| Contents Notes |
The Atlas of Global Conservation is a premier resource for everyone concerned about the natural world. Top scientists at The Nature Conservancy have joined forces to create this guide to the state of the planet today. With over 80 full-color maps and other graphics contextualized with clear, informative discussion, this book offers an unprecedented view of trends across the world's terrestrial, marine, and freshwater environments. Interspersed throughout, essays by noted international authorities point the way forward in confronting some of our greatest conservation challenges.--Publisher information. A new view of our home / Mark Tercek -- Conservation connections / Paul R. Ehrlich -- Introduction : Why Ecoregions? / Taylor Ricketts ; Terrestrial ecoregions, realms, and biomes ; Freshwater ecoregions and basins ; Marine ecoregions, provinces, and realms ; The stories that maps tell / Jon Christensen -- Habitats : Forests and woodlands: giving trees ; Grasslands: where the buffalo roamed ; Deserts and aridlands: hardy life under harsh conditions ; Rivers and wetlands: the planet's lifeblood ; Lakes: fragile pools of life ; Caves and karst: troves of subterranean species ; Hope in Habitats / Steven J. McCormick ; Coasts and shelves: the sea's sunlit margins ; Coral reefs: crown jewels of the ocean ; Mangrove forests: bridging land and sea ; Seagrass beds: marine meadows ; Salt marshes: living filters along our coasts ; High seas and deep oceans: Earth's uncharted "inner space" -- Species : Plants: a vital variety ; Freshwater fish: a diverse cast ; Amphibians: fragile markers of the planet's health ; Reptiles : prehistoric survivors ; Migrations / Martin Wikelski, David S. Wilcove ; Birds: everyday, everywhere wildlife ; Mammals: shared destiny with our closest kin ; Endemic species: in the narrowest niches ; Evolutionary distinction: branches on the tree of life ; Promoting livelihoods, saving nature / Greg Mock -- A world of change : Human population: outnumbering nature ; Consuming nature: running out of planet? ; Climate change: the planetary emergency ; Ultimate agents of global change / Joel E. Cohen ; Habitat loss on land: going, going ... ; Coastal development: reshaping the seashore ; Bottom trawling and dredging: scouring the seafloor ; Landscape fragmentation: going to pieces ; Thwarted fish runs: up against a wall -- Global contamination of the biosphere / John Peterson Myers ; Freshwater pollution: clear but hazardous ; Nitrogen pollution: too much of a good thing ; Ruin of the reefs: fading jewels, lost wealth ; Into the wild: the cost of expanding human access ; Poverty and nature's services / M. Sanjayan ; Forest clearing: uprooting nature ; Water stress: overused and undermanaged ; Overfishing: emptying the oceans ; Wildlife trade: sold into extinction ; Future of fisheries / Jackie Alder, Daniel Pauly ; Fire: healthy doses of destruction ; Dams and reservoirs: clogging Earth's arteries ; Sediment flow: starving some habitats, smothering others ; Melting ice and rising seas: squeezing the coasts ; Disappearing glaciers: ice storage on a slippery slope ; Nature conservation and climate change / Jonathan M. Hoekstra ; Terrestrial invaders: unwelcome guests ; Freshwater invaders: good intentions with costly consequences ; Marine invaders: stowaways attacking our coasts ; Terrestrial animals at risk: more in jeopardy each year ; Freshwater animals at risk: are their futures drying up? ; Marine animals at risk: sea life unraveling -- Taking action : Protected areas on land: triumph for nature ; Protecting rivers, lakes, and wetlands: thinking beyond park boundaries ; Marine protected areas: oases for fish and people ; Protecting nature's services: dividends from the wealth of nature ; Convergent conservation / Scott A. Morrison ; International cooperation: saving the whales and more ; Greening the marketplace: certifiably profitable ; Collaborative solutions: problem-solving partnerships ; Conservation on our watch / Gretchen C. Daily, Marilyn Cornelius, Charles J. Katz, Jr., Brian Shillinglaw ; Rule of law: protecting the commons ; Individual action: parting the waters ; Restoring nature: mending the web of life -- Conclusion: Our future, our choices. |
