Biology and Conservation of Musteloids

About this book

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 100 g weasel to 30 kg 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 Biology and Conservation of Musteloids 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 Biology and Conservation of Musteloids, 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.

Contents

Part I: Reviews
1: Dramatis personae: an introduction to the wild musteloids, David W. Macdonald, Chris Newman, and Lauren A. Harrington
2: The evolutionary history and molecular systematics of the Musteloidea, Klaus-Peter Koepfli, Jerry W. Dragoo, and Xiaoming Wang
3: Form and function of the musteloids, Andrew C. Kitchener, Carlo Meloro, and Terrie M. Williams
4: The population dynamics of bite-sized predators: prey dependence, territoriality and mobility, Xavier Lambin
5: Communication amongst the musteloids: Signs, signals, and cues, Christina Buesching and Theodore Stankowich
6: Musteloid sociology: the grass-roots of society, David W. Macdonald and Chris Newman
7: People and wild native musteloids, Lauren A. Harrington, Jorgelina Marino, and Carolyn M. King
8: Stink or swim - techniques to meet the challenges for the study and conservation of small critters that hide, swim or climb and may otherwise make themselves unpleasant, Roger A. Powell, Stephen Ellwood, Roland Kays, and Tiit Maran
9: Musteloid Diseases - Implications for conservation and species management, Chris Newman and Andrew Bryne

Part II: Case studies
10: Small mustelids in New Zealand: invasion ecology down-under, Carolyn M. King, Grant Norbury, and Andrew J. Veale
11: The fisher as a model organism, Roger A Powell, Aaron N Facka, Mourad W Gabriel, Jonathan H Gilbert, J Mark Higley, Scott LaPoint, Nicholas P McCann, Wayne Spencer, and Craig M Thompson
12: Quantifying loss and degradation of former American Marten habitat due to the impacts of forestry operations and associated road networks in northern Idaho, USA, Samuel A. Cushman and Tzeidle N. Wasserman
13: Asian badgers - the same, only different: How diversity among badger societies informs socio-ecological theory and challenges conservation, Youbing Zhou, Chris Newman, Yayoi Kaneko, Christina D. Buesching, Wenwen Chen, Zhao-Min Zhou, Zongqiang Xie, and David W. Macdonald
14: The Bornean carnivore community: Lessons from a little-known guild, Joanna Ross, Andrew J. Hearn, and David W. Macdonald
15: Evolution, natural history, and conservation of black-footed ferrets, Dean E. Biggins and David A. Eads
16: Control of an invasive species: the American mink in the UK, Elaine J. Fraser, Lauren A. Harrington, David W. Macdonald, and Xavier Lambin
17: European mink - restoration attempts for a species on the brink of extinction, Tiit Maran, Madis Podra, Lauren A. Harrington, and David W. Macdonald
18: Social ethology of the wolverine, Jeffrey P. Copeland, Arild Landa, Kimberly Heinemeyer, Keith B. Aubry, Jiska van Dijk, Roel May, Jens Persson, John Squires, and Richard Yates
19: Ecotypic variation affects the conservation of American badgers endangered along their northern range extent, Rich D. Weir, Trevor A. Kinley, Richard W. Klafki, and Clayton D. Apps
20: European badgers and the control of bovine tuberculosis in Great Britain, Rosie Woodroffe and Christl A. Donnelly
21: Meline mastery of meteorological mayhem: The effects of climate changeability on European badger population dynamics, Chris Newman, Christina D. Buesching, and David W. Macdonald
22: Giant otters: using knowledge of life history for conservation, Jessica Groenendijk, Frank Hajek, Paul J. Johnson, David W. Macdonald
23: Advances in the physiology, behaviour and ecology of sea otters, James A. Estes, M. Tim Tinker, and Terrie M. Williams
24: Competition and coexistence in sympatric skunks, Christine C. Hass and Jerry W. Dragoo
25: Range decline and landscape ecology of the eastern spotted skunk, Matthew E. Gompper
26: Kinkajou - the tree top specialist, Melody Brooks and Roland Kays
27: On the mortality and management of a ubiquitous musteloid: the common racoon, Samuel I. Zeveloff
28: Causes and consequences of coati sociality, Ben T. Hirsch and Matthew E. Gompper
29: Conservation genetics of red pandas in the wild, Yibo Hu, Dunwu Qi, and Fuwen Wei

Part III: Synthesis
30: Beneath the umbrella: Conservation out of the limelight, David W. Macdonald, Chris Newman, and Lauren A. Harrington

Customer Reviews

Biography

Professor David Macdonald CBE has been Director of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at the University of Oxford since founding it in 1986, and is also Senior Research Fellow in Wildlife Conservation at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. He is Professor of Wildlife Conservation at the University of Oxford, has held the A.D. White Professorship at Cornell University in New York State, is Visiting Professor at Imperial College, London and the University of Liverpool and University of Exeter, and holds a D.Sc. from Oxford. A recent survey by BBC Wildlife magazine listed him amongst the ten most influential living conservationists.

Dr. Chris Newman is a Senior Research Associate with the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at the University of Oxford, who joined the group back in 1991. Chris is the co-ordinator for the WildCRU's Badger Project, specialising on life-history evolution and the effects of climate change and disease on population dynamics. He collaborates extensively with other researchers internationally, particularly in Asia, and is an author of over 70 peer reviewed papers and book chapters on mustelid ecology, as well as work advocating public and corporate participation in conservation initiatives.

Dr. Lauren Harrington is a Senior Researcher with the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at the University of Oxford. Lauren has worked with a number of mustelid species that include the most endangered mustelid, once extinct in the wild – the black-footed ferret, and the most widespread invasive mustelid – the American mink. Lauren developed a passion for the mustelids during long nights spent on the prairies of Wyoming and Montana radio-tracking some of the first captive-bred black-footed ferrets to be released into the wild. Lauren first worked with the WildCRU in 1992, and joined the group in 1996.


Contributors:
- Clayton D. Apps
- Keith B. Aubry
- Colleen Begg
- Jerry Belant
- Dean E. Biggins
- Andrew Bryne
- Melody Brooks
- Christina D. Buesching
- Wenwen Chen
- Jeffrey P. Copeland
- Samuel A. Cushman
- Jiska van Dijk
- Christl A. Donnelly
- Jerry W. Dragoo
- Hannah Dugdale
- Nicole Duplaix
- David A. Eads
- Stephen Ellwood
- James A. Estes
- Aaron N Facka
- Elaine J. Fraser
- Mourad W Gabriel
- Jonathan H Gilbert
- Matthew E. Gompper
- Jessica Groenendijk
- Frank Hajek
- Lauren A. Harrington
- Christine C. Hass
- Andrew J. Hearn
- Kimberly Heinemeyer
- J Mark Higley
- Ben T. Hirsch
- Yibo Hu
- Paul J. Johnson
- Yayoi Kaneko
- Roland Kays
- Carolyn M. King
- Trevor A. Kinley
- Andrew C. Kitchener
- Richard W. Klafki
- Klaus-Peter Koepfli
- Xavier Lambin
- Arild Landa
- Scott LaPoint
- David W. Macdonald
- Tiit Maran
- Jorgelina Marino
- Roel May
- Nancy Newhouse
- Trevor Newhouse
- Nicholas P McCann
- Carlo Meloro
- Chris Newman
- Grant Norbury
- Jens Persson
- Madis Podra
- Roger A Powell
- Dunwu Qi
- Joanna Ross
- Wayne Spencer
- John Squires
- Theodore Stankowich
- Nils Chr Stenseth
- Craig M Thompson
- M. Tim Tinker
- Andrew J. Veale
- Xiaoming Wang
- Tzeidle N. Wasserman
- Bob Wayne
- Fuwen Wei
- Rich D. Weir
- Terrie M. Williams
- Rosie Woodroffe
- Zongqiang Xie
- Richard Yates
- Samuel I. Zeveloff
- Youbing Zhou
- Zhao-Min Zhou