United States
£ GBP
Most large herbivores require some type of management within their habitats. Some populations of large herbivores are at the brink of extinction, some are under discussion for reintroduction, whilst others already occur in dense populations causing conflicts with other land use. Large herbivores are the major drivers for forming the shape and function of terrestrial ecosystems. This book addresses the scientifically based action plans to manage both the large herbivore populations and their habitats worldwide. It covers the processes by which large herbivores not only affect their environment (e.g. grazing) but are affected by it (e.g. nutrient cycling) and the management strategies required. Also discussed are new modeling techniques, which help assess integration processes in a landscape context, as well as assessing the consequences of new developments in the processes of conservation. This book will be essential reading for all involved in the management of both large herbivores and natural resources.
Preface; Introduction; 1. Large herbivores across biomes Herv ritz and Anne Loison; 2. Living in a seasonal environment Jon Moen, Reidar Andersen and Andrew W. Illius; 3. Linking functional responses and foraging behaviour to population dynamics Andrew W. Illius; 4. Impacts of large herbivores on plant community structure and dynamics Alison J. Hester, Margareta Bergman, Glenn R. Iason and Jon Moen; 5. Long-term effects of herbivory on plant diversity and functional types in arid ecosystems David Ward; 6. The influence of large herbivores on tree recruitment and forest dynamics Robin Gill; 7. Large herbivores: missing partners of western-European light-demanding tree and shrub species Frans W. M. Vera, Elisabeth S. Bakker and Han Olff; 8. Frugivory in large mammalian herbivores Richard Bodmer and David Ward; 9. Large herbivores as sources of disturbance in ecosystems N. Thompson Hobbs; 10. The roles of large herbivores in ecosystem nutrient cycles John P. Pastor, Yosef Cohen and N. Thompson Hobbs; 11. Large herbivores in heterogeneous grassland ecosystems Douglas A. Frank; 12. Modelling of large herbivore - vegetation interactions in a landscape context Peter J. Weisberg, Michael B. Coughenour and Harald Bugmann; 13. Effects of large herbivores on other fauna Otso Suominen and Kjell Danell; 14. The future role of large carnivores on terrestrial trophic interactions: the northern temperate view Reidar Andersen, John D. C. Linnell and Erling J. Solberg; 15. Restoring the functions of grazed ecosystems Ian J. Gordon; 16. Themes and future directions in herbivore-ecosystem interactions and conservation John Pastor, Kjell Danell, Roger Bergstr nd Patrick Duncan; References; Index.
Kjell Danell is Professor of Animal Ecology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. His main research interests are basic and applied plant-animal interactions, community ecology, invasive species and macroecology. Roger Bergstrom is Associate Professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Patrick Duncan is Director of the UPR 1934, Center of Biological Studies of Chize, CNRS. John Pastor is Professor and Senior Research Associate at the Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota.
'The mixture of authors is well balanced and ranges form young to established scientists. The collection of texts covers all important topics regarding large herbivore ecology from the point of natural sciences ... well-edited ... Large Herbivore Ecology, Ecosystem Dynamics and Conservation is a very readable book for beginners and specialists alike who wish to broaden their knowledge of the effects of large herbivores on ecosystem dynamics.' Basic and Applied Ecology
