Closing the Knowledge-Implementation Gap in Conservation Science

Closing the Knowledge-Implementation Gap in Conservation Science

Author: Catarina C. Ferreira

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-01-03

Total Pages: 470

ISBN-13: 3030810852

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This book aims to synthesize the state of the art on biodiversity knowledge exchange practices to understand where and how improvements can be made to close the knowledge-implementation gap in conservation science and advance this interdisciplinary topic. Bringing together the most prominent scholars and practitioners in the field, the book looks into the various sources used to produce biodiversity knowledge - from natural and social sciences to Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Citizen Science - as well as knowledge mobilization approaches to highlight the key ingredients that render successful conservation action at a global scale. By doing so, the book identified major current challenges and opportunities in the field, for different sectors that generate, mobilize, and use biodiversity knowledge (like academia, boundary organizations, practitioners, and policy-makers), to further develop cross-sectorial knowledge mobilization strategies and enhance evidence-informed decision-making processes globally.


The Species Problem

The Species Problem

Author: Igor Pavlinov

Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand

Published: 2013-02-06

Total Pages: 293

ISBN-13: 953510957X

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The book includes collection of theoretical papers dealing with the species problem, which is among most fundamental issues in biology. The principal topics are: consideration of the species problem from the standpoint of modern non-classical science paradigm, with emphasis on its conceptual status presuming its analysis within certain conceptual framework; evolutionary emergence of the species as discrete unit of certain level of generality; epistemological consideration of the species as a particular explanatory hypotheses, with respective revised concepts of biodiversity and conservation; considerations of evolutionary and phylogenomic species concepts as candidates for the universal one; re-appraisal of the biological species concept based on the "friend-foe" recognition system; species delimitation approach using multi-locus coalescent-based method; a re-consideration of the Darwin's species concept.


North American Crop Wild Relatives, Volume 1

North American Crop Wild Relatives, Volume 1

Author: Stephanie L. Greene

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-12-11

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 3319951017

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The plant species that humans rely upon have an extended family of wild counterparts that are an important source of genetic diversity used to breed productive crops. These wild and weedy cousins are valuable as a resource for adapting our food, forage, industrial and other crops to climate change. Many wild plant species are also directly used, especially for revegetation, and as medicinal and ornamental plants. North America is rich in these wild plant genetic resources. This book is a valuable reference that describes the important crop wild relatives and wild utilized species found in Canada, the United States and Mexico. The book highlights efforts taken by these countries to conserve and use wild resources and provides essential information on best practices for collecting and conserving them. Numerous maps using up-to-date information and methods illustrate the distribution of important species, and supplement detailed description on the potential value these resources have to agriculture, as well as their conservation statuses and needs. There is broad recognition of the urgent need to conserve plant diversity; however, a small fraction of wild species is distinguished by their potential to support agricultural production. Many of these species are common, even weedy, and are easily overshadowed by rare or endangered plants. Nevertheless, because of their genetic proximity to agriculturally important crops or direct use, they deserve to be recognized, celebrated, conserved, and made available to support food and agricultural security. This comprehensive two-volume reference will be valuable for students and scientists interested in economic botany, and for practitioners at all levels tasked with conserving plant biodiversity. The chapters 'Public Education and Outreach Opportunities for Crop Wild Relatives in North America' and 'Genetic Resources of Crop Wild Relatives – A Canadian Perspective' are open access under a CC BY 4.0 license via link.springer.com.


Biodiversity: Finance and the Economic and Business Case for Action

Biodiversity: Finance and the Economic and Business Case for Action

Author: OECD

Publisher: OECD Publishing

Published: 2019-12-06

Total Pages: 125

ISBN-13: 9264597042

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This report sets the economic and business case for urgent and ambitious action on biodiversity. It presents a preliminary assessment of current biodiversity-related finance flows, and discusses the key data and indicator gaps that need to be addressed to underpin effective monitoring of both the pressures on biodiversity and the actions (i.e. responses) being implemented. The report concludes with ten priority areas where G7 and other countries can prioritise their efforts.


Postnormal Conservation

Postnormal Conservation

Author: Katja Grötzner Neves

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 2019-06-01

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 1438474555

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Explores the evolving role of botanic gardens from products and enablers of modernity and the nation-state, to their recent reinvention as institutions of environmental governance. Since their inception in the sixteenth century, botanic gardens have been embroiled with matters of governance. In Postnormal Conservation, Katja Grötzner Neves reveals that, throughout its long history, the botanical garden institution has been both a product and an enabler of modernity and the Westphalian nation-state. Initially intertwined with projects of colonialism and empire building, contemporary botanic gardens have reinvented themselves as environmental governance actors. They are now at the forefront of emerging forms of networked transnational governance. Building on social studies of science that reveal the politicization of science as the producer of contingent, high-stakes, and uncertain knowledge, and the concomitant politicization of previously taken-for-granted science-policy interfaces, Neves contends that institutions like botanic gardens have discursively deployed postnormal science and posthuman precepts to justify their growing involvement with biodiversity conservation governance within the Anthropocene. “This is a unique contribution to the study of ‘green’ neoliberalism. I do not know of another scholarly book that undertakes an analysis of the global history of botanical gardens in relation to political/economic formations and transformations. This is an outstanding and deeply significant work.” — Tracey Heatherington, author of Wild Sardinia: Indigeneity and the Global Dreamtimes of Environmentalism “Neves has undertaken a comprehensive review of pertinent literature to create an argument that traditional approaches to conservation no longer apply and that we need to adopt a holistic approach that considers both species and cultural preservation. The future of our planet depends on it. This is an important book that points to a central role for botanic gardens in preserving and celebrating the biological and cultural diversity of this planet.” — Donald A. Rakow, Cornell University


The New Natural History of Madagascar

The New Natural History of Madagascar

Author: Steven M. Goodman

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2022-11-15

Total Pages: 2297

ISBN-13: 0691229406

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A marvelously illustrated reference to the natural wonders of one of the most spectacular places on earth Separated from Africa’s mainland for tens of millions of years, Madagascar has evolved a breathtaking wealth of biodiversity, becoming home to thousands of species found nowhere else on the planet. The New Natural History of Madagascar provides the most comprehensive, up-to-date synthesis available of this island nation’s priceless biological treasures. Now fully revised and expanded, this beautifully illustrated compendium features contributions by more than 600 globally renowned experts who cover the history of scientific exploration in Madagascar, as well as the island’s geology and soils, climate, forest ecology, human ecology, marine and coastal ecosystems, plants, invertebrates, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. This invaluable two-volume reference also includes detailed discussions of conservation efforts in Madagascar that showcase several successful protected area programs that can serve as models for threatened ecosystems throughout the world. Provides the most comprehensive overview of Madagascar’s rich natural history Coedited by 18 different specialists Features hundreds of new contributions by world-class experts Includes hundreds of new illustrations Covers a broad array of topics, from geology and climate to animals, plants, and marine life Sheds light on newly discovered species and draws on the latest science An essential resource for anyone interested in Madagascar or tropical ecosystems in general, from biologists and conservationists to ecotourists and armchair naturalists


A Biologist's Guide to Mathematical Modeling in Ecology and Evolution

A Biologist's Guide to Mathematical Modeling in Ecology and Evolution

Author: Sarah P. Otto

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2011-09-19

Total Pages: 745

ISBN-13: 1400840910

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Thirty years ago, biologists could get by with a rudimentary grasp of mathematics and modeling. Not so today. In seeking to answer fundamental questions about how biological systems function and change over time, the modern biologist is as likely to rely on sophisticated mathematical and computer-based models as traditional fieldwork. In this book, Sarah Otto and Troy Day provide biology students with the tools necessary to both interpret models and to build their own. The book starts at an elementary level of mathematical modeling, assuming that the reader has had high school mathematics and first-year calculus. Otto and Day then gradually build in depth and complexity, from classic models in ecology and evolution to more intricate class-structured and probabilistic models. The authors provide primers with instructive exercises to introduce readers to the more advanced subjects of linear algebra and probability theory. Through examples, they describe how models have been used to understand such topics as the spread of HIV, chaos, the age structure of a country, speciation, and extinction. Ecologists and evolutionary biologists today need enough mathematical training to be able to assess the power and limits of biological models and to develop theories and models themselves. This innovative book will be an indispensable guide to the world of mathematical models for the next generation of biologists. A how-to guide for developing new mathematical models in biology Provides step-by-step recipes for constructing and analyzing models Interesting biological applications Explores classical models in ecology and evolution Questions at the end of every chapter Primers cover important mathematical topics Exercises with answers Appendixes summarize useful rules Labs and advanced material available