Monitoring has become fashionable. Business now talks about monitoring its activities, efficiency, costs and profits. The National Health Service is monitoring general practices and hospitals; it is keen to have more information about efficiency and the duration of stay of patients in different hospitals undergoing different types of treatment. These activities are usually carried out in relation to specific objectives with the aim of making activities more cost effective and competitive. Does the same apply in biology, ecology and nature conservation? Or, are we still enjoying conducting...

This book, previously published in hardback, has now been republished in paperback and added to the growing number of titles in Chapman & Hall's Conservation Biology Series. Evaluation and Assessment for Conservation contains pertinent examples and case studies from around the world illustrating the issues faced by conservationists. In addition, it summarizes a very large amount of material from the scientific literature.

Previously published in hardback and now made available in paperback, this ground-breaking book is a must for all interested in butterflies, whether as conservation biologist, amateur or professional entomologist or as a student studying the phenomenon of butterfly populations as part of a number of biology, ecology or conservation courses.
Recently, many British butterflies have suffered severe declines whole others have flourished and expanded in range. This is the first book to describe the results from a British scheme to monitor butterflies during this period of change. The...

Not everybody cares about the fate of wild animals or the state of the natural environment. I met a lady who said it wouldn't worry her if all the wild animals in the world disappeared overnight. She was a city person she said. There are also people who would prefer to let animals become extinct than to have them kept in captivity - no matter how progressive the zoo. There are those who, on principle, will not eat meat, let alone do the killing, and there are those who enjoy nothing so much as shooting birds. People in the last two camps may oppose each other in claiming to be con...

One of the major challenges of sustainable development is the interdisciplinary nature of the issues involved. To this end, a team of conservation biologists, hunters, tourist operators, ranchers, wildlife and land managers, ecologists, veterinarians and economists was convened to discuss whether wildlife outside protected areas in Africa can be conserved in the face of agricultural expansion and human population growth. They reached the unequivocal - if controversial - conclusion that wildlife can be an economic asset, especially in the African savannas, if this wildlife can be sustainably...

The international perspective for this book is the unprecedented level of concern over deforestation, recognized by the meeting of world leaders at the 1992 Earth Summit, in Rio do Janeiro, and culminating in the appoint- ment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF), under the auspices of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. The wide range of issues covered by the authors in this volume reflects the breadth of the interna- tional debate, from national policies and activist campaigning, through eco- nomic and social objectives, to the sustainable management of forest and soil...

Phylogeny is a potentially powerful tool for conserving biodiversity. This book explores how it can be used to tackle questions of great practical importance and urgency for conservation. Using case studies from many different taxa and regions of the world, the volume evaluates how useful phylogeny is in understanding the processes that have generated today's diversity and the processes that now threaten it. The urgency with which conservation decisions have to be made as well as the need for the best possible decisions make this volume of great value to researchers, practitioners and...

As humans continue to encroach into natural habitats, and conservation efforts restore wildlife to areas where they have been absent, contact between humans and wild animals is growing. Some species, even the endangered, can have serious impacts on human lives and livelihoods. Tigers kill people, elephants destroy crops and African wild dogs devastate sheep herds left unattended. This book presents a variety of solutions to human-wildlife conflicts, including novel and traditional farming practices, controlled hunting and tourism, as well as the development of local and national conservation...

Most large herbivores require some type of management within their habitats. Some populations of large herbivores are at the brink of extinction, some are under discussion for reintroduction, whilst others already occur in dense populations causing conflicts with other land use. Large herbivores are the major drivers for forming the shape and function of terrestrial ecosystems. This 2006 book addresses the scientifically based action plans to manage both the large herbivore populations and their habitats worldwide. It covers the processes by which large herbivores not only affect their...

The sustainable exploitation of the marine environment depends upon our capacity to develop systems of management with predictable outcomes. Unfortunately, marine ecosystems are highly dynamic and this property could conflict with the objective of sustainable exploitation. This book investigates the theory that the population and behavioural dynamics of predators at the upper end of marine food chains can be used to assist with management. Since these species integrate the dynamics of marine ecosystems across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, they offer new sources of information...