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Biodiversity Conservation and Environmental Change Lindsey Gillson (Associate Professor, Plant Conservation Unit, Associate Professor, Plant Conservation Unit, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town)

Biodiversity Conservation and Environmental Change By Lindsey Gillson (Associate Professor, Plant Conservation Unit, Associate Professor, Plant Conservation Unit, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town)

Summary

Discusses how a knowledge of long-term change in ecosystems can inform and influence their conservation, integrating perspectives from archaeology, environmental history and palaeoecology.

Biodiversity Conservation and Environmental Change Summary

Biodiversity Conservation and Environmental Change: Using palaeoecology to manage dynamic landscapes in the Anthropocene by Lindsey Gillson (Associate Professor, Plant Conservation Unit, Associate Professor, Plant Conservation Unit, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town)

Ecosystems today are dynamic and complex, leaving conservationists faced with the paradox of conserving moving targets. New approaches to conservation are now required that aim to conserve ecological function and process, rather than attempt to protect static snapshots of biodiversity. To do this effectively, long-term information on ecosystem variability and resilience is needed. While there is a wealth of such information in palaeoecology, archaeology, and historical ecology, it remains an underused resource by conservation ecologists. In bringing together the disciplines of neo- and palaeoecology and integrating them with conservation biology, this novel text illustrates how an understanding of long-term change in ecosystems can in turn inform and influence their conservation and management in the Anthropocene. By looking at the history of traditional management, climate change, disturbance, and land-use, the book describes how a long-term perspective on landscape change can inform current and pressing conservation questions such as whether elephants should be culled, how best to manage fire, and whether ecosystems can or should be "re-wilded" Biodiversity Conservation and Environmental Change is suitable for senior undergraduate and post-graduate students in conservation ecology, palaeoecology, biodiversity conservation, landscape ecology, environmental change and natural resource management. It will also be of relevance and use to a global market of conservation practitioners, researchers, educators and policy-makers.

Biodiversity Conservation and Environmental Change Reviews

This is an often thoughtful book which presents the value of palaeoecological research and data over timescales which embrace not just the Anthropocene, but long periods preceding it. * Kevin J. Edwards, Biodiversity and Conservation *
[T]his volume represents an important, and largely successful, attempt to highlight connections between paleoecology (and historical ecology) and applied ecology. At a time when scientists are increasingly specialists, Gillson's generalist approach should be commended. * Charles B. Yackulic, Quarterly Review of Biology *
[A] book like this that raises awareness and sets a strong case for making the effort is very necessary and should be widely welcomed. * Althea Davies, Trends in Ecology & Evolution *
The role of palaeoecology in improving understanding and shaping long term responses is stressed throughout. The case studies are varied in terms of both scale and location, ranging from African Savannas to New England...I have no hesitation in commending this valuable and scholarly book. It opens up new ground and makes connections that are long overdue and of real practical and theoretical significance. * Frank Oldfield, Editor, The Anthropocene Review. *
an excellent text for a graduate or advanced undergraduate seminar in conservation biology, environmental policy, or, ideally, those linking the two * Thomas L. Fleischner, Ecology *
Gillson has provided a valuable, well-written, easy to understand book that demonstrates the practical and theoretical interconnectedness of past, present and future ecology. * Matthew McDowell, Austral Ecology *

About Lindsey Gillson (Associate Professor, Plant Conservation Unit, Associate Professor, Plant Conservation Unit, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town)

Lindsey Gillson was educated at the University of Oxford and Imperial College London. She worked in wildlife conservation for several years before returning to Oxford to research the application of palaeoecology in conservation, specialising in the management of African savannas as the subject of her doctoral thesis. She was appointed Trapnell Fellow in African Terrestrial Ecology at the University of Oxford in 2001, and moved to South Africa in 2006 to take up a post at the University of Cape Town. She is Deputy Director of the Plant Conservation Unit, and continues to work on the application of long-term data in the conservation and management of African biomes, and in developing the interface between palaeoecology and conservation biology.

Table of Contents

1. The Conservation Paradox ; 2. The Elephant Dilemma: A long-term perspective on the management of African savannas ; 3. Where the Wild Things Were: Re-wilding and the sixth extinction ; 4. A Burning Question: Can long-term data inform fire management in the 21st century? ; 5. Past, present and future climate change: can palaeoecology help manage a warming world? ; 6. Ecosystem Services: Lessons from the past for a sustainable future ; 7. Nature, Culture, and Conservation in the Age of the Anthropocene ; 8. Conclusions: Conservation in the Anthropocene

Additional information

NPB9780198713036
9780198713036
0198713037
Biodiversity Conservation and Environmental Change: Using palaeoecology to manage dynamic landscapes in the Anthropocene by Lindsey Gillson (Associate Professor, Plant Conservation Unit, Associate Professor, Plant Conservation Unit, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town)
New
Hardback
Oxford University Press
2015-04-09
230
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
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