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'Erich Hoyt's handbook is an admirable, timely and highly welcome contribution.'Michael Stachowitsch, Marine EcologyWhat does it mean to save the whales if their habitat is left unprotected? Marine Protected Areas for Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises is the definitive handbook on this pressing issue and the first to bridge the gap between the disciplines of marine protected areas and cetacean conservation. It launches a new chapter in cetacean conservation with its investigation into the crucial habitat needs and protection requirements of some 84 species.The author, one of the world's foremost experts in this field, takes you around the world to investigate the promising results of the latest conservation research and the strategies for obtaining marine protected areas in coastal waters and on the high seas, using national legislation and regional and international conventions. This is an essential introduction, guide and reference work for those working to ensure a future for whales and dolphins.
This book focuses on how marine systems respond to natural and anthropogenic perturbations (ENSO, overfishing, pollution, tourism, invasive species, climate-change). Authors explain in their chapters how this information can guide management and conservation actions to help orient and better manage, restore and sustain the ecosystems services and goods that are derived from the ocean, while considering the complex issues that affect the delicate nature of the Islands. This book will contribute to a new understanding of the Galapagos Islands and marine ecosystems.
The terrestrial organisms of the Galápagos Islands live under conditions unlike those anywhere else. At the edge of a uniquely rich mid-ocean upwelling, their world is also free of mammalian predators and competitors, allowing them to live unbothered, exuberant lives. With its giant tortoises, marine iguanas, flightless cormorants, and forests of giant daisies, there's no question that this is a magnificent place. Long before people traversed the Earth, evolution endowed native species with adaptations to these special conditions and to perturbations like El Niño events and periodic droughts. As the islands have grown ever-more connected with humanity, those same adaptations now make its s...
Pinnipeds are a fascinating group of marine mammals that play a crucial role as apex predators and sentinels of the functioning and health of marine ecosystems. They are found in the most extreme environments from the Polar regions to the tropics. Pinnipeds are comprised of about 34 species, and of those at least 25% live permanently in tropical zones. This book reviews and updates current research on the biology, marine ecology, bio-monitoring, and conservation of tropical pinniped populations, including their behavior, anthropogenic stressors, and health. It also looks at challenges to be faced for the conservation of tropical pinnipeds, many of which are threatened species.
Pinnipeds are marine mammals that include eared seals, true seals, and walruses. This book presents detailed reviews on the ecology and conservation of 10 pinniped species along the coasts and islands in Latin America, from Mexico to Chile and Argentina. Topics covered include their population dynamics, trophic ecology, reproduction, and behavior. In addition, the book addresses major conservation issues regarding climate change, interaction with fisheries, ecotourism, and other human activities.
In this launch of the Galapagos series, this book provides a broad “framing” assessment of the current status of social and ecological systems in the Galapagos Islands, and the feedback that explicitly links people to the environment. It also highlights the challenges to conservation imposed by tourism in the Galapagos Islands and the attendant migration of people from mainland Ecuador to service the burgeoning tourism industry. Further, there is an emphasize on the status of the terrestrial and marine environments that form the very foundation of the deep attraction to the Islands by tourists, residents, scholars, and conservationists.
Sustainable development is a process to improve the quality of life of people, while maintaining the ability of social–ecological systems to continue to provide valuable ecological services that social systems require. In the Galapagos Islands, the maintenance of amenity resources to support tourism and the quality of life of residents is explicitly linked to ecosystem goods and services, particularly, the accessibility to high-quality natural environments and the terrestrial and marine visitation sites that showcase iconic species. On June 26-30, 2022, the Galapagos Science Center celebrated its 10-Year Anniversary. As the crowning event of the anniversary celebration, the World Summit on...
An insightful exploration of the iconic Galápagos tortoises, and how their fate is inextricably linked to our own in a rapidly changing world. Finalist for the 2020 E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, sponsored by PEN America Literary Awards The Galápagos archipelago is often viewed as a last foothold of pristine nature. For sixty years, conservationists have worked to restore this evolutionary Eden after centuries of exploitation at the hands of pirates, whalers, and island settlers. This book tells the story of the islands’ namesakes—the giant tortoises—as coveted food sources, objects of natural history, and famous icons of conservation and tourism. By doing so, it brings ...
The book explores how Darwin ́s legendary and mythologized visit to the Galapagos affected the socioecosystems of the Islands, as well as the cultural and intellectual traditions of Ecuador and Latin America. It highlights in what way the connection between Darwin and the Galapagos has had real, enduring and paradoxical effects in the Archipelago. This Twenty Century construct of the Galapagos as the cradle of Darwin’s theory and insights triggered not only the definition of the Galapagos as a living natural laboratory but also the production of a series of conservation practices and the reshaping of the Galapagos as a tourism destination with an increasingly important flow of tourists th...