Tim R. McClanahan and Joshua Cinner
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199754489
- eISBN:
- 9780199918843
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199754489.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
Societies must choose how they wish to deal with climate change. Not doing anything or pursuing ‘business as usual’ is likely to lead down a path that will have devastating consequences for many ...
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Societies must choose how they wish to deal with climate change. Not doing anything or pursuing ‘business as usual’ is likely to lead down a path that will have devastating consequences for many people, especially the world’s poor. Using a focal lens of coral reef fisheries, upon which millions of people depend on for their livelihood, this book provides a tool box of options for confronting the consequences of climate change through building local-scale adaptive capacity in societies and improving the condition of the natural resources. Building adaptive capacity will require strengthening appropriate aspects of a society’s flexibility, assets, learning and social organizations. They ways of doing this are diverse and will, of course, depend on existing local capacities and needs. Improving the condition of resources tends to require restricting or limiting society’s actions. These two broad concepts, of building social capacities and limiting certain types of resource use, interact in complicated ways, requiring coupled actions. One of the central themes of this book is that adaptation solutions are context dependent, determined in part by aspects of local resource conditions, adaptive capacity, and exposure to climate change impacts, but also by people’s history, culture, and aspirations. This book develops a framework to help provide governments, scientists, managers, and donors with critical information about the local context and develop nuanced actions that reflect these local conditions. This information can help to identify key opportunities and narrow the range of potential adaptation options that may be suitable for a particular location.Less
Societies must choose how they wish to deal with climate change. Not doing anything or pursuing ‘business as usual’ is likely to lead down a path that will have devastating consequences for many people, especially the world’s poor. Using a focal lens of coral reef fisheries, upon which millions of people depend on for their livelihood, this book provides a tool box of options for confronting the consequences of climate change through building local-scale adaptive capacity in societies and improving the condition of the natural resources. Building adaptive capacity will require strengthening appropriate aspects of a society’s flexibility, assets, learning and social organizations. They ways of doing this are diverse and will, of course, depend on existing local capacities and needs. Improving the condition of resources tends to require restricting or limiting society’s actions. These two broad concepts, of building social capacities and limiting certain types of resource use, interact in complicated ways, requiring coupled actions. One of the central themes of this book is that adaptation solutions are context dependent, determined in part by aspects of local resource conditions, adaptive capacity, and exposure to climate change impacts, but also by people’s history, culture, and aspirations. This book develops a framework to help provide governments, scientists, managers, and donors with critical information about the local context and develop nuanced actions that reflect these local conditions. This information can help to identify key opportunities and narrow the range of potential adaptation options that may be suitable for a particular location.
Michael Doebeli
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691128931
- eISBN:
- 9781400838936
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691128931.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
Understanding the mechanisms driving biological diversity remains a central problem in ecology and evolutionary biology. Traditional explanations assume that differences in selection pressures lead ...
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Understanding the mechanisms driving biological diversity remains a central problem in ecology and evolutionary biology. Traditional explanations assume that differences in selection pressures lead to different adaptations in geographically separated locations. This book takes a different approach and explores adaptive diversification—diversification rooted in ecological interactions and frequency-dependent selection. In any ecosystem, birth and death rates of individuals are affected by interactions with other individuals. What is an advantageous phenotype therefore depends on the phenotype of other individuals, and it may often be best to be ecologically different from the majority phenotype. Such rare-type advantage is a hallmark of frequency-dependent selection and opens the scope for processes of diversification that require ecological contact rather than geographical isolation. This book investigates adaptive diversification using the mathematical framework of adaptive dynamics. Evolutionary branching is a paradigmatic feature of adaptive dynamics that serves as a basic metaphor for adaptive diversification, and the book explores the scope of evolutionary branching in many different ecological scenarios, including models of coevolution, cooperation, and cultural evolution. It also uses alternative modeling approaches. Stochastic, individual-based models are particularly useful for studying adaptive speciation in sexual populations, and partial differential equation models confirm the pervasiveness of adaptive diversification. Showing that frequency-dependent interactions are an important driver of biological diversity, the book provides a comprehensive theoretical treatment of adaptive diversification.Less
Understanding the mechanisms driving biological diversity remains a central problem in ecology and evolutionary biology. Traditional explanations assume that differences in selection pressures lead to different adaptations in geographically separated locations. This book takes a different approach and explores adaptive diversification—diversification rooted in ecological interactions and frequency-dependent selection. In any ecosystem, birth and death rates of individuals are affected by interactions with other individuals. What is an advantageous phenotype therefore depends on the phenotype of other individuals, and it may often be best to be ecologically different from the majority phenotype. Such rare-type advantage is a hallmark of frequency-dependent selection and opens the scope for processes of diversification that require ecological contact rather than geographical isolation. This book investigates adaptive diversification using the mathematical framework of adaptive dynamics. Evolutionary branching is a paradigmatic feature of adaptive dynamics that serves as a basic metaphor for adaptive diversification, and the book explores the scope of evolutionary branching in many different ecological scenarios, including models of coevolution, cooperation, and cultural evolution. It also uses alternative modeling approaches. Stochastic, individual-based models are particularly useful for studying adaptive speciation in sexual populations, and partial differential equation models confirm the pervasiveness of adaptive diversification. Showing that frequency-dependent interactions are an important driver of biological diversity, the book provides a comprehensive theoretical treatment of adaptive diversification.
Carmel Finley
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226249667
- eISBN:
- 9780226249681
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226249681.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
Between 1949 and 1955, the State Department pushed for an international fisheries policy grounded in maximum sustainable yield (MSY). The concept is based on a confidence that scientists can predict, ...
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Between 1949 and 1955, the State Department pushed for an international fisheries policy grounded in maximum sustainable yield (MSY). The concept is based on a confidence that scientists can predict, theoretically, the largest catch that can be taken from a species’ stock over an indefinite period. And while it was modified in 1996 with passage of the Sustained Fisheries Act, MSY is still at the heart of modern American fisheries management. As fish populations continue to crash, however, it is clear that MSY is itself not sustainable. Indeed, the concept has been widely criticized by scientists for ignoring several key factors in fisheries management and has led to the devastating collapse of many fisheries. This book reveals that the fallibility of MSY lies at its very inception—as a tool of government rather than science. The foundational doctrine of the MSY emerged at a time when the US government was using science to promote and transfer Western knowledge and technology, and to ensure that American ships and planes would have free passage through the world’s seas and skies. The author charts the history of US fisheries science using MSY as her focus, and in particular its application to halibut, tuna, and salmon fisheries. Fish populations the world over are threatened, and this book will help sound warnings of the effect of any management policies divested from science itself.Less
Between 1949 and 1955, the State Department pushed for an international fisheries policy grounded in maximum sustainable yield (MSY). The concept is based on a confidence that scientists can predict, theoretically, the largest catch that can be taken from a species’ stock over an indefinite period. And while it was modified in 1996 with passage of the Sustained Fisheries Act, MSY is still at the heart of modern American fisheries management. As fish populations continue to crash, however, it is clear that MSY is itself not sustainable. Indeed, the concept has been widely criticized by scientists for ignoring several key factors in fisheries management and has led to the devastating collapse of many fisheries. This book reveals that the fallibility of MSY lies at its very inception—as a tool of government rather than science. The foundational doctrine of the MSY emerged at a time when the US government was using science to promote and transfer Western knowledge and technology, and to ensure that American ships and planes would have free passage through the world’s seas and skies. The author charts the history of US fisheries science using MSY as her focus, and in particular its application to halibut, tuna, and salmon fisheries. Fish populations the world over are threatened, and this book will help sound warnings of the effect of any management policies divested from science itself.
Franck Courchamp, Ludek Berec, and Joanna Gascoigne
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198570301
- eISBN:
- 9780191717642
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198570301.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
Allee effects are broadly defined as a decline in individual fitness at low population size or density, that can result in critical population thresholds below which populations crash to extinction. ...
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Allee effects are broadly defined as a decline in individual fitness at low population size or density, that can result in critical population thresholds below which populations crash to extinction. As such, they are very relevant to many conservation programmes, where scientists and managers are often working with populations that have been reduced to low densities or small numbers. There are a variety of mechanisms that can create Allee effects, including mating systems, predation, environmental modification, and social interactions among others. The abrupt and unpredicted collapses of many exploited populations is just one illustration of the need to bring Allee effects to the forefront of conservation and management strategies. This book provides an overview of the topic, collating and integrating a widely dispersed literature from various fields: marine and terrestrial, plant and animal, theoretical and empirical, academic and applied. Less
Allee effects are broadly defined as a decline in individual fitness at low population size or density, that can result in critical population thresholds below which populations crash to extinction. As such, they are very relevant to many conservation programmes, where scientists and managers are often working with populations that have been reduced to low densities or small numbers. There are a variety of mechanisms that can create Allee effects, including mating systems, predation, environmental modification, and social interactions among others. The abrupt and unpredicted collapses of many exploited populations is just one illustration of the need to bring Allee effects to the forefront of conservation and management strategies. This book provides an overview of the topic, collating and integrating a widely dispersed literature from various fields: marine and terrestrial, plant and animal, theoretical and empirical, academic and applied.
Tim M. Blackburn, Julie L. Lockwood, and Phillip Cassey
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199232543
- eISBN:
- 9780191715983
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199232543.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Ornithology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
As people have spread around the world, they have taken with them a broad range of other species to satisfy a variety of human needs. Some of these species went on to establish wild populations well ...
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As people have spread around the world, they have taken with them a broad range of other species to satisfy a variety of human needs. Some of these species went on to establish wild populations well outside their native ranges. These biological invaders are a major component of current global change, and often represent threats to the maintenance of global biodiversity, human health, and the success of human economic enterprises. The continuing globalization of our society ensures that the need to understand the process of biological invasion will only increase in the future. There is also a growing recognition that the study of biological invaders provides significant insight into basic questions in ecology and evolution. Exotic birds provide a particularly good opportunity to study the causes and consequences of biological invasions. By combining good historical records of bird introductions with the detailed information available on many other aspects of avian biology, this book advances understanding of the invasion process while also exploring avian conservation biology, and basic principles of ecology and evolution. Chapters cover causes of non-randomness in which species get transported and released into novel environments, the stochastic (relating to numbers released) and deterministic (relating to species and location) effects that influence establishment success, patterns and processes in range expansion, and the ecology, genetics, and evolution of exotic birds in their new environment.Less
As people have spread around the world, they have taken with them a broad range of other species to satisfy a variety of human needs. Some of these species went on to establish wild populations well outside their native ranges. These biological invaders are a major component of current global change, and often represent threats to the maintenance of global biodiversity, human health, and the success of human economic enterprises. The continuing globalization of our society ensures that the need to understand the process of biological invasion will only increase in the future. There is also a growing recognition that the study of biological invaders provides significant insight into basic questions in ecology and evolution. Exotic birds provide a particularly good opportunity to study the causes and consequences of biological invasions. By combining good historical records of bird introductions with the detailed information available on many other aspects of avian biology, this book advances understanding of the invasion process while also exploring avian conservation biology, and basic principles of ecology and evolution. Chapters cover causes of non-randomness in which species get transported and released into novel environments, the stochastic (relating to numbers released) and deterministic (relating to species and location) effects that influence establishment success, patterns and processes in range expansion, and the ecology, genetics, and evolution of exotic birds in their new environment.
Daniel B. Botkin
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195162431
- eISBN:
- 9780199790043
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Discontinued
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195162431.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
America's great epic of exploration — the journey of Lewis and Clark — was also one of the most successful scientific expeditions in history. In notebooks filled with vivid and remarkably accurate ...
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America's great epic of exploration — the journey of Lewis and Clark — was also one of the most successful scientific expeditions in history. In notebooks filled with vivid and remarkably accurate descriptions of rivers, prairies, forests, mountains, Native Americans, and wildlife, Lewis and Clark gave the world an image of wild country that has rarely been equaled. This book, which features more than one hundred photographs and maps, traces the footsteps of the two explorers as they journeyed from St. Louis, through the breathtaking vistas of the tall-grass prairie and Big Sky country, over the arduous Bitterroot Mountains on the ancient Lolo Trail, to arrive finally at the Pacific coast and its the rugged, rainy, and darkly wooded landscape. As we travel westward, the book introduces us to the natural wonders recorded by Lewis and Clark — still fresh portraits of a pristine land — and recounts their many dangerous, challenging, and sometimes strange adventures. The book describes the same sites today, providing unique insights about America's changes to the land. For instance, the book recounts Lewis and Clark's travels through the great tall-grass prairie, vast plains that stretched to the horizon in every direction, stunningly beautiful land that with the eye of a concerned ecologist, has virtually disappeared today beneath the steel plow.Less
America's great epic of exploration — the journey of Lewis and Clark — was also one of the most successful scientific expeditions in history. In notebooks filled with vivid and remarkably accurate descriptions of rivers, prairies, forests, mountains, Native Americans, and wildlife, Lewis and Clark gave the world an image of wild country that has rarely been equaled. This book, which features more than one hundred photographs and maps, traces the footsteps of the two explorers as they journeyed from St. Louis, through the breathtaking vistas of the tall-grass prairie and Big Sky country, over the arduous Bitterroot Mountains on the ancient Lolo Trail, to arrive finally at the Pacific coast and its the rugged, rainy, and darkly wooded landscape. As we travel westward, the book introduces us to the natural wonders recorded by Lewis and Clark — still fresh portraits of a pristine land — and recounts their many dangerous, challenging, and sometimes strange adventures. The book describes the same sites today, providing unique insights about America's changes to the land. For instance, the book recounts Lewis and Clark's travels through the great tall-grass prairie, vast plains that stretched to the horizon in every direction, stunningly beautiful land that with the eye of a concerned ecologist, has virtually disappeared today beneath the steel plow.
Lindsey Gillson
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- June 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198713036
- eISBN:
- 9780191781421
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198713036.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
Faced with urgent issues of climate change, habitat loss, extinctions, pollution, and socioecological transformation, there is a need for a long-term perspective that guides ecosystem management, ...
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Faced with urgent issues of climate change, habitat loss, extinctions, pollution, and socioecological transformation, there is a need for a long-term perspective that guides ecosystem management, restoration, and sustainable natural resource use. Ecosystems in the Anthropocene are dynamic and complex, and new approaches to ecosystem management aim to conserve ecological function and process, therefore requiring long-term information on ecosystem variability and resilience. While there is a wealth of such information in palaeoecology, archaeology, and historical ecology, it is often inaccessible to conservation ecologists, because the relevance to present-day conservation is not always made explicit. Knowledge of long-term change in ecosystems can inform conservation, as part of an interdisciplinary approach that brings together ideas from neo-, palaeo-, and landscape ecology, conservation biology, and sustainability science. Starting with a discussion of elephant management and re-wilding, the book covers increasingly complex issues of fire management, climate change adaptation, and the maintenance of ecosystem services, culminating in the development of a multifunctional landscape approach that maintains biodiversity while meeting human needs for sustainability. The book presents an optimistic vision for the conservation and management of dynamic landscapes through a perspective that embraces the continuum between past, present, and future, illustrating how palaeoecology and other long-term data can contribute to conserving biodiversity and maintaining ecological resilience, while at the same time promoting human well-being by fostering a sense of place and a re-engagement with nature.Less
Faced with urgent issues of climate change, habitat loss, extinctions, pollution, and socioecological transformation, there is a need for a long-term perspective that guides ecosystem management, restoration, and sustainable natural resource use. Ecosystems in the Anthropocene are dynamic and complex, and new approaches to ecosystem management aim to conserve ecological function and process, therefore requiring long-term information on ecosystem variability and resilience. While there is a wealth of such information in palaeoecology, archaeology, and historical ecology, it is often inaccessible to conservation ecologists, because the relevance to present-day conservation is not always made explicit. Knowledge of long-term change in ecosystems can inform conservation, as part of an interdisciplinary approach that brings together ideas from neo-, palaeo-, and landscape ecology, conservation biology, and sustainability science. Starting with a discussion of elephant management and re-wilding, the book covers increasingly complex issues of fire management, climate change adaptation, and the maintenance of ecosystem services, culminating in the development of a multifunctional landscape approach that maintains biodiversity while meeting human needs for sustainability. The book presents an optimistic vision for the conservation and management of dynamic landscapes through a perspective that embraces the continuum between past, present, and future, illustrating how palaeoecology and other long-term data can contribute to conserving biodiversity and maintaining ecological resilience, while at the same time promoting human well-being by fostering a sense of place and a re-engagement with nature.
Gordon Frankie (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520223097
- eISBN:
- 9780520937772
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520223097.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
The beautiful tropical dry forest of northwest Costa Rica, with its highly seasonal rainfall and diversely vegetated landscape, is disappearing even more rapidly than Costa Rica's better-known rain ...
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The beautiful tropical dry forest of northwest Costa Rica, with its highly seasonal rainfall and diversely vegetated landscape, is disappearing even more rapidly than Costa Rica's better-known rain forest, primarily because it has been easier to convert to agriculture. This book offers a comprehensive look at the ecology, biodiversity, and conservation status of this endangered and fragile region. The chapters examine the major plant and animal groups living in the dry forest and present the first technical evaluation of Costa Rica's conservation efforts. As they assess the status of each area of specialty in the dry forest, the chapters also look beyond this particular region to show how its plants and animals are ecologically and evolutionarily connected to other geographic areas in Costa Rica and Central America. These chapters cover topics such as watershed and coastal management, plant phenology, pollination, insects, birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles. They also consider the socioeconomic, policy, legal, and political aspects of biodiversity conservation. The book concludes with an important synthesis of the chapter's recommendations on future directions, policies, and actions that will better conserve biodiversity in Costa Rica and other neotropical forests as well.Less
The beautiful tropical dry forest of northwest Costa Rica, with its highly seasonal rainfall and diversely vegetated landscape, is disappearing even more rapidly than Costa Rica's better-known rain forest, primarily because it has been easier to convert to agriculture. This book offers a comprehensive look at the ecology, biodiversity, and conservation status of this endangered and fragile region. The chapters examine the major plant and animal groups living in the dry forest and present the first technical evaluation of Costa Rica's conservation efforts. As they assess the status of each area of specialty in the dry forest, the chapters also look beyond this particular region to show how its plants and animals are ecologically and evolutionarily connected to other geographic areas in Costa Rica and Central America. These chapters cover topics such as watershed and coastal management, plant phenology, pollination, insects, birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles. They also consider the socioeconomic, policy, legal, and political aspects of biodiversity conservation. The book concludes with an important synthesis of the chapter's recommendations on future directions, policies, and actions that will better conserve biodiversity in Costa Rica and other neotropical forests as well.
Shahid Naeem, Daniel E. Bunker, Andy Hector, Michel Loreau, and Charles Perrings (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199547951
- eISBN:
- 9780191720345
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199547951.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
How will biodiversity loss affect ecosystem functioning, ecosystem services, and human wellbeing? In an age of accelerating biodiversity loss, this volume summarizes recent advances in ...
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How will biodiversity loss affect ecosystem functioning, ecosystem services, and human wellbeing? In an age of accelerating biodiversity loss, this volume summarizes recent advances in biodiversity‐ecosystem functioning research and explores the economics of biodiversity and ecosystem services. The first section summarizes the development of the basic science and provides a meta-analysis that quantitatively tests several biodiversity and ecosystem functioning hypotheses. The second section describes the natural science foundations of biodiversity‐ecosystem functioning research, including: quantifying functional diversity, the development of the field into a predictive science, effects of stability and complexity, methods to quantify mechanisms by which diversity affects functioning, the importance of trophic structure, microbial ecology, and spatial dynamics. The third section takes research on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning further than it has ever gone into the human dimension. The first six chapters cover the most pressing environmental challenges humanity faces, including effects of diversity on: climate change mitigation, restoration of degraded habitats, managed ecosystems, pollination, disease, and biological invasions. The remaining chapters of section three that consider the economic perspective, including: a synthesis of the economics of ecosystem services and biodiversity, and the options open to policy-makers to address the failure of markets to account for the loss of ecosystem services; an examination of the challenges of valuing ecosystem services and, hence, to understanding the human consequences of decisions that neglect these services; and an examination of the ways in which economists are currently incorporating biodiversity and ecosystem functioning research into decision models for the conservation and management of biodiversity. The final section describes new advances in ecoinformatics that will help transform this field into a globally predictive science, and finally, summarizes the advancements and future directions of the field. The book's ultimate conclusion is that biodiversity is an essential element of any strategy for sustainable development.Less
How will biodiversity loss affect ecosystem functioning, ecosystem services, and human wellbeing? In an age of accelerating biodiversity loss, this volume summarizes recent advances in biodiversity‐ecosystem functioning research and explores the economics of biodiversity and ecosystem services. The first section summarizes the development of the basic science and provides a meta-analysis that quantitatively tests several biodiversity and ecosystem functioning hypotheses. The second section describes the natural science foundations of biodiversity‐ecosystem functioning research, including: quantifying functional diversity, the development of the field into a predictive science, effects of stability and complexity, methods to quantify mechanisms by which diversity affects functioning, the importance of trophic structure, microbial ecology, and spatial dynamics. The third section takes research on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning further than it has ever gone into the human dimension. The first six chapters cover the most pressing environmental challenges humanity faces, including effects of diversity on: climate change mitigation, restoration of degraded habitats, managed ecosystems, pollination, disease, and biological invasions. The remaining chapters of section three that consider the economic perspective, including: a synthesis of the economics of ecosystem services and biodiversity, and the options open to policy-makers to address the failure of markets to account for the loss of ecosystem services; an examination of the challenges of valuing ecosystem services and, hence, to understanding the human consequences of decisions that neglect these services; and an examination of the ways in which economists are currently incorporating biodiversity and ecosystem functioning research into decision models for the conservation and management of biodiversity. The final section describes new advances in ecoinformatics that will help transform this field into a globally predictive science, and finally, summarizes the advancements and future directions of the field. The book's ultimate conclusion is that biodiversity is an essential element of any strategy for sustainable development.
Charles Perrings, Harold Mooney, and Mark Williamson (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199560158
- eISBN:
- 9780191721557
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199560158.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
Bioinvasions and Globalization synthesises our current knowledge of the ecology and economics of biological invasions, providing an in-depth evaluation of the science and its ...
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Bioinvasions and Globalization synthesises our current knowledge of the ecology and economics of biological invasions, providing an in-depth evaluation of the science and its implications for managing the causes and consequences of one of the most pressing environmental issues facing humanity today. Emergent zoonotic diseases such as HIV and SARS have already imposed major costs in terms of human health, whilst plant and animal pathogens have had similar effects on agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. The introduction of pests, predators, and competitors into many ecosystems has disrupted the benefits they provide to people, in many cases leading to the extirpation or even extinction of native species. This book analyzes the main drivers of bioinvasions — the growth of world trade, global transport and travel, habitat conversion and land-use intensification, and climate change — and their consequences for ecosystem functioning. It shows how bioinvasions impose disproportionately high costs on countries where a large proportion of people depend heavily on the exploitation of natural resources. It considers the options for improving assessment and management of invasive species risks, and especially for achieving the international cooperation needed to address bioinvasions as a negative externality of international trade.Less
Bioinvasions and Globalization synthesises our current knowledge of the ecology and economics of biological invasions, providing an in-depth evaluation of the science and its implications for managing the causes and consequences of one of the most pressing environmental issues facing humanity today. Emergent zoonotic diseases such as HIV and SARS have already imposed major costs in terms of human health, whilst plant and animal pathogens have had similar effects on agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. The introduction of pests, predators, and competitors into many ecosystems has disrupted the benefits they provide to people, in many cases leading to the extirpation or even extinction of native species. This book analyzes the main drivers of bioinvasions — the growth of world trade, global transport and travel, habitat conversion and land-use intensification, and climate change — and their consequences for ecosystem functioning. It shows how bioinvasions impose disproportionately high costs on countries where a large proportion of people depend heavily on the exploitation of natural resources. It considers the options for improving assessment and management of invasive species risks, and especially for achieving the international cooperation needed to address bioinvasions as a negative externality of international trade.