Easily the most common of America’s large wildlife species, white-tailed deer are often referred to as "overabundant." But when does a species cross the threshold from common to overpopulated? This question has been the focus of debate in recent years among hunters, animal rights activists, and biologists. William McShea and his colleagues explore every aspect of the issue in The Science of Overabundance. Are there really too many deer? Do efforts to control deer populations really work? What broader lessons can we learn from efforts to understand deer population dynamics? Through twenty-three chapters, the editors and contributors dismiss widely held lore and provide solid information on this perplexing problem.

Easily the most common of AmericaOs large wildlife species, white-tailed deer are often referred to as overabundant. But when does a species cross the threshold from common to overpopulated? William McShea and his colleagues explore every aspect of the issue in The Science of Overabundance, dismissing widely held lore and provide solid information on this perplexing problem.

For four hundred years, explorers, traders, and settlers plundered North American wildlife in an escalating rampage, but in the twentieth century an incredible turnaround took place. Conservationists created wildlife sanctuaries, restored habitats, and imposed regulations on hunters and trappers. Over decades, they nursed many wild populations back to health. Then, after World War II, something happened that conservationists hadn’t foreseen: sprawl. People moved into suburbs, and then kept moving outward. All the while, well-meaning efforts to protect animals allowed wild populations to burgeon out of control, causing damage costing billions, degrading ecosystems, and touching off disputes that polarized communities. The result is a mix of people and wildlife that should be an animal-lover’s dream, but often turns into a sprawl-dweller’s nightmare. Deeply researched, eloquently written, and perceptively humorous, Nature Wars expresses the need for organic reconnection with our natural ecosystem by offering a provocative look at how Americans created an inadvertent mess.

The authors document how four forces--exponential technologies, the DIY innovator, the Technophilanthropist, and the Rising Billion--are conspiring to solve our biggest problems. "Abundance" establishes hard targets for change and lays out a strategic roadmap for governments, industry and entrepreneurs, giving us plenty of reason for optimism.

A provocative look at how the disappearance of the world's great predators has upset the delicate balance of the environment, and what their disappearance portends for the future, by an acclaimed science journalist.

Generations of people have been taught that population growth makes resources scarcer. In 2021, for example, one widely publicized report argued that “The world's rapidly growing population is consuming the planet's natural resources at an alarming rate . . . the world currently needs 1.6 Earths to satisfy the demand for natural resources ... [a figure that] could rise to 2 planets by 2030.” But is that true? After analyzing the prices of hundreds of commodities, goods, and services spanning two centuries, Marian Tupy and Gale Pooley found that resources became more abundant as the population grew. That was especially true when they looked at “time prices,” which represent the length of time that people must work to buy something. To their surprise, the authors also found that resource abundance increased faster than the population―a relationship that they call superabundance. On average, every additional human being created more value than he or she consumed. This relationship between population growth and abundance is deeply counterintuitive, yet it is true. Why? More people produce more ideas, which lead to more inventions. People then test those inventions in the marketplace to separate the useful from the useless. At the end of that process of discovery, people are left with innovations that overcome shortages, spur economic growth, and raise standards of living. But large populations are not enough to sustain superabundance―just think of the poverty in China and India before their respective economic reforms. To innovate, people must be allowed to think, speak, publish, associate, and disagree. They must be allowed to save, invest, trade, and profit. In a word, they must be free.

Straddling temperate forests and grassland biomes and stretching along the coastline of two Great Lakes, Wisconsin contains tallgrass prairie and oak savanna, broadleaf and coniferous forests, wetlands, natural lakes, and rivers. But, like the rest of the world, the Badger State has been transformed by urbanization and sprawl, population growth, and land-use change. For decades, industry and environment have attempted to coexist in Wisconsin—and the dynamic tensions between economic progress and environmental protection makes the state a fascinating microcosm for studying global environmental change. The Vanishing Present brings together a distinguished set of contributors—including scientists, naturalists, and policy experts—to examine how human pressures on Wisconsin’s changing lands, waters, and wildlife have redefined the state’s ecology. Though they focus on just one state, the authors draw conclusions about changes in temperate habitats that can be applied elsewhere, and offer useful insights into future of the ecology, conservation, and sustainability of Wisconsin and beyond. A fitting tribute to the home state of Aldo Leopold and John Muir, The Vanishing Present is an accessible and timely case study of a significant ecosystem and its response to environmental change.

In this age of increasing human domination of the Earth's biological and physical resources, a basic understanding of ecology is more important than ever. Students need a textbook that introduces them to the basic principles of ecological science, one that is relevant to today's world, and one that does not overwhelm them with detail and jargon. Peter Cotgreave and Irwin Forseth have designed this book to meet the needs of these students, by providing a basic synthesis of how individual organisms interact with their physical environment, and with each other, to generate the complex ecosystems we see around us. The unifying theme of the book is biodiversity-its patterns, causes, and the growing worldwide threats to it. Basic ecological principles are illustrated using clearly described examples from the current ecological literature. This approach makes the book valuable to all students studying ecology. Examples have been chosen carefully to represent as wide a range of ecosystems (terrestrial and aquatic, northern and southern hemisphere) and life forms (animal, plant and microbe) as possible. Particular attention is paid to consequences of global change on organisms, populations, ecological communities and ecosystems. The end result is a text that presents a readable and persuasive picture of how the Earth's natural systems function, and how that functioning may change over the coming century. Features include: · strong coverage of applied and evolutionary ecology · applications of ecology to the real world · a question-orientated approach · the only comprehensive treatment of ecology written for the introductory student · an emphasis on definitions of key words and phrases · an integration of experimental, observational and theoretical material · examples drawn from all over the world and a wide variety of organisms · a logical structure, building from the response of individual organisms to physical factors, through population growth and population interactions, to community structure and ecosystem function · suggested further reading lists for each chapter · boxes to explain key concepts in more depth · dedicated textsite featuring additional information and teaching aids www.blackwellpublishing.com/cotgreave Peter Cotgreave is an animal ecologist who has worked for the University of Oxford and the Zoological Society of London. His research interests centre on abundance and rarity within animal communities. Irwin Forseth is a plant physiological ecologist who has taught introductory ecology and plant ecology at the University of Maryland since 1982. His research focuses on plant responses to the environment. The authors have studied organisms as diverse as green plants, insects and mammals in habitats from deserts to tropical rainforests. They have worked in ecological research and education in Africa, Asia, North and South America, Europe and the Caribbean.

This book considers a number of problems posed by ungulates and their management in Europe. Through a synthesis of the underlying biology and a comparison of the management techniques adopted in different countries, the book explores which management approaches seem effective - and in which circumstances. Experts in a number of different areas of applied wildlife biology review various management problems and alternative solutions, including the impact of large ungulates on agriculture, forestry and conservation habitats, the impact of disease and predation on ungulate populations and the involvement of ungulates in road traffic accidents and possible measures for mitigation. This book is directed at practising wildlife managers, those involved in research to improve methods of wildlife management, and policy-makers in local, regional and national administrations.