Whitebark Pine Communities
Whitebark Pine Communities

Author: Diana F. Tomback

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 462

ISBN-13: 9781597263207

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Whitebark pine is a dominant feature of western high-mountain regions, offering an important source of food and high-quality habitat for species ranging from Clark's nutcracker to the grizzly bear. But in the northwestern United States and southwestern Canada, much of the whitebark pine is disappearing. Why is a high-mountain species found in places rarely disturbed by humans in trouble? And what can be done about it.Whitebark Pine Communities addresses those questions, explaining how a combination of altered fire regimes and fungal infestation is leading to a rapid decline of this once abundant -- and ecologically vital -- species. Leading experts in the field explain what is known about whitebark pine communities and their ecological value, examine its precarious situation, and present the state of knowledge concerning restoration alternatives. The book. presents an overview of the ecology and status of whitebark pine communities offers a basic understanding of whitebark pine taxonomy, distribution, and ecology, including environmental tolerances, community disturbance processes, regeneration processes, species interactions, and genetic population structure identifies the threats to whitebark pine communities explains the need for management intervention surveys the extent of impact and losses to dateMore importantly, the book clearly shows that the knowledge and management tools are available to restore whitebark pine communities both locally and on a significant scale regionally, and it provides specific information about what actions can and must be taken.Whitebark Pine Communities offers a detailed portrait of the ecology of whitebark pine communities and the current threats to them. It brings together leading experts to provide in-depth information on research needs, management approaches, and restoration activities, and will be essential reading for ecologists, land managers, and anyone concerned with the health of forest ecosystems in the western United States.

Ecosystems of California
Ecosystems of California

Author: Harold Mooney

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2016-01-19

Total Pages: 1008

ISBN-13: 0520278801

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This long-anticipated reference and sourcebook for CaliforniaÕs remarkable ecological abundance provides an integrated assessment of each major ecosystem typeÑits distribution, structure, function, and management. A comprehensive synthesis of our knowledge about this biologically diverse state, Ecosystems of California covers the state from oceans to mountaintops using multiple lenses: past and present, flora and fauna, aquatic and terrestrial, natural and managed. Each chapter evaluates natural processes for a specific ecosystem, describes drivers of change, and discusses how that ecosystem may be altered in the future. This book also explores the drivers of CaliforniaÕs ecological patterns and the history of the stateÕs various ecosystems, outlining how the challenges of climate change and invasive species and opportunities for regulation and stewardship could potentially affect the stateÕs ecosystems. The text explicitly incorporates both human impacts and conservation and restoration efforts and shows how ecosystems support human well-being. Edited by two esteemed ecosystem ecologists and with overviews by leading experts on each ecosystem, this definitive work will be indispensable for natural resource management and conservation professionals as well as for undergraduate or graduate students of CaliforniaÕs environment and curious naturalists.

Climate Change in Wildlands
Climate Change in Wildlands

Author: Andrew J Hansen

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2016-06-07

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13: 161091712X

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Scientists have been warning for years that human activity is heating up the planet and climate change is under way. We are only just beginning to acknowledge the serious effects this will have on all life on Earth. The federal government is crafting broad-scale strategies to protect wildland ecosystems from the worst effects of climate change. One of the greatest challenges is to get the latest science into the hands of resource managers entrusted with vulnerable wildland ecosystems. This book examines climate and land-use changes in montane environments, assesses the vulnerability of species and ecosystems to these changes, and provides resource managers with collaborative management approaches to mitigate expected impacts. Climate Change in Wildlands proposes a new kind of collaboration between scientists and managers--a science-derived framework and common-sense approaches for keeping parks and protected areas healthy on a rapidly changing planet.

Wildlife Responses to Climate Change
Wildlife Responses to Climate Change

Author: Stephen H. Schneider

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2013-04-10

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 1610911210

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Wildlife Responses to Climate Change is the culmination of a three-year project to research and study the impacts of global climate change on ecosystems and individual wildlife species in North America. In 1997, the National Wildlife Federation provided fellowships to eight outstanding graduate students to conduct research on global climate change, and engaged leading climate change experts Stephen H. Schneider and Terry L. Root to advise and guide the project. This book presents the results, with chapters describing groundbreaking original research by some of the brightest young scientists in America. The book presents case studies that examine: ways in which local and regional climate variables affect butterfly populations and habitat ranges how variations in ocean temperatures have affected intertidal marine species the potential effect of reduced snow cover on plants in the Rocky Mountains the potential effects of climate change on the distribution of vegetation in the United States how climate change may increase the susceptibility of ecosystems to invasions of non-native species the potential for environmental change to alter interactions between a variety of organisms in whitebark pine communities of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Also included are two introductory chapters by Schneider and Root that discuss the rationale behind the project and offer an overview of climate change and its implications for wildlife. Each of the eight case studies provides important information about how biotic systems respond to climatic variables, and how a changing climate may affect biotic systems in the future. They also acknowledge the inherent complexities of problems likely to arise from changes in climate, and demonstrate the types of scientific questions that need to be explored in order to improve our understanding of how climate change and other human disturbances affect wildlife and ecosystems. Wildlife Responses to Climate Change is an important addition to the body of knowledge critical to scientists, resource managers, and policymakers in understanding and shaping solutions to problems caused by climate change. It provides a useful resource for students and scientists studying the effects of climate change on wildlife and will assist resource managers and other wildlife professionals to better understand factors affecting the species they are striving to conserve.

Bears of the World
Bears of the World

Author: Vincenzo Penteriani

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-11-30

Total Pages: 500

ISBN-13: 9781108483520

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Bears have fascinated people since ancient times. The relationship between bears and humans dates back thousands of years, during which time we have also competed with bears for shelter and food. In modern times, bears have come under pressure through encroachment on their habitats, climate change, and illegal trade in their body parts, including the Asian bile bear market. The IUCN lists six bears as vulnerable or endangered, and even the least concern species, such as the brown bear, are at risk of extirpation in certain countries. The poaching and international trade of these most threatened populations are prohibited, but still ongoing. Covering all bears species worldwide, this beautifully illustrated volume brings together the contributions of 200 international bear experts on the ecology, conservation status, and management of the Ursidae family. It reveals the fascinating long history of interactions between humans and bears and the threats affecting these charismatic species.

Why Birds Matter
Why Birds Matter

Author: Çagan H. Sekercioglu

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2016-08-24

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 022638277X

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For over one hundred years, ornithologists and amateur birders have jointly campaigned for the conservation of bird species, documenting not only birds’ beauty and extraordinary diversity, but also their importance to ecosystems worldwide. But while these avian enthusiasts have noted that birds eat fruit, carrion, and pests; spread seed and fertilizer; and pollinate plants, among other services, they have rarely asked what birds are worth in economic terms. In Why Birds Matter, an international collection of ornithologists, botanists, ecologists, conservation biologists, and environmental economists seeks to quantify avian ecosystem services—the myriad benefits that birds provide to humans. The first book to approach ecosystem services from an ornithological perspective, Why Birds Matter asks what economic value we can ascribe to those services, if any, and how this value should inform conservation. Chapters explore the role of birds in such important ecological dynamics as scavenging, nutrient cycling, food chains, and plant-animal interactions—all seen through the lens of human well-being—to show that quantifying avian ecosystem services is crucial when formulating contemporary conservation strategies. Both elucidating challenges and providing examples of specific ecosystem valuations and guidance for calculation, the contributors propose that in order to advance avian conservation, we need to appeal not only to hearts and minds, but also to wallets.

Tending the Wild
Tending the Wild

Author: M. Kat Anderson

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2005-06-14

Total Pages: 560

ISBN-13: 0520933109

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A complex look at California Native ecological practices as a model for environmental sustainability and conservation. John Muir was an early proponent of a view we still hold today—that much of California was pristine, untouched wilderness before the arrival of Europeans. But as this groundbreaking book demonstrates, what Muir was really seeing when he admired the grand vistas of Yosemite and the gold and purple flowers carpeting the Central Valley were the fertile gardens of the Sierra Miwok and Valley Yokuts Indians, modified and made productive by centuries of harvesting, tilling, sowing, pruning, and burning. Marvelously detailed and beautifully written, Tending the Wild is an unparalleled examination of Native American knowledge and uses of California's natural resources that reshapes our understanding of native cultures and shows how we might begin to use their knowledge in our own conservation efforts. M. Kat Anderson presents a wealth of information on native land management practices gleaned in part from interviews and correspondence with Native Americans who recall what their grandparents told them about how and when areas were burned, which plants were eaten and which were used for basketry, and how plants were tended. The complex picture that emerges from this and other historical source material dispels the hunter-gatherer stereotype long perpetuated in anthropological and historical literature. We come to see California's indigenous people as active agents of environmental change and stewardship. Tending the Wild persuasively argues that this traditional ecological knowledge is essential if we are to successfully meet the challenge of living sustainably.