Understanding the complex relationships between humans and the natural world is essential for achieving environmental sustainability and improving human well-being, yet many studies are unable to reveal complex interactions and hidden trends. This is the first book to synthesize the findings and approaches of long-term integrated research in a model coupled human and natural system, and to illustrate their applications to regional, national, and global scales. It features a classic long-term interdisciplinary research project in the Wolong Nature Reserve of China, which contains one of the largest wild populations of the world-famous endangered giant pandas. Bringing together a team of contributors from both the natural and social sciences, this book explores how a long-term interdisciplinary and model system approach is essential to uncover the common patterns and mechanisms of coupled systems, to develop ideas and methods for studying and managing other coupled systems, and ultimately to contribute to the development of theories about coupled systems for sustainability. Pandas and People will be essential reading for scholars interested in the interface of the natural and social sciences, including ecologists, conservation biologists, environmental scientists, sustainability scientists, wildlife biologists, forest scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, economists, and political scientists. It will also be a valuable reference for policy makers, natural resource managers, and graduate students.

The biology of the Siberian sturgeon, Acipenser baerii Brandt 1869, has become a very attractive subject of investigation for biologists since the 1980s. This volume 1 is part of a two-volume set devoted to the species, the second of which focuses on farming. The present volume is divided into three parts: Biology and ecology, Biology and physiology of reproduction, and Ecophysiology, i.e. adaptation to the environment. The first part addresses a broad range of topics, such as: the ecology, including a new approach to species-specificity, a new insight on the mineralization of vertebral elements, two approaches to sex determination, transposable elements in the gonads, early ontogeny, olfaction and gustation, nutrition and swimming. The second part includes neurochemical and anatomical descriptions of the central nervous system and an updated version of the oogenesis, the characteristics of both sperm and spermatozoa, and a synthesis on gonadal steroids (synthesis, plasmatic levels and biological activities). In turn, the third part reveals how the physiology of the species changes depending on environmental factors such as oxygen, ammonia, and nitrite. Some fundamental consequences of ammonia are developed (sublethal and lethal levels, effects on gill epithelium and haematology, acid-base balance, on AA and adenyl nucleotides levels in plasma, brain and muscle tissue). In addition, the book includes two methodological chapters dealing with fish dorsal aortic cannulation and respiration physiology.

This book provides a snapshot of representative modeling analyses of coastal hypoxia and its effects. Hypoxia refers to conditions in the water column where dissolved oxygen falls below levels that can support most metazoan marine life (i.e., 2 mg O2 l-1). The number of hypoxic zones has been increasing at an exponential rate since the 1960s; there are currently more than 600 documented hypoxic zones in the estuarine and coastal waters worldwide. Hypoxia develops as a synergistic product of many physical and biological factors that affect the balance of dissolved oxygen in seawater, including temperature, solar radiation, wind, freshwater discharge, nutrient supply, and the production and decay of organic matter. A number of modeling approaches have been increasingly used in hypoxia research, along with the more traditional observational and experimental studies. Modeling is necessary because of rapidly changing coastal circulation and stratification patterns that affect hypoxia, the large spatial extent over which hypoxia develops, and limitations on our capabilities to directly measure hypoxia over large spatial and temporal scales. This book consists of 15 chapters that are broadly organized around three main topics: (1) Modeling of the physical controls on hypoxia, (2) Modeling of biogeochemical controls and feedbacks, and, (3) Modeling of the ecological effects of hypoxia. The final chapter is a synthesis chapter that draws generalities from the earlier chapters, highlights strengths and weaknesses of the current state-of-the-art modeling, and offers recommendations on future directions.

The Nature of Whiteness explores the intertwining of race and nature in postindependence Zimbabwe. Nature and environment have played prominent roles in white Zimbabwean identity, and when the political tide turned against white farmers after independence, nature was the most powerful resource they had at their disposal. In the 1970s, "Mlilo," a private conservancy sharing boundaries with Hwange National Park, became the first site in Zimbabwe to experiment with "wildlife production," and by the 1990s, wildlife tourism had become one of the most lucrative industries in the country. Mlilo attained international notoriety in 2015 as the place where Cecil the Lion was killed by a trophy hunter. Yuka Suzuki provides a balanced study of whiteness, the conservation of nature, and contested belonging in twenty-first-century southern Africa. The Nature of Whiteness is a fascinating account of human-animal relations and the interplay among categories of race and nature in this embattled landscape.

"Safe Passages" brings together in a single volume the latest information on the emerging science of road ecology as it relates to mitigating interactions between roads and wildlife. This practical handbook of tools and examples is designed to assist individuals and organizations thinking about or working toward reducing road-wildlife impacts. Detailed case studies span a range of scales, from site-specific wildlife crossing structures, to statewide planning for habitat connectivity, to national legislation. Contributors explore the cooperative efforts that are emerging as a result of diverse organizations--including transportation agencies, land and wildlife management agencies, and nongovernmental organizations--finding common ground to tackle important road ecology issues and problems. "Safe Passages" is an important new resource for local-, state-, and national-level managers and policymakers working on road-wildlife issues.

In 2006, Julianne Lutz Warren (nee Newton) asked readers to rediscover one of history's most renowned conservationists. Aldo Leopold's Odyssey was hailed by The New York Times as a "biography of ideas," making "us feel the loss of what might have followed A Sand County Almanac by showing us in authoritative detail what led up to it." Warren's astute narrative quickly became an essential part of the Leopold cannon, introducing new readers to the father of wildlife ecology and offering a fresh perspective to even the most seasoned scholars. A decade later, as our very concept of wilderness is changing, Warren frames Leopold's work in the context of the Anthropocene. With a new preface and foreword by Bill McKibben, the book underscores the ever- growing importance of Leopold's ideas in an increasingly human-dominated landscape. Drawing on unpublished archives, Warren traces Leopold's quest to define and preserve land health. Leopold's journey took him from lowa to Yale to the Southwest to Wisconsin, with fascinating stops along the way to probe the causes of early land settlement failures, contribute to the emerging science of ecology, and craft a new vision for land use. Leopold's life was dedicated to one fundamental dilemma: how can people live prosperously on the land and keep it healthy, too? For anyone compelled by this question, the Tenth Anniversary Edition of Aldo Leopold's Odyssey offers insight and inspiration.

The captivating story of an urban family who welcomes wildlife into their backyard and discovers the ups and downs of sharing habitat For James Barilla and his family, the dream of transforming their Columbia, South Carolina, backyard into a haven for wildlife evoked images of kids catching grasshoppers by day and fireflies at night, of digging up potatoes and picking strawberries. When they signed up with the National Wildlife Federation to certify their yard as a wildlife habitat, it felt like pushing back, in however small a way, against the tide of bad news about vanishing species, changing climate, dying coral reefs. Then the animals started to arrive, and Barilla soon discovered the complexities (and possible mayhem) of merging human with animal habitats. What are the limits of coexistence, he wondered? To find out, Barilla set out across continents to explore cities where populations of bears, monkeys, marmosets, and honeybees live alongside human residents. My Backyard Jungle brings these unique stories together, making Barilla's yard the centerpiece of a meditation on possibilities for coexistence with animals in an increasingly urban world. Not since Gerald Durrell penned My Family and Other Animals have readers encountered a naturalist with such a gift for storytelling and such an open heart toward all things wild.