Conservation Palaeobiology Of Marine Ecosystems

Conservation palaeobiology tracks the history of ecosystems based on the fossil record to guide conservation decisions and contribute to the theoretical foundations of conservation biology. The accelerating pace of global change requires better understanding of the long-term resilience and adaptive capacities of ecosystems. Fossil assemblages in outcrops and cores, together with surface accumulations of skeletal remains, represent unique archives of past ecosystem dynamics and baseline community states prior to anthropogenic impacts. However, as biological data retrieved from fossil and death assemblages cannot be treated in isolation, conservation palaeobiology integrates palaeontological and geological tools to account for the nature of the stratigraphic record. This volume brings together studies that demonstrate how combining marine palaeoecological records with other types of geohistorical data (taphonomic, sedimentological, geochronological, geochemical) can inform biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management. The papers highlight novel approaches and challenges in applying geohistorical data to conservation problems, discuss the limitations imposed by time averaging, and offer both deep- and near-time perspectives on conservation palaeobiology of marine ecosystems.

This volume describes and explores the emerging discipline of conservation paleobiology, and addresses challenges faced by established and young Conservation Paleobiologist's alike. In addition, this volume includes applied research highlighting how conservation paleobiology can be used to understand ecosystem response to perturbation in near and deep time. Across 10 chapters, the book aims to (1) explore the goals of conservation paleoecology as a science, (2) highlight how conservation paleoecology can be used to understand ecosystems’ responses to crises, (3) provide case studies of applications to modern ecosystems, (4) develop novel applications of paleontological approaches to neontological data, and (5) present a range of ecosystem response and recovery through environmental crises, from high-resolution impacts on organism interactions to the broadest scale of responses of the entire marine biosphere to global change. The volume will be of interest to paleoecologists, paleobiologists, and conservation biologists.

This pioneering volume provides a blueprint for managing the challenges of ocean conservation using marine historical ecology—an interdisciplinary area of study that is helping society to gain a more in-depth understanding of past human-environmental interactions in coastal and marine ecosystems and of the ecological and social outcomes associated with these interactions. Developed by groundbreaking practitioners in the field, Marine Historical Ecology in Conservation highlights the innovative ways that historical ecology can be applied to improve conservation and management efforts in the oceans. The book focuses on four key challenges that confront marine conservation: (1) recovering endangered species, (2) conserving fisheries, (3) restoring ecosystems, and (4) engaging the public. Chapters emphasize real-world conservation scenarios appropriate for students, faculty, researchers, and practitioners in marine science, conservation biology, natural resource management, paleoecology, and marine and coastal archaeology. By focusing on success stories and applied solutions, this volume delivers the required up-to-date science and tools needed for restoration and protection of ocean and coastal ecosystems.

In conservation, perhaps no better example exists of the past informing the present than the return of the California condor to the Vermilion Cliffs of Arizona. Extinct in the region for nearly one hundred years, condors were successfully reintroduced starting in the 1990s in an effort informed by the fossil record—condor skeletal remains had been found in the area’s late-Pleistocene cave deposits. The potential benefits of applying such data to conservation initiatives are unquestionably great, yet integrating the relevant disciplines has proven challenging. Conservation Paleobiology gathers a remarkable array of scientists—from Jeremy B. C. Jackson to Geerat J. Vermeij—to provide an authoritative overview of how paleobiology can inform both the management of threatened species and larger conservation decisions. Studying endangered species is difficult. They are by definition rare, some exist only in captivity, and for those still in their native habitats any experimentation can potentially have a negative effect on survival. Moreover, a lack of long-term data makes it challenging to anticipate biotic responses to environmental conditions that are outside of our immediate experience. But in the fossil and prefossil records—from natural accumulations such as reefs, shell beds, and caves to human-made deposits like kitchen middens and archaeological sites—enlightening parallels to the Anthropocene can be found that might serve as a primer for present-day predicaments. Offering both deep-time and near-time perspectives and exploring a range of ecological and evolutionary dynamics and taxa from terrestrial as well as aquatic habitats, Conservation Paleobiology is a sterling demonstration of how the past can be used to manage for the future, giving new hope for the creation and implementation of successful conservation programs.

'Marine Conservation Biology' brings together leading experts from around the world to apply the lessons and thinking of conservation biology to marine issues. The contributors cover what is threatening marine biodiversity and what humans can do to recover the biological integrity of the world's oceans.

Coastal-Marine Conservation: Science and Policy introduces students and managers to complex conservation and management issues facing coastal nations of the world, their citizens, and international and non-governmental organizations. It aims to reduce complexity and inspire a greater consensus for more effective conservation action. Presents the coastal realm as a heterogeneous, diverse ecosystem of exceptionall high biological diversity and productivity, and where conservation challenges are most difficult and urgent Examines the critical issues facing coastal-marine conservation and the mechanisms for dealing with them Reviews the basic science required for addressing conservation issues by presenting the coastal realm as a land-sea ecosystem of global significance, and by reviewing the natural-history features of coastal-marine organisms Presents three ecologically and latitudinally distinct "real-world" case studies to create a context for understanding of regional systems, their cultures, and their conservation: the polar Bering Sea, the temperate Chesapeake Bay, and the tropical Bahamas Makes apparent the ecological stresses on the coastal realm, increasing rates of ecosystem change, loss of ecosystem health, and fragmented governance Synthesizes the major challenges for conservation and suggests future policy and management strategies, including ecosystem management and needs for achieving sustainability and addressing the environmental debt This book is intended for undergraduates and graduates taking courses in coastal and marine conservation and management, as well as those actively engaged in coastal-marine conservation activities, and gives the reader a clear steer to future management approaches. References additional to those in the book are available at http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/pdf/ray_references.pdf The artwork is available to download at http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/ray/

"Written for the upper-level undergraduate or graduate-level course, Marine Environmental Biology and Conservation provides an introduction to the environmental and anthropogenic threats facing the world's oceans and outlines the steps that can and should be taken to protect these vital habitats"--