The Ecology of Browsing and Grazing II

454 Pages·2019·9.765 MB·English

by  Iain J. Gordon, Herbert H. T. Prins

Ecological Studies 239
Iain J. Gordon
Herbert H. T. Prins Editors
The Ecology
of Browsing
and Grazing II
Ecological Studies
Analysis and Synthesis
Volume 239
SeriesEditors
JosepG.Canadell
Canberra,Australia
SandraDíaz
Cordoba,Argentina
GerhardHeldmaier
Marburg,Germany
RobertB.Jackson
Stanford,California,USA
DelphisF.Levia
Newark,Delaware,USA
Ernst-DetlefSchulze
Jena,Germany
UlrichSommer
Kiel,Germany
DavidA.Wardle
Singapore,Singapore
Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttp://www.springer.com/series/86
(cid:129)
Iain J. Gordon Herbert H. T. Prins
Editors
The Ecology of Browsing
and Grazing II
Editors
IainJ.Gordon HerbertH.T.Prins
DivisionofTropicalEnvironment& AnimalSciencesGroup
Societies WageningenUniversity
JamesCookUniversity Wageningen,TheNetherlands
Townsville,QLD,Australia
ISSN0070-8356 ISSN2196-971X (electronic)
EcologicalStudies
ISBN978-3-030-25864-1 ISBN978-3-030-25865-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25865-8
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Browsers and grazers come from a range of taxa of large mammalian herbivores. Photos Iain
J.Gordon(gorilla)andHerbertH.T.Prins(elephant)
Grazers and browsers
Long trotted the ancient lands:
Humankind’s lifeblood
Preface
On the 6th of September 2016, the following e-mail came through from Andrea
Schlitzbergerat23.46h.AndreaworksatSpringerNature,andSpringerpublished
a book we co-edited unassumingly called The Ecology of Browsing and Grazing.
Themessageread:
Sofarca.12,700chaptersofyourEcologicalStudiesvolumeon“TheEcologyofBrowsing
andGrazing”publishedin2008weredownloaded,whichisanexcellentsuccessandshows
thegreatinterestinthistopic.Thereforewewouldliketoaskyouifyouthinkanewedition
wouldmakesense.Aneweditionshouldincludeatleast20%newmaterial.Acompletely
newbookonasimilartopicwouldalsobepossible.Whatdoyouthinkandwouldyoube
interestedinactingasvolumeeditor?
Now, it took us a couple of days to respond, because we had to liaise as to
whetherwewereinterestedintakingontheproject.Wehadrecentlyfinishedthree
otherbooksforotherpublishers(PrinsandGordon2014;Gordonetal.2017;Prins
and Namgail 2017) and were not thinking of jumping into another book project
anytimesoon.However,bothofusarepassionateungulateecologistsandhumbled
by the interest in the original book. Also, a lot has happened in the world of the
ecology of browsing and grazing ungulates in particular and large mammalian
herbivores specifically over the past 11 years. For example, the development of
new paleontological and genomics techniques, significant improvements in GPS
technology and sensors and analytical techniques using artificial intelligence with
bigdata,toname afew.Also,whilst only 11years hadpassedsince thebookwas
published,itisclearthattheplightofmanyspeciesofwildungulatespeciesisdire
and in need of firm evidence to support conservation and management efforts.
So,onthe2ndofOctober2016,wewentbacktoSpringertosay“yes”,wewould
beinterestedonfourconditions:
1. That this would not be a minor tweak of the original book: we have already
mentionedthemajornewdevelopmentsthathavehappenedinthefieldoverthe
past11years.
2. Also,withthenewbookwewantedtohaveaslightchangeintheemphasisofthe
book to provide insights into the impact of large mammalian herbivores on the
ix
x Preface
ecosystems in which they live. With the growing need to restore dysfunctional
ecosystems,keystoneherbivorespeciesareoftenthefirstthatarebeingbrought
backintosystemsandweneedevidencetomakesurewe’redoingtherightthing
andthatweprecludeorlimitperverseoutcomes.
3. Rather than go back to the original authors, we try to have first authors for the
chapters as women or researchers outside Australia, Europe or the USA and
Canada. This would give a voice to those who are not always able to get their
researchfindingsandideasintothemainstreamofAnglo-centricthinking.
4. Finally,andthiswasastickyone,wewantedtohaveashareofthesales’valueof
thebookandnotanhonorariumasisnormallythecase.
Well,clearly,therewassomenegotiationrequired.Surprisingly,wehadabitof
knock-back on the second condition as it was deemed that it might affect the
“quality” of the book. We hope you will agree, that, whilst we were not 100%
successful in our endeavour to have first authors for the chapters as women or
researchersoutsidetheAnglo-centricsphere,thebookisstillaverygoodsummary
ofthefield!Thesecondboneofcontentionwasourfourthconditionandwedidnot
manageto reach a compromiseintheend:just likechairman Mao Zedong usedto
say that the last argument comes from the barrel of the gun, Springer informed us
kindlybutfirmlythatourwishdidnotfitintheirbusinessmodel.Endofdiscussion.
Weacceptedbecauseofourlovefornatureandsciencethatwewanttoshare,andfor
dissemination,youneedpublishers.Itisasitis,isn’tit?
Ofcourse,wewishtothankallofthecontributorstothebookfortheirsterling
efforts and patience as we have crafted the chapters into a coherent and com-
prehensive review of the field of the ecology of browsing and grazing. Special
thanks,though,toDrYvetteWilliams,whohasmanagedtokeepthetwoofuson
pointandhasensuredthatwewereapprisedofthecurrentstateofplayofthebook
and who we needed to chivvy along! We couldn’t have done it without her
support.
So,thereyouhaveit,TheEcologyofBrowsingandGrazingII.BetweenOctober
2016 when we were asked to work on the sequel to The Ecology of Browsing and
Grazing,tothedatethatwefinishedoureditingwork,thenumberofdownloadsof
the 2008 book has increased from 12,700 to 20,800, showing that this field of
science is thriving. We think we will leave you with the last couple of sentences
oftheConclusionsbecausethesecatchoursentimentsasbothofusloveourecology
andareteachersatheart:
researchers should not forget that these ungulates are made of flesh and blood, that they
grazeandbrowseinreallandscapes,andthatthereisaprofoundneedforhard-coreungulate
ecologistswithabroadsetofskillsanddeepunderstandingof‘their’animals.Asabonus,
we, and all other ungulate ecologists, get to see, feel and understand some of the most
beautifulcreaturesthatshareourplanet.
Townsville,QLD,Australia IainJ.Gordon
Wageningen,TheNetherlands HerbertH.T.Prins
18thFebruary2019
Preface xi
References
GordonIJ,PrinsHHT(eds)(2008)Theecologyofbrowsingandgrazing.Ecological
studies,vol195.Springer,Berlin
Gordon IJ, Prins HHT, Squire G (eds) (2016) Food production and nature conser-
vation:conflictsandsolutions.Routledge,London
PrinsHHT,GordonIJ(eds)(2014)Invasionbiologyandecologicaltheory:insights
fromacontinentintransformation.CambridgeUniversityPress,Cambridge
Prins HHT, Namgail T (eds) (2017) Bird migration across the Himalayas: wetland
functioning amidst mountains and glaciers. Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge