A Primer of Conservation Biology, Fifth Edition incorporates background, theory, and examples in a lively and readable text that will appeal to a wide audience and stimulate interest in conservation biology. The book provides the most up-to-date perspective on many high-profile issues in the field, such as sustainable development, global warming, payments for ecosystem services, and strategies to save species on the verge of extinction. The Primer is divided into nine chapters, focusing successively on biological diversity and its value, the threats to biological diversity, conservation at the population and species levels, protecting, managing and restoring ecosystems, and sustainable development. The book provides many examples of successful conservation approaches, such as one involving sea turtles in Brazil, and ends with suggestions for a future agenda. Throughout, the choice of examples is well balanced to show the full range of species, ecosystems, and geographic areas of the world. These examples are also selected to demonstrate the controversies in the field, and stimulate thought and discussion. The links between conservation biology and environmental law, environmental economics, philosophy, social sciences and anthropology, park management, and government policy are clearly presented. The book is very well illustrated in full-colour. The reader-friendly text is backed by an extensive bibliography (covering literature through 2012) and a glossary. There is an annotated list of suggested readings, a summary, and discussion questions at the end of each chapter. Key conservation organizations and their websites are presented in an Appendix. A Primer of Conservation Biology is ideally suited for use in short undergraduate modules, either as a stand-alone text or supplemented by outside readings. It can also be used effectively as a supplemental resource in courses in introductory biology, general ecology, population biology, environmental science, and wildlife management. Its broad perspective, concise format, and appealing writing style make the Primer the perfect choice for students, professionals, government policymakers, and others who are eager to learn more about conservation biology. These same qualities give the book a strong appeal to students whose first language is not English.

1. Defining Conservation Biology

•The references have been updated.
•There are many new suggested readings.
•The Brazilian sea turtle example has been re-focused and condensed.

2. What Is Biodiversity?

•Tiger salamanders from California are now used to illustrate hybridization.
•The Human Biome project has recently uncovered whole communities of bacteria living on our skin.
•The description of ecosystems characteristics has been condensed, and little-used terms deleted.

3. The Value of Biodiversity

•The economic values of biodiversity have been updated to 2012 dollar amounts.
•The value of penguin-themed movies is described.
•New sidebars have been added in to facilitate learning key concepts.

4. Threats to Biodiversity

•The increasing consumption of natural resources by developing countries is a new theme.
•Ocean acidification is identified as an important threat to marine organisms.
•New diseases, such as white-nose syndrome in bats, are included.

5. Extinction Is Forever

•The role of outbreeding depression has been reduced in importance and ways of countering the effects of inbreeding depression in small populations has been expanded.
•The latest work supports the idea that large numbers of individuals (on the order of 3,000-5,000) will need to be maintained to prevent species from going extinct.
•New figures and photographs have been added to better support the text.

6. Conserving Populations and Species

•The latest IUCN threat values for major groups have been added; for amphibians these are much higher than previous estimates.
•Arguments for assisted colonization in anticipation and response to climate changes are considered.
•The latest data from Costa Rica shows that sea turtle numbers are increasing, probably in response to conservation efforts.

7. Protected Areas

•The latest assessment that 13% of the world’s land is now in protected areas is discussed.
•The chapter covers the role of the country of Kirabati in recently establishing the world’s largest marine protected area.
•There is a greater emphasis on the role of corridors on allowing species to migrate in response to climate change.

8. Conservation Outside Protected Areas
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•The section on payment for ecosystem services is expanded as a result of its increasing importance.
•Namibia is highlighted as an emerging leader in community-based wildlife conservation.
•The restoration of many urban areas—both to protect biodiversity and to enhance the quality of life of citizens—is discussed.

9. The Challenge of Sustainable Development

•The sections on the World Bank and international funding have been rearranged and reduced in length.
•The role of citizen scientists in large projects has been highlighted, with new examples.
•The new international funding source REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) is discussed.

Appendix: Selected Environmental Organizations and Sources of Information

•Each entry has been checked and updated as needed.

Glossary

•Some new terms have been added, and little-used terms have been dropped.

Bibliography

•The literature has been updated to include the most recent articles.

Index