Table Of ContentA Primer of Conservation Biology
Third Edition
Richard B. Primack
BOSTON UNIVERSITY
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Sinauer Associates, Inc. Publishers
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Sunderland, Massachusetts U.S.A.
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The Cover
A Japanese or red-crowned crane, Grus japo11ensis, seems to dance
in the air as he comes in for a landing during a snow shower.
Photographer credit: Tim Laman/National Geographic Image
Collection.
A Primer of Conservation Biology, Third Edition
Copyright© 2004 by Sinauer Associates, Inc.
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or
in part without permission from the publisher.
Address inquiries and orders to
Sinauer Associates, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Primack, Richard B., 1950-
A primer of conservation biology / Richard B. Primack-3rd ed.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87893-728-5 (pbk)
1. Conservation biology. I. Title.
QH75.P7525 2004
333.95'16-dc22
2004011645
Printed in U.S.A.
6 5 -t 3 2
Tlris book is dedicated to t/rose w/,o tench co11scrvntio11 biology,
ecology, n11d e11z,iro11111e11tnl scieuces, wlrose efforts will inspire f11t11re
ge11erntio11s to fi11d tire right balance betweeu protecting biological
dilcrsity and providi11g for lmmnn needs.
1
Contents
Preface xi
1. Conservation and Biological Diversity 1
Conservation Biology's Interdisciplinary Approach:
A Case Study ,vith Sea Turtles 3
Why Is Conservation Needed? 6
Conservation Biology's Ethical Principles 8
The Origins of Conservation Biology 9
What Is Biological Diversity? 11
Species diversity 12
Box 1.1 THE ORIGIN OF NEW SPECIES 13
Box 1.2 NAMING AND CLASSIFYING SPECIES 16
Genetic diversity 18
Co1111111111ity diversity 19
Where Is the World's Biological Diversity Found? 27
How many species exist worldwide? 30
Extinction and Economics: Losing Something of Value 34
Patterns of exti11ctio11 34
Ecological eco110111ics 36
Co,11111011 property resources 37
viii Con ten ts
Direct Economic Values 39
Co11s11111ptive use value 40
Productive use value 42
Indirect Economic Values 44
Nouconsumptive use value 44
Optiou value 51
Existeuce value 53
Environmental Ethics 54
Deep ecology 57
Summary 58
Suggested Readings 60
2. Threats to Biological Diversity 61
Rates of Extinction 62
The Current, Human-Caused Extinctions 63
Extillction rates ilt water alld on laud 66
Island Biogeography and Modern Extinction Rates 68
Local extinctions 71
Ca uses of Extinction 72
Habitat destruction 75
Habitat Jragmell tatio11 84
Habitat degradatioll and pollution 89
Global cli111ate clwuge 95
Overexploitation 100
luvasive species 105
Disease 110
Vulnerability to Extinction 113
Summary 117
Suggested Readings 119
3. Conservation at the Population
and Species Levels 121
Essential Concepts for Small Populations 122
The Problems of Small Populations 123
Loss of genetic variability 125
Effective populatiou size 129
Demographic variatiou 132
EnvirollmeJltal variatio1t and catastropltes 133
Extinction vortices 135
Contents ix
Applied Population Biology 136
Mctlwds for st11dyi11g pop11/atio11s 137
Est,1blishment of New Populations 1--16
Co11sidcratio11s _ti>r s11ccesef11l progm111s 148
fat11blishi11g 1u•w pla11t pop11/11tio11s 152
The status of 11cw pop11/11tio11s 15.J
Ex Situ Consen·ation Strategies 155
Zoos 157
Aq11ari m11s 161
Bota11ica/ gardc11s 162
Conservation Categories of Species 166
Legal Protection of Species 171
Natio1111l laws 171
llltematicmal agn·c11u·11ts to protect species a11d habitats 174
Summary 178
Suggested Readings 179
4. Conserving Biological Communities 183
Protected Areas 184
Classificatio11 of protected areas 185
Establishi11g priorities for protcctio11 188
Prioritizatio11 systems 189
Designing Networks of Protected Areas 200
Protected area size a11d characteristics 201
Mi11imizi11g edge a11d fragme11tatio11 effects 204
Co11seruatio11 11etworks 205
Li11ki11g protected areas with habitat corridors 205
La11dscape ecology a11d park desig11 208
Managing Protected Areas 210
Mm1agcme11t a11d mo11itori11g 211
Ma11agi11g habitat 213
Protected area mmwgeme11t a11d people 215
Challe11ges in park 111anageme11t 219
Outside Protected Areas 219
H11111m1-domi11atcd la11dscapes 221
Ecosystem mm1ageme11t 223
Restoration Ecology 225
Restoratio11 of some major con11111111ities 229
The f11t11re of restoratio11 ecology 234
x Contents
Summary 234
Suggested Readings 235
5. Conservation and Sustainable Development 239
Government Action 239
Local legislation 239
National laws 243
Traditional Societies, Conservation, and Sustainable
Development 244
Conservation ethics of traditional societies 245
Local people and their governments 246
International Approaches to Conservation and Sustainable
Development 251
International agreements and swnnzits 252
International funding 256
International development banks and ecosystem damage 260
Ongoing Problems and Possible Responses 265
The Role of Conservation Biologists 270
Summary 273
Suggested Readings 274
Appendix: Selected Environmental Organizations
and Sources of Information 277
Glossary 281
Bibliography 287
Index 311
Preface
Conservation biology is the field that seeks to study and protect the
living world and its biological diversity. The field emerged during
the last 25 years as a major new discipline in response to the alarm
ing loss of biological diversity throughout the world. The threats to
biological diversity are all too real, as most recently demonstrated
by the extinction of Spix's macaw in Brazil and a subspecies of red
colobus monkey in West Africa. At the same time, our need to gain
greater knowledge of the diversity of life was highlighted by the
discovery in 2002 of an entirely new order of insects in remote
mountains of Namibia, in southwestern Africa. And only this year,
a previously overlooked family of frogs was described from south
western India.
Evidence of the explosive increase of interest in conservation biol
ogy is shown by the rapidly increasing membership of the Society
for Conservation Biology, the great intellectual excitement displayed
in many journals and newsletters, and the new edited books and
advanced texts that appear almost weekly. In the United States, a
major grant by one of the founders of the Intel Corporation has been
used to establish a Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, and a
Global Biodiversity Information Facility is being developed as an
online resource to coordinate international conservation efforts.
Such interest continues to extend to university students, who
have enrolled enthusiastically and in large numbers in introductory
conservation biology courses. The first (1995) and second editions
(2000) of A Primer of Co11servatio11 Biologi; sought to fill the need for
xii Pref ace
a "quick" guide for those who wanted a basic familiarity with con
servation biology. Essentials of Conservation Biology, now in its third
edition, provides a more comprehensive treatment of the subject.
Like its predecessors, this third edition of the Primer is designed for
use in short courses in conservation biology and can also be used as
a supplemental text for general biology, ecology, wildlife biology,
and environmental policy courses. It is also intended to serve as a
concise guide for professionals who require a background in the
subject, but have no need for in-depth case studies and discussions.
In keeping with the international approach of conservation biol
ogy, I believe it is important to make the field accessible to as wide
an audience as possible. With the assistance of Marie Scavotto and
the staff of Sinauer Associates, I have arranged an active translation
program, beginning in 1995 with translations of the Essentials into
German and Chinese in 1997. However, it became clear to me that
the best way to make the material accessible was to create regional
or country-specific translations, inviting local scientists to become
coauthors and to add case studies, examples, and illustrations from
their own countries and regions that would be more relevant to the
intended audience. To that end, in the past seven years, editions of
Essentials have appeared in Hungarian (with Tibor Standovar),
Spanish (with Ricardo Rozzi, Peter Feinsinger, Rodolfo Dirzo, and
Francisca Massardo), and Arabic (with Mohamed El-Demerdash);
the Primer has appeared in Japanese (with Hiromi Kobori), Indone
sian (with Jatna Supriatna, Mochammad Indrawan, and Padmi Kra
madibrata), Vietnamese (with Pham Binh Quyen, Vo Quy, and
Hoang Van Thang), Korean (with Dowon Lee, Z. Kim, Y. Sohn, J. H.
Shin, and J.C. Chae), Brazilian Portuguese (with Efraim Rodrigues),
Czech (with Pavel Kindlmann and Jena Jersakova), Spanish (with
Joandomenec Ros), Italian (with Luciana Carotenuto), Mongolian
(with Batbold Otgoid, Samiya Khiad, and Batsaikhan Tsagaan
aduut), Romanian (with Maria Patroescu, Laurentiu Rozylowicz,
and Cristian Ioja), Chinese (with Weizhu Ji), and Russian. Editions
of the Primer for South Asia, Africa, and Madagascar are currently
in production. It is my hope that these translations will help con
servation biology develop as a discipline with a global scope. At the
same time, examples from these translations find their way back
into the English language editions, enriching the presentation.
I hope that readers of this book will want to find out more about
the extinction crisis facing species and biological communities and
how they can take action to halt it. I encourage readers to take the
field's activist spirit to heart-use the Appendix to find organiza
tions and sources of information on how to help. If readers gain a
greater appreciation for the goals, methods, and importance of con
servation biology, and if they are moved to make a difference in
their everyday lives, this textbook will have served its purpose.
