Biodiversity and Conservation, (5 Volume Set)

Although ‘biodiversity’ is a relatively new coinage, scientists have been studying the subject it describes long before the word’s first appearance in the language in the mid-1980s. In 1973, for instance, the UK Systematics Association held a symposium on ‘The Changing Flora and Fauna of Britain’ which concluded that not enough attention was being paid to the conservation of rarities, a conclusion also reached, said the symposium, at a meeting of the Linnaean Society some forty years earlier. By 1980, the Global 2000 Report to the President published by the US Council on Environmental Quality starkly warned of a diminution of up to one-fifth of all species by the turn of the century, and there is now a growing consensus that the world faces a ‘biodiversity crisis’—a potentially catastrophic global loss of genetic, ecosystem, and, most obviously, species diversity. Indeed, especially since the UN Convention on Biological Diversity was promulgated in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, conserving biodiversity has become the principal focus of the global conservation movement. Indeed, the study of the origins, maintenance, and protection of diversity has become perhaps the most vibrant offshoot of ecology and conservation studies. It is increasingly taught and studied in universities - and other research institutions - around the world.

Addressing the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of this rapidly growing subject, and its ever more complex and multidisciplinary corpus of scholarly literature, Biodiversity and Conservation is a new title in the Routledge series, Critical Concepts in the Environment. Edited by Richard Ladle of Oxford University’s Centre for the Environment, this new Major Work brings together in five volumes the foundational and the very best cutting-edge scholarship to provide a synoptic view of all the key issues and current debates.

The first volume in the collection (‘History, Background, and Concepts’) brings together the most important scholarship covering all the major themes that have come to define the scope of the subject. For example, what is biodiversity and how is it measured? Also, what are the geographic and temporal patterns of biodiversity? And what are its values? Volumes II and III, meanwhile, collect the vital research on topics such as: population growth and development; habitat loss and fragmentation; pollution; invasive species; terrestrial, freshwater, and marine biomes; and climate change.

The scope of the materials in Volume IV (‘Responses to Biodiversity Loss’) includes international legal frameworks for conservation biodiversity; protected areas and networks; conservation planning; restoration and rewilding; reintroductions and translocations; and ex-situ conservation (via, for instance, zoos, seed and gene banks); conservation education; and community conservation.

The scholarship assembled in the final volume (‘Future Directions in Biodiversity Conservation’) collects the best and most influential work on themes such as paleo-ecology (or how to use the past to understand the future); the emergence of conservation biogeography; conservation outside protected areas (or ‘reconciliation ecology’); and the effects of the revolution in IT. Also gathered here is the finest research on the idea of a converging agenda around sustainable development, poverty, and biodiversity, as well as the crucial work on economics and market-led conservation.

Biodiversity and Conservation is fully indexed and includes a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context. The collection’s fresh and explicitly interdisciplinary approach provides a unique insight into the development of the subject from a predominantly science-based topic to a vibrant interdisciplinary concern, with an increasing appreciation of the social obligations of conservation. Biodiversity and Conservation is an essential reference collection and is destined to be valued by scholars and students - as well as conservation policy-makers and practitioners - as a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource.

Volume I : History, Background, and Concepts

Part 1 : What is Biodiversity and How is it Measured?
Chapter 1 : Conservation of Biodiversity in a World of Use, Conservation Biology
Chapter 2 : Indicators for Monitoring Biodiversity : A Hierarchical Approach’, Conservation Biology
Chapter 3 : Measuring Biodiversity Value for Conservation’, Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics
Chapter 4 : Quantifying Biodiversity : Procedures and Pitfalls in The Measurement and Comparison of Species Richness’, Ecology Letters
Chapter 5 : Global State of Biodiversity and Loss’, Annual Review of Environment and Resources

Part 2 : Origins of Biodiversity
Chapter 6 : Modes of Animal Speciation’, Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics
Chapter 7 : Adaptive Radiation in a Heterogeneous Environment’, Nature
Chapter 8 : Ecological Causes of Adaptive Radiation’, American Naturalist
Chapter 9 : Why are There so Many Insect Species? Perspectives from Fossils and Phylogenies’, Biological Reviews

Part 3 : Geographic Patterns of biodiversity
Chapter 10 : Global Patterns in Biodiversity’, Nature
Chapter 11 : A Comprehensive Framework for Global Patterns in Biodiversity’, Ecology Letters
Chapter 12 : Latitudinal Gradients of Biodiversity : Pattern, Process, Scale, and SynThesis’, Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics

Part 4 : Temporal Patterns of Biodiversity
Chapter 13 : Diversification and Extinction in The History of Life’, Science
Chapter 14 : Prehistoric Extinctions of Pacific Island Birds : Biodiversity Meets Zooarchaeology’, Science
Chapter 15 : Lessons from The Past : Biotic Recoveries from Mass Extinctions’, Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences of The United States of America
Chapter 16 : Late Quaternary Extinctions : State of The Debate’, Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics

Part 5 : Conservation Genetics
Chapter 17 : When does Conservation Genetics Matter?’, Heredity
Chapter 18 : Inbreeding Depression in Conservation Biology’, Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics
Chapter 19 : The Alluring Simplicity and Complex Reality of Genetic Rescue’, Trends in Ecology and Evolution

Part 6 : Key Concepts
Chapter 20 : Directions in Conservation Biology’, Journal of Animal Ecology
Chapter 21 : Risks of Population Extinction from Demographic and Environmental Stochasticity and Random Catastrophes’, American Naturalist
Chapter 22 : Scale and Species Richness : Towards a General, Hierarchical Theory of Species Diversity’, Journal of Biogeography
Chapter 23 : The Keystone Species Concept in Ecology and Conservation’, Bioscience

Part 7 : The Value of Biodiversity
Chapter 24 : The Value of Biodiversity’, Ambio
Chapter 25 : The Value of The World’s Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital’, Nature
Chapter 26 : Values-led Conservation’, Global Ecology and Biogeography

Volume II : Causes and consequences of biodiversity loss

Part 8 : Ultimate Causes
Chapter 27 : A Review of The Relationships Between Human Population Density and Biodiversity’, Biological Reviews
Chapter 28 : Effects of Human Activity on Global Extinction Risk’, Conservation Biology
Chapter 29 : Effects of Exurban Development on Biodiversity : Patterns, Mechanisms, and Research Needs’, Ecological Applications
Chapter 30 : Urbanization, Biodiversity, and Conservation’, Bioscience

Part 9 : Habitat Loss
Chapter 31 : How Much Habitat is Enough?’, Biological Conservation
Chapter 32 : Catastrophic Extinctions Follow Deforestation in Singapore’, Nature 424
Chapter 33 : Habitat Loss and Population Decline : A Meta-Analysis of The Patch Size Effect’, Ecology

Part 10 : Habitat Fragmentation
Chapter 34 : Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on Biodiversity’, Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution & Systematics
Chapter 35 : Fragmentation Effects on Forest Birds : Relative Influence of Woodland Cover and Configuration on Landscape Occupancy’, Conservation Biology
Chapter 36 : Confounding Factors in The Detection of Species Responses to Habitat Fragmentation’, Biological Reviews
Chapter 37 : Ecological Responses to Habitat Edges : Mechanisms, Models, and Variability Explained’, Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics

Part 11 : Invasive Species
Chapter 38 : Biotic Homogenization : A Few Winners Replacing Many Losers in The Next Mass Extinction’, Trends in Ecology and Evolution
Chapter 39 : Mammal Invaders on Islands : Impact, Control and Control Impact’, Biological Reviews
Chapter 40 : The Invasion Paradox : Reconciling Pattern and Process in Species Invasions’, Ecology
Chapter 41 : Are Invasive Species a Major Cause of Extinctions?’, Trends in Ecology and Evolution

Volume III

Part 12 : Pollution
Chapter 42 : The Sinking Ark : Pollution and The Worldwide Loss of Biodiversity’, Biodiversity and Conservation
Chapter 43 : The Impact of Insecticides and Herbicides on The Biodiversity and Productivity of Aquatic Communities’, Ecological Applications
Chapter 44 : The Globalization of Nitrogen Deposition : Consequences for Terrestrial Ecosystems’, Ambio
Chapter 45 : Ultraviolet Radiation, Toxic Chemicals and Amphibian Population Declines’, Diversity and Distributions

Part 13 : Climate Change
Chapter 46 : Biological Consequences of Global Warming : Is The Signal Already Apparent?’, Trends in Ecology and Evolution
Chapter 47 : Extinction Risk from Climate Change’, Nature
Chapter 48 : Forecasting The Effects of Global Warming on Biodiversity’, Bioscience
Chapter 49 : Biodiversity : Global Biodiversity Scenarios for The Year 2100’, Science

Part 14 : Unsustainable Exploitation
Chapter 50 : The Myriad Consequences of Hunting for Vertebrates and Plants in Tropical Forests’, Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics
Chapter 51 : Wild Meat : The Bigger Picture’, Trends in Ecology and Evolution
Chapter 52 : Synergistic Effects of Subsistence Hunting and Habitat Fragmentation on Amazonian Forest Vertebrates’, Conservation Biology
Chapter 53 : Fishing Down Marine Food Webs’, Science

Part 15 : Threatened Ecosystems
Chapter 54 : Deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia : History, Rates, and Consequences’, Conservation Biology
Chapter 55 : Freshwater Biodiversity : Importance, Threats, Status and Conservation Challenges’, Biological Reviews
Chapter 56 : Threats to The Running Water Ecosystems of The World’, Environmental Conservation
Chapter 57 : Marine Biodiversity : Patterns, Threats and Conversation Needs’, Biodiversity & Conservation
Chapter 58 : Evaluating and Ranking The Vulnerability of Global Marine Ecosystems to Anthropogenic Threats’, Conservation Biology
Chapter 59 : Climate Change, Coral Bleaching and The Future of The World’s Coral Reefs’, Marine and Freshwater Research
Chapter 60 : The Global Conservation Status of Mangroves’, Ambio
Chapter 61 : A Global Crisis for Seagrass Ecosystems’, Bioscience

Volume IV : Responses to biodiversity loss

Part 16 : International Legal Framework
Chapter 62 : The UN Convention on Biodiversity
Chapter 63 : Why is There a Biodiversity Convention? The International Interest in Centralized Development Planning’, International Affairs
Chapter 64 : The 2010 Challenge : Data Availability, Information Needs and Extraterrestrial Insights’, Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society

Part 17 : Protected Areas and Protected Area Networks
Chapter 65 : What do Genetics and Ecology Tell Us About The Design of Nature-Reserves?’, Biological Conservation
Chapter 66 : Rethinking Protected Area Categories and The New Paradigm’, Environmental Conservation
Chapter 67 : Extinction in Nature Reserves : The Effect of Fragmentation and The Importance of Migration Between Reserve Fragments’, Oikos
Chapter 68 : Design of Reserve Networks and The Persistence of Biodiversity’, Trends in Ecology and Evolution
Chapter 69 : Global Gap Analysis : Priority Regions for Expanding The Global Protected-Area Network’, Bioscience

Part 18 : Conservation Planning
Chapter 70 : Beyond Opportunism : Key Principles for Systematic Reserve Selection’, Trends in Ecology and Evolution
Chapter 71 : Systematic Conservation Planning’, Nature
Chapter 72 : Biodiversity Hotspots for Conservation Priorities’, Nature
Chapter 73 : The Global 200 : A Representation Approach to Conserving The Earth’s Most Biologically Valuable Ecoregions’, Conservation Biology
Chapter 74 : Conserving Biodiversity Efficiently : What to Do, Where, and When’, PLoS Biology
Chapter 75 : Climate Change-Integrated Conservation Strategies’, Global Ecology and Biogeography

Part 19 : Identifying Threats
Chapter 76 : Assessing Extinction Threats : Toward a Re-evaluation of IUCN Threatened Species Categories’, Conservation Biology
Chapter 77 : An Evaluation of Threatened Species Categorization Systems Used on The American Continent’, Conservation Biology
Chapter 78 : Making Consistent IUCN Classifications Under Uncertainty’, Conservation Biology
Chapter 79 : Inferring Threat from Scientific Collections’, Conservation Biology

Part 20 : Restoration and Re-wilding
Chapter 80 : Restoration Ecology : Repairing The Earth’s Ecosystems in The New Millennium’, Restoration Ecology
Chapter 81 : Restoration Ecology and Conservation Biology’, Biological Conservation
Chapter 82 : Alternative States and Positive Feedbacks in Restoration Ecology’, Trends in Ecology and Evolution
Chapter 83 : Defining The Limits of Restoration : The Need for Realistic Goals’, Restoration Ecology
Chapter 84 : Pleistocene Rewilding : An Optimistic Agenda for Twenty-First Century Conservation’, American Naturalist

Part 21 : Translocations and Introductions
Chapter 85 : Reintroduction : Challenges and Lessons for Basic Ecology’, Trends in Ecology and Evolution
Chapter 86 : Developing The Science of Reintroduction Biology’, Conservation Biology
Chapter 87 : Translocation as a Species Conservation Tool’, Science

Part 22 : Ex-Situ Conservation
Chapter 88 : Designing The Ark : Setting Priorities for Captive Breeding’, Conservation Biology
Chapter 89 : Linking Wild and Captive Populations to Maximize Species Persistence : Optimal Translocation Strategies’, Conservation Biology
Chapter 90 : Keeping Fit on The Ark : Assessing The Suitability of Captive-Bred Animals for Release’, Biological Conservation

Part 23 : Conservation Practice
Chapter 91 : Biological vs : Social, Economic and Political Priority-Setting in Conservation’, Ecology Letters
Chapter 92 : Governance and The Loss of Biodiversity’, Nature
Chapter 93 : Conserving Tropical Biodiversity Amid Weak Institutions’, Bioscience
Chapter 94 : Gaps and Mismatches Between Global Conservation Priorities and Spending’, Conservation Biology

Part 24 : Community Conservation
Chapter 95 : Community-Based Conservation in a Globalized World’, Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences
Chapter 96 : Community Conservation and The Future of Africa’s Wildlife’, Conservation Biology
Chapter 97 : When Agendas Collide : Human Welfare and Biological Conservation’, Conservation Biology

Volume V : Future directions in biodiversity conservation

Part 25 : Lessons from The Past
Chapter 98 : How Can a Knowledge of The Past Help to Conserve The Future? Biodiversity Conservation and The Relevance of Long-Term Ecological Studies’, Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society
Chapter 99 : Tropical Forest Recovery : Legacies of Human Impact and Natural Disturbances’, Perspectives in Plant Ecology Evolution and Systematics
Chapter 100 : Applied Historical Ecology : Using The Past to Manage for The Future’, Ecological Applications

Part 26 : Predicting The Future of Biodiversity
Chapter 101 : Forecasting Global Biodiversity Threats Associated with Human Population Growth’, Biological Conservation
Chapter 102 : Predicting Biodiversity Change : Outside The Climate Envelope, Beyond The Species-Area Curve’, Ecology
Chapter 103 : Estimating Population Spread : What Can we Forecast and How Well?’, Ecology
Chapter 104 : Is it Meaningful to Estimate a Probability of Extinction?’, Ecology
Chapter 105 : Predicting Global Change Impacts on Plant Species’ Distributions : Future Challenges’, Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics

Part 27 : Conservation Outside of Protected Areas
Chapter 106 : Reconciliation Ecology and The Future of Species Diversity
Chapter 107 : Conservation Where People Live and Work’, Conservation Biology
Chapter 108 : How Effective are European Agri-Environment Schemes in Conserving and Promoting Biodiversity?’, Journal of Applied Ecology

Part 28 : The it revolution and Biodiversity Science
Chapter 109 : The Encyclopedia of Life’, Trends in Ecology and Evolution
Chapter 110 : Automated Species Identification : Why Not?’, Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society
Chapter 111 : Information Technology Challenges of Biodiversity and Ecosystems Informatics’, Information Systems

Part 29 : Biodiversity, Poverty, and Sustainable Development
Chapter 112 : Parks and Peoples : The Social Impact of Protected Areas’, Annual Review of Anthropology
Chapter 113 : Sustainable Use and Incentive-Driven Conservation : Realigning Human and Conservation Interests
Chapter 114 : A Framework for Improved Monitoring of Biodiversity : Responses to The World Summit on Sustainable Development’, Conservation Biology
Chapter 115 : Innovations for Conservation and Development’, Geographical Journal

Part 30 : Paying for Biodiversity
Chapter 116 : Economic Benefits of Rare and Endangered Species : Summary and Meta-Analysis’, Ecological Economics
Chapter 117 : Valuing Biodiversity for Use in Pharmaceutical Research’, Journal of Political Economy
Chapter 118 : Is Community-Based Ecotourism a Good Use of Biodiversity Conservation Funds?’, Trends in Ecology and Evolution
Chapter 119 : The Non-Economic Motives Behind The Willingness to Pay for Biodiversity Conservation’, Biological Conservation

Part 31 : The Future of Biodiversity Research
Chapter 120 : Conservation Biogeography : Assessment and Prospect’, Diversity & Distributions
Chapter 121 : Extinction and The Loss of Evolutionary History’, Science
Chapter 122 : Conservation Biology and Real-World Conservation’, Conservation Biology