Essentials of Conservation Biology

Combines theory and applied and basic research to explain the connections between conservation biology and ecology, climate change biology, the protection of endangered species, protected area management, environmental economics, and sustainable development.Designed for use in conservation biology courses, Essentials of Conservation Biology, Sixth Edition also serves as a supplemental text for general biology, ecology, wildlife biology, and environmental policy courses. A major theme throughout the book is the active role that scientists, local people, the general public, conservation organisations, and governments can play in protecting biodiversity, even while providing for human needs.New to This Edition Coverage of the latest information available on a number of topics, including the expanding system of marine protected areas and linkages between conservation and global change.New approaches culled from the recent literature—on topics such as citizen science, aerial drones in conservation management, the economic value of wild pollinators, the use of environmental DNA (eDNA) in aquatic environments, and payments for ecosystem services—are highlighted.The full-colour illustration program has been updated.Major points from the text have been highlighted as sidebars and serve as useful study aids.

Table of Contents:
Preface PART I. MAJOR ISSUES THAT DEFINE THE DISCIPLINEChapter 1. What Is Conservation Biology?Chapter 2. What Is Biodiversity?Chapter 3. Where Is the World’s Biodiversity Found?PART II. VALUING BIODIVERSITYChapter 4. Ecological EconomicsChapter 5. Indirect Use ValueChapter 6. Ethical ValuesPART III. THREATS TO BIODIVERSITYChapter 7. ExtinctionChapter 8. Vulnerability to ExtinctionChapter 9. Habitat Destruction, Fragmentation, Degradation, and Global Climate ChangeChapter 10. Overexploitation, Invasive Species, and DiseasePART IV. CONSERVATION AT THE POPULATION AND SPECIES LEVELS Chapter 11. Problems of Small PopulationsChapter 12. Applied Population BiologyChapter 13. Establishing New PopulationsChapter 14. Ex Situ Conservation StrategiesPART V. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSChapter 15. Establishing Protected AreasChapter 16. Designing Networks of Protected AreasChapter 17. Managing Protected AreasChapter 18. Conservation Outside Protected AreasChapter 19. Restoration EcologyPART VI. CONSERVATION AND HUMAN SOCIETIESChapter 20. Conservation and Sustainable Development at the Local and National LevelsChapter 21. An International Approach to Conservation and Sustainable DevelopmentChapter 22. An Agenda for the FutureAppendix: Selected Environmental Organizations and Sources of InformationIllustration CreditsGlossaryBibliographyIndex

About the Author :
Richard B. Primack is a Professor in the Biology Department at Boston University. He received his B.A. at Harvard University in 1972 and his Ph.D. at Duke University in 1976, and then was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Canterbury and Harvard University. He has served as a visiting professor at the University of Hong Kong and Tokyo University, and has been awarded Bullard and Putnam Fellowships from Harvard University and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Dr. Primack was President of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, and is currently Editor-in-Chief of the journal Biological Conservation. Twenty-eight foreign-language editions of his conservation biology textbooks (the Essentials and the shorter Primer of Conservation Biology) have been produced, with local coauthors. He is an author of rain forest books, most recently Tropical Rain Forests: An Ecological and Biogeographical Comparison (with Richard Corlett). Dr. Primack's research interests include: the biological impacts of climate change; the loss of species in protected areas; tropical forest ecology and conservation; and conservation education. He has recently completed a popular book about changes in Concord since the time of Henry David Thoreau, titled Walden Warming: Climate Change Comes to Thoreau's Woods.

Review :
"Essentials of Conservation Biology does have a lot to offer and is a well-written text, with current examples up to and including papers from 2014. Terms are well defined in the text, and the history of conservation biology as a field is well explained. Chapters are engaging and well thought out, including box articles, summaries, and suggested readings for each chapter."--David W. MacDougall, Plant Science Bulletin