To see accurate pricing, please choose your delivery country.
 
 
United States
£ GBP
All Shops

British Wildlife

8 issues per year 84 pages per issue Subscription only

British Wildlife is the leading natural history magazine in the UK, providing essential reading for both enthusiast and professional naturalists and wildlife conservationists. Published eight times a year, British Wildlife bridges the gap between popular writing and scientific literature through a combination of long-form articles, regular columns and reports, book reviews and letters.

Subscriptions from £33 per year

Conservation Land Management

4 issues per year 44 pages per issue Subscription only

Conservation Land Management (CLM) is a quarterly magazine that is widely regarded as essential reading for all who are involved in land management for nature conservation, across the British Isles. CLM includes long-form articles, events listings, publication reviews, new product information and updates, reports of conferences and letters.

Subscriptions from £26 per year
Academic & Professional Books  Habitats & Ecosystems  Coasts & Islands

Tropical Island Recovery Cousine Island, Seychelles

By: Michael J Samways, Peter Hitchins, Orty Bourquin and Jock Henwood
245 pages, colour photos, colour tables
Tropical Island Recovery
Click to have a closer look
  • Tropical Island Recovery ISBN: 9781444333091 Hardback Apr 2010 Out of stock with supplier: order now to get this when available
    £111.95
    #184119
Price: £111.95
About this book Contents Customer reviews Biography Related titles

About this book

Tropical islands around the world are losing much of their biodiversity. Cousine Island, Seychelles,is a remarkable example of recovery which runs countercurrent to this trend of tropical island impoverishment.

From a highly degraded island in the 1960s, Cousine Island is now a revitalized carpet of natural vegetation and a haven for nesting seabirds. All alien vertebrates have been eradicated, as have most of the invasive alien plants. Poaching of nesting marine turtles and shearwaters has stopped, leading to an increase in breeding numbers. The Sooty tern has returned to the Island to breed after an absence of 30 years. The coastal plain has been restored with indigenous trees, bringing back the historic forest type. Rats, mice and crazy ants, and other alien organisms, are kept off the Island by strict quarantine measures. Three threatened Seychelles endemic land birds (Seychelles warbler, Seychelles magpie robin and Seychelles white-eye) have been established and are breeding successfully. Overall, the Island restoration programme has improved the compositional, structural and functional biodiversity of the island. The coral reefs are also recovering after the mass coral bleaching event at the end of the last century. Cousine Island is thus paving the way in the craft and science of tropical island restoration as a legacy for future generations.

This book is about the recovery of Cousine Island and its natural history, told in much detail and with profuse illustration. It is for restoration ecologists,tropical ecologists, island enthusiasts, and for anyone interested in tropical island natural history.

Contents

Foreword by Sir James Mancham
Acknowledgements

- Cousine Island in a world context
- Cousine as a Seychelles island
- Cousine Island's conservation significance in a nutshell
- How humans nearly pushed Cousine past the tipping point
- The changing seasons
- The lie of the land
- Cousine's rocks, soils and sand
- The moody sea
- Cousine's green carpet
- Cousine's woody cloak
- Cousine's vegetation reprieve
- Sponges, corals and the great bleaching event
- Life in the shallow sea: from shells to urchins
- Between sea and land: a variety of crabs
- Ecological webmasters: terrestrial invertebrates
- A rich tapestry of fish life
- Cousine as a haven for turtles
- Of tortoises, lizards and snakes
- Overcoming the extinction of experience: sea bird haven
- Aquatic and shore birds
- A truly successful story: endemic land birds
- The welcome and the unwelcome: vagrant and alien birds
- Visiting mammals to Cousine
- Cousine Island in the world today, and its future
- Scientific summary
- List of species recorded on and around Cousine

Glossary
Bibliography
Photographic and artwork credits
About the authors
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Michael Samways is Professor and Chair of the Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

Peter Hitchins was Cousine Island Manager 1995-2001, and Conservation Advisor to the Island 2002-2004.

Orty Bourquin was Conservation Consultant to Cousine Island during instigation of the Island's Management Plan.

Jock Henwood has been Cousine Island Manager, 2002-present.

By: Michael J Samways, Peter Hitchins, Orty Bourquin and Jock Henwood
245 pages, colour photos, colour tables
Media reviews

This is an interesting, well-done, well-illustrated (numerous excellent color photographs) book should interest a wide audience including ecologists, conservationists, ecotourists, and readers interested in the natural history of tropical islands.
- CHOICE, January 2011

Current promotions
New and Forthcoming BooksNHBS Moth TrapBritish Wildlife MagazineBuyers Guides