensive and state-of-the-art synthesis of research principles and applied management practices for primate conservation. It begins with a consideration of the biological, intellectual, economic, and ecological importance of primates and a summary of the threats that they face, before going on to consider these threats in more detail with chapters on habitat change, trade, hunting, infectious diseases, and climate change. Potential solutions in the form of management practice are examined in detail, including chapters on conservation genetics, protected areas, and translocation. An Introduction to Primate Conservation brings together an international team of specialists with wide-ranging expertise across primate taxa. This is an essential textbook for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and established researchers in the fields of primate ecology and conservation biology. It will also be a valuable reference for conservation practitioners, land managers, and professional primatologists worldwide.

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.

In the past decade, wildlife trafficking -- the poaching or other taking of protected or managed species and the illegal trade in wildlife and their related parts and products -- has escalated into an international crisis. Wildlife trafficking is both a critical conservation concern and a threat to global security with significant effects on the national interests of the United States and the interests of our partners around the world. As President Obama said in Tanzania in July 2013, on issuing a new Executive Order to better organise United States Government efforts in the fight against wildlife trafficking, wildlife is inseparable from the identity and prosperity of the world as we know it. We need to act now to reverse the effects of wildlife trafficking on animal populations before we lose the opportunity to prevent the extinction of iconic animals like elephants and rhinoceroses. Like other forms of illicit trade, wildlife trafficking undermines security across nations. Well-armed networks of poachers, criminals, and corrupt officials exploit porous borders and weak institutions to profit from trading in illegally taken wildlife. This book discusses national strategy, implementation plans, and restrictions on elephant ivory trade.

Since early on in the development of wind-energy production, concerns have arisen about the potential impacts of turbines to wildlife; these concerns have especially focused on the mortality of birds. Structural changes and improved turbine design have been instrumental in reducing mortality in birds. Despite the improvements to turbines that have resulted in reduced mortality of birds, there is clear evidence that bat mortality at wind turbines is of far greater conservation concern. Larger and taller turbines actually seem to be causing increased fatalities of bats. Numerous research opportunities exist that pertain to issues such as identifying the best and worst placement of sites for turbines; and mitigation strategies that would minimise impacts to wildlife (birds and bats). This book focuses on refereed journal publications and theses about bats and wind-energy development in North America.

The relationships between humans and aquatic mammals in the Neotropics has been important since archaic times in the American continent, but also varied across time and space, a fact taken on by this publication. In this book, the chapters were written by experts in the field of zooarchaeology, environmental archaeology and conservation biology and different lines of evidence and research questions are used to offer an archaeological approach to these long term relationships. One of the aims of this book is to discuss research questions, methodologies and results pursued and obtained across the different Neotropical regions. The range of variations in the zooarchaeological evidences that result from the aquatic mammal exploitation across time and space still cannot be clearly defined, and the book's chapters show clearly that different archaeological expectations on this matter seem to be linked to the ecological properties and internal subdivisions of the Neotropical region. Thus, the book leads the reader to consider the different ways humans impacted on aquatic mammal populations in both, the prehistoric and historic past. For that reason, we believe that the archeological data can contribute to deepen the knowledge about the natural history of the Neotropical aquatic mammals, eventually even helping to evaluate the ecological status of aquatic mammals in different areas of this region.

This practical manual of freshwater ecology and conservation provides a state-of-the-art review of the approaches and techniques used to measure, monitor, and conserve freshwater ecosystems. It offers a single, comprehensive, and accessible synthesis of the vast amount of literature for freshwater ecology and conservation that is currently dispersed in manuals, toolkits, journals, handbooks, 'grey' literature, and websites. Successful conservation outcomes are ultimately built on a sound ecological framework in which every species must be assessed and understood at the individual, community, catchment and landscape level of interaction. For example, freshwater ecologists need to understand hydrochemical storages and fluxes, the physical systems influencing freshwaters at the catchment and landscape scale, and the spatial and temporal processes that maintain species assemblages and their dynamics. A thorough understanding of all these varied processes, and the techniques for studying them, is essential for the effective conservation and management of freshwater ecosystems.

In 2009, a wildland fire in the Angeles National Forest in California known as the Station Fire led to the death of two fire-fighters, destroyed 89 homes and dozens of other structures, and burned more than 160,000 acres. After escaping initial containment efforts, the Station Fire underwent periods of rapid growth and extreme fire behaviour over the following several days, ultimately threatening thousands of homes in nearby communities. In response, the Forest Service and local agencies, deployed thousands of fire-fighters and hundreds of fire-fighting assets, including fire engines, helicopters, and air tankers. This book examines the key issues raised by fire-fighters, area residents, and others regarding the Forest Service's response to the Station Fire over the adequacy of fire-fighting assets, strategies, and tactics used.

The grizzly bear, once the archetype for all that is wild, is quickly becoming a symbol of nature's fierce but flagging resilience in the face of human greed and ignorance - and the difficulty a wealth-addicted society has in changing its ways. North America's grizzlies have been under siege ever since Europeans arrived. They'd survived the arrival of spear-wielding humans 13,000 years ago, outlived the short-faced bear, the dire wolf and the sabre-tooth cat - not to mention mastodons, mammoths and giant ground sloths the size of elephants - but grizzly bears in much of Turtle Island succumbed to 375 years of unrelenting commercialisation and industrialisation, disappearing from the Great Plains and much of the mountain West. Despite their relatively successful recovery in Yellowstone National Park, the bears' decline continues largely unchecked. And the front line in this centuries-old battle for survival has shifted to western Alberta and southern BC, where outdated mythologies, rapacious industry and disingenuous governments continue to push the Great Bear into the mountains and toward a future that may not have room for them at all.

Following passage of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act in 1971, limits for the number of horses on each herd unit (referred to as Herd Management Areas or HMA's) were set. These limits or population goals are referred to as Appropriate Management Levels or AMLs. From 1980 and through the present, more active management reduced wild horse numbers closer to AMLs. Wild horse numbers were reduced to about 40,000 by 1999 and to about 37,186 wild horses in 2003, prior to the foaling season. Some 203 HMAs are managed by the BLM across the Western U.S. The responsibility of monitoring range conditions; allocating range resources between horses, livestock, and wildlife; monitoring horse and burro numbers and managing their population levels represents a large federal management responsibility. The number of animals in most herds are counted or estimated every three to four years, in order to plan for any gathers, and adoptions. Herd management activities, such as gathers and removals, take place for most herd areas every four years.

Graph theory can be applied to ecological questions in many ways, and more insights can be gained by expanding the range of graph theoretical concepts applied to a specific system. But how do you know which methods might be used? And what do you do with the graph once it has been obtained? This book provides a broad introduction to the application of graph theory in different ecological systems, providing practical guidance for researchers in ecology and related fields. Readers are guided through the creation of an appropriate graph for the system being studied, including the application of spatial, spatio-temporal, and more abstract structural process graphs. Simple figures accompany the explanations to add clarity, and a broad range of ecological phenomena from many ecological systems are covered. This is the ideal book for graduate students and researchers looking to apply graph theoretical methods in their work.

Bringing together the viewpoints of leading ecologists concerned with the processes that generate patterns of diversity, and evolutionary biologists who focus on mechanisms of speciation, this book opens up discussion in order to broaden understanding of how speciation affects patterns of biological diversity, especially the uneven distribution of diversity across time, space and taxa studied by macroecologists. The contributors discuss questions such as: Are species equivalent units, providing meaningful measures of diversity? To what extent do mechanisms of speciation affect the functional nature and distribution of species diversity? How can speciation rates be measured using molecular phylogenies or data from the fossil record? What are the factors that explain variation in rates? Written for graduate students and academic researchers, the book promotes a more complete understanding of the interaction between mechanisms and rates of speciation and these patterns in biological diversity.

A wide-ranging collection of essays from new and established voices writing about nature, environment, conservation, biodiversity and the challenges that London faces to protect green spaces from urban development as well as the drive towards rewilding. The first of four books about London's wildlife, this edition focuses on the green spaces of Richmond Deer Park, Barnes Wetlands, Kew Gardens, Gunnersbury Triangle, Crane Park, Chiswick House, Bushy Park and many others.

Wildlife and the countryside are highly valued by people in the UK, and for good reason. Healthy habitats are invaluable assets and promote human wellbeing. However, they are under increasing threat from, among other things, relentless urban expansion and intensive modern agriculture. These pressures largely stem from a major underlying cause - the high and growing population of humans living in the UK. This book provides an overview of wildlife in the UK and its recent status; factors contributing to wildlife declines; trends in human numbers; international deliberations about the impacts of human population growth; and the implications for the future of wildlife conservation in the UK. The evidence-based text includes comparisons of wildlife declines and their causes in other countries, providing a global perspective. This book is for ecologists, naturalists and conservation biologists studying and working in academia or in consultancies, as well as all those interested in wildlife conservation.

Bears have fascinated people since ancient times. The relationship between bears and humans dates back thousands of years, during which time we have also competed with bears for shelter and food. In modern times, bears have come under pressure through encroachment on their habitats, climate change, and illegal trade in their body parts, including the Asian bear bile market. The IUCN lists six bears as vulnerable or endangered, and even the least concern species, such as the brown bear, are at risk of extirpation in certain countries. The poaching and international trade of these most threatened populations are prohibited, but still ongoing. Covering all bears species worldwide, this beautifully illustrated volume brings together the contributions of 200 international bear experts on the ecology, conservation status, and management of the Ursidae family. It reveals the fascinating long history of interactions between humans and bears and the threats affecting these charismatic species.

There are few creatures more beautiful, aloof, and fascinating than giraffes. Their social and ecological impact has been documented by many researchers. However, the inner workings of extant giraffes are less well known. That is why Graham Mitchell decided to write How Giraffes Work: a comprehensive overview of the anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry-in short, the normal functions-of a free-living, wild animal in its natural environment. A zoologist, veterinarian, and physiologist, Mitchell explains how giraffes get through their day. Additionally, he takes readers through the evolution of their physical characteristics, such as their size, shape, and coat markings. His approach integrates history with the physiology, anatomy, biochemistry, behavior, evolution, genetics, ecology, climate science, and more. Each chapter follows the discovery and utility of a different characteristic of giraffes. Illustrated with over two hundred figures and diagrams, the book explains how giraffes might have evolved and survived over many millions of years as well as how our perception of them has changed throughout history. So, how do giraffes work? The answers lie in a story filled not only with the details of their internal working but also with the labors of the extraordinary scientists who have put so many pieces of this puzzle together.

The Canadian Environment in Political Context uses a non-technical approach to introduce environmental politics to undergraduate readers. The second edition features expanded chapters on wildlife, water, pollution, land, and energy. Beginning with a brief synopsis of environmental quality across Canada, the text moves on to examine political institutions and policymaking, the history of environmentalism in Canada, and other crucial issues including Indigenous peoples and the environment, as well as Canada's North. Enhanced with case studies, key words, and a comprehensive glossary, Olive's book addresses the major environmental concerns and challenges that Canada faces in the twenty-first century.

Written with passion for anyone interested in seeing an end to the illegal trade in elephant ivory and rhino horn, this book shows how, by working together, people all over the world who care about these animals are gradually bringing about change for the better. It takes an overview of how the current situation came to pass by exploring poaching and its devastating consequences and the pivotal role of organized crime. The discussion of how matters are starting to improve covers the investigation and monitoring of ivory markets, sustainable uses and the key role of local communities.Enforcement of the law is vital in this story. Enter the enforcers, the technology they use to defeat the poachers and the evidence they require to prosecute offenders. Cases, some deeply shocking, are included, as well as a number of fascinating case studies, while the exploits of organized crime gangs make lively, as well as disturbing reading. Throughout the message is clear. We can and must save these animals from extinction.

An intrepid investigation of the criminal world of wildlife trafficking--the poachers, the traders, and the customers--and of those fighting against it Journalist Rachel Nuwer plunges the reader into the underground of global wildlife trafficking, a topic she has been investigating for nearly a decade. Our insatiable demand for animals -- for jewelry, pets, medicine, meat, trophies, and fur -- is driving a worldwide poaching epidemic, threatening the continued existence of countless species. Illegal wildlife trade now ranks among the largest contraband industries in the world, yet compared to drug, arms, or human trafficking, the wildlife crisis has received scant attention and support, leaving it up to passionate individuals fighting on the ground to try to ensure that elephants, tigers, rhinos, and more are still around for future generations. As Reefer Madness (Schlosser) took us into the drug market, or Susan Orlean descended into the swampy obsessions of TheOrchid Thief, Nuwer--an award-winning science journalist with a background in ecology--takes readers on a narrative journey to the front lines of the trade: to killing fields in Africa, traditional medicine black markets in China, and wild meat restaurants in Vietnam. Through exhaustive first-hand reporting that took her to ten countries, Nuwer explores the forces currently driving demand for animals and their parts; the toll that demand is extracting on species across the planet; and the conservationists, rangers, and activists who believe it is not too late to stop the impending extinctions. More than a depressing list of statistics, Poached is the story of the people who believe this is a battle that can be won, that our animals are not beyond salvation.

How is South Africa going to sustain the cost of securing rhino while the belief continues to persist that the enemy lies elsewhere in Southeast Asia? The Walkers believe that the problem actually lies in South Africa’s own backyard. This book discusses corruption and the criminal justice system, the need for more community engagement and the costs of protection. It also looks at how far we have come since the rhino wars in the 1980s and the rhino trade debate.

We have to shift from the negative to an element of the positive. People are tired of seeing dead and dying rhino. There is some optimism due to the excellent work being undertaken by the state and the private sector at many levels in security, tourism, community involvement and environmental education, as well as NGO support.

Rhino Revolution testifies to the many people doing just that. The rhino war in South Africa has entered its 10th year, and last year saw 662 rhino killed in Kruger alone – and over 1000 in total for South Africa. Clive and Anton Walker, authors of the bestselling Rhino Keepers (2012), have once again come up with a fresh, new look at the ongoing rhino crisis. With magnificent photographs and afterwords by John Hanks and Yolan Friedman.

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.

Freshwater fish are one of the most diverse groups of vertebrates, but are also amongst the most threatened. With contributions from leaders in the field, this is the first assessment of the global state of freshwater fish diversity, synthesising the opportunities, challenges and barriers facing the conservation of freshwater fish biodiversity. The book includes the first global assessment of the number, type and distribution of threatened freshwater fish species, discussing the features of freshwater fish biology and ecology that render so many species vulnerable to extinction. Introductory chapters on why freshwater fish are so sensitive to environmental change and disturbance lead into chapters providing detailed reviews of the key threatening processes and potential solutions. A concluding chapter summarises the key issues and looks to the future for opportunities and challenges for the conservation and management of freshwater fish.

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.