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 Urban Wildlife Management written by Clark E. Adams and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2009-11-24 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the first edition of Urban Wildlife Management was published two years ago, it provided conservationists, ecologists, and wildlife professionals with a welcome shift in the way that interactions between humans and wildlife were viewed and managed. Instead of focusing on ways to evict or eradicate wildlife encroached on by urban development, th

Download or read book Preserving the Desert written by Lary M. Dilsaver and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National parks are different from other federal lands in the United States. Beginning in 1872 with the establishment of Yellowstone, they were largely set aside to preserve for future generations the most spectacular and inspirational features of the country, seeking the best representative examples of major ecosystems such as Yosemite, geologic forms such as the Grand Canyon, archaeological sites such as Mesa Verde, and scenes of human events such as Gettysburg. But one type of habitat--the desert--fell short of that goal in American eyes until travel writers and the Automobile Age began to change that perception. As the Park Service began to explore the better-known Mojave and Colorado deserts of southern California during the 1920s for a possible desert park, many agency leaders still carried the same negative image of arid lands shared by many Americans--that they are hostile and largely useless. But one wealthy woman--Minerva Hamilton Hoyt, from Pasadena--came forward, believing in the value of the desert, and convinced President Franklin D. Roosevelt to establish a national monument that would protect the unique and iconic Joshua trees and other desert flora and fauna. Thus was Joshua Tree National Monument officially established in 1936, with the area later expanded in 1994 when it became Joshua Tree National Park. Since 1936, the National Park Service and a growing cadre of environmentalists and recreationalists have fought to block ongoing proposals from miners, ranchers, private landowners, and real estate developers who historically have refused to accept the idea that any desert is suitable for anything other than their consumptive activities. To their dismay, Joshua Tree National Park, even with its often-conflicting land uses, is more popular today than ever, serving more than one million visitors per year who find the desert to be a place worthy of respect and preservation. Distributed for George Thompson Publishing

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 Primates in Peril written by Christoph Schwitzer and published by . This book was released on 2017-11-15 with total page 107 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every two years we produce this report of the World's 25 Most Endangered Primates compiled from primatologists attending the International Primatological Society Congress.

Download or read book Mangrove Ecosystems A Global Biogeographic Perspective written by Victor H. Rivera-Monroy and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-11-03 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a comprehensive overview and analysis of mangrove ecological processes, structure, and function at the local, biogeographic, and global scales and how these properties interact to provide key ecosystem services to society. The analysis is based on an international collaborative effort that focuses on regions and countries holding the largest mangrove resources and encompasses the major biogeographic and socio-economic settings of mangrove distribution. Given the economic and ecological importance of mangrove wetlands at the global scale, the chapters aim to integrate ecological and socio-economic perspectives on mangrove function and management using a system-level hierarchical analysis framework. The book explores the nexus between mangrove ecology and the capacity for ecosystem services, with an emphasis on thresholds, multiple stressors, and local conditions that determine this capacity. The interdisciplinary approach and illustrative study cases included in the book will provide valuable resources in data, information, and knowledge about the current status of one of the most productive coastal ecosystem in the world.

Download or read book Effects of Anthropogenic Noise on Animals written by Hans Slabbekoorn and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-08-20 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past several years, many investigators interested in the effects of man-made sounds on animals have come to realize that there is much to gain from studying the broader literature on hearing sound and the effects of sound as well as data from the effects on humans. It has also become clear that knowledge of the effects of sound on one group of animals (e.g., birds or frogs) can guide studies on other groups (e.g., marine mammals or fishes) and that a review of all such studies together would be very useful to get a better understanding of the general principles and underlying cochlear and cognitive mechanisms that explain damage, disturbance, and deterrence across taxa. The purpose of this volume, then, is to provide a comprehensive review of the effects of man-made sounds on animals, with the goal of fulfilling two major needs. First, it was thought to be important to bring together data on sound and bioacoustics that have implications across all taxa (including humans) so that such information is generally available to the community of scholars interested in the effects of sound. This is done in Chaps. 2-5. Second, in Chaps. 6-10, the volume brings together what is known about the effects of sound on diverse vertebrate taxa so that investigators with interests in specific groups can learn from the data and experimental approaches from other species. Put another way, having an overview of the similarities and discrepancies among various animal groups and insight into the “how and why” will benefit the overall conceptual understanding, applications in society, and all future research.

Download or read book National Parks and Protected Areas written by James Gordon Nelson and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-06-29 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National parks and protected areas offer a wealth of ecological and social contributions or services to humans and life on earth. This book describes the strengths of national parks and protected areas in different parts of Europe and North America and the challenges to the full realization of their goals. It shows that they are useful not only in conserving rare species and biodiversity, but also in protecting water supply and other resources necessary to tourism and to economic and social development generally. Ideas and information on useful planning, management and decision-making arrangements are presented, and research needs are identified.

Download or read book Large Carnivores and the Conservation of Biodiversity written by Justina Ray and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2013-04-09 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Large Carnivores and the Conservation of Biodiversity brings together more than thirty leading scientists and conservation practitioners to consider a key question in environmental conservation: Is the conservation of large carnivores in ecosystems that evolved with their presence equivalent to the conservation of biological diversity within those systems? Building their discussions from empirical, long-term data sets, contributors including James A. Estes, David S. Maehr, Tim McClanahan, Andrès J. Novaro, John Terborgh, and Rosie Woodroffe explore a variety of issues surrounding the link between predation and biodiversity: What is the evidence for or against the link? Is it stronger in marine systems? What are the implications for conservation strategies? Large Carnivores and the Conservation of Biodiversity is the first detailed, broad-scale examination of the empirical evidence regarding the role of large carnivores in biodiversity conservation in both marine and terrestrial ecosystems. It contributes to a much more precise and global understanding of when, where, and whether protecting and restoring top predators will directly contribute to the conservation of biodiversity. Everyone concerned with ecology, biodiversity, or large carnivores will find this volume a unique and thought-provoking analysis and synthesis.

Download or read book Urban Wildlife Conservation written by Robert A. McCleery and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-11-11 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the past, wildlife living in urban areas were ignored by wildlife professionals and urban planners because cities were perceived as places for people and not for wild animals. Paradoxically, though, many species of wildlife thrive in these built environments. Interactions between humans and wildlife are more frequent in urban areas than any other place on earth and these interactions impact human health, safety and welfare in both positive and negative ways. Although urban wildlife control pest species, pollinate plants and are fun to watch, they also damage property, spread disease and even attack people and pets. In urban areas, the combination of dense human populations, buildings, impermeable surfaces, introduced vegetation, and high concentrations of food, water and pollution alter wildlife populations and communities in ways unseen in more natural environments. For these ecological and practical reasons, researchers and mangers have shown a growing interest in urban wildlife ecology and management. This growing interest in urban wildlife has inspired many studies on the subject that have yet to be synthesized in a cohesive narrative. Urban Wildlife: Theory and Practice fills this void by synthesizing the latest ecological and social knowledge in the subject area into an interdisciplinary and practical text. This volume provides a foundation for the future growth and understanding of urban wildlife ecology and management by: • Clearly defining th e concepts used to study and describe urban wildlife, • Offering a cohesive understanding of the coupled natural and social drivers that shape urban wildlife ecology, • Presenting the patterns and processes of wildlife response to an urbanizing world and explaining the mechanisms behind them and • Proposing means to create physical and social environments that are mutually beneficial for both humans and wildlife.

Download or read book Amphibians of Western North America written by Robert C. Stebbins and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2023-12-22 with total page 633 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1951. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived

Download or read book Biodiversity written by N. Biedinger and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-06-29 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biodiversity, sometimes simply understood as "diversity of species", is a specific quality of life on our planet, the dimensions and importance of which have just lately been fully realized. Today we know that "biological diversity is a global asset of incalculable value to present and future generations" (Kofi Annan). Biodiversity is spread unequally over the world: in fact, the main share of biological resources worldwide is harboured predominantly by the so-called developing countries in the tropics and sub tropics. Therefore, Biodiversity - A Challenge for Development Research and Policy was chosen as the title for an international conference which was held in Bonn in 1997 as one of the first major events organized by the then newly established North-South Centre for Development Research (ZEF) at Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat Bonn (Germany). Since the ZEF, founded by the Senate of the University of Bonn in 1995, has played a central role in turning Bonn into a centre for international cooperation and North-South dialogue. The Centre is a product of the Bonn Berlin agreement of July 1994 which was adopted to offset the effects caused by the Parliament and much of the Government moving to Berlin. It fits in well with the double strategy to strengthen Bonn's position as an interna tional science arena and as an eminent place for development policy and the national and supranational agencies dealing with this issue.

Download or read book Changes in the Land written by William Cronon and published by Hill and Wang. This book was released on 2011-04-01 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book that launched environmental history, William Cronon's Changes in the Land, now revised and updated. Winner of the Francis Parkman Prize In this landmark work of environmental history, William Cronon offers an original and profound explanation of the effects European colonists' sense of property and their pursuit of capitalism had upon the ecosystems of New England. Reissued here with an updated afterword by the author and a new preface by the distinguished colonialist John Demos, Changes in the Land, provides a brilliant inter-disciplinary interpretation of how land and people influence one another. With its chilling closing line, "The people of plenty were a people of waste," Cronon's enduring and thought-provoking book is ethno-ecological history at its best.

Download or read book Secrets of the Oak Woodlands written by Kate Marianchild and published by Heyday Books. This book was released on 2013-08-15 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Californian may vacation in Yosemite, Big Sur, or Death Valley, but many of us come home to an oak woodland. Yet, while common, oak woodlands are anything but ordinary. In a book rich in illustration and suffused with wonder, author Kate Marianchild combines extensive research and years of personal experience to explore some of the marvelous plants and animals that the oak woodlands nurture. Acorn woodpeckers unite in marriages of up to ten mates and raise their young cooperatively. Ground squirrels roll in rattlesnake skins to hide their scent from hungry snakes. Manzanita's rust-colored, paper-thin bark peels away in time for the summer solstice, exposing sinuous contours that are cool to the touch even on the hottest day. Conveying up-to-the-minute scientific findings with a storyteller's skill, Marianchild introduces us to a host of remarkable creatures in a world close by, a world that "rustles, hums, and sings with the sounds of wild things."

Download or read book Bhutan Conservation and Environmental Protection in the Himalayas written by Ugyen Tshewang and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-01-15 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Located in the heart of the Eastern Himalayas, Bhutan practices the philosophy of Gross National Happiness (“GNH”) that embraces environmental conservation as one of the main building blocks for its sustainable development goals. Bhutan’s conservation strategies and success are largely driven by the strong political will and visionary leadership of His Majesty the King of Bhutan The nation’s Buddhist perspectives regarding a deep and abiding respect for nature; and the strategic enforcement of a wide-ranging stringent set of internal regulations and controls have helped ensure ecological gold standards in Bhutan. Moreover, the country is an active member of the international conservation community by fulfilling its implementation of various Multilateral Environment Agreements. While it emerged into the 21st century as one of the 36 global terrestrial “hotspots” in biological diversity conservation ranks, Bhutan’s sheer commitment with more than 51% of its territory being managed under the explicit status of a protected area network, and more than 70% of the land under forest cover, represents Bhutan’s exemplary dedication to protect the planet despite its smallness in size and economy, and the biological fragility exemplified by its hotspot situation. In the face of imminent severe threats of global warming, Bhutan nonetheless exemplifies the truth that “a small country with a big conservation commitment” can make an enormous contribution to the global community. At the regional level, Bhutan is intent upon protecting the Water Towers of Asia (that glacial expanse of the Himalayas) which is a critical resource bulwark for about one-fifth of the global population downstream in South Asia. Such protections invariably help mitigate climate change by acting as a nation-wide carbon sink through its carbon neutral policies. In short, Bhutan has long represented one of the world’s foremost national guardians of biodiversity conservation, ecological good governance, and societal sustainability at a period when the world has entered the Anthropocene – an epoch of mass extinctions. We envision this publication to be ecologically and ethically provocative and revealing for the concerned scientific communities, and governments. Through an extensive review of the scientific and anthropological literature, as well as the research team's own data, the Author's have set forth timely recommendations for conservation policies, strategies and actions. This book provides technical and deeply considered assessments of the state of Bhutan’s environment, its multiple, human-induced stressors and pressures; as well as extremely sound, practical techniques that would address conservation strategies in the Himalayas and, by implication, worldwide.

Download or read book The Los Angeles River written by Blake Gumprecht and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2001-04-30 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the J. B. Jackson Prize from the Association of American Geographers Three centuries ago, the Los Angeles River meandered through marshes and forests of willow and sycamore. Trout spawned in its waters and grizzly bears roamed its shores. The bountiful environment the river helped create supported one of the largest concentrations of Indians in North America. Today, the river is made almost entirely of concrete. Chain-link fence and barbed wire line its course. Shopping carts and trash litter its channel. Little water flows in the river most of the year, and nearly all that does is treated sewage and oily street runoff. On much of its course, the river looks more like a deserted freeway than a river. The river's contemporary image belies its former character and its importance to the development of Southern California. Los Angeles would not exist were it not for the river, and the river was crucial to its growth. Recognizing its past and future potential, a potent movement has developed to revitalize its course. The Los Angeles River offers the first comprehensive account of a river that helped give birth to one of the world's great cities, significantly shaped its history, and promises to play a key role in its future.

Download or read book The Amphibians and Reptiles of Mindo written by Alejandro Arteaga and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: