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.

Britain is home to fifteen species of breeding birds of prey, from the hedgerow-hopping Sparrowhawk to the breathtaking White-tailed Eagle. In this handsomely illustrated book, acclaimed British filmmaker and naturalist David Cobham offers unique and deeply personal insights into Britain's birds of prey and how they are faring today. He delves into the history of these marvelous birds and talks in depth with the scientists and conservationists who are striving to safeguard them. In doing so, he profiles the writers, poets, and filmmakers who have done so much to change the public's perception of birds of prey. Thanks to popular television programs, the Victorian myth that any bird with a hooked beak is evil has been dispelled. However, although there are success stories--five birds of prey that were extinct have become reestablished with viable populations--persecution is still rife: so much so that one bird of prey, the Hen Harrier, became extinct in England as a breeding bird in 2013.

Featuring drawings by famed wildlife artist Bruce Pearson, this book reveals why we must cherish and celebrate our birds of prey, and why we neglect them at our peril. In "A Sparrowhawk's Lament," you will learn how the perfection of the double-barreled shotgun sounded a death knell for British birds of prey in the nineteenth century, how the conscription of gamekeepers during two world wars gave them a temporary reprieve, how their fortunes changed yet again with the introduction of agricultural pesticides in the 1950s, why birds of prey are vital to Britain's ecosystems and cultural heritage - and much more.

This book provides an overview of the induction mechanism of imposex caused by organotin compounds in gastropods, as well as fundamental information on the physiology and biochemistry of reproduction in mollusks. Are the sex hormones of gastropod mollusks vertebrate-type steroids, or neuropeptides? What about lipid disturbance and membrane toxicity due to organotin compounds? The book also discusses the latest findings on the role of nuclear receptors, such as retinoid X receptor (RXR), retinoic acid receptor (RAR) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR), in the development of imposex in gastropods. Further, it describes the current state of contamination by organotins in the marine environment and gastropod imposex, with a special focus on Europe and Asia, introduces readers to analytical techniques for organotin compounds, and assesses the contamination and adverse effects of alternatives to organotin-based antifouling paints. Imposex, a superimposition of male genital tracts, such as penis and vas deferens, on female gastropod mollusks, is known as a typical phenomenon or consequence of endocrine disruption in wildlife. Imposex is typically induced by very low concentrations of organotin compounds, such as tributyltin (TBT) and triphenyltin (TPhT) from antifouling paints on ships and fishing nets. Reproductive failure may be brought about in severely affected stages of imposex, resulting in population decline and/or mass extinction. Thus, gastropod imposex has been recognized as a critical environmental pollution issue. Although gastropod imposex is also highly interesting for the biological sciences because of its acquired pseudohermaphroditism and/or sex change by certain chemicals, such as TBT and TPhT, the mechanism that induces the development of imposex remains unclear, possibly due to our limited understanding of the endocrinology of gastropod mollusks. This book offers a useful guide for professionals and students interested in the fields of aquatic biology, invertebrate physiology, ecotoxicology and environmental science.

Bumblebees are familiar and charismatic insects, occurring throughout much of the world. They are increasingly being used as a model organism for studying a wide range of ecological and behavioural concepts, such as social organization, optimal foraging theories, host-parasite interactions, and pollination. Recently they have become a focus for conservationists due to mounting evidence of range contractions and catastrophic extinctions with some species disappearing from entire continents (e.g. in North America). Only by improving our understanding of their ecology can we devise sensible plans to conserve them. The role of bumblebees as invasive species (e.g. Bombus terrestris in Japan) has also become topical with the growing trade in commercial bumblebee nests for tomato pollination leading to establishment of non-native bumblebees in a number of countries.
Since the publication of the first edition of the book, there have been hundreds of research papers published on bumblebees. There is clearly a continuing need for an affordable, well-illustrated, and appealing text that makes accessible all of the major advances in understanding of the behaviour and ecology of bumblebees that have been made in the last 30 years.

This volume presents a reconstruction of the formation of the environmental conditions and biota in the present-day Baltic Sea area during the last glacial cycle and thereafter under the influence of extra-terrestrial, climatic and geological factors. Abiotic conditions in the contemporary Baltic Sea (water salinity, temperature, oxygen and light conditions, currents and other water movements) are characterized and in this background the natural regional system of the sea has been generated. Important issues are considered such as life forms in the Baltic and their dependence on the natural environment (both in the conditions of the relative stable environment and during the regime shifts), as well as anthropogenic influences and the basic differences between the areas of the World Ocean and the brackish Baltic Sea. This book also equips readers with basic principles of assessments and management of ecosystems and fish resources (including the long-term assessment and forecast on ecosystems and fish resources) and provides information on the structures of international collaboration developed in the Baltic Sea.

You might have heard that bees are in trouble -- but in fact, the trouble is coming our way too and bees are just showing it first. The looming environmental crisis means that, as a result of modern agricultural practices and pesticide,s we may well fail to prevent honeybee collapse. Honeybees are vital to the health of our planet, and this book is designed to equip and encourage small-scale backyard beekeepers -- who may end up having the only strong, healthy honeybees left. An expert beekeeper, Jack Bresette-Mills calls his approach 'sensitive beekeeping'. He promotes beekeeping without fear, beekeeping for the sake of the bee rather than for profit, and learning to answer your own questions about beekeeping. It's an approach that takes time, practice and patience to develop, and requires physical, mental and spiritual transformation. In the long run though, it results in healthier, sustainable hives and a happier beekeeper.

The musteloids are the most diverse super-family among carnivores, ranging from little known, exotic, and highly-endangered species to the popular and familiar, and include a large number of introduced invasives. They feature terrestrial, fossorial, arboreal, and aquatic members, ranging from tenacious predators to frugivorous omnivores, span weights from a 100g weasel to 30kg giant otters, and express a range of social behaviours from the highly gregarious to the fiercely solitary. Musteloids are the subjects of extensive cutting-edge research from phylogenetics to the evolution of sociality and through to the practical implications of disease epidemiology, introduced species management, and climate change. Their diversity and extensive biogeography inform a wide spectrum of ecological theory and conservation practice. The editors of this book have used their combined 90 years of experience working on the behaviour and ecology of wild musteloids to draw together a unique network of the world's most successful and knowledgeable experts. The book begins with nine review chapters covering hot topics in musteloid biology including evolution, disease, social communication, and management. These are followed by twenty extensive case studies providing a range of comprehensive geographic and taxonomic coverage. The final chapter synthesises what has been discussed in the book, and reflects on the different and diverse conservation needs of musteloids and the wealth of conservation lessons they offer. Biology and Conservation of Musteloids provides a conceptual framework for future research and applied conservation management that is suitable for graduate level students as well as professional researchers in musteloid and carnivore ecology and conservation biology. It will also be of relevance and use to conservationists and wildlife managers.

The Slender-billed Curlew, Numenius tenuirostris, 'the slim beak of the new moon', is one of the world's rarest birds. It once bred in Siberia and wintered in the Mediterranean basin, passing through the wetlands and estuaries of Italy, Greece, the Balkans and Central Asia. Today the Slender-billed Curlew exists as a rumour, a ghost species surrounded by unconfirmed sightings and speculation. The only certainty is that it now stands on the brink of extinction. Birds are key environmental indicators. Their health or hardship has a message for us about the planet, and our future. What does the fate of the Slender-billed Curlew mean for us, and for the natural world? What happened to it, and why? In Orison for a Curlew Horatio Clare journeys through a fractured Europe in search of the Slender-billed Curlew, following the bird's migratory path on an odyssey that takes us into the lives of the men and women who have fought to save the landscapes to which the bird belongs. This is a story of beauty, triumph, and the struggles of conservation. It is a homage to a bird which may never be seen again.

Gavin Maxwell was a romantic, self-destructive adventurer, brave and handsome, with a deep sympathy for the underdog, a wonderfully curious mind and a dogged commitment to discovering the truth. It was said of him that he was loved by women, had sex with men but his emotional life was ruled by animals. His father died in the trenches in the year of his birth, so he and his brothers enjoyed a wonderfully carefree childhood, living in passionate proximity to their mother, the widowed daughter of the Duke of Northumberland, in an isolated house on the south-west coast of Scotland. He became one of the most brilliant and quixotic of British travel-writers, who wrote about Iraq (where he travelled with Wilfrid Thesiger in 1956 and acquired his first otter), Sicily (where he befriended both Communist peasants and Mafia hitmen) and Morocco (where he spent six years chronicling the rise and fall of a Berber dynasty). But he would become even more famous for his trilogy of books set in the north-west coast of Scotland, which was a true fulfilment of his affinity with nature and a love of wild things, most especially otters. Despite the success of Ring of Bright Water, The Rocks Remain and Raven Seek thy Brother, the vast bulk of his life remained a closely guarded secret. He was by turns a shark-hunter, a wartime secret agent, portrait-painter, racing car-driver, naturalist, poet and a social renegade. Often poised on the edge of bankruptcy he could also be insanely profligate and generous.

In 1970, a group of young lawyers launched a new kind of organisation and helped secure the country's bedrock environmental laws. Ever since, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has harnessed its legal and scientific expertise to become one of the fiercest protectors of public health and the environment. In this recounting of NRDC's 50-year history, cofounder John Adams tells the ongoing story about fighting the world's most powerful polluters and winning. Alongside archival photography and insider accounts, Adams celebrates a half century of victories, everything from saving whales to getting lead pipes out of Flint, Michigan, to protecting treasured landscapes, like Alaska's Katmai National Park & Preserve. But the book is also a road map for the future, offering hard-won lessons on how to tackle problems that lie at the intersection of science and society. Today, as humanity faces the climate crisis, the stakes have never been higher nor the solutions more complex which is why NRDC remains uniquely positioned as the earth's best defense.

In the popular imagination, no issue has been more closely linked with the environmental group Greenpeace than whaling. Opposition to commercial whaling has inspired many of the organization's most dramatic and high-profile "direct actions"-as well as some of its most notable failures. This book provides an inside look at one such instance: Greenpeace's decades-long campaign against the Norwegian whaling industry. Combining historical narrative with systems-theory analysis, author Juliane Riese shows how the organization's self-presentation as a David pitted against whale-butchering Goliaths was turned on its head. She recounts how opponents successfully discredited the campaign while Greenpeace struggled with internal disagreements and other organizational challenges, providing valuable lessons for other protest movements.

?One of the seminal works from the man regarded as the father of conservation in Scotland.One of Seton Gordons greatest works concentrates on the Hebrides of Scotland in the post-First World War years as the islands tried to regain their composure and re-establish their social order. Gordons prose recounts not only the way of life of the people but also the wildlife and wilderness in a classic memoir of a pattern of existence of which only sparse remnants now remain, and which is forever threatened.

The Klamath River Basin on the California-Oregon border is a focal point for local and national discussions on water allocation and species protection. Previously, water and species management issues have exacerbated competition and generated conflict among several interests: farmers, Indian tribes, commercial and sport fisherman, federal wildlife refuge managers, environmental groups, and state, local, and tribal governments. As is true in many regions in the West, the federal government plays a prominent role in the Klamath Basin's waters. This role stems primarily from (1)operation and management of the Bureau of Reclamation's Klamath Water Project; (2)management of federal lands, including six national wildlife refugees; and (3)implementation of federal laws such as the Endangered Species Act. This book provides an overview of the issues in the Klamath Basin, with a focus on the federal government's role in the region.

Over the past 20 years dramatic declines have taken place in UK insect populations. Eventually, such declines must have knock-on effects for other animals, especially high profile groups such as birds and mammals. This authoritative, yet accessible account details the current state of the wildlife in Britain and Ireland and offers an insight into the outlook for the future. Written by a team of the country's leading experts, it appraises the changes that have occurred in a wide range of wildlife species and their habitats and outlines urgent priorities for conservation. It includes chapters on each of the vertebrate and major invertebrate groups, with the insects covered in particular depth. Also considered are the factors that drive environmental change and the contribution at local and government level to national and international wildlife conservation. Essential reading for anyone who is interested in, and concerned about, UK wildlife.

Savannah habitats comprise an ecologically important, but ultimately fragile, ecosystem. They constitute one of the largest biomes on Earth, covering almost 20% of the land surface, and can be simply described as tropical and subtropical grasslands with scattered bushes and trees. Most savannahs occur in Africa, although smaller areas can be found in South America, India, and Australia. They form a rich mosaic of diverse ecosystems, and this book offers a concise but comprehensive introduction to their ecology, biodiversity, and conservation. The Biology of African Savannahs describes the major plants (grasses, and trees such as Acacia) and animals (mainly large mammals) that live in this habitat, and examines the biological and ecological factors that influence their population size, interactions (such as predation), and community composition. Conservation issues such as climate change, hunting, and conflict between wildlife and domestic animals are also discussed. This new edition has been updated throughout with the latest research in the field, and contains new technique boxes which introduce readers to some of the analytical methods used to study African savannahs. This accessible text is suitable for both senior undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in savannah and tropical ecology as part of a wider ecology and/or conservation biology degree programme. It will also be of relevance and use to the many professional ecologists and conservation practitioners requiring a concise but authoritative overview of the topic.

Freshwater mussels are declining rapidly worldwide. Propagation has the potential to restore numbers of these remarkable organisms, preventing extinction of rare species and maintaining the many benefits that they bring to aquatic ecosystems. Written by practitioners with firsthand experience of propagation programs, this practical book is a thorough guide to the subject, taking readers through the process from start to finish. The latest propagation and culture techniques are explored as readers follow freshwater mussels through their amazing and complex life cycle. Topics covered include the basics of building a culture facility, collecting and maintaining brood stock, collecting host species, infesting host species with larval mussels, collecting and culturing juvenile mussels, releasing juveniles to the wild, and post-release monitoring. This will be valuable reading for any biologist interested in the conservation of freshwater mussel populations.

In Never Home Alone, biologist Rob Dunn takes us to the edge of biology's latest frontier: our own homes. Every house is a wilderness -- from the Egyptian meal moths in our kitchen cupboards and the yeast in a sourdough starter, to the camel crickets living in the basement, to the thousands of species of insects, bacteria, fungi, and plants live literally under our noses. Our reaction, too often, is to sterilize. As we do, we unwittingly cultivate an entirely new playground for evolution. Unfortunately, this means that we have created a range of new parasites, from antibiotic-resistant microbes to nearly impossible to kill cockroaches, to threaten ourselves with, and destroyed helpful housemates. If we're not careful, the "healthier" we try to make our homes, the more likely we'll be putting our own health at risk. A rich natural history and a thrilling scientific investigation, Never Home Alone shows us that if are to truly thrive in our homes, we must learn to welcome the unknown guests that have been there the whole time.

"An ingenious and invigorating insight into the essential wildness within us all." Chris Packham As our busy, technology-driven lives become more sedentary we have become less connected to our natural surroundings. In these challenging times, it is by rediscovering our links to the world around us that we can rekindle the natural, human connection we have to the wild. Nick Baker introduces rewilding as a concept that needs to be established at a personal level. Taking the reader back to their natural sensitivities, we rediscover the instinctive potential of our senses. From learning to observe the creatures and beasts within hands' reach and seeing and hearing the birds and trees of our forests, Baker's expert advice offers the practical tools to experience the wilderness on your own doorstep, as well as in the wider, wilder world. ReWild mixes memoir with practical advice, to delight, inform and inspire us all to discover the art of returning to nature.

This book provides a state-of-art overview of the significant advances in understanding the impacts of wind energy on wildlife. However, many challenges remain regarding planning and policy, assessment of direct and indirect effects on wildlife, methodological approaches, technology development, and mitigation strategies and their effectiveness. The book comprises a selection of the best contributions presented at the 4th Conference on Wind energy and Wildlife impacts, held in Estoril, Portugal, 2017. The contents promote the international cooperation among researchers, developers, regulators and stakeholders that have contributed to building knowledge on this topic.

The first edition of Mike Alexander s "Management Planning for Nature Conservation," brought a new dimension to the modern literature on conservation management. This second edition, a significant enhancement of the original, deals with the development both, conceptual and practical, of adaptive management planning for nature conservation. It is about preparing management plans, and guides the reader through the entire process. Case-studies, including a conservation and access plan, demonstrate the planning process in action. This approach to planning can be applied to any place which is managed entirely, or in part, for wildlife. It can be applied to the management of species or habitats in any circumstance, regardless of site designation. The process is fully compatible with the Convention on Biological Diversity s ecosystem approach to conservation management.

Mike Alexander has long been at the forefront of developing management planning for conservation, with experience ranging from Uganda to Estonia, and from Costa Rica to Wales. He is the General Secretary of the Conservation Management System Consortium, a group of organisations with a common aim of raising standards and developing best practice in conservation management and planning. In 2012 Mike Alexander was elected a Fellow of the Society of Biology in recognition of his contribution to nature conservation and in particular management planning.

This book has drawn on the experiences and expertise of the CMS consortium and other leaders in both conservation research and wildlife management from around the world. It is essential reading for professional conservation managers and any student studying management planning for conservation within a range of degree and postgraduate courses."

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.

Amphibian species around the world are unusually vulnerable to a variety of threats, by no means all of which are properly understood. Volume 11 in this major series is published in parts devoted to the causes of amphibian decline and to conservation measures in regions of the world. This volume, Part 4 in the series, is concerned with Southern Europe (Italy, Malta, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Albania, Greece, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Cyprus). Each chapter has been written by experts from each country, describing the ecological background and the conservation status of affected species, with an emphasis on native species. As well as infectious diseases and parasites, threats take the form of introduced and invasive species, pollution, destruction and alteration of habitat, and climatic change. These are discussed as they affect each species. All these countries have monitoring schemes and conservation programs, whose origins and activities are described. Recommendations for action are also made. Edited by leading scholars in the field, Volume 11, when complete, will provide a definitive survey of the amphibian predicament and a stimulus to further research with the objective of arresting the global decline of an entire class of animal.