The goal of this book is to provide practical, intelligible, and intuitive explanations of population modelling to empirical ecologists and conservation biologists. Modelling methods that do not require large amounts of data (typically unavailable for endangered species) are emphasised. As such, the book is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate students interested in quantitative conservation biology, managers charged with preserving endangered species, and, in short, for any conservation biologist or ecologist seeking to better understand the analysis and modelling of population data.
Conservation Biology in Sub-Saharan Africa comprehensively explores the challenges and potential solutions to key conservation issues in Sub-Saharan Africa. Easy to read, this lucid and accessible textbook includes fifteen chapters that cover a full range of conservation topics, including threats to biodiversity, environmental laws, and protected areas management, as well as related topics such as sustainability, poverty, and human-wildlife conflict. This rich resource also includes a background discussion of what conservation biology is, a wide range of theoretical approaches to the subject, and concrete examples of conservation practice in specific African contexts. Strategies are outlined to protect biodiversity whilst promoting economic development in the region. Boxes covering specific themes written by scientists who live and work throughout the region are included in each chapter, together with recommended readings and suggested discussion topics. Each chapter also includes an extensive bibliography. Conservation Biology in Sub-Saharan Africa provides the most up-to-date study in the field. It is an essential resource, available on-line without charge, for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as a handy guide for professionals working to stop the rapid loss of biodiversity in Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere.
Population ecology has matured to a sophisticated science with astonishing potential for contributing solutions to wildlife conservation and management challenges. And yet, much of the applied power of wildlife population ecology remains untapped because its broad sweep across disparate subfields has been isolated in specialized texts. In this book, L. Scott Mills covers the full spectrum of applied wildlife population ecology, including genomic tools for non-invasive genetic sampling, predation, population projections, climate change and invasive species, harvest modeling, viability analysis, focal species concepts, and analyses of connectivity in fragmented landscapes. With a readable style, analytical rigor, and hundreds of examples drawn from around the world, Conservation of Wildlife Populations (2nd ed) provides the conceptual basis for applying population ecology to wildlife conservation decision-making. Although targeting primarily undergraduates and beginning graduate students with some basic training in basic ecology and statistics (in majors that could include wildlife biology, conservation biology, ecology, environmental studies, and biology), the book will also be useful for practitioners in the field who want to find - in one place and with plenty of applied examples - the latest advances in the genetic and demographic aspects of population ecology. Additional resources for this book can be found at: www.wiley.com/go/mills/wildlifepopulations.
Loss of biodiversity is among the greatest problems facing the world today. Conservation and the Genetics of Populations gives a comprehensive overview of the essential background, concepts, and tools needed to understand how genetic information can be used to conserve species threatened with extinction, and to manage species of ecological or commercial importance. New molecular techniques, statistical methods, and computer programs, genetic principles, and methods are becoming increasingly useful in the conservation of biological diversity. Using a balance of data and theory, coupled with basic and applied research examples, this book examines genetic and phenotypic variation in natural populations, the principles and mechanisms of evolutionary change, the interpretation of genetic data from natural populations, and how these can be applied to conservation. The book includes examples from plants, animals, and microbes in wild and captive populations. This second edition contains new chapters on Climate Change and Exploited Populations as well as new sections on genomics, genetic monitoring, emerging diseases, metagenomics, and more. One-third of the references in this edition were published after the first edition. Each of the 22 chapters and the statistical appendix have a Guest Box written by an expert in that particular topic (including James Crow, Louis Bernatchez, Loren Rieseberg, Rick Shine, and Lisette Waits). This book is essential for advanced undergraduate and graduate students of conservation genetics, natural resource management, and conservation biology, as well as professional conservation biologists working for wildlife and habitat management agencies. Additional resources for this book can be found at: www.wiley.com/go/allendorf/populations.
As anthropogenic environmental changes spread and intensify across the planet, conservation biologists have to analyze dynamics at large spatial and temporal scales. Ecological and evolutionary processes are then closely intertwined. In particular, evolutionary responses to anthropogenic environmental change can be so fast and pronounced that conservation biology can no longer afford to ignore them. To tackle this challenge, areas of conservation biology that are disparate ought to be integrated into a unified framework. Bringing together conservation genetics, demography, and ecology, this book introduces evolutionary conservation biology as an integrative approach to managing species in conjunction with ecological interactions and evolutionary processes. Which characteristics of species and which features of environmental change foster or hinder evolutionary responses in ecological systems? How do such responses affect population viability, community dynamics, and ecosystem functioning? Under which conditions will evolutionary responses ameliorate, rather than worsen, the impact of environmental change?
An increasing variety of biological problems involving resource management, conservation and environmental quality have been dealt with using the principles of population biology (defined to include population dynamics, genetics and certain aspects of community ecology). There appears to be a mixed record of successes and failures and almost no critical synthesis or reviews that have attempted to discuss the reasons and ways in which population biology, with its remarkable theoretical as well as experimental advances, could find more useful application in agriculture, forestry, fishery, medicine and resource and environmental management. This book provides examples of state-of-the-art applications by a distinguished group of researchers in several fields. The diversity of topics richly illustrates the scientific and economic breadth of their discussions as well as epistemological and comparative analyses by the authors and editors. Several principles and common themes are emphasized and both strengths and potential sources of uncertainty in applications are discussed. This volume will hopefully stimulate new interdisciplinary avenues of problem-solving research.
'Marine Conservation Biology' brings together leading experts from around the world to apply the lessons and thinking of conservation biology to marine issues. The contributors cover what is threatening marine biodiversity and what humans can do to recover the biological integrity of the world's oceans.
This set of exercises has been created expressly for students and teachers of conservation biology and wildlife management who want to have an impact beyond the classroom. The book presents a set of 32 exercises that are primarily new and greatly revised versions from the book's successful first edition. These exercises span a wide range of conservation issues: genetic analysis, population biology and management, taxonomy, ecosystem management, land use planning, the public policy process and more. All exercises discuss how to take what has been learned and apply it to practical, real-world issues. Accompanied by a detailed instructor’s manual and a student website with software and support materials, the book is ideal for use in the field, lab, or classroom. Also available: Fundamentals of Conservation Biology, 3rd edition (2007) by Malcolm L Hunter Jr and James Gibbs, ISBN 9781405135450 Saving the Earth as a Career: Advice on Becoming a Conservation Professional (2007) by Malcolm L Hunter Jr, David B Lindenmayer and Aram JK Calhoun, ISBN 9781405167611
Provides a coherent overview of the theory of single population dynamics, discussing concepts such as population variability, population stability, population viability/persistence, and harvest yield while later chapters address specific applications to conservation and management.
This book explores the factors affecting the survival of small populations. As the human impact on Earth expands, populations of many wild species are being squeezed into smaller and smaller habitats. As a consequence, they face an increasing threat of extinction. The authors review these theoretical ideas, the existing data, and explore the question: how well do small and isolated populations actually perform?
