Drawing from a wide variety of human societies and prey species, this book seeks to validate the importance of mortality studies for understanding modern and prehistoric human ecology. In a presentation that sets out to be both methodologically and theoretically innovative, the contributors combine archaeological and actualistic approaches with sea

A vegan-turned-hunter reignites the connection between humans and our food sources and continues the dialog begun by Michael Pollan and Barbara Kingsolver. While still in high school, Tovar Cerulli experimented with vegetarianism and by the age of twenty, he was a vegan. Ten years later, in the face of declining health, he would find himself picking up a rifle and heading into the woods. Through his personal quest, Tovar Cerulli bridges disparate worldviews and questions moral certainties, challenging both the behavior of many hunters and the illusion of blamelessness maintained by many vegetarians. In this time of intensifying concern over ecological degradation, how do we make peace with the fact that, even in growing organic vegetables, life is sustained by death? Drawing on personal anecdotes, philosophy, history and religion, Cerulli shows how America’s overly sanitized habits of consumption and disconnection with our food have resulted in so many of the health and environmental crises we now face.

This book takes us into a Costa Rican forest teeming with simian drama, where since 1990 primatologists Perry and Manson have followed four generations of capuchins. The authors describe behavior as entertaining--and occasionally as alarming--as it is recognizable: competition and cooperation, jockeying for position and status, peaceful years under an alpha male devolving into bloody chaos, and complex traditions passed from one generation to the next. Interspersed with their observations are the authors' colorful tales of the challenges of tropical fieldwork.

Throughout the world people are concerned about the demise of tropical forests and their wildlife. Hunting by forest-dwelling people has a dramatic effect on wildlife in many tropical forests, frequently driving species to local extinction, with devastating implications for other species and the health of the forests themselves. But wildlife is an important source of protein and cash for rural peoples. Can hunting be managed to conserve biological communities while meeting human needs? Are hunting rates as practiced by tropical forest peoples sustainable? If not, what are the biological, social, and cultural implications of this failure? Answering these questions is ever more important as national and international agencies seek to integrate the development of local peoples with the conservation of tropical forest systems and species. This book presents a wide array of studies that examine the sustainability of hunting as practiced by rural peoples. Comprising work by both biological and social scientists, Hunting for Sustainability in Tropical Forests provides a balanced viewpoint on the ecological and human aspects of this hunting. The first section examines the effects of hunting on wildlife in tropical forests throughout the world. The next section looks at the importance of hunting to local communities. The third section looks at institutional challenges of resource management, while the fourth draws on economic perspectives to understand both hunting and sustainability. A final section provides synthesis and summary of the factors that influence sustainability and the implications for management. Drawing on examples from Ecuador to Congo-Zaire to Sulawesi, Hunting for Sustainability in Tropical Forests will be a valuable resource to policymakers, conservation organizations, and students and scholars of biology, ecology, and anthropology.

Behavioural ecologists study how animals maximize their genetic representation, whilst conservation biologists study small populations & attempt to prevent species extinctions. This volume attempts to link these disciplines formally.

Demography in Archaeology, first published in 2006, is a review of current theory and method in the reconstruction of populations from archaeological data. Starting with a summary of demographic concepts and methods, the book examines historical and ethnographic sources of demographic evidence before addressing the methods by which reliable demographic estimates can be made from skeletal remains, settlement evidence and modern and ancient biomolecules. Recent debates in palaeodemography are evaluated, new statistical methods for palaeodemographic reconstruction are explained, and the notion that past demographic structures and processes were substantially different from those pertaining today is critiqued. The book covers a wide span of evidence, from the evolutionary background of human demography to the influence of natural and human-induced catastrophes on population growth and survival. This is essential reading for any archaeologist or anthropologist with an interest in relating the results of field and laboratory studies to broader questions of population structure and dynamics.

Shows how an understanding of behaviour is essential in the conservation of animals.

Taphonomy studies the transition of organic matter from the biosphere into the geological record. It is particularly relevant to zooarchaeologists and paleobiologists, who analyse organic remains in the archaeological record in an attempt to reconstruct hominid subsistence patterns and paleoecological conditions. In this user-friendly, encyclopedic reference volume for students and professionals, R. Lee Lyman, a leading researcher in taphonomy, reviews the wide range of analytical techniques used to solve particular zooarchaeological problems, illustrating these in most cases with appropriate examples. He also covers the history of taphonomic research and its philosophical underpinnings. Logically organised and clearly written, the book is an important update on all previous publications on archaeological faunal remains.

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to basic ecological and biological principles underlying modern agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, and explains how these principles are used to increase the production of food and other raw materials (wood, biofuels, fibers and other materials). The book is translated into English, originally published in Czech by Karolinum Press, Charles University, and provides new updated information to discuss how the intensification of the production of these goods changes the structure of ecosystems concerning energy and nutrient flows, and how these changes affect the functioning of ecosystems and the subsequent provisions of other non-productive ecosystem services. Additionally, the authors describe the methods by which contemporary science and society strives to increase the sustainability of agriculture, forestry and fisheries to maintain not only the production of food and other goods, but also other ecosystem services. Although not a textbook on agriculture, forestry and fisheries, the book familiarizes readers with the principles of their technologies, because the impact on ecosystems is largely based on the technological processes used. The book is primarily focused on temperate ecosystems, but it contains a number of examples about marine and tropical ecosystems impacted by globalization and our consumer behavior. The book will be of interest to students and researchers with backgrounds in ecology and environmental science, as well as non-experts interested in ecology and environmental protection.