Foundations of Conservation Biology A Guide to the Classic Literature

About this book

For students, practitioners, and researchers, a comprehensive guide to conservation biology's foundational literature.

This book summarises over a century of multidisciplinary scientific literature that contributed to the development of conservation biology. It explores how different scientific, social, and cultural traditions have informed that literature, enabling a deeper comprehension of the natural world and conservation practices. The volume traces conservation biology's scientific and cultural foundations and its emergence in the mid-1980s in response to the accelerating effects of human activity on biological diversity. As conservation moved beyond its early emphasis on sustaining yields of selected natural resources and responding to environmental degradation, it both reflected and required changes in its scope and foundations. Today, conservation biologists aim to understand the complex ecological and social causes of biodiversity loss and apply that integrated understanding to sustain life and ecological integrity at all levels.

Examining this evolving field's foundations in philosophy and culture, population genetics, landscape ecology, management techniques, law, the social sciences, and climate change science, the contributors to this volume identify and provide historical and contextual interpretations of the key literature. Foundations of Conservation Biology shows how insights from the past have influenced contemporary studies, and how they may continue to shape future research and actions.

Contents

Foreword, by Gary Paul Nabhan

Introduction
1. Philosophical and Cultural Foundations of Conservation Biology, by Curt Meine
2. Founding Principles and Primary Concerns in Conservation Genetics, by Ken N. Paige
3. A Sense of Place and the Multiple Scales of Conservation, by John A. Wiens
4. Techniques for the Management and Conservation of Biological Diversity, by Stanley A. Temple and Erica Fleishman
5. Conservation Science in the Legal Arena, by Eric T. Freyfogle
6. Human Dimensions of Biodiversity Conservation, by J. Stuart Carlton, Susan K. Jacobson, and Jean-Gael Collomb
7. Climate Change Biology, by Lee Hannah, Rob Peters, and Thomas E. Lovejoy
Epilogue

Acknowledgments
Contributors
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Jeffrey D. Brawn is an avian ecologist, Emeritus Stuart L. and Nancy J. Levenick Professor of Sustainability at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and a research associate with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Erica Fleishman is director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute and professor in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University. She is a past editor-in-chief of the journal Conservation Biology.

Curt Meine is a conservation biologist, environmental historian, and writer. He serves as a senior fellow with the Aldo Leopold Center and the Center for Humans and Nature; as research associate with the International Crane Foundation; and associate adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.