Synopses & Reviews
One of the fastest growing scientific disciplines in recent history is conservation biology. A response of the scientific community to the massive environmental changes taking place on Earth, its goal is to enable society to anticipate, prevent, and reduce ecological damage, and to generate the scientific information from which effective conservation strategies and policies can be designed and implemented.
In 1989, the Society for Conservation Biology and Island Press produced Research Priorities for Conservation Biology, a slim volume that set forth the findings of experts who had gathered to outline research needs for the near future, and which served as a guidepost for the field throughout the 1990s. In January 2000, leaders of the Society for Conservation Biology convened a similar group to reach consensus on where the field now stands and to determine the major, compelling research priorities for the next decade. Conservation Biology: Research Priorities for the Next Decade presents the results of that gathering.
The book:
- notes progress or changes in the state of global biodiversity over the past decade and discusses overarching themes that influence all areas of conservation
- offers ten chapters by leading experts that summarize the status of knowledge in key areas ranging from marine conservation to ecological restoration to conservation medicine
- sets forth research priorities for each area
- describes gaps in current knowledge that are impeding the ability of conservation practitioners to carry out their work
A final synthesis chapter brings together cross-cutting themes that integrate the diverse topics within the context of global biodiversity loss, and presents a call to action for scientists and others working in the field.
Conservation Biology: Research Priorities for the Next Decade represents an indispensable guide to the research that is most urgently needed to support effective conservation, and will be must reading for anyone involved with the field of conservation biology.
Synopsis
One of the fastest growing scientific disciplines in recent history is conservation biology. This indispensable guide focuses on the research that is most urgently needed to support effective conservation, and is essential reading for anyone involved with the field of conservation biology. Tables, photos, figures, & index.
About the Author
Michael E. Soule is professor emeritus of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He co-founded the Society for Conservation Biology, and served as its first president; he also co-founded The Wildlands Project and is currently its science director.
Gordon H. Orians is professor emeritus of zoology at the University of Washington, and co-editor of "Biodiversity and Ecosystem Processes in Tropical Forests" (Springer-Verlag, 1996).
Table of Contents
Contents
Foreward
P. Dee Boersma
Preface
1. Introduction
Gordon H. Orians and Michael E. Soule
2. Assessment and Management of Species at Risk
Georgia M. Mace, Jonathan E. M. Baillie, Steven R. Beissinger,
and Kent H. Redford
3. Human Alteration of Food Webs:
Research Priorities for Conservation and Management
Fiorenza Micheli, Gary A. Polis, P. Dee Boersma, Mark A. Hixon,
Elliott A. Norse, Paul V. R. Snelgrove, and Michael E. Soule
4. Exotic Species and Conservation: Research Needs
Carla D'Antonio, Laura A. Meyerson, and Julie S. Denslow
5. Habitat Fragmentation: Consequences, Management,
and Future Research Priorities
Kendi F. Davies, Claude Gascon, and Chris R. Margules
6. Conservation Priorities for Soil and Sediment Invertebrates
Diana H. Wall, Paul V. R. Snelgrove, and Alan P. Covich
7. Oceans at Risk: Research Priorities in Marine
Conservation Biology
Mark A. Hixon, P. Dee Boersma, Malcolm L. Hunter Jr.,
Fiorenza Micheli, Elliott A. Norse, Hugh P. Possingham,
and Paul V. R. Snelgrove
8. Conservation Biology and the Health Sciences: Defining the
Research Priorities of Conservation Medicine
Gary M. Tabor, Richard S. Ostfeld, Mary Poss, Andrew P. Dobson,
and A. Alonso Aguirre
9. Global Environmental Change: Effects on Biodiversity
William H. Schlesinger, James S. Clark, Jacqueline E. Mohan,
and Chantal D. Reid
10. Making Smart Conservation Decisions
Hugh P. Possingham, S.J. Andelman, B. R. Noon, S. Trombulak,
and H. R. Pulliam
11. Ecological Restoration: A Key to Conservation
Biology's Future
James A. MacMahon and Karen D. Holl
12. Conservation Biology Research: Its Challenges and Contexts
Michael E. Soule and Gordon H. Orians
About the Contributors
Index