Download or read book The Ecology of Browsing and Grazing written by Iain J. Gordon and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-09-14 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume investigates how large herbivores not only influence the structure and distribution of the vegetation, but also affect nutrient flows and the responses of associated fauna. The mechanisms and processes underlying the herbivores' behavior, distribution, movement and direct impact on the vegetation are discussed in detail. It is shown that an understanding of plant/animal interactions can inform the management of large herbivores to integrate production and conservation in terrestrial systems.

Download or read book Annual Report written by Maine Agricultural Experiment Station and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Small Carnivores written by Emmanuel Do Linh San and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2022-07-25 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Small Carnivores: Evolution, Ecology, Behaviour, and Conservation This book focuses on the 232 species of the mammalian Order Carnivora with an average body mass 21.5 kg. Small carnivores inhabit virtually all of the Earth's ecosystems, adopting terrestrial, semi-fossorial, (semi-)arboreal or (semi-)aquatic lifestyles. They occupy multiple trophic levels and therefore play important roles in the regulation of ecosystems, such as natural pest control, seed dispersal and nutrient cycling. In areas where humans have extirpated large carnivores, small carnivores may become the dominant predators, which may increase their abundance ("mesopredator release") to the point that they can sometimes destabilize communities, drive local extirpations and reduce overall biodiversity. On the other hand, one third of the world's small carnivores are threatened or near threatened with extinction. This results from regionally burgeoning human populations' industrial and agricultural activities, causing habitat reduction, destruction, fragmentation and pollution. Overexploitation, persecution and the impacts of introduced predators, competitors, and pathogens have also negatively affected many small carnivore species. Although small carnivores have been intensively studied over the past decades, bibliometric studies showed that they have not received the same attention given to large carnivores. Furthermore, there is huge disparity in how research efforts on small carnivores have been distributed, with some species intensively studied and others superficially or not at all. This book aims at filling a gap in the scientific literature by elucidating the important roles of, and documenting the latest knowledge on, the world's small carnivores. p"This is a book that has been needed for decades. It is the first compendium of recent research on a group of mammals which has received almost no attention before the early 1970s. This book covers a wide range of subdisciplines and techniques and should be considered a solid baseline for further research on this little-known group of highly interesting mammals. As our knowledge regarding how ecosystems function increases, then the valuable role of small carnivores and the necessity for their conservation should be regarded as of paramount importance. The topics covered in this book should therefore be of great interest not only to academics and wildlife researchers, but also to the interested layman."

Download or read book Landscape Ecology in Theory and Practice written by Monica G. Turner and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-05-08 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An ideal text for students taking a course in landscape ecology. The book has been written by very well-known practitioners and pioneers in the new field of ecological analysis. Landscape ecology has emerged during the past two decades as a new and exciting level of ecological study. Environmental problems such as global climate change, land use change, habitat fragmentation and loss of biodiversity have required ecologists to expand their traditional spatial and temporal scales and the widespread availability of remote imagery, geographic information systems, and desk top computing has permitted the development of spatially explicit analyses. In this new text book this new field of landscape ecology is given the first fully integrated treatment suitable for the student. Throughout, the theoretical developments, modeling approaches and results, and empirical data are merged together, so as not to introduce barriers to the synthesis of the various approaches that constitute an effective ecological synthesis. The book also emphasizes selected topic areas in which landscape ecology has made the most contributions to our understanding of ecological processes, as well as identifying areas where its contributions have been limited. Each chapter features questions for discussion as well as recommended reading.

Download or read book The Nature of Nutrition written by Stephen J. Simpson and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2012-07-22 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nutrition has long been considered more the domain of medicine and agriculture than of the biological sciences, yet it touches and shapes all aspects of the natural world. The need for nutrients determines whether wild animals thrive, how populations evolve and decline, and how ecological communities are structured. 'The Nature of Nutrition' addresses nutrition's enormously complex role in biology, both at the level of individual organisms and in their broader ecological interactions.

Download or read book Annual Report written by Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Ecology of Fragmented Landscapes written by Sharon K. Collinge and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2009-06 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ask airline passengers what they see as they gaze out the window, and they will describe a fragmented landscape: a patchwork of desert, woodlands, farmlands, and developed neighborhoods. Once-contiguous forests are now subdivided; tallgrass prairies that extended for thousands of miles are now crisscrossed by highways and byways. Whether the result of naturally occurring environmental changes or the product of seemingly unchecked human development, fractured lands significantly impact the planet’s biological diversity. In Ecology of Fragmented Landscapes, Sharon K. Collinge defines fragmentation, explains its various causes, and suggests ways that we can put our lands back together. Researchers have been studying the ecological effects of dismantling nature for decades. In this book, Collinge evaluates this body of research, expertly synthesizing all that is known about the ecology of fragmented landscapes. Expanding on the traditional coverage of this topic, Collinge also discusses disease ecology, restoration, conservation, and planning. Not since Richard T. T. Forman's classic Land Mosaics has there been a more comprehensive examination of landscape fragmentation. Ecology of Fragmented Landscapes is critical reading for ecologists, conservation biologists, and students alike.

Download or read book Mosaic Landscapes and Ecological Processes written by L. Hansson and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This series presents studies that have used the paradigm of landscape ecology. Other approaches, both to landscape and landscape ecology are common, but in the last decade landscape ecology has become distinct from its predecessors and its contemporaries. Landscape ecology addresses the relationships among spatial patterns, temporal patterns and ecological processes. The effect of spatial configurations on ecological processes is fundamental. When human activity is an important variable affecting those relationships, landscape ecology includes it. Spatial and temporal scales are as large as needed for comprehension of system processes and the mosaic included may be very heterogeneous. Intellec tual utility and applicability of results are valued equally. The Inter national Association for Landscape Ecology sponsors this series of studies in order to introduce and disseminate some of the new knowledge that is being produced by this exciting new environmental science. Gray Merriam Ottawa, Canada Foreword This is a book about real nature, or as close to real as we know - a nature of heterogeneous landscapes, wild and humanized, fine-grained and coarse-grained, wet and dry, hilly and flat, temperate and not so temper ate. Real nature is never uniform. At whatever spatial scale we examine nature, we encounter patchiness. If we were to look down from high above at a landscape of millions of hectares, using a zoom lens to move in and out from broad overview to detailed inspection of a square meter we would see that patterns visible at different scales overlay one another.

Download or read book Using Landscape Simulation Models to Help Balance Conflicting Goals in Changing Forests written by Anouschka R. Hof and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2022-01-06 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Spatial Ecology and Conservation Modeling written by Robert Fletcher and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-02-15 with total page 531 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a foundation for modern applied ecology. Much of current ecology research and conservation addresses problems across landscapes and regions, focusing on spatial patterns and processes. This book is aimed at teaching fundamental concepts and focuses on learning-by-doing through the use of examples with the software R. It is intended to provide an entry-level, easily accessible foundation for students and practitioners interested in spatial ecology and conservation.

Download or read book Avian Energetics and Nutritional Ecology written by C. Carey and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 557 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A symposium held in 1973 chaired and organized by William R. Dawson was the first major attempt to summarize and synthesize the existing information in the then emerging field of avian energetics. The symposium featured papers by James R. King, William A. Calder III, Vance A. Tucker, and Robert E. Ricklefs and com mentaries by George A. Bartholomew, S. Charles Kendeigh, and Eugene P. Odum. The proceedings of the symposium, Avian Energetics (Paynter 1974), played a critical role in stimulating interest and research in the field of avian energetics. Some twenty-odd years later, we are making another attempt to summarize the information in the field of avian energetics. Some obvious differences exist be tween its predecessor and this volume. Numerous improvements in methodology, such as the use of doubly labeled water to estimate metabolism in free-living birds, now allow researchers to ask questions that could not be addressed previ ously. Second, consideration of nutrition is now inseparable from that of energet ics. This merger is necessary not only because food intake is the source of both en ergy and nutrients but also because one or more nutrients, rather than energy, can be limiting for a given species in a particular instance. Finally, the study of ener getics and nutritional ecology, particularly in birds and mammals, has grown so dramatically that a single volume can now only partially cover the range of possi ble topics and can catalogue only a sampling of all the studies on the subject.

Download or read book How Primates Eat written by Joanna E. Lambert and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2024-07-16 with total page 761 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring everything from nutrients to food acquisition and research methods, a comprehensive synthesis of the study of diet and feeding in nonhuman primates. What do we mean when we say that a diet is nutritious? Why can some animals get all the energy they need from eating leaves while others would perish on such a diet? Why don’t mountain gorillas eat fruit all day as chimpanzees do? Answers to these questions about food and feeding are among the many tasty morsels that emerge from this authoritative book. Informed by the latest scientific tools and millions of hours of field and laboratory work on species across the primate order and around the globe, this volume is an exhaustive synthesis of our understanding of what, why, and how primates eat. State-of-the-art information presented at physiological, behavioral, ecological, and evolutionary scales will serve as a road map for graduate students, researchers, and practitioners as they work toward a holistic understanding of life as a primate and the urgent conservation consequences of diet and food availability in a changing world.

Download or read book Wildlife Behavior and Conservation written by Richard H. Yahner and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-12-22 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Begins with in-depth coverage of wildlife behavior concepts as they relate to conservation problems. Topics will focus principally on discussion, critique, and development of behavioral concepts, with particular attention given to published studies on various topics in wildlife behavioral concepts as related to conservation and natural history. He will include an extensive list of references.

Download or read book Missouri Landscapes written by Jon L. Hawker and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In this magnificent book, Oliver Schuchard provides more than sixty-five exquisite black-and-white photographs spanning his thirty-eight years of photography. In addition, he explains the aesthetic rationale and techniques he used in order to produce these photographs, emphasizing the profound differences between, yet necessary interdependence of, craft and content. Although Schuchard believes that craft is important, he maintains that the idea behind the photograph and the emotional content of the image are equally vital and are, in fact, functions of one another. The author also shares components of his life experience that he believes helped shape his development as an artist and a teacher. He chose the splendid photographs included in this book from among nearly 5,000 negatives that had been exposed all over the world, from Missouri to Maine, California, Alaska, Colorado, France, Newfoundland, and Hawaii, among many other locations. Approximately 250 negatives survived the initial review, and each of those was printed before a final decision was made on which photographs were to be featured in the book. The final choices are representative of Schuchard's work and serve to substantiate his belief that craft, concept, and self must be fully understood and carefully melded for a good photograph to occur. This amazing work by award-winning photographer Oliver Schuchard will be treasured by professional and amateur photographers alike, as well as by anyone who simply enjoys superb photography."--Publishers website.

Download or read book Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2013-10-04 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program: A Way Forward reviews the science that underpins the Bureau of Land Management's oversight of free-ranging horses and burros on federal public lands in the western United States, concluding that constructive changes could be implemented. The Wild Horse and Burro Program has not used scientifically rigorous methods to estimate the population sizes of horses and burros, to model the effects of management actions on the animals, or to assess the availability and use of forage on rangelands. Evidence suggests that horse populations are growing by 15 to 20 percent each year, a level that is unsustainable for maintaining healthy horse populations as well as healthy ecosystems. Promising fertility-control methods are available to help limit this population growth, however. In addition, science-based methods exist for improving population estimates, predicting the effects of management practices in order to maintain genetically diverse, healthy populations, and estimating the productivity of rangelands. Greater transparency in how science-based methods are used to inform management decisions may help increase public confidence in the Wild Horse and Burro Program.

Download or read book Sexual Segregation in Ungulates written by R. Terry Bowyer and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2022-11-15 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why does it benefit some male and female animals to live separately? Sexual segregation, wherein the sexes of a species live apart for long periods of time, has far-reaching consequences for the ecology, behavior, and conservation of hooved mammals, which are called ungulates. Award-winning researcher R. Terry Bowyer has spent the past four decades unravelling the causes and consequences of this perplexing phenomenon by studying ungulates and the large carnivores that prey upon them. In Sexual Segregation in Ungulates, Bowyer's critical, thought-provoking approach helps resolve long-standing disagreements concerning sexual segregation and offers future pathways for species and habitat conservation. He highlights important elements of the natural history of wild ungulate species, including bighorn sheep and elk. He then uses this perspective to frame and test hypotheses illuminating the motivations behind sexual segregation. He investigates the role of sexual segregation in mechanisms underpinning ungulate mating systems, sexual dimorphism, paternal behavior, and population dynamics. Bowyer's research spans ecosystems from deserts to the Arctic and involves most species of ungulates inhabiting the North American continent. He also provides a timely review of sexual segregation for species of plants and other animals, including humans. Covering definitions, theory, findings, and practical applications of related study, Bowyer describes the behavioral patterns related to sexual segregation, explains how to detect these patterns, and considers the implications of sexual segregation for new approaches to conservation and management of ungulates and other species of wildlife. This book is essential reading for scientists and all those interested in the conservation and management of species, including wildlife professionals, hunters, outdoor enthusiasts, and naturalists.

Download or read book The Wildlife Techniques Manual written by Nova J. Silvy and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2020-07-28 with total page 1401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The #1 selling wildlife management book for 40 years, now updated for the next generation of professionals and students. Since its original publication in 1960, The Wildlife Techniques Manual has remained the cornerstone text for the professional wildlife biologist. Now fully revised and updated, this eighth edition promises to be the most comprehensive resource on wildlife biology, conservation, and management for years to come. Superbly edited by Nova J. Silvy and published in association with The Wildlife Society, the 50 authoritative chapters included in this work provide a full synthesis of methods used in the field and laboratory. Chapter authors, all leading wildlife professionals, explain and critique traditional and new methodologies and offer thorough discussions of a wide range of relevant topics. To effectively incorporate the explosion of new information in the wildlife profession, this latest edition is logically organized into a 2-volume set: Volume 1 is devoted to research techniques and Volume 2 focuses on pragmatic management methodologies. Volume 1 describes research design and proper analytic methods prior to conducting research, as well as methods and considerations for capturing and handling wild animals and information on identification and marking of captured animals. It also includes new chapters on nutritional research and field sign identification, and on emerging topics, including structured decision-making. Finally, Volume 1 addresses measurements of wildlife abundance and habitat and research on individual animals. Volume 2 begins with a section on the relationship between research and management including public outreach, described in a context that encourages engagement prior to initiation of management. An adaptive management approach is described as a cornerstone of natural resource management, followed by a section on managing landscapes and wildlife populations. The volume also includes new chapters on ethics in wildlife science and conservation, conflict resolution and management, and land reclamation. A standard text in a variety of courses, the Techniques Manual, as it is commonly called, covers every aspect of modern wildlife management and provides practical information for applying the hundreds of methods described in its pages. This deft and thorough update ensures that The Wildlife Techniques Manual will remain an indispensable resource, one that professionals and students in wildlife biology, conservation, and management simply cannot do without.