Applications Of Conservation Physiology To Wildlife Fitness And Population Health

One of the great challenges in ecophysiology is linking physiological measures in wild animal populations with changes in individual fitness. Physiological variables that indicate nutritional state, stress, disease, or injury are used extensively in veterinary practice and captive settings to assess the health and likelihood of reproductive success of many animals. The development and refinement of sampling methods that limit disturbance of animals, coupled with advancements in analytical methods have allowed researchers to begin to examine the relevance of these physiological parameters in wild animals for predicting population trends and response to environmental perturbations. However, despite extensive research in this field, consistent correlations between fitness and/or population health and physiological measures remain rare.

Conservation physiology is a rapidly expanding, multidisciplinary field that utilizes physiological knowledge and tools to understand and solve conservation challenges. This novel text provides the first consolidated overview of its scope, purpose, and applications, with a focus on wildlife. It outlines the major avenues and advances by which conservation physiology is contributing to the monitoring, management, and restoration of wild animal populations. This book also defines opportunities for further growth in the field and identifies critical areas for future investigation. By using a series of global case studies, contributors illustrate how approaches from the conservation physiology toolbox can tackle a diverse range of conservation issues including the monitoring of environmental stress, predicting the impact of climate change, understanding disease dynamics, improving captive breeding, and reducing human-wildlife conflict. Moreover, by acting as practical road maps across a diversity of sub-disciplines, these case studies serve to increase the accessibility of this discipline to new researchers. The diversity of taxa, biological scales, and ecosystems highlighted illustrate the far-reaching nature of the discipline and allow readers to gain an appreciation for the purpose, value, applicability, and status of the field of conservation physiology. Conservation Physiology is an accessible supplementary textbook suitable for graduate students, researchers, and practitioners in the fields of conservation science, eco-physiology, evolutionary and comparative physiology, natural resources management, ecosystem health, veterinary medicine, animal physiology, and ecology.

Conservation Physiology for the Anthropocene - A Systems Approach, Volume 39B in the Fish Physiology series, is a comprehensive synthesis related to the physiology of fish in the Anthropocene. This volume helps solve knowledge gaps by considering the many ways in which different physiological systems (e.g., sensory physiology, endocrine, cardio-respiratory, bioenergetics, water and ionic balance and homeostasis, locomotion/biomechanics, gene function) and physiological diversity are relevant to the management and conservation of fish and fisheries. Chapters in this release include Using physiology for recovering imperiled species - the Delta smelt, Conservation hatcheries - the Sturgeon story, Aquatic pollutants and stressors, and more. Other sections discuss Fisheries interactions in a multi-stressor world, Environmental change in riverine systems - Amazon basin stressors, Environmental change in lakes and wetlands - East African basin stressors, Coral reef fish in a multi-stressor world, Polar fish in a multi-stressor world, Physiology informs fisheries restoration and habitat management, A physiological perspective on fish passage and entrainment, Invasive species control and management - the sea lamprey story, and On the conservation physiology of fishes for tomorrow. Includes authoritative contributions from an international board of authors, each with extensive expertise in the conservation physiology of fish Provides the most up-to-date information on the ways in which different physiological systems are relevant to the management and conservation of fish and fisheries Presents the latest release in the Fish Physiology series Identifies how anthropogenic stressors perturb physiological systems Explores how different physiological systems can be exploited to solve conservation problems

The U.S. veterinary medical profession contributes to society in diverse ways, from developing drugs and protecting the food supply to treating companion animals and investigating animal diseases in the wild. In a study of the issues related to the veterinary medical workforce, including demographics, workforce supply, trends affecting job availability, and capacity of the educational system to fill future demands, a National Research Council committee found that the profession faces important challenges in maintaining the economic sustainability of veterinary practice and education, building its scholarly foundations, and evolving veterinary service to meet changing societal needs. Many concerns about the profession came into focus following the outbreak of West Nile fever in 1999, and the subsequent outbreaks of SARS, monkeypox, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, highly pathogenic avian influenza, H1N1 influenza, and a variety of food safety and environmental issues heightened public concerns. They also raised further questions about the directions of veterinary medicine and the capacity of public health service the profession provides both in the United States and abroad. To address some of the problems facing the veterinary profession, greater public and private support for education and research in veterinary medicine is needed. The public, policymakers, and even medical professionals are frequently unaware of how veterinary medicine fundamentally supports both animal and human health and well-being. This report seeks to broaden the public's understanding and attempts to anticipate some of the needs and measures that are essential for the profession to fulfill given its changing roles in the 21st century.

Logically organized by taxonomic groups, this up-to-date text covers the diagnosis and treatment of all zoo animal species and free-ranging wildlife, including amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, and fish, unlikely to be seen by private practice veterinarians. Featuring full-color images, the consistent, user-friendly format supplies information on each animal’s biology, unique anatomy, special physiology, reproduction, restraint and handling, housing requirements, nutrition and feeding, surgery and anesthesia, diagnostics, therapeutics, and diseases. Global authorship includes multinational contributors who offer expert information on different species from around the world. "Veterinary care of non-traditional species is a rapidly progressing field and this title is the much awaited updated version of this zoo and wildlife practitioner’s ‘bible’. Reviewed by: Charlotte Day on behalf of The Veterinary Record, Oct 14 Global authorship includes internationally recognized authors who have contributed new chapters focusing on the latest research and clinical management of captive and free-ranging wild animals from around the world. Zoological Information Management System chapter offers the latest update on this brand new system that contains a worldwide wealth of information. General taxonomy-based format provides a comprehensive text for sharing information in zoo and wildlife medicine. Concise tables provide quick reference to key points in the references. NEW! All new authors have completely revised the content to provide fresh perspectives from leading experts in the field on the latest advances in zoo and wild animal medicine. NEW! Color images vividly depict external clinical signs for more accurate recognition and diagnosis.

An increasing variety of biological problems involving resource management, conservation and environmental quality have been dealt with using the principles of population biology (defined to include population dynamics, genetics and certain aspects of community ecology). There appears to be a mixed record of successes and failures and almost no critical synthesis or reviews that have attempted to discuss the reasons and ways in which population biology, with its remarkable theoretical as well as experimental advances, could find more useful application in agriculture, forestry, fishery, medicine and resource and environmental management. This book provides examples of state-of-the-art applications by a distinguished group of researchers in several fields. The diversity of topics richly illustrates the scientific and economic breadth of their discussions as well as epistemological and comparative analyses by the authors and editors. Several principles and common themes are emphasized and both strengths and potential sources of uncertainty in applications are discussed. This volume will hopefully stimulate new interdisciplinary avenues of problem-solving research.

In the past, wildlife living in urban areas were ignored by wildlife professionals and urban planners because cities were perceived as places for people and not for wild animals. Paradoxically, though, many species of wildlife thrive in these built environments. Interactions between humans and wildlife are more frequent in urban areas than any other place on earth and these interactions impact human health, safety and welfare in both positive and negative ways. Although urban wildlife control pest species, pollinate plants and are fun to watch, they also damage property, spread disease and even attack people and pets. In urban areas, the combination of dense human populations, buildings, impermeable surfaces, introduced vegetation, and high concentrations of food, water and pollution alter wildlife populations and communities in ways unseen in more natural environments. For these ecological and practical reasons, researchers and mangers have shown a growing interest in urban wildlife ecology and management. This growing interest in urban wildlife has inspired many studies on the subject that have yet to be synthesized in a cohesive narrative. Urban Wildlife: Theory and Practice fills this void by synthesizing the latest ecological and social knowledge in the subject area into an interdisciplinary and practical text. This volume provides a foundation for the future growth and understanding of urban wildlife ecology and management by: • Clearly defining th e concepts used to study and describe urban wildlife, • Offering a cohesive understanding of the coupled natural and social drivers that shape urban wildlife ecology, • Presenting the patterns and processes of wildlife response to an urbanizing world and explaining the mechanisms behind them and • Proposing means to create physical and social environments that are mutually beneficial for both humans and wildlife.