This book by the renowned naturalist and writer Paul A. Johnsgard tells the complex biological and environmental story of the western Great Plains under the black-tailed prairie dog's reign-and then under a brief but devastating century of human dominion. An introduction to the ecosystem of the shortgrass prairie, Prairie Dog Empire describes in clear and detailed terms the habitat and habits of black-tailed prairie dogs; their subsistence, seasonal behavior, and the makeup of their vast colonies; and the ways in which their "towns" transform the surrounding terrain-for better or for worse. Johnsgard recounts how this terrain has in turn been transformed over the past century by the destruction of prairie dogs and their grassland habitats. This book also offers a rare and invaluable close-up view of the rich history and threatened future of the creature once considered the "keystone" species of the western plains. Included are maps, drawings, and listings of more than two hundred natural grassland preserves where many of the region's native plants and animals may still be seen and studied.

Until now, biological invasions have been conceptualised and studied mainly as a linear process: from introduction to establishment to spread. This volume charts a new course for the field, drawing on key developments in network ecology and complexity science. It defines an agenda for Invasion Science 2.0 by providing new framings and classification of research topics and by offering tentative solutions to vexing problems. In particular, it conceptualises a transformative ecosystem as an open adaptive network with critical transitions and turnover, with resident species heuristically learning and fine-tuning their niches and roles in a multiplayer eco-evolutionary game. It erects signposts pertaining to network interactions, structures, stability, dynamics, scaling, and invasibility. It is not a recipe book or a road map, but an atlas of possibilities: a 'hitchhiker's guide'.

This cutting-edge title is one of the first devoted entirely to the issue of carbofuran and wildlife mortality. It features a compilation of international contributions from policy-makers, researchers, conservationists and forensic practitioners and provides a summary of the history and mode of action of carbofuran, and its current global use. It covers wildlife mortality stemming from legal and illegal uses to this point, outlines wildlife rehabilitation, forensic and conservation approaches, and discuss global trends in responding to the wildlife mortality.

The subject of carbofuran is very timely because of recent parallel discussions to withdraw and reinstate the insecticide in different parts of the world. Incidences of intentional and unintentional wildlife poisonings using carbofuran are undeniably on the rise, especially in Africa and India and gatherings of stakeholders are being organized and convened on a global basis. There is still a need to consolidate information on the different experiences and approaches taken by stakeholders. Carbofuran and Wildlife Poisoning is a comprehensive overview of global wildlife mortality, forensic developments and monitoring techniques and is a definitive reference on the subject.

It comprises of historical and current perspectives, contributions from key stakeholders in the issue of global wildlife poisonings with carbofuran, people on the ground who deal with the immediate and long-term ramifications to wildlife, those who have proposed or are working towards mitigative measures and solutions, those in contact with intentional or unintentional 'offenders', those who have adapted and developed forensic methodology and are gathering evidence.

""Carbofuran and Wildlife Poisoning" is a collection of meticulously researched papers from all around the world that provide shocking facts about the effects of a deadly insecticide on wildlife. The book discusses the hundreds of thousands of animals, from elephants to fish, that are poisoned each year, the efforts to rehabilitate those which have been rescued, and the often heroic efforts to ban or reduce the use of the deadly chemical. This book is a must for all those concerned with the problem."
--Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE, Founder - the Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace, October 2011

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.

From two scientists who have been at the forefront of manatee research for over three decades, The Florida Manatee offers an engaging, accessible introduction to manatee biology, including communication, diet, long-distance migration, and much more. This second edition is updated with new scientific research, as well as discussions of recent conservation efforts-largely driven by manatee injuries and deaths resulting from boat collisions-that have contributed to the robust growth of manatee numbers in Florida. It also includes the latest predictions for manatee populations and health in the future, both in Florida and worldwide. This is the perfect book for anyone seeking the most comprehensive, current information on this fascinating marine mammal.

A chance to move to the US Wild West allows TV presenter Philippa Forrester to fulfil a lifelong dream of living among and learning all she can about wolves When Philippa Forrester and her nature-loving family moved to the wilds of Grand Teton National Park, they quickly learned to love the wildlife of Wyoming and nearby Yellowstone. The sounds of wolves close to their new home fed Philippa's lifelong fascination with these remarkable animals, but nothing she had learned about wolves from her studies in the UK could have prepared her for the reality of living in wolf country. And as she and her family settled into their new wilder way of life, she discovered many locals are not excited about sharing their land with wolves. Twenty-five years after wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park, wolf packs are spreading into areas where their protection has been removed by the American administration. Without that protection, what is the future for wolves where many people resent that they were ever here at all? In On the Trail of Wolves, Philippa vividly recounts her adventures living among the grizzlies, elk and wolves in her new home in America's Wild West and chronicles her journeys further from home to talk to conservationists, rangers, hunters and ranch owners to investigate when and why opinions on wolves became so polarised.

For most people, planet Earth's icy parts remain out of sight and out of mind. Yet it is the melting of ice that will both raise sea level and warm the climate further by reducing the white surfaces that reflect solar energy back into space. In effect, our icy places act as the world's refrigerator, helping to keep our climate relatively cool. The Icy Planet lays out carbon dioxide's role as the control knob of our climate over the past 1000 million years, then explores what is happening to ice and snow in Antarctica, the Arctic and the high mountains. Colin Summerhayes takes readers to the world's icy places to see what is happening to its ice, snow, and permafrost. He recounts tales from his own visits to these frozen landscapes, shining a light on some of the wonders he has encountered in his travels. He also brings together pieces of the climate story from different scientific disciplines, and from the past and the present, to illustrate how Earth's climate system works. Utilizing geological records of climate change alongside new technologies in ice coring, Summerhayes crafts a detailed and compelling record of Earth's climate history and examines how that can be used as a window into our future.

The Tasmanian devil is threatened by Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD), a transmissible form of cancer that has reduced the population by over 80%. Hunting, extreme climate events, vehicle collision and habitat destruction also put pressure on this endangered species. The recovery effort to save the Tasmanian devil commenced over 15 years ago as a collaborative initiative between the Tasmanian government, the Australian government, the Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia, and many research institutions. Saving the Tasmanian Devil documents the journey taken by partner organisations in discovering what DFTD is, the effect it has on wild devil populations, and the outcomes achieved through research and management actions. Chapters describe all aspects of devil conservation, including the captive devil populations, applied pathology, immunology and genetic research findings, adaptive management, and the importance of advocacy and partnerships. This book will provide management practitioners and conservation scientists with insight into the complexities of undertaking a program of this scale, and will also be of value to researchers, students and others interested in conservation.

John Bassi has dedicated most of his life to the plight of wildlife in Africa. Raised in north eastern Zimbabwe, he was inspired by a life of living and working in wilderness areas throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Learning about the cruel realities of war and human greed, he made a vow to devote his life to protecting nature. Fuelled by a passion for wilderness and aviation, John Bassi embarked on a challenging and fascinating journey through the birth, growth and change of South Africa's game capture industry. Translocation projects, wildlife research, and veterinary and breeding projects expose him to the shape, form and movement of African wildlife on a daily basis. John specialised in operating helicopters and has become one of the leading game capture pilots and conservationists in the country. John has stood at the forefront of the industry and has accumulated over sixteen thousand hours of flying throughout Southern Africa. On the flip side, he has been witness to elements that hide commercial exploitation under the guise of conservation and he has seen the degradation of some of South Africa's pristine wilderness areas; an all too familiar sight echoing the ruin of his beloved Zimbabwe. John has incorporated his extensive knowledge and skill into providing a unique helicopter platform for wildlife research projects, large-scale anthrax vaccinating, aerial game censuses, radio tracking, ecological surveys, helicopter safaris, conservation education and everything else imaginable with regards to rotorcraft aviation. Inspiration gleaned from years of working hands-on with African wildlife is reflected in John's wild- life bronze sculptures, always in motion. John has written published articles on aviation, expeditions and conservation and, since February 2002, has been writing articles for the monthly aviation magazine SA Flyer. John Bassi's contribution to our natural heritage has been immeasurable, a legacy made all the more admirable considering how few possess the passion, expertise and empathy required to be an exceptional wildlife helicopter pilot.

Post-war Afghanistan is fragile, volatile, and perilous. It is also a place of extraordinary beauty. Evolutionary biologist Alex Deghan came to Afghanistan and created a startup, Conservation X Labs, to save Afghanistan's unique and extraordinary wildlife and natural landscape after decades of war. His workplace was so remote that roads themselves would disappear, and travel was by foot, yak, or mule, following ancient pathways for weeks into the mountain kingdoms and desolate landscapes. Conservation, it turned out, provided a common bond between Alex's team and the people of Afghanistan, where his international team worked unarmed in some of the most dangerous places in the country. They successfully built the country's first national park, completed the first wildlife survey in thirty years, and worked to stop the poaching of the country's iconic endangered animals, including the elusive snow leopard. In doing so, they restored a part of Afghan identity that is ineffably tied to the land itself. For a people who had spent decades as refugees or subject to the horrors and desolation of war, the quest to restore Afghanistan's wildlife became the restoration of Afghanistan's very culture and deep history.

'The Patron Saint of Conservation' Sir David Attenborough 'Peter Scott was a huge influence on my childhood...Later on in life I had the good fortune both to meet and to interview him, and he remains, for me, a hero. His knowledge, his kindness to me and his generosity of spirit have remained an influence in my own sphere of natural history....To meet one's heroes can sometimes be a let-down. That was most certainly not the case with Peter Scott.' Alan Titchmarsh A Life In Nature is a portrait of Peter Scott collected from his own conversations, articles and broadcasts including thoughts on expeditions to Lapland, Conservation and Africa, his travels in Europe and much more. Illustrated by Peter's own beautiful illustrations. Sir Peter Scott had a truly incredible life. He was the only son of legendary explorer Captain Scott. His godfather was JM Barrie and he was married to Elizabeth Jane Howard. He also represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at sailing in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, winning a bronze medal. He founded the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and also helped to found the Worldwide Fund for Nature. This is a beautiful and timely re-discovered book, perfect for those who are interested in preserving our planet.

In the winter of 1996-97, state and federal authorities shot or shipped to slaughter more than 1,100 Yellowstone National Park bison. Since that time, thousands more have been killed or hazed back into the park, as wildlife managers struggle to accommodate an animal that does not recognize man-made borders. Tensions over the hunting and preservation of the bison, an animal sacred to many Native Americans and an icon of the American West, are at least as old as the nation's first national park. Established in 1872, in part "to protect against the wanton destruction of the fish and game," Yellowstone has from the first been dedicated to preserving wildlife along with the park's other natural wonders. The Smithsonian Institution, itself founded in 1848, viewed the park's resources as critical to its own mission, looking to Yellowstone for specimens to augment its natural history collections, and later to stock the National Zoo. How this relationship developed around the conservation and display of American wildlife, with these two distinct organizations coming to mirror one another, is the little-known story Diane Smith tells in Yellowstone and the Smithsonian. Even before its founding as a national park, and well before the creation of the National Park Service in 1916, the Yellowstone region served as a source of specimens for scientists centered in Washington, D.C. Tracing the Yellowstone-Washington reciprocity to the earliest government-sponsored exploration of the region, Smith provides background and context for many of the practices, such as animal transfers and captive breeding, pursued a century later by a new generation of conservation biologists. She shows how Yellowstone, through its relationship with the Smithsonian, the National Museum, and ultimately the National Zoo, helped elevate the iconic nature of representative wildlife of the American West, particularly bison. Her book helps all of us, not least of all historians and biologists, to better understand the wildlife management and conservation policies that followed.

An elegant and faithful reproduction of a classic. Celebrated naturalist Ernest Thompson Seton was born in County Durham in 1860 and won a scholarship to the Royal Academy in London. He grew up in Toronto and from an early age his overriding passion was observation of the natural world. He spent countless hours in the woods discovering plants and fungi and quietly observing creatures of all sizes and species. He kept meticulous notes and drawings, building “an accurate account of the creature’s ways, habits, changing whims, and emotions.” In his early 20s, Seton joined his brother on a homestead in Manitoba. He continued to dedicate himself to careful observation of animals in their element, and their relationships with humans, supporting himself through trapping and sales of his drawings and stories. Wild Animals I Have Known is a collection of short stories written by Seton about animals he encountered. It was published in 1898, selling out in three weeks and reprinted 28 times. It made Seton an instant celebrity and a popular lecturer. The book has been published in a dozen languages and has never been out of print, which speaks volumes about the popularity and appeal of this classic book. Wild Animals I Have Known opens with Seton’s most famous story, Lobo, The King of Currumpaw. It tells the true story of when Seton was hired by ranchers to trap Lobo, leader of a pack of wolves which over the years had killed dozens of sheep and cattle. The hunt was successful but the story tragic. Seton would later regret his actions, having recognized that the human desire to overcome the wild reveals the innate human desire to exist in harmony with nature. Lobo was key to Seton’s transformation into a conservationist, but while swearing off hunting he would defend his telling of nature’s brutality: “The fact that these stories are true is the reason why all are tragic. The life of a wild animal always has a tragic end.” Seton went on to write more than fifty books and hundreds of magazine articles, and delivered countless public lectures in the service of animal and habitat conservation. His stories established a moral connection between people and animals, and helped to change society’s consciousness about the treatment of animals and the natural environment. He lobbied for the creation of national parks and fought for protections for wildlife. Today he is remembered for Lobo but scarcely as one of the lead authors of wildlife conservation. The stories in Wild Animals I Have Known are illustrated with Seton’s original drawings as published in the first edition and bound in a fauxleather, embossed hardback binding — which will make this restored edition a fine gift. This lovely reproduction in the spirit of the original is an essential addition to personal and school libraries, all circulating collections and gift tables.

The book covers the spread of conservation agriculture (CA) to regions including Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Australia, Europe and emerging CA destinations in Asia and Africa. Topics covered include the various components of CA, and how their individual and combined implementation influence productivity, soil health and environmental quality under diverse edaphic and climatic conditions. The book will be useful to teachers, researchers, extensionists, farmers, and students interested in environmental quality.

'Warmly entertaining...an endearing account of the search for rare bees' Guardian A hunt for the world's most elusive bees leads Dave Goulson from Poland to Patagonia as well as closer to home, amongst the secret places hidden right under our noses: the abandoned industrial estates where great crested newts roam; or the rewilded estate at Knepp Castle, where, with the aid of some hairy, bluebell-eating Tamworth pigs, nightingale song has been heard for the first time in generations. Whether he is tracking great yellow bumblebees in the Hebrides or chasing orchid bees through the Ecuadorian jungle, Dave Goulson's wit, humour and deep love of nature make him the ideal travelling companion.

As Steven Meyers writes, an odyssey need not involve a long journey, simply a profound one. First drawn to Lime Creek for its fly fishing, this stream serves as Meyers’s muse in seven transcendent essays that explore journeys in the discovery of self, of home, and what it means to be human. The essays also explore loss and grief, of finding healing in the powerful presence of nature and in the awareness and experience of natural cycles. The tender eloquence of his writing and his compassion for all living things make for a contemplation of place in the tradition of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and Desert Solitaire.

The idea that a bird is good news and needs all our support is probably the only thing amateur birdos, professional zoologists and 'birdscapers'—people who redesign their gardens to support birdlife—have in common. But together they form a conservation community that cares about the future of birds and their habitats, who are working to heal the damage wrought by those who don't notice birds.What Birdo is That? reveals how bird-people in Australia have gone about their craft across the years. Its stories come from wild places — at sea as well as on the land—from dusty archives, from restoration projects, gardens and urban wastelands. They are human stories, but the birds themselves interject and interrupt any self-important anthropocentrism. They educate. They counter the imperialism of the ever-expanding economies of the new millennium. They turn up in unexpected places, giving surprise and joy. This field guide to Australia's bird-people provides a basis for understanding the complex relationship between people and birds in a land of extremes at the forefront of changing climate and habitats.

A "courageous and revelatory memoir" (Naomi Klein) chronicling the life of the leading Indigenous climate change, cultural, and human rights advocate For the first ten years of her life, Sheila Watt-Cloutier traveled only by dog team. Today there are more snow machines than dogs in her native Nunavik, a region that is part of the homeland of the Inuit in Canada. In Inuktitut, the language of Inuit, the elders say that the weather is Uggianaqtuq-behaving in strange and unexpected ways. The Right to Be Cold is Watt-Cloutier's memoir of growing up in the Arctic reaches of Quebec during these unsettling times. It is the story of an Inuk woman finding her place in the world, only to find her native land giving way to the inexorable warming of the planet. She decides to take a stand against its destruction. The Right to Be Cold is the human story of life on the front lines of climate change, told by a woman who rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most influential Indigenous environmental, cultural, and human rights advocates in the world. Raised by a single mother and grandmother in the small community of Kuujjuaq, Quebec, Watt-Cloutier describes life in the traditional ice-based hunting culture of an Inuit community and reveals how Indigenous life, human rights, and the threat of climate change are inextricably linked. Colonialism intervened in this world and in her life in often violent ways, and she traces her path from Nunavik to Nova Scotia (where she was sent at the age of ten to live with a family that was not her own); to a residential school in Churchill, Manitoba; and back to her hometown to work as an interpreter and student counselor. The Right to Be Cold is at once the intimate coming-of-age story of a remarkable woman, a deeply informed look at the life and culture of an Indigenous community reeling from a colonial history and now threatened by climate change, and a stirring account of an activist's powerful efforts to safeguard Inuit culture, the Arctic, and the planet.

The late nineteenth and early twentieth century were a brutal time for American wildlife, with many species pushed to the brink of extinction. (Some are endangered to this day.) And yet these decades also saw the dawn of the conservationist movement. Into this contradictory era came William Temple Hornaday, a larger-than-life dynamo who almost uncannily embodies these conflicting threads in our history. In The Most Defiant Devil, a compelling new biography of this complex figure, Gregory Dehler explores the life of Hornaday the hunter, museum builder, zoologist, author, conservationist, and anti-Bolshevist crusader. A deeply religious man, he was nonetheless anything but peaceful and was racist even by his era's standards, going so far as to display an Mbuti pygmy as a ""living specimen"" in a zoo. A passionate hunter, Hornaday killed thousands of animals, including some of the last wild buffalo in America, but he was far ahead of his time in his influential views on the protection of wildlife. Hornaday designed and built the New York Zoological Park (which became the Bronx Zoo) and was chief taxidermist for what would later become the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.In this single, fascinating individual, we can discern some of the Progressive Era's most destructive forces and some of its most enlightened visions.

The Canary Islands is a popular destination for birders and travellers with an interest in wildlife and nature, and one of the best places in the world to see several scarce species such as the Houbara Bustard. They also hold a number of endemic birds that occur nowhere else, such as the emblematic Blue Chaffinch.

This beautifully illustrated guide covers all the birds found in the islands, providing concise descriptions for easy identification and plates for easy identification of all species. It's the perfect guide for any visitor to these sun-kissed islands.

The chronicle of a family's first year alone in Alaskan wilderness, here is a poetic exploration into what we value in life. In 1992 Jean Aspen took her husband, Tom, and their young son to live in Alaska's interior mountains where they built a cabin from logs, hunted for food, and let the vast beauty of the Arctic close around them. Jean had faced Alaska's wilderness alone before in a life-altering experience she shared in Arctic Daughter. Cut off from the rest of the world for more than a year, now her family would discover strength and beauty in their daily lives. They candidly filmed themselves and later produced a companion documentary, ARCTIC SON: Fulfilling the Dream, which shows on PBS stations across the nation. From an encounter with a grizzly bear at arm's length to a challenging six-hundred-mile river passage back to civilization, Arctic Son chronicles fourteen remarkable months alone in the Brooks Range. At once a portrait of courage, a lyrical odyssey, and authentic adventure, this is a family's extraordinary journey into America's last frontier.