Download or read book Conservation by Proxy written by Tim Caro and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2010-06-23 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The vast scope of conservation problems has forced biologists and managers to rely on "surrogate" species to serve as shortcuts to guide their decision making. These species-known by a host of different terms, including indicator, umbrella, and flagship species-act as proxies to represent larger conservation issues, such as the location of biodiversity hotspots or general ecosystem health. Synthesizing an immense body of literature, conservation biologist and field researcher Tim Caro offers systematic definitions of surrogate species concepts, explores biological theories that underlie them, considers how surrogate species are chosen, critically examines evidence for and against their utility, and makes recommendations for their continued use. The book clarifies terminology and contrasts how different terms are used in the real world considers the ecological, taxonomic, and political underpinnings of these shortcuts identifies criteria that make for good surrogate species outlines the circumstances where the application of the surrogate species concept shows promise Conservation by Proxy is a benchmark reference that provides clear definitions and common understanding of the evidence and theory behind surrogate species. It is the first book to review and bring together literature on more than fifteen types of surrogate species, enabling us to assess their role in conservation and offering guidelines on how they can be used most effectively.
Download or read book Machine Learning for Ecology and Sustainable Natural Resource Management written by Grant Humphries and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-11-05 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ecologists and natural resource managers are charged with making complex management decisions in the face of a rapidly changing environment resulting from climate change, energy development, urban sprawl, invasive species and globalization. Advances in Geographic Information System (GIS) technology, digitization, online data availability, historic legacy datasets, remote sensors and the ability to collect data on animal movements via satellite and GPS have given rise to large, highly complex datasets. These datasets could be utilized for making critical management decisions, but are often “messy” and difficult to interpret. Basic artificial intelligence algorithms (i.e., machine learning) are powerful tools that are shaping the world and must be taken advantage of in the life sciences. In ecology, machine learning algorithms are critical to helping resource managers synthesize information to better understand complex ecological systems. Machine Learning has a wide variety of powerful applications, with three general uses that are of particular interest to ecologists: (1) data exploration to gain system knowledge and generate new hypotheses, (2) predicting ecological patterns in space and time, and (3) pattern recognition for ecological sampling. Machine learning can be used to make predictive assessments even when relationships between variables are poorly understood. When traditional techniques fail to capture the relationship between variables, effective use of machine learning can unearth and capture previously unattainable insights into an ecosystem's complexity. Currently, many ecologists do not utilize machine learning as a part of the scientific process. This volume highlights how machine learning techniques can complement the traditional methodologies currently applied in this field.
Download or read book Fungal Diseases written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2011-10-08 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fungal diseases have contributed to death and disability in humans, triggered global wildlife extinctions and population declines, devastated agricultural crops, and altered forest ecosystem dynamics. Despite the extensive influence of fungi on health and economic well-being, the threats posed by emerging fungal pathogens to life on Earth are often underappreciated and poorly understood. On December 14 and 15, 2010, the IOM's Forum on Microbial Threats hosted a public workshop to explore the scientific and policy dimensions associated with the causes and consequences of emerging fungal diseases.
Download or read book Wildlife habitat Relationships in Oregon and Washington written by David H. Johnson and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 764 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume provides information about the terrestrial, freshwater, and marine habitats of Oregon and Washington and the wildlife that depend upon them; it also supports broader and more consistent conservation planning, management, and research. The 27 chapters identify 593 wildlife species, define some 300 wildlife terms, profile wildlife communities, review introduced and extirpated species and species at risk, and discuss management approaches. The volume includes color and bandw photographs, maps, diagrams, and illustrations; and the accompanying CD-ROM contains additional wildlife data (60,000 records), maps, and seven matrixes that link wildlife species with their respective habitat types. Johnson is a wildlife biologist, engineer, and habitat scientist; and O'Neill is director of the Northwest Habitat Institute; they worked together on this publication project as its managing directors. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR
Download or read book The Physical Geography of South America written by Thomas T. Veblen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015-04-01 with total page 750 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Physical Geography of South America, the eighth volume in the Oxford Regional Environments series, presents an enduring statement on the physical and biogeographic conditions of this remarkable continent and their relationships to human activity. It fills a void in recent environmental literature by assembling a team of specialists from within and beyond South America in order to provide an integrated, cross-disciplinary body of knowledge about this mostly tropical continent, together with its high mountains and temperate southern cone. The authors systematically cover the main components of the South American environment - tectonism, climate, glaciation, natural landscape changes, rivers, vegetation, animals, and soils. The book then presents more specific treatments of regions with special attributes from the tropical forests of the Amazon basin to the Atacama Desert and Patagonian steppe, and from the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Pacific coasts to the high Andes. Additionally, the continents environments are given a human face by evaluating the roles played by people over time, from pre-European and European colonial impacts to the effects of modern agriculture and urbanization, and from interactions with El Niño events to prognoses for the future environments of the continent.
Download or read book Post wildfire Sedimentation in Saguaro National Park Rincon Mountain District and Effects on Lowland Leopard Frog Habitat written by John T. C. Parker and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Acid Precipitation Studies in Colorado and Wyoming written by Paul Stephen Corn and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Windows into the Earth written by Robert B. Smith and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2000-05-25 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Millions of years ago, the North American continent was dragged over the world's largest continental hotspot, a huge column of hot and molten rock rising from the Earth's interior that traced a 50-mile wide, 500-mile-long path northeastward across Idaho. Generating cataclysmic volcanic eruptions and large earthquakes, the hotspot helped lift the Yellowstone Plateau to more than 7,000 feet and pushed the northern Rockies to new heights, forming unusually large glaciers to carve the landscape. It also created the jewel of the U.S. national park system: Yellowstone. Meanwhile, forces stretching apart the western U.S. created the mountainous glory of Grand Teton National Park. These two parks, with their majestic mountains, dazzling geysers, and picturesque hot springs, are windows into the Earth's interior, revealing the violent power of the dynamic processes within. Smith and Siegel offer expert guidance through this awe-inspiring terrain, bringing to life the grandeur of these geologic phenomena as they reveal the forces that have shaped--and continue to shape--the greater Yellowstone-Teton region. Over seventy illustrations--including fifty-two in full color--illuminate the breathtaking beauty of the landscape, while two final chapters provide driving tours of the parks to help visitors enjoy and understand the regions wonders. Fascinating and informative, this book affords us a striking new perspective on Earth's creative forces.
Download or read book Rivers of North America written by Michael D. Delong and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2023-04-20 with total page 1109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rivers of North America, Second Edition features new updates on rivers included in the first edition, as well as brand new information on additional rivers. This new edition expands the knowledge base, providing readers with a broader comparative approach to understand both the common and distinct attributes of river networks. The first edition addressed the three primary disciplines of river science: hydrology, geomorphology, and ecology. This new edition expands upon the interactive nature of these disciplines, showing how they define the organization of a riverine landscape and its processes. An essential resource for river scientists working in ecology, hydrology, and geomorphology. - Provides a single source of information on North America's major rivers - Features authoritative information on more than 200 rivers from regional specialists - Includes full-color photographs and topographical maps to illustrate the beauty, major features, and uniqueness of each river system - Offers one-page summaries help readers quickly find key statistics and make comparisons among rivers
Download or read book Amphibian Declines written by Michael J. Lannoo and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2005-06-15 with total page 1124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Documents in comprehensive detail a major environmental crisis: rapidly declining amphibian populations and the disturbing developmental problems that are increasingly prevalent within many amphibian species.
Download or read book Metapopulation Ecology written by Ilkka Hanski and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1999-03-18 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by a world renowned biologist, this volume offers a comprehensive synthesis of current research in this rapidly expanding area of population biology. It covers both the essential theory and a wide range of empirical studies, including the author's groundbreaking work on the Glanville fritillary butterfly. It also includes practical applications to conservation biology. The book describes theoretical models for metapopulation dynamics in highly fragmented landscapes and emphasizes spatially realistic models. It presents the incidence function model and includes several detailed examples of its application. Accessible to advanced undergraduate and graduate students, Metapopulation Ecology will be a valuable resource for researchers in population biology, conservation biology, and landscape ecology.
Download or read book Resource Selection by Animals written by B.F. Manly and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-05-08 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We have written this book as a guide to the design and analysis of field studies of resource selection, concentrating primarily on statistical aspects of the comparison of the use and availability of resources of different types. Our intended audience is field ecologists in general and, in particular, wildlife and fisheries biologists who are attempting to measure the extent to which real animal populations are selective in their choice of food and habitat. As such, we have made no attempt to address those aspects of theoretical ecology that are concerned with how animals might choose their resources if they acted in an optimal manner. The book is based on the concept of a resource selection function (RSF), where this is a function of characteristics measured on resourceunits such that its value for a unit is proportional to the probability of that unit being used. We argue that this concept leads to a unified theory for the analysis and interpretation of data on resource selection and can replace many ad hoc statistical methods that have been used in the past.
Download or read book Response of Two Terrestrial Salamander Species to Spring Burning in the Sierra Nevada California written by Karen Elizabeth Bagne and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Terrestrial salamanders may be vulnerable to prescribed fire applications due to their moist, permeable skin and limited mobility. We present data collected on terrestrial salamander populations in a ponderosa pine-dominated forest in the Sierra Nevada where fire was applied in the spring. Two species, Sierra ensatina (Ensatina eschscholtzi platensis) and gregarious slender salamander (Batrachoseps gregarius), were captured under coverboards. Capture rates of ensatinas declined within the first 2 years after burning, but postfire captures were similar to or greater than capture rates on unburned plots. Capture rates of slender salamanders were more variable, but high capture rates on burned plots suggest they persist following fire. We captured fewer small ensatinas within 2 years of burning, but sizes of slender salamanders pre and post burning were similar. Salamanders were captured in both closed and open canopy forests, and presence under individual coverboards was associated with deeper litter and greater canopy closure. Coverboards may be avoided for a year or more by gregarious slender salamanders, and capture rates were highest during winter and early spring. Though sample sizes were small and conclusions should be made with caution, results indicated no strong adverse effects from spring burning. Suitable habitat may have been maintained by the patchy burn pattern characteristic of spring burns.
Download or read book Safe Passages written by Jon P. Beckmann and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2012-04-20 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Safe Passages brings together in a single volume the latest information on the emerging science of road ecology as it relates to mitigating interactions between roads and wildlife. This practical handbook of tools and examples is designed to assist individuals and organizations thinking about or working toward reducing road-wildlife impacts. The book provides: an overview of the importance of habitat connectivity with regard to roads current planning approaches and technologies for mitigating the impacts of highways on both terrestrial and aquatic species different facets of public participation in highway-wildlife connectivity mitigation projects case studies from partnerships across North America that highlight successful on-the-ground implementation of ecological and engineering solutions recent innovative highway-wildlife mitigation developments Detailed case studies span a range of scales, from site-specific wildlife crossing structures, to statewide planning for habitat connectivity, to national legislation. Contributors explore the cooperative efforts that are emerging as a result of diverse organizations—including transportation agencies, land and wildlife management agencies, and nongovernmental organizations—finding common ground to tackle important road ecology issues and problems. Safe Passages is an important new resource for local-, state-, and national-level managers and policymakers working on road-wildlife issues, and will appeal to a broad audience including scientists, agency personnel, planners, land managers, transportation consultants, students, conservation organizations, policymakers, and citizens engaged in road-wildlife mitigation projects.
Download or read book Wildlife Disease Ecology written by Kenneth Wilson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-14 with total page 693 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduces readers to key case studies that illustrate how theory and data can be integrated to understand wildlife disease ecology.
Download or read book Wilderness Management written by John C. Hendee and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Amphibians of the Pacific Northwest written by Lawrence L. C. Jones and published by Branch Line Video. This book was released on 2005 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Sponsored by: Society for Northwestern Vertebrate Biology, USDA Forest Service"--Title page verso.
