The Ecological Basis of Conservation: Heterogeneity, Ecosystems, and Biodiversity - Hardcover

Pickett, Steward; Ostfeld, Richard S.; Shachak, Moshe; Likens, Gene E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0412098512 ISBN 13: 9780412098512

Publisher: Springer, 1997

Synopsis

From its inception, the U.S. Department of the Interior has been charged with a conflicting mission. One set of statutes demands that the department must develop America's lands, that it get our trees, water, oil, and minerals out into the marketplace. Yet an opposing set of laws orders us to conserve these same resources, to preserve them for the long term and to consider the noncommodity values of our public landscape. That dichotomy, between rapid exploitation and long-term protection, demands what I see as the most significant policy departure of my tenure in office: the use of science-interdisciplinary science-as the primary basis for land management decisions. For more than a century, that has not been the case. Instead, we have managed this dichotomy by compartmentalizing the American landscape. Congress and my predecessors handled resource conflicts by drawing enclosures: "We'll create a national park here," they said, "and we'll put a wildlife refuge over there." Simple enough, as far as protection goes. And outside those protected areas, the message was equally simplistic: "Y'all come and get it. Have at it." The nature and the pace of the resource extraction was not at issue; if you could find it, it was yours.

About this title

Review

`... this book is of great value for anyone interested in ecology or conservation science. It should be on the bookshelves of many libraries at universities, research institutes, management planning agencies to give the opportunity for regular consultation.'
Abstracta Botanica, 22 (199)

Synopsis

The conservation and management of wild natural resources stand at a junction. Currently conservation policy is shifting away from the preservation of single endangered species toward conservation and management of the interactive networks and large-scale ecosystems on which species depend. This text offers a scientific framework for this new approach, providing a solid basis for future research and the development of stronger links between ecology and public policy. Leaders in the field evaluate the role of theory, including both familiar and novel types of models, indicating how these tools can be employed over the range of scales and processes that conservation must now address. The book also contains diverse practical examples and case studies of how the new thinking in ecology, and the new partnership required for more successful conservation can work and be Improved. Examples span from freshwater to arid, and from subtropical to boreal. In addition, this highly integrated text provides links between ecology and policy and between ecology and management.

About this edition

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0412098512
• ISBN 13: 9780412098512
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 487