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The vast savannas and great migrations of the Serengeti conjure
impressions of a harmonious and balanced ecosystem. But in reality,
the history of the Serengeti is rife with battles between human and
non-human nature. Serengeti IV, the latest installment in a
long-standing series on the region's ecology and biodiversity,
explores our species' role as a source of both discord and balance
in Serengeti ecosystem dynamics. Through chapters charting the
complexities of infectious disease transmission across populations,
agricultural expansion, and the many challenges of managing this
ecosystem today, this book shows how the people and landscapes
surrounding crucial protected areas like Serengeti National Park
can and must contribute to Serengeti conservation. In order to
succeed, conservation efforts must also focus on the welfare of
indigenous peoples, allowing them both to sustain their
agricultural practices and benefit from the natural resources
provided by protected areas - an undertaking that will require the
strengthening of government and education systems and, as such,
will present one of the greatest conservation challenges of the
next century.
Serengeti National Park is one of the world's most diverse
ecosystems, a natural laboratory for ecology, evolution, and
conservation, with a history that dates back at least four million
years to the beginnings of human evolution. The third book of a
ground- breaking series, "Serengeti III" is the result of a
long-term integrated research project that documents changes to
this unique ecosystem every ten years. Bringing together
researchers from a wide range of disciplines--ecologists,
paleontologists, economists, social scientists, mathematicians, and
disease specialists-- this volume focuses on the interactions
between the natural system and the human-dominated agricultural
system. By examining how changes in rainfall, wildebeest numbers,
commodity prices, and human populations have impacted the Serengeti
ecosystem, the authors conclude that changes in the natural system
have affected human welfare just as changes in the human system
have impacted the natural world. To promote both the conservation
of biota and the sustainability of human welfare, the authors
recommend community-based conservation and protected-area
conservation. "Serengeti III "presents a timely and provocative
look at the conservation status of one of earth's most renowned
ecosystems.
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