Books on the topic 'Biodiversity declines'

This chapter highlights the scale dependence of biodiversity change over time and its consequences for arguments about the instrumental value of biodiversity. While biodiversity is in decline on a global scale, the temporal trends on regional and local scales include cases of biodiversity increase, no change, and decline. Environmental change, anthropogenic or otherwise, causes both local extirpation and colonization of species, and thus turnover in species composition, but not necessarily declines in biodiversity. In some situations, such as plants at the regional scale, human-mediated colonizations have greatly outnumbered extinctions, thus causing a marked increase in species richness. Since the potential influence of biodiversity on ecosystem function and services is mediated to a large degree by local or neighborhood species interactions, these results challenge the generality of the argument that biodiversity loss is putting at risk the ecosystem service benefits people receive from nature.

Amphibians are among the most threatened groups of animals on earth. In part due to their highly permeable skin, amphibians are highly sensitive to environmental changes and pollution and provide an early-warning system of deteriorating environmental conditions. The more we learn about the impact of environmental changes on amphibians, the better we as humans will be able to arrest their demise, and our own. Status of Conservation and Decline of Amphibians brings together the current knowledge on the status of the unique frogs of Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific. Although geographically proximate, each region presents unique challenges and opportunities in amphibian research and conservation. This book contributes to an understanding of the current conservation status of the amphibians of each region, aims to stimulate research into halting amphibian declines, and provides a better foundation for making conservation decisions. It is an invaluable reference for environmental and governmental agencies, researchers, policy-makers involved with biodiversity conservation, and the interested public.

This book gathers together 28 personal stories told by leading thinkers and practitioners in conservation – all of whom have something to say about the uncomfortable tension that arises when data meet dogma. Together, they make a powerful argument for conservation science that measures effectiveness and evolves in response to new data, rather than clinging to its treasured foundational ideas. Several chapters raise doubts about some of conservation’s core tenets, including the notion that habitat fragmentation is bad for biodiversity, biodiversity declines are threatening ecosystem function, non-native species are a net negative for conservation, and fisheries management is failing. Another set of chapters warns of the potent power of conservation narratives: undeniably useful to inspire conservation action, but potentially dangerous in locking in thinking against contrary data. These chapters challenge iconic stories about GM crops, orangutans in oil palm forests, frog feminization, salmon versus dams, rehabilitating oiled otters, and wolves in Yellowstone. A final set of chapters addresses conceptual and methodological approaches such as environmental tipping points, global assessments, payment for ecosystem service programs, and working with corporations. Throughout, examples of confirmation bias emerge—not as dishonesty, but as a human foible that is a challenge for all science, not just conservation science. Graduate students, in particular, will find a wealth of ideas to inspire their own research. Each chapter points to additional data that could help resolve lingering debates and improve conservation effectiveness.

The Australian continent provides a unique perspective on the evolution and ecology of carnivorous animals. In earlier ages, Australia provided the arena for a spectacular radiation of marsupial and reptilian predators. The causes of their extinctions are still the subject of debate. Since European settlement, Australia has seen the extinction of one large marsupial predator (the thylacine), another (the Tasmanian devil) is in danger of imminent extinction, and still others have suffered dramatic declines. By contrast, two recently-introduced predators, the fox and cat, have been spectacularly successful, with devastating impacts on the Australian fauna. Carnivores of Australia: Past, Present and Future explores Australia's unique predator communities from pre-historic, historic and current perspectives. It covers mammalian, reptilian and avian carnivores, both native and introduced to Australia. It also examines the debate surrounding how best to manage predators to protect livestock and native biodiversity. Wildlife managers, academics and postgraduate students will benefit from the most up-to-date synthesis by leading researchers and managers in the field of carnivore biology. By emphasising Australian carnivores as exemplars of flesh-eaters in other parts of the world, this book will be an important reference for researchers, wildlife managers and students worldwide. Winner of a 2015 Whitley Awards Certificate of Commendation for Zoological Text.

Ecological and biodiversity-based monitoring has been marked by an appalling lack of effectiveness and lack of success in Australia for more than 40 years, despite the billions of dollars that are invested in biodiversity conservation annually. What can be done to rectify this situation? This book tackles many aspects of the problem of biodiversity monitoring. It arose from a major workshop held at The Australian National University in February 2011, attended by leaders in the science, policy-making and management arenas of biodiversity conservation. The diversity of participants was deliberate – successful biodiversity monitoring is dependent on partnerships among people with different kinds of expertise. Chapter contributors examine what has led to successful monitoring, the key problems with biodiversity monitoring and practical solutions to those problems. By capturing critical insights into successes, failures and solutions, the authors provide high-level guidance for important initiatives such as the National Biodiversity Strategy, similar kinds of conservation initiatives in state government agencies, as well as non-government organisations that aim to improve conservation outcomes in Australia. Ultimately, the authors hope to considerably improve the quality and effectiveness of biodiversity monitoring in Australia, and to arrest the decline of biodiversity.

This chapter explores biodiversity offsetting as a tool used to achieve “no net loss” of biodiversity. Unfortunately, no-net-loss offsetting can be—and often is—unintentionally designed in a way that inevitably results in ongoing biodiversity decline. Credit for offset sites is given in proportion to the assumed loss that would happen at those sites if not protected, and this requires clear baselines and good estimates of the risk of loss. This crediting calculation also creates a perverse incentive to overstate—or even genuinely increase—the threat to biodiversity at potential offset sites, in order to generate more offset “credit” that can then be exchanged for damaging actions elsewhere. The phrase “no net loss,” when used without an explicit frame of reference and quantified counterfactual scenario, is meaningless, and potentially misleading. Conservation scientists have a core role in interpreting, communicating, and improving the robustness of offset policy.

Human populations are expected to reach 9 billion by the middle of the twenty-first century. This will present a challenge to grassland scientists on how to feed the world, while at the same time preventing further environmental degradation and biodiversity loss. Pollinating bees are in decline globally, and grasslands with abundant wildflower populations provide key pollen sources important to prevent their future decline. In the United States, the iconic butterfly species the Monarch butterfly is in decline. Another major theme of future grassland science is likely to be in the fields of alternate states theory and restoration ecology. Sustainability research to address these issues is expected to increase in importance in the near future.

Monitoring is integral to all aspects of policy and management for threatened biodiversity. It is fundamental to assessing the conservation status and trends of listed species and ecological communities. Monitoring data can be used to diagnose the causes of decline, to measure management effectiveness and to report on investment. It is also a valuable public engagement tool. Yet in Australia, monitoring threatened biodiversity is not always optimally managed. Monitoring Threatened Species and Ecological Communities aims to improve the standard of monitoring for Australia's threatened biodiversity. It gathers insights from some of the most experienced managers and scientists involved with monitoring programs for threatened species and ecological communities in Australia, and evaluates current monitoring programs, establishing a baseline against which the quality of future monitoring activity can be managed. Case studies provide examples of practical pathways to improve the quality of biodiversity monitoring, and guidelines to improve future programs are proposed. This book will benefit scientists, conservation managers, policy makers and those with an interest in threatened species monitoring and management. Joint recipient of the 2018 Whitley Certificate of Commendation for Conservation Zoology

Animals are the unknown victims of armed conflicts. Wildlife populations usually decline during warfare, with disastrous repercussions on the food chain, on fragile ecosystems and precarious habitats. Belligerents take advantage of the chaos of war for poaching and trafficking of animal products. Livestock, companion, and zoo animals, highly dependent on human care, are direct victims of hostilities. The book is the first legal analysis of these issues. It maps the framework of international humanitarian law, examining which and how the concepts, principles, and rationales can be applied and adapted for a better protection of animals. The contributions inter alia discuss precautions for animal civilians, problems of animal combatants and prisoners, a specific status for veterinarian personnel, the recognition of biodiversity hotspots as specially protected zones, and the potential of enforcement mechanisms. The concluding chapter draws together novel interpretations and reform proposals.

Across the world, cats are loved as pets or are kept or tolerated for their role in controlling some animal pests. But cats, both pets and feral, also kill many native animals and this toll can be enormous. Cats have been remarkably successful in Australia, spreading pervasively across the continent and many islands, occurring in all environments, and proving to be adept and adaptable hunters. A large proportion of Australia’s distinctive fauna is threatened and recent research highlights the significant role that cats play in the decline and extinction of native species. Cats in Australia brings this research together, documenting the extent to which cats have subverted, and are continuing to subvert, Australia’s biodiversity. But the book does much more than spotlight the impacts of cats on Australian nature. It describes the origins of cats and their global spread, their long-standing and varying relationship with people, their global impacts and their ecology. It also seeks to describe the challenge of managing cats, and the options available to constrain their impacts.

Abstract In a rapidly changing world, six threats to biodiversity can be summarized by the acronym COPHID: Climate change, Overharvesting, Pollution, Habitat loss, Invasive species, and Disease. These threats have led to many extinctions and are on course to generate many more. Each threat can be traced back to the growth of the human population and a general increase in wealth and technology. This text is designed to provide a summary of what has happened and why, as well as ask how to predict what will happen under various scenarios. The ecological principles of species interactions—mutualism, competition, predation, and parasitism—are applied to food security and to human disease, demonstrating how simplification of communities threatens both wild species and humans. Dramatic changes in the environment have been brought about by the removal of species (collapse of coral reefs), by addition of species (predators destroying island faunas), by pollution (dead zones in the ocean), and by habitat conversion (about 75% of the world’s productive land is now exploited for agriculture or forestry). Despite these issues, the global increase in wealth and education, coupled with a decline in the fertility rate, are causes for optimism. Eventually, the result may be a declining human population, as well as placement of more value on an increasingly scarce commodity, wild lands and wild oceans.

The ability of beavers to create an abundant habitat for a diverse array of plants and animals has been analyzed time and again. The disappearance of beavers across the northern hemisphere, and what this effects, has yet to be comprehensively studied. Saving the Dammed analyzes the beneficial role of beavers and their dams in the ecosystem of a river, focusing on one beaver meadow in Colorado. In her latest book, Ellen Wohl contextualizes North St. Vrain Creek by discussing the implications of the loss of beavers across much larger areas. Saving the Dammed raises awareness of rivers as ecosystems and the role beavers play in sustaining the ecosystem surrounding rivers by exploring the macrocosm of global river alteration, wetland loss, and the reduction in ecosystem services. The resulting reduction in ecosystem services span things such as flood control, habitat abundance and biodiversity, and nitrate reduction. Allowing readers to follow her as she crawls through seemingly impenetrable spaces with slow and arduous movements, Wohl provides a detailed narrative of beaver meadows. Saving the Dammed takes readers through twelve months at a beaver meadow in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park, exploring how beavers change river valleys and how the decline in beaver populations has altered river ecosystems. As Wohl analyzes and discusses the role beavers play in the ecosystem of a river, readers get to follow her through tight, seemingly impenetrable, crawl spaces as she uncovers the benefit of dams.

As trees age, they become ecologically richer and more full of life. The process of a tree, wood or forest becoming ‘ancient’, however defined, involves a vast and subtle web of relations – among the trees themselves, with other organisms, with the wider landscape and with human beings. A single tree can provide a vast array of habitats which are an integral part of the complex co-evolutionary relationships evolved over its lifetime and later during its sometimes long afterlife. From ancient times until today, trees and woods have inspired artists, writers and scientists; they have shaped cultures and reverberated through belief systems. Yet worldwide, forest cover has declined dramatically over the last 1,000 years, and what remains has been more or less altered from its original condition. Today, ‘virgin forests’ are only to be found at a few sites unreachable by humans, and even then they are affected by climate change, atmospheric pollution and species extinctions. The aim of this book is to help an understanding of the web of connections relating to ancient trees and woodlands, and to offer techniques to ensure effective conservation and sustainability of this precious resource. This book considers the key issues from a range of different aspects and varied geographical locations, beginning with fundamental concepts and reflecting on the strengths and limitations of the idea of ancient trees. Individual chapters then deal with cultural heritage, the archaeology of trees, landscape history, forest rights, tree management, saproxylic insects, the importance of dead wood, practical conservation and monitoring, biodiversity, and wood pasture among many other themes. Fresh perspectives are put forward from across Europe as far as Turkey, as well as Great Britain. Overall, given the urgent need to discover, understand, conserve and restore ancient woodlands and trees, this publication will raise awareness, foster enthusiasm and inspire wonder.

The relationship of the Swiss population to the forest has been investigated in surveys since 1978, and in 1997 for the first time as part of the so-called “Sociocultural forest monitoring” or “Waldmonitoring soziokulturell” WaMos. This report describes the results of the national Wa- Mos3 survey 2020. The online panel of the market research institute LINK was used for the sur- vey. In addition to the representative survey of the adult population, a sample of 156 adolescents was also interviewed. The self-assessed level of information on forest topics has declined since WaMos2 (2010), with older people feeling better informed than younger people. The level of knowledge regarding the increase in forest area in Switzerland and the management of mountain forests for protection against natural hazards is also lower among younger people than among older ones. Today, the population attributes greater importance to most forest functions for society than in WaMos2. In particular, the ecological function, the production function and the recreational function have gained importance. More people than in WaMos2 (2010) assume that forest health has deteriorated. Changes due to climate change, such as drought damage, are perceived by the population. The majority of the population is in favour of active forest management for climate adaptation. With regard to the ecological function of the forest, most people know that biodiversity has decreased. Accor- dingly, the acceptance of forest reserves is high, as is that of large carnivores. Climate change, the expansion of settlements, introduced animal and plant species and pests are seen as the greatest threats to the forest. Great importance is attached to the protective function of the forest. Nevertheless, knowledge about the interrelation between the management and the pro- tective function of mountain forests is declining. In principle, the population is satisfied with the management of the most frequently visited forest. The felling of trees and closing of roads for logging are well accepted by the population. Leaving branches lying on the ground after logging is controversial, and is either well accepted or not accepted at all. Sustainability criteria have gained in importance when purchasing timber products. In terms of forest preferences, the population likes mixed forests best. The presence of a shrub layer is better liked than in WaMos2 (2010) and the liking of deadwood is also increasing at a low level. However, recreational infrastructure is valued less and less. For the first time, forest photos were also presented to the respondents for assessment. It turns out that already existing forest preferences, motives for visiting the forest, the importance of the forest in childhood and the language region have an influence on visual attractiveness of forest. Forest characteristics such as visibility range, shrub layer cover and cover of berry bushes, stage of stand development, stand structure and the presence of deadwood also have an influence. In order to get a picture of which forests people visit, they were asked to mark the forest they visit most often on a map using PPGIS. Local recreation dominates; the densest cloud of points is found where Switzerland is most densely populated. As always, most people go to the forest frequently. The most frequently cited motives for visiting the forest are “experiencing nature”, “enjoying fresh air” and “escaping from everyday life”. Adolescents go to the forest less often. Their activities in the forest are dominated by barbecues/bonfires/parties, jogging and sports in general. Satisfaction with forest visits has decreased at a high level compared to 2010. Forest attractiveness is rated lower, the visit to the forest is perceived as less restorative and the per- ceived disturbances are increasing. In sum, the Swiss population highly values the forest, as a recreational area, but also in particu- lar as a habitat for plants and animals. Ecological awareness seems to have risen again in the last 10 years, and with it concerns about the state of the forest and biodiversity. On the other hand, satisfaction with forest recreation – at a high level – has somewhat declined.