A Primer of Conservation Biology

by Primack, Richard B.

• ISBN13: 9780878937288
• ISBN10: 0878937285
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-06-01
• Publisher: Sinauer Associates Inc

Author Biography

Richard B. Primack is a Professor in the Biology Department at Boston University and is currently a Bullard Fellow at Harvard University (1999-2000)

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Conservation and Biological Diversity	p. 1
Conservation Biology's Interdisciplinary Approach: A Case Study with Sea Turtles	p. 3
Why Is Conservation Needed?	p. 6
Conservation Biology's Ethical Principles	p. 8
The Origin of Conservation Biology	p. 9
What Is Biological Diversity?	p. 11
Species diversity	p. 12
The Origin of New Species	p. 13
Naming and Classifying Species	p. 16
Genetic diversity	p. 18
Community diversity	p. 19
Measuring biological diversity	p. 24
Where Is the World's Biological Diversity Found?	p. 27
How many species exist worldwide?	p. 30
Extinction and Economics: Losing Something of Value	p. 34
Patterns of extinction	p. 34
Ecological economics	p. 36
Common property resources	p. 37
Direct Economic Values	p. 39
Consumptive use value	p. 40
Productive use value	p. 42
Indirect Economic Values	p. 44
Nonconsumptive use value	p. 44
Option value	p. 51
Existence value	p. 53
Environmental Ethics	p. 54
Deep ecology	p. 57
Summary	p. 58
Suggested Readings	p. 60
Threats to Biological Diversity	p. 61
Rates of Extinction	p. 62
The Current, Human-Caused Extinctions	p. 63
Extinction rates in water and on land	p. 66
Island Biogeography and Modern Extinction Rates	p. 68
Local extinctions	p. 71
Causes of Extinction	p. 72
Habitat destruction	p. 75
Habitat fragmentation	p. 84
Habitat degradation and pollution	p. 89
Global climate change	p. 95
Overexploitation	p. 100
Invasive species	p. 105
Disease	p. 110
Vulnerability to Extinction	p. 113
Summary	p. 117
Suggested Readings	p. 119
Conservation at the Population and Species Levels	p. 121
Essential Concepts for Small Populations	p. 122
The Problems of Small Populations	p. 123
Loss of genetic variability	p. 125
Effective population size	p. 129
Demographic variation	p. 132
Environmental variation and catastrophes	p. 133
Extinction vortices	p. 135
Applied Population Biology	p. 136
Methods for studying populations	p. 137
Establishment of New Populations	p. 146
Considerations for successful programs	p. 148
Establishing new plant populations	p. 152
The status of new populations	p. 154
Ex Situ Conservation Strategies	p. 155
Zoos	p. 157
Aquariums	p. 161
Botanical gardens	p. 162
Conservation Categories of Species	p. 166
Legal Protection of Species	p. 171
National laws	p. 171
International agreements to protect species and habitats	p. 174
Summary	p. 178
Suggested Readings	p. 179
Conserving Biological Communities	p. 183
Protected Areas	p. 184
Classification of protected areas	p. 185
Establishing priorities for protection	p. 188
Prioritization systems	p. 189
Designing Networks of Protected Areas	p. 200
Protected area size and characteristics	p. 201
Minimizing edge and fragmentation effects	p. 204
Conservation networks	p. 205
Linking protected areas with habitat corridors	p. 205
Landscape ecology and park design	p. 208
Managing Protected Areas	p. 210
Management and monitoring	p. 211
Managing habitat	p. 213
Protected area management and people	p. 215
Challenges in park management	p. 219
Outside Protected Areas	p. 220
Human-dominated landscapes	p. 221
Ecosystem management	p. 223
Restoration Ecology	p. 225
Restoration of some major communities	p. 229
The future of restoration ecology	p. 234
Summary	p. 234
Suggested Readings	p. 235
Conservation and Sustainable Development	p. 239
Government Action	p. 239
Local legislation	p. 239
National laws	p. 243
Traditional Societies, Conservation, and Sustainable Development	p. 244
Conservation ethics of traditional societies	p. 245
Local people and their governments	p. 246
International Approaches to Conservation and Sustainable Development	p. 251
International agreements and summits	p. 252
International funding	p. 256
International development banks and ecosystem damage	p. 260
Ongoing Problems and Possible Responses	p. 265
The Role of Conservation Biologists	p. 270
Summary	p. 273
Suggested Readings	p. 274
Selected Environmental Organizations and Sources of Information	p. 277
Glossary	p. 281
Bibliography	p. 287
Index	p. 311
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