Large Carnivores and the Conservation of Biodiversity: Biodiversity

Book Description

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, Andr?s 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.

Customer Reviews:

Marshalling science for the conservation of large carnivores.......2007-08-31

The contributors to this edited book are all advocates of carnivores as well as being partisans of a particular side in an academic debate. This debate concerns the relative importance of "top-down" and "bottom-up" regulation. For example, are elk in Yellowstone limited by the amount of forage available (bottom-up) or by wolf predation (top down)? The answer to the scientific question matters for environmental policy: wolves are a lot more important for the ecosystem if top-down regulation dominates.

With this in mind, it's possible that the fact that these authors like large carnivores for ethical reasons might influence their scientific judgment that top-down regulation generally characterizes ecosystems. Or, it could be that the world really does work that way - - you be the judge. The authors are honest and up-front about both the policy issues and the scientific issues, and there are several contributions that argue for more complex relationships among trophic levels than the simple bottom/top-regulation dichotomy would suggest.

Within this general consensus, the editors have done a good job selecting papers. There is a nice diversity of cases: the usual suspects (wolves and grizzlies for the lay reader; otters, sea urchins, and kelp for the biologist) as well as some new suspects (Florida panther, coral reefs) and some more unusual items (culpeos and exotic herbivores in Patagonia). Themes included not just basic predator-prey relationships but a wide range of more complex relationships within ecosystems on land and in the sea.

The chapters are written by biologists for biologists, but few of the chapters are particularly technical. It should be readable for a lay person with a college degree (or equivalent) - - but it's certainly not a book for the beach. Nonetheless, it is a good book, and one of the few edited books in which the many contributions really do address the same topic. Not only biologists but anyone interested in policy issues of large carnivore conservation can learn from this book.

The Florida Panther: Life And Death Of A Vanishing Carnivore

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excellant
This book is a must for any amature wild life enthusiast

The Florida Panther: Life And Death Of A Vanishing Carnivore
David Maehr
Manufacturer: Island Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 155963507X

Book Description

When the first field study of the Florida panther took place in 1973, so little was known about the animal that many scientists believed it was already extinct. During more extensive research conducted from 1981 to 1986, panthers were proven to exist, but the handful of senile, anemic, and parasite-infested specimens that were captured indicated a grim future. During those early years a remarkably enduring image of the panther was born, and despite voluminous data gathered over the next decade that showed the panther to be healthy, long-lived, and reproducing, that earlier image has yet to be dispelled.

For nine years, biologist David S. Maehr served as project leader of the Florida Panther Study Project, helping to gather much of the later, surprisingly positive data. In The Florida Panther , he presents the first detailed portrait of the animal-its biology, natural history, and current status-and a realistic assessment of its prospects for survival.

Maehr also provides an intriguing look at the life and work of a field biologist: how captures are made, the intricacies of radio-telemetry tracking, the roles of various team members. He describes the devastating intrusion of politics into scientific work, as he discusses the widespread problems caused by the failure of remote and ill-informed managers to provide needed support and to communicate effectively to the public the goals and accomplishments of the scientists. He examines controversial efforts to establish a captive breeding program and to manipulate the Florida panther's genetic stock with the introduction of relatives from west Texas.

Protection of high-quality habitat, much of it in the hands of private landowners, is the key to the long-term survival of the Florida panther. Unless agency decision makers and the public are aware of the panther's true situation, little can be done to save it. This book will play a vital role in correcting widespread misconceptions about the panther's current condition and threats to its survival.

Customer Reviews:

excellant.......2005-05-26

Not really a scientific essay in my opinion, but a labor of love. A good read and something that will let you feel and fear for the future of this beautiful animal. Hats off to Mr. Maehr for taking the effort to relate his experiences... one of my favorite nature "books".... long live the panther

This book is a must for any amature wild life enthusiast.......1999-11-17

Dear readers,

Today morning before leaving for work i happen to watch National geographic channel wherein there was one hour programe on Florida panther. It's survival seems to be highly endangered due to the fact that their genetic poll being limited and in-breeding among the cats inevitable it gives a very tragic case of survival. I being an avid wildlife enthsiast from India hope that American people will defenitely do something for the survival of Florida panther.

Customer Reviews:

Ridiculously Profound.......2000-01-20

Paul Shepard is the kind of author that should be read over and over again. Each time through, you will pick up more, and slowly your view of the world will change. In this book, Shepard weaves together anthropology, psychology, social criticism, and prehistory to paint a picture of what we used to be, what we are now, and what we can be in the future. More specifically, Shepard urges us to recapture the form of hunter-gathering. This is not to say that we can turn back the clock of history and go back to the caves. Rather, he is espousing a closer contact with the natural world, which is the only thing that can trigger the crucial psychological transitions that make up our lifecycle. Without this kind of exposure to the Otherness of the real world, we remain locked in adolescence and even pre-adolescence, unable to maturely experience the people and places around us. Read this book, then read "Nature and Madness", then read his other books --- then REREAD them, over and over. His stuff is that good.

Coexisting with Large Carnivores: Lessons From Greater Yellowstone

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Good on the biological background, weaker on the human side of the story

Coexisting with Large Carnivores: Lessons From Greater Yellowstone

Manufacturer: Island Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1597260053

Book Description

As in the rest of the United States, grizzly bears, wolves, and mountain lions in and around Yellowstone National Park were eliminated or reduced decades ago to very low numbers. In recent years, however, populations have begun to recover, leading to encounters between animals and people and, more significantly, to conflicts among people about what to do with these often controversial neighbors.

Coexisting with Large Carnivores presents a close-up look at the socio-political context of large carnivores and their management in western Wyoming south of Yellowstone National Park, including the southern part of what is commonly recognized as the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The book brings together researchers and others who have studied and worked in the region to help untangle some of the highly charged issues associated with large carnivores, their interactions with humans, and the politics that arise from those interactions.

This volume argues that coexistence will be achieved only by a thorough understanding of the human populations involved, their values, attitudes, beliefs, and the institutions through which carnivores and humans are managed. Coexisting with Large Carnivores offers important insights into this complex, dynamic issue and provides a unique overview of issues and strategies for managers, researchers, government officials, ranchers, and everyone else concerned about the management and conservation of large carnivores and the people who live nearby.

Customer Reviews:

Good on the biological background, weaker on the human side of the story.......2007-09-14

This book looks at how wolves, grizzly bears and mountain lions can coexist with the people who live around Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks. The books is divided into three parts: the social context, case studies of the three species, and lessons for management. Overall, the contributors argue against the typical top-down plans of state and federal agencies, which draw up a management plan and then impose it on the community. Instead, they argue for more community participation in decisions and for practice-based management, with people trying a variety of strategies and then sharing those that work.

The contributors to this volume clearly know the material, and they present it well. The chapters on social context provide valuable background information, and the case studies were also very interesting. The management chapters were much less successful, however. The authors are mostly biologists, and to their credit they realize that they don't really know much social science. That's a handicap when discussing psychology, symbolism, group processes, and agency behavior. The authors are game enough, but it wouldn't have hurt to include a few chapters by people who study such things.

It's hard to argue against people participating in the decisions that shape their lives. But what if people are ill-informed or have demonstrably false beliefs? Many locals are convinced that wolves are going to eat their children, but no non-rabid North American wolf has ever killed a person. (I've encountered a wolf in the backcountry with a child beside me, so I'm not asking ranchers to do anything that I haven't done before.) The potential conflict between democratic processes and scientific knowledge is mentioned but not wrestled with as seriously as it should be.

In the end, the scientists in this book want their own views to triumph. All the authors argue for community dialogue so that locals who disagree with them will change their minds. None of the authors entertain the possibility that they might change their own minds after engaging in dialogue with ranchers. Given this asymmetry, why should ranchers play along?

The authors are also critical of federal and state agencies who use their power resources to try to impose their views on the community. At the same time, the biologists who wrote most of these chapters seem not to have thought critically about their own power resources - - knowledge, logical reasoning skills, and the like - - and how they are trying to impose their views on locals.

The contributors know (or suspect) these limitations of what they are doing. Without addressing them more deeply, however, the management section ends up being a lot of platitudes about dialogue and participation. In contrast, the sections on social context and the three large carnivore species were interesting and convincing.

Desert Puma: Evolutionary Ecology And Conservation Of An Enduring Carnivore

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Desert Puma: Evolutionary Ecology And Conservation Of An Enduring Carnivore
Kenneth A. Logan , and Linda L. Sweanor
Manufacturer: Island Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1559638672

Book Description

Scientists and conservationists are beginning to understand the importance of top carnivores to the health and integrity of fully functioning ecosystems. As burgeoning human populations continue to impinge on natural landscapes, the need for understanding carnivore populations and how we affect them is becoming increasingly acute.

Desert Puma represents one of the most detailed assessments ever produced of the biology and ecology of a top carnivore. The husband-and-wife team of Kenneth Logan and Linda Sweanor set forth extensive data gathered from their ten-year field study of pumas in the Chihuahua Desert of New Mexico, also drawing on other reliable scientific data gathered throughout the puma's geographic range. Chapters examine:

the evolutionary and modern history of pumas, their taxonomy, and physical description
a detailed description and history of the study area in the Chihuahua Desert
field techniques that were used in the research
puma population dynamics and life history strategies
the implications of puma behavior and social organization
the relationships of pumas and their prey

The authors provide important new information about both the biology of pumas and their evolutionary ecology-not only what pumas do, but why they do it. Logan and Sweanor explain how an understanding of puma evolutionary ecology can, and must, inform long-term conservation strategies. They end the book with their ideas regarding strategies for puma management and conservation, along with a consideration of the future of pumas and humans. Desert Puma makes a significant and original contribution to the science not only of pumas in desert ecosystems but of the role of top predators in all environments. It is an essential contribution to the bookshelf of any wildlife biologist or conservationist involved in large-scale land management or wildlife management.

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Carnivore Conservation (Conservation Biology)
John L., Ed. Gittleman
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Carnivore Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution (Vol. 1)

Large Carnivores and the Conservation of Biodiversity: Biodiversity

People and Wildlife, Conflict or Co-existence? (Conservation Biology)

Desert Puma: Evolutionary Ecology And Conservation Of An Enduring Carnivore

Walker's Carnivores of the World

ASIN: 052166537X

Book Description

Because carnivores are at the top of the food chain, it is often argued that protecting them will afford adequate protection to other taxa as well. In the past ten years, theoretical and empirical studies on carnivores have developed very quickly. This volume reviews and summarizes the current state of the field, describes limitations and opportunities for carnivore conservation, and offers a conceptual framework for future research and applied management. It will be of interest to students and researchers of conservation biology, mammalogy, animal behavior, ecology, and evolution.

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Warning - this is mostly for children
Fantastic!

Snow Leopards (Naturebooks: Carnivores)
Patrick Merrick
Manufacturer: Child's World Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

Warning - this is mostly for children.......2000-06-10

This should really be stated in the buying info, I'll do it here: It contains of 32 pages, 11 of these are text, with an average of 5 lines per page with a large font, that is an average of 3 sentences of what most adult would know from common knowledge. Not much new about the snow leopard, that you didn't already knew. But the 13 photos + the cover photos are magnificient, though they are mostly from zoological gardens.

Fantastic!.......1999-10-24

This book shows just what is happening with these rare and buetiful animals. This is an informitive book that is just great. Read it today!

Carnivore Ecology in Arid Lands (Adaptations of Desert Organisms)

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Carnivore Ecology in Arid Lands (Adaptations of Desert Organisms)
Jacobus du P. Bothma
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

Arid lands require that organisms inhabiting them be well-adapted to thrive or even just to survive. This book provides a review of the ecological adaptations - be they behavioural, physiological or morphological - of carnivores to arid environments. Following a general introduction into aridity and arid lands in Africa, the major carnivore families are presented. Ecological adaptations of carnivores in arid lands reveal the amplitude and resilience of the ecology of these animals. In setting up conservation measures, the nature and extent of such adaptations are important facets in determining the effective area and degree of heterogeneity required as habitat by a carnivore population so as to produce a viable unit.

Carnivores In Ecosystems: The Yellowstone Experience

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Carnivores In Ecosystems: The Yellowstone Experience
Tim W. Clark
Manufacturer: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0300078161

Amazon.com

The behavior of carnivores in ecosystems can reveal a great deal of information about not only animals and their prey, but also the habitats themselves. When carnivores begin to disappear, biologists have observed, ecosystems tend to deteriorate, the victims of a natural imbalance. Such was the case in the Yellowstone ecosystem of Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana, where a federal program of predator control resulted in the extermination of the wolf, lynx, grizzly bear, and other mammals; with their disappearance came a rise in ungulate populations, which in turn taxed the resources of the area beyond their capacity.

Soon after the reintroduction of the wolf and grizzly bear in Yellowstone, a conference of biologists and wildlife managers met to study the ecosystemic effects of these predators. The results of that conference are published in this volume, a collection of scholarly papers that address the essential role of predators to a well-functioning environment. The reintroduction, the contributors note, was not without controversy: local ranchers opposed the presence of predators whose populations their forebears had fought hard to remove. The contributors acknowledge that the reintroduction increases the odds of predation on livestock--and of encounters between humans and potentially dangerous animals in the heavily visited national park area. Even so, they add, the park is indisputably healthier for the presence of the carnivores.

Students of conservation biology and natural-resource management will find much of use in these clearly written, thoughtful essays. --Gregory McNamee

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Forest carnivore conservation and management in the interior Columbia basin : issues and environmental correlates (SuDoc A 13.88:PNW-GTR-420)
Gary William Witmer
Manufacturer: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B00010XD9E

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