Download or read book Land of Sweeping Plains written by Nicholas S. G. Williams and published by CSIRO PUBLISHING. This book was released on 2015-04-22 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Native temperate grasslands are Australia’s most threatened ecosystems. Grasslands have been eliminated from across much of their former extent and continue to be threatened by urban expansion, agricultural intensification, weed invasion and the uncertain impacts of climate change. Research, however, is showing us new ways to manage grasslands, and techniques for restoration are advancing. The importance of ongoing stewardship also means it is vital to develop new strategies to encourage a broader cross-section of society to understand and appreciate native grasslands and their ecology. Land of Sweeping Plains synthesises the scientific literature in a readily accessible manner and includes a wealth of practical experience held by policy makers, farmers, community activists and on-ground grassland managers. It aims to provide all involved in grassland management and restoration with the technical information necessary to conserve and enhance native grasslands. For readers without the responsibility of management, such as students and those interested in biodiversity conservation, it provides a detailed understanding of native grassland ecology, management challenges and solutions and, importantly, inspiration to engage with this critically endangered ecosystem. Practical, easy to read and richly illustrated, this book brings together the grassland knowledge of experts in ethnobotany, ecology, monitoring, planning, environmental psychology, community engagement, flora and fauna management, environmental restoration, agronomy, landscape architecture and urban design.

Download or read book In Considerable Variety Introducing the Diversity of Australia s Insects written by Tim R. New and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-08-29 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book introduces basic entomology, emphasising perspectives on insect diversity important in conservation assessment and setting priorities for management, as a foundation for managers and others without entomological training or background. It bridges the gap between photographic essays on insect identification and more technical texts, to illustrate and discuss many aspects of taxonomic, ecological and evolutionary diversity in the Australian insect fauna, and its impacts in human life, through outlines of many aspects of insect natural history.

Download or read book Invertebrate Conservation and Agricultural Ecosystems written by T. R. New and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-03-31 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Invertebrate Conservation and Agricultural Ecosystems explores the diverse interests of invertebrate conservation and agricultural production. It is both an introduction to invertebrate conservation biology for agriculturists and an introduction to crop protection for conservation biologists, demonstrating how these two disparate fields may draw on each other for greater collective benefit. It draws on recent literature to show how invertebrate conservation in highly altered landscapes may be promoted and enhanced. The book deals with problems of, and approaches to, invertebrate conservation in highly managed agricultural ecosystems, and how biodiversity may be promoted without compromising agricultural production. It draws attention to the importance of invertebrates in agricultural systems and their role in ecosystem functions.

Download or read book Insect Conservation written by Michael J. Samways and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook outlines the main methods and techniques, both modern and traditional, used to measure insect diversity. With the growing relevance of insect conservation in nature, this guide should assist students in understanding a complicated field.

Download or read book The Lives of Moths written by Andrei Sourakov and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2022-04-26 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A richly illustrated look at the natural history of moths Moths are among the most underappreciated insects on the planet, yet they make up the majority of some 180,000 known species of Lepidoptera. Filled with striking images, The Lives of Moths looks at the remarkable world of these amazing and beautiful creatures. While butterflies may get more press than moths, Andrei Sourakov and Rachel Warren Chadd reveal that the lopsided attention is unjust. Moths evolved long before butterflies, and their importance cannot be overestimated. From the tiniest leaf miners to exotic hawk moths that are two hundred to three hundred times larger, these creatures are often crucial pollinators of flowers, including many that bloom at night or in twilight. The authors show that moths and their larvae are the main food source for thousands of animal species, and interact with other insect, plant, and vertebrate communities in ecosystems around the world, from tropical forests and alpine meadows to deserts and wetlands. The authors also explore such topics as evolution, life cycles, methods of communication, and links to humans. A feast of remarkable facts and details, The Lives of Moths will appeal to insect lovers everywhere.

Download or read book Lepidoptera and Conservation written by T. R. New and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-09-13 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The third in a trilogy of global overviews of conservation of diverse and ecologically important insect groups. The first two were Beetles in Conservation (2010) and Hymenoptera and Conservation (2012). Each has different priorities and emphases that collectively summarise much of the progress and purpose of invertebrate conservation. Much of the foundation of insect conservation has been built on concerns for Lepidoptera, particularly butterflies as the most popular and best studied of all insect groups. The long-accepted worth of butterflies for conservation has led to elucidation of much of the current rationale of insect species conservation, and to definition and management of their critical resources, with attention to the intensively documented British fauna ‘leading the world’ in this endeavour. In Lepidoptera and Conservation, various themes are treated through relevant examples and case histories, and sufficient background given to enable non-specialist access. Intended for not only entomologists but conservation managers and naturalists due to its readable approach to the subject.

Download or read book Insect Diversity Declines and Conservation in Australia written by Tim R. New and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-03-02 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Problems of insect enumeration and assessment of needs are addressed in the contexts of rapid and substantial losses and changes to all key Australian terrestrial and freshwater environments and promoting awarenesss of the importance of insects. Further definition of the insect fauna and its peculiarities can aid threat alleviation and practical management to protect and conserve this unique and largely endemic biodiversity. Written for the many environmental managers and naturalists who are not primarily entomologists, the ten chapters expand from considerations of insect decline and diversity to the unique features of the Australian fauna and its characterisation. Cases and examples from throughout the world illustrate the major needs, approaches and priorities to sustaining a poorly known, diverse and ecologically varied insect heritage of global significance.

Download or read book The Faraway Nearby written by Rebecca Solnit and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-06-13 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Notable Book Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award A personal, lyrical narrative about storytelling and empathy, from the author of Orwell's Roses Apricots. Her mother's disintegrating memory. An invitation to Iceland. Illness. These are Rebecca Solnit's raw materials, but The Faraway Nearby goes beyond her own life, as she spirals out into the stories she heard and read—from fairy tales to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein—that helped her navigate her difficult passge. Solnit takes us into the lives of others—an arctic cannibal, the young Che Guevara among the leprosy afflicted, a blues musician, an Icelandic artist and her labyrinth—to understand warmth and coldness, kindness and imagination, decay and transformation, making art and making self. This captivating, exquisitely written exploration of the forces that connect us and the way we tell our stories is a tour de force of association, a marvelous Russian doll of a book that is a fitting companion to Solnit's much-loved A Field Guide to Getting Lost.

Download or read book A Flutter of Butterflies written by Michael F. Braby and published by National Library Australia. This book was released on 2011 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Flutter of Butterflies is a stunning showcase of butterfly and moth illustrations held by the National Library of Australia. The works span the years from the 1770s, through the early colonial period to the turn of the twenty-first century.As well as containing a plethora of gorgeous colour images, the publication features a fascinating introductory essay about the history of Australian Lepidoptera illustration. In addition to the essay, the book offers biographical essays about the artists represented, among whom are some of Australias most-loved artists, including Louisa Anne Meredith, Marian Ellis Rowan and Charles McCubbin.

Download or read book The Australian Entomologist written by and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 616 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Other Lepidoptera Moth Conservation in Australia written by Tim R. New and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-07-10 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conservation interest in moths, by far the predominant components of Lepidoptera, lags far behind that for butterflies, for which conservation practice provides many well-established lessons for extension to their near relatives. The needs of moths are at least as great, but their greater richness and variety, and far poorer documentation of diversity and biology over much of the world contribute to this lack of attention. Australia’s rich moth fauna, largely endemic and of global interest, illustrates many of the problems of developing wider interest and support for moth conservation. Numerous species (perhaps half the total fauna) are undescribed, and many are ecological specialists in restricted and vulnerable environments over small parts of the continent. Establishing their conservation status and needs whilst accepting that foundation knowledge is highly incomplete and much species-focused conservation is impracticable provides complex problems in setting priorities, based largely on wider diversity and effective advocacy. Most Australian vegetation systems, from grassland to forest and from sea-level to alpine zones, have been eroded in extent and quality since European settlement, resulting in massive habitat changes for native insects and to leave fragmented (and commonly degraded) remnants in which moths and others may persist. Recent surveys continue to increase recorded moth richness, reveal local faunal peculiarities, and indicate how assemblage changes may mirror wider environmental changes. This book is an overview of advances in documenting and interpreting moth diversity and ecology, to show how information from better-studied moth faunas can help in planning conservation of Australia’s moths through measures such as understanding the moths themselves by increased surveys and study, the factors influencing their diversity and wellbeing, and how such threats may be countered through increased coordinated conservation interest, commitment and management.

Download or read book Alien Species and Insect Conservation written by Tim R. New and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-06-09 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This overview of the roles of alien species in insect conservation brings together information, evidence and examples from many parts of the world to illustrate their impacts (often severe, but in many cases poorly understood and unpredictable) as one of the primary drivers of species declines, ecological changes and biotic homogenisation. Both accidental and deliberate movements of species are involved, with alien invasive plants and insects the major groups of concern for their influences on native insects and their environments. Risk assessments, stimulated largely through fears of non-target impacts of classical biological control agents introduced for pest management, have provided valuable lessons for wider conservation biology. They emphasise the needs for effective biosecurity, risk avoidance and minimisation, and evaluation and management of alien invasive species as both major components of many insect species conservation programmes and harbingers of change in invaded communities. The spread of highly adaptable ecological generalist invasive species, which are commonly difficult to detect or monitor, can be linked to declines and losses of numerous localised ecologically specialised insects and disruptions to intricate ecological interactions and functions, and create novel interactions with far-reaching consequences for the receiving environments. Understanding invasion processes and predicting impacts of alien species on susceptible native insects is an important theme in practical insect conservation.

Download or read book Flammable Australia written by Ross A. Bradstock and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fire is pivotal to the functioning of ecosystems in Australia, affecting the distribution and abundance of the continent's unique and highly diverse range of plants and animals. Conservation of this natural biodiversity therefore requires a good understanding of scientific processes involved in the action of fire on the landscape. This book provides an up-to-date synthesis of current knowledge in this area and its application in contemporary land management. Central to the discussion is an exploration of the concept of the fire regime and its interactions with biodiversity.

Download or read book Insect Conservation in Australia Why and How written by Tim R. New and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Insect Conservation and Australia s Grasslands written by Tim R. New and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-11-13 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Australia’s varied grasslands have suffered massive losses and changes since European settlement, and those changes continue under increasingly intensive human pressures for development and agricultural production. The values of native grasslands for conservation of endemic native biodiversity, both flora and fauna, have led to strong interests in the protection of remaining fragments, especially near urban centres, and documentation of the insects and other inhabitants of grasslands spanning tropical to cool temperate parts of the country. Attention to conservation of grassland insects in Australia is relatively recent, but it is increasingly apparent that grasslands harbour many localised and ecologically specialised endemic species. Their conservation necessarily advances from very incomplete documentation, and draws heavily on lessons from the far better-documented grasslands elsewhere, most notably in the northern hemisphere, and undertaken over far longer periods. From those cases, and the extensive background to grassland management to harmonise conservation with production and amenity values through honing use of processes such as grazing, mowing and fire, the needs and priorities for Australia can become clearer, together with needs for grassland restoration at a variety of scales. This book is a broad overview of conservation needs of grassland insects in Australia, drawing on the background provided elsewhere in the world on the responses to disturbances, and the ecological importance, of some key insect groups (notably Orthoptera, Hemiptera and Lepidoptera) to suggest how insect conservation in native, pastoral and urban grasslands may be advanced. The substantial references given for each chapter facilitate entry for non-entomologist grassland managers and stewards to appreciate the diversity and importance of Australia’s grassland insects, their vulnerabilities to changes, and the possibilities for conserving them and the wider ecological roles in which they participate.

Download or read book Animal Behavior Desk Reference written by Edward M. Barrows and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2011-04-26 with total page 814 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Words are our tools, and, as a minimum, we should use clean tools. We should know what we mean and what we do not, and we must forearm ourselves against the traps that language sets us." -- The Need for Precise Terminology, Austin (1957, 7–8) It follows that, for effective and efficient communication, people should have, or at least understand, the same precise terminology. Such terminology is crucial for the advancement of basic, theoretical, and applied science, yet too often there is ambiguity between scientific and common definitions and even discrepancies in the scientific literature. Providing a common ground and platform for precise scientific communication in animal behavior, ecology, evolution, and related branches of biology, Animal Behavior Desk Reference, A Dictionary of Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution, Third Edition contains more than 800 new terms and definitions, 48 new figures, and thousands of additions and improvements. Using a dictionary format to present definitions in a standard, easily accessible manner, the book’s main body emphasizes conceptual terms, rather than anatomical parts or taxonomic terms, and focuses on nouns, rather than verbs or adjectives. Term hierarchies are handled with bulleted entries and terms with multiple definitions are included as superscripted entries. All sources are cited and most are paraphrased to conform to uniform style and length. The dictionary also includes nontechnical and obsolete terms, synonyms, pronunciations, and notes and comments, as well as etymologies, term originators, and related facts. Appendices address organism names, organizations, and databases. Devoted to the precise and correct use of scientific language, this third edition of a bestselling standard enables students and scientists alike to communicate their findings and promote the efficient advancement of science.

Download or read book The Book of Caterpillars written by David G. James and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2018-02-14 with total page 658 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “For the lover of all things lepidopterous, The Book of Caterpillars is a beautifully curated collection and guide to 600 species from around the globe.” —The American Biology Teacher While most of us picture caterpillars as cute fuzzballs munching on leaves, there is much more to them than we imagine. A caterpillar’s survival hinges on finding enough food and defending itself from the array of natural enemies lined up to pounce and consume. And the astounding adaptations and strategies they have developed to maximize their chances of becoming a butterfly or moth are only just beginning to be understood, from the Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillar that resembles a small snake to the Eastern Carpenter Bee Hawkmoth caterpillar that attempts to dissuade potential predators by looking like a diseased leaf. The Book of Caterpillars unveils the mysteries of six hundred species from around the world, introducing readers to the complexity and beauty of these underappreciated insects. With the advent of high-quality digital macrophotography, the world of caterpillars is finally opening up. The book presents a wealth of stunning imagery that showcases the astonishing diversity of caterpillar design, structure, coloration, and patterning. Each entry also features a two-tone engraving of the adult specimen, emphasizing the wing patterns and shades, as well as a population distribution map and table of essential information that includes their habitat, typical host plants, and conservation status. Throughout the book are fascinating facts that will enthrall expert entomologists and curious collectors alike. A visually rich and scientifically accurate guide to six hundred of the world’s most peculiar caterpillars, this volume presents readers with a rare, detailed look at these intriguing forms of insect life.