Behaviour and Ecology of Riparian Mammals

Behaviour and Ecology of Riparian Mammals PDF Author: Nigel Dunstone
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521038072
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
Many mammals, such as otters, live in close association with rivers and streams, feeding in them, or using them as a place of safety or means of escape from predators. The distinct adaptations that riparian mammals have evolved in order to live in these environments also handicap them for living elsewhere. These animals are therefore threatened by alterations to their environment. In recent years, our rivers have become highly polluted, and have been subject to bankside modifications for agriculture and forestry, enhanced or decreased water flow, and recreation. As a result, they have become less and less suitable for these highly specialized animals. This book looks at the habitat utilization, adaptation, feeding ecology, and conservation status of a range of riparian mammals. It gives insights into the problems facing these fascinating animals, and how they might be overcome.

Behaviour and Ecology of Riparian Mammals

Behaviour and Ecology of Riparian Mammals PDF Author: Nigel Dunstone
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521038072
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 404

Get Book Here

Book Description
Many mammals, such as otters, live in close association with rivers and streams, feeding in them, or using them as a place of safety or means of escape from predators. The distinct adaptations that riparian mammals have evolved in order to live in these environments also handicap them for living elsewhere. These animals are therefore threatened by alterations to their environment. In recent years, our rivers have become highly polluted, and have been subject to bankside modifications for agriculture and forestry, enhanced or decreased water flow, and recreation. As a result, they have become less and less suitable for these highly specialized animals. This book looks at the habitat utilization, adaptation, feeding ecology, and conservation status of a range of riparian mammals. It gives insights into the problems facing these fascinating animals, and how they might be overcome.

Semi-aquatic Mammals

Semi-aquatic Mammals PDF Author: Glynnis A. Hood
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 142143881X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 453

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Book Description
A groundbreaking review of the seldom-studied semi-aquatic freshwater mammals, covering biology, behavior, and conservation. Semi-aquatic mammals are some of the rarest and most endangered mammals on earth. What binds them together in the minds of biologists, despite their diverse taxa and body forms, are evolutionary traits that allow them to succeed in two worlds—spending some time on land and some in the water. Semi-aquatic Mammals fills a crucial void in the literature by highlighting the important ecological roles and curious biology of these remarkable animals. In this unique book, wildlife ecologist Glynnis A. Hood presents the first comprehensive examination of a global suite of 140 freshwater semi-aquatic mammals. Each one has overcome the distinct ecological challenges of thriving in both aquatic and terrestrial habitats as part of everyday life. Covering millions of years, Hood's exploration begins with the extinct otter-like Buxolestes and extends to consider the geographical, physical, behavioral, and reproductive traits of its present-day counterparts. Hood explains how semi-aquatic mammals are able to navigate a viscous environment with almost no resistance to heat loss, reveals how they maintain the physical skills necessary to avoid predation and counter a more thermally changeable environment, and describes the array of adaptations that facilitate success in their multifaceted habitats. She also addresses specific conservation challenges faced by these mammals. Her analysis takes readers to the haunts of intriguing semi-aquatic mammals from around the world, • introducing the "paradoxical platypus," an Australian egg-laying monotreme that detects prey through electroreception • venturing into the swamps and mangroves of Southeast Asia, where fishing cats wave their paws above the water's surface to lure prey • trawling the streams and lakes of South America, where the female water opossum uses its backward-facing pouch to keep her babies warm during deep dives • spending time with species that engineer freshwater habitats into more productive and complex systems, including North American beavers and Africa's common hippopotamus Featuring award-winning artist Meaghan Brierley's stunning illustrations throughout, Semi-aquatic Mammals is an unparalleled reference on some of the world's most tenacious and fascinating mammals.

Riparian Ecosystems

Riparian Ecosystems PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aquatic ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description


Beavers

Beavers PDF Author: Frank Rosell
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192571990
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 512

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Book Description
Beavers are represented by two extant species, the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) and the North American beaver (Castor canadensis); each has played a significant role in human history and dominated wetland ecology in the northern hemisphere. Their behaviour and ecology both fascinate and perhaps even infuriate, but seemingly never fail to amaze. Both species have followed similar histories from relentless persecution to the verge of extinction (largely through hunting), followed by their subsequent recovery and active restoration which is viewed by many as a major conservation success story. Beavers have now been reintroduced throughout Europe and North America, demonstrating that their role as a keystone engineer is now widely recognised with proven abilities to increase the complexity and biodiversity of freshwater ecosystems. What animals other than humans can simultaneously act as engineers, forest workers, carpenters, masons, creators of habitats, and nature managers? Over the last 20 years, there has been a huge increase in the number of scientific papers published on these remarkable creatures, and an authoritative synthesis is now timely. This accessible text goes beyond their natural history to describe the impacts on humans, conflict mitigation, animal husbandry, management, and conservation. Beavers: Ecology, Behaviour, Conservation, and Management is an accessible reference for a broad audience of professional academics (especially carnivore and mammalian biologists), researchers and graduate students, governmental and non-governmental wildlife bodies, and amateur natural historians intrigued by these wild animals and the extraordinary processes of nature they exemplify.

The Eurasian Beaver

The Eurasian Beaver PDF Author: Róisín Campbell-Palmer
Publisher: Pelagic Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1784270407
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 62

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Book Description
The Eurasian beaver was near extinction at the start of the twentieth century, hunted across Europe for its fur, meat and castoreum. But now the beaver is on the brink of a comeback, with wild beaver populations, licensed and unlicensed, emerging all over Britain.

Marsupial and Placental Mammal Species in Environmental Risk Assessment Strategies

Marsupial and Placental Mammal Species in Environmental Risk Assessment Strategies PDF Author: Marcelo L Larramendy
Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
ISBN: 183916347X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
With the expansion of human settlements and the environmental changes brought on by human activity and pollutants toxicology and risk assessment of mammal species is becoming increasingly of interest to toxicologists involved in environmental research. This book focuses specifically on environmental risk assessment in marsupial and placental mammals. Marsupial ecotoxicology is poorly understood in scientific research and as such environmental risk assessment in marsupials is an area of rapidly growing interest. This book will be an ideal companion to toxicologists and ecologists interested in risk assessment in the environments of mammals. Particularly those with an interest in the impact introduced by human activity. The book will also be of interest to those working in conservation biology, biological invasion, biocontrol and habitat management.

Biology and Conservation of Musteloids

Biology and Conservation of Musteloids PDF Author: David W. Macdonald
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191077941
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 721

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Book Description
The musteloids are the most diverse super-family among carnivores, ranging from little known, exotic, and highly-endangered species to the popular and familiar, and include a large number of introduced invasives. They feature terrestrial, fossorial, arboreal, and aquatic members, ranging from tenacious predators to frugivorous omnivores, span weights from a 100g weasel to 30kg giant otters, and express a range of social behaviours from the highly gregarious to the fiercely solitary. Musteloids are the subjects of extensive cutting-edge research from phylogenetics to the evolution of sociality and through to the practical implications of disease epidemiology, introduced species management, and climate change. Their diversity and extensive biogeography inform a wide spectrum of ecological theory and conservation practice. The editors of this book have used their combined 90 years of experience working on the behaviour and ecology of wild musteloids to draw together a unique network of the world's most successful and knowledgeable experts. The book begins with nine review chapters covering hot topics in musteloid biology including evolution, disease, social communication, and management. These are followed by twenty extensive case studies providing a range of comprehensive geographic and taxonomic coverage. The final chapter synthesises what has been discussed in the book, and reflects on the different and diverse conservation needs of musteloids and the wealth of conservation lessons they offer. Biology and Conservation of Musteloids provides a conceptual framework for future research and applied conservation management that is suitable for graduate level students as well as professional researchers in musteloid and carnivore ecology and conservation biology. It will also be of relevance and use to conservationists and wildlife managers.

Tropical Stream Ecology

Tropical Stream Ecology PDF Author: David Dudgeon
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080557171
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 343

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Book Description
Tropical Stream Ecology describes the main features of tropical streams and their ecology. It covers the major physico-chemical features, important processes such as primary production and organic-matter transformation, as well as the main groups of consumers: invertebrates, fishes and other vertebrates. Information on concepts and paradigms developed in north-temperate latitudes and how they do not match the reality of ecosystems further south is expertly addressed. The pressing matter of conservation of tropical streams and their biodiversity is included in almost every chapter, with a final chapter providing a synthesis on conservation issues. For the first time, Tropical Stream Ecology places an important emphasis on viewing research carried out in contributions from international literature. First synthetic account of the ecology of all types of tropical streams Covers all of the major tropical regions Detailed consideration of possible fundamental differences between tropical and temperate stream ecosystems Threats faced by tropical stream ecosystems and possible conservation actions Descriptions and synstheses life-histories and breeding patterns of major aquatic consumers (fishes, invertebrates)

Behaviour and Conservation

Behaviour and Conservation PDF Author: L. Morris Gosling
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521665391
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 454

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

Wetland and Riparian Areas of the Intermountain West

Wetland and Riparian Areas of the Intermountain West PDF Author: Mark C. McKinstry
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292778406
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
Wetlands and riparian areas between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada are incredibly diverse and valuable habitats. More than 80 percent of the wildlife species in this intermountain region depend on these wetlands—which account for less than 2 percent of the land area—for their survival. At the same time, the wetlands also serve the water needs of ranchers and farmers, recreationists, vacation communities, and cities. It is no exaggeration to call water the "liquid gold" of the West, and the burgeoning human demands on this scarce resource make it imperative to understand and properly manage the wetlands and riverine areas of the Intermountain West. This book offers land managers, biologists, and research scientists a state-of-the-art survey of the ecology and management practices of wetland and riparian areas in the Intermountain West. Twelve articles examine such diverse issues as laws and regulations affecting these habitats, the unique physiographic features of the region, the importance of wetlands and riparian areas to fish, wildlife, and livestock, the ecological function of these areas, their value to humans, and the methods to evaluate these habitats. The authors also address the human impacts on the land from urban and suburban development, mining, grazing, energy extraction, recreation, water diversions, and timber harvesting and suggest ways to mitigate such impacts.