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Habitat conservation: managing the physical environment, edited by A. Warren and J.R. French. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, 2001. 356 pp. Price: £65 (hardback), £24.95 (paperback). ISBN 0‐471‐98498‐1 (hardback), ISBN 0‐471‐98499‐x (paperback).

Habitat conservation: managing the physical environment, edited by A. Warren and J.R. French.... HABITAT CONSERVATION: MANAGING THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT, edited by A. Warren and J.R. French. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, 2001. 356 pp. Price: £65 (hardback), £24.95 (paperback). ISBN 0-471-98498-1 (hardback), ISBN 0-471-98499-x (paperback). The fourth in the Wiley series on conservation topics, to be derived from the University College London Masters course on conservation, concentrates on the geomorphology and limnology of the temperate zone. The 11 chapters have contributions from no less than 17 authors. The Editorial introduction points to ‘an explosion in our understanding and ability to model processes in the physical world at the scale at which ecosystems operate’. Manipulation of the physical environment during the 19th century led to gross modification of many river systems, stabilization of shorelines, and creation of new habitats in previously stable areas. With an acceleration away from what had become traditional, hard-engineering solutions, towards sustainability of conditions during environmental changes, combined approaches from both the engineering and ecological discipline areas are now commonly achieved. However, whereas the geomorphologist may model the landform–habitat interactions, many conservationists remain wedded to protection of a particular example or endangered species, with little consideration of why it exists in its particular site. This volume seeks to close the gap between the two approaches, enabling recognition of the temporary nature of a site during natural landscape development, a temporal element not always appreciated by conservationists. Despite the variety of authorship there is a pleasant uniformity of style and level of the contributions. Make no mistake, this is not a trivial text for a little light reading. It provides well-informed opinion and thoroughly referenced material throughout. While much of this material is derived from the 1970s and 1980s in the early chapters, addressing issues of landscape structure and development, in later chapters the references are drawn principally from the 1990s as the topics under discussion are those more recently recognized, such as climate change and global warming. By far the majority of the works referred to are reasonably accessible. Throughout the work recurrent themes can be recognized, highlighting the forms and styles of activity within the geomorphological systems. The scales of short-term events, their frequency of occurrence, and how they differ from habitat to habitat, with explanations or attempts to recognize and predict long-term future trends feature in many chapters. Striking parallels between debates in the ecological and geomorphological disciplines are recognized and valid comparisons between approaches are made. Overall, this is a very informative and thoughtful contribution. It serves to identify gaps in our knowledge and the lack of ‘joined up thinking’ in two important areas for conservation scientists. As such it will be a valuable addition to libraries in both the academic institutions and conservation organizations. Mercifully the paperback edition, at £24.95, is accessible to most pockets. For the many practising conservationists lacking geomorphological background this will be an invaluable addition to the bookshelves. There is much to learn from the text. Hopefully it will facilitate a more rounded appreciation of our natural systems. My commendation is strongly supported by the difficulty experienced in retrieving the text from graduate students working in this interesting boundary area for research. PROF. JOHN MCMANUS Uni6ersity of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK DOI: 10.1002/aqc.489 COASTAL CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, by Pat J. Doody. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, MA, 2000. 308 pp. Price £90. ISBN 0-412-59470-6. This is an extremely condensed book, which sets out to assess the effectiveness of different types of coastal zone management by using examples from the author’s Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. extensive knowledge of Europe in general, and Britain in particular. The organization of the book is essentially based on coastal habitats and ecosystems, which accords with the objectives of the conservation biology series of which this is the 13th volume. It also addresses the reality of wide-ranging and diverse types of land use, management and exploitational trends in different parts of Europe. Finally, the book concludes http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems Wiley

Habitat conservation: managing the physical environment, edited by A. Warren and J.R. French. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, 2001. 356 pp. Price: £65 (hardback), £24.95 (paperback). ISBN 0‐471‐98498‐1 (hardback), ISBN 0‐471‐98499‐x (paperback).

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Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN
1052-7613
eISSN
1099-0755
DOI
10.1002/aqc.489
Publisher site
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Abstract

HABITAT CONSERVATION: MANAGING THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT, edited by A. Warren and J.R. French. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, 2001. 356 pp. Price: £65 (hardback), £24.95 (paperback). ISBN 0-471-98498-1 (hardback), ISBN 0-471-98499-x (paperback). The fourth in the Wiley series on conservation topics, to be derived from the University College London Masters course on conservation, concentrates on the geomorphology and limnology of the temperate zone. The 11 chapters have contributions from no less than 17 authors. The Editorial introduction points to ‘an explosion in our understanding and ability to model processes in the physical world at the scale at which ecosystems operate’. Manipulation of the physical environment during the 19th century led to gross modification of many river systems, stabilization of shorelines, and creation of new habitats in previously stable areas. With an acceleration away from what had become traditional, hard-engineering solutions, towards sustainability of conditions during environmental changes, combined approaches from both the engineering and ecological discipline areas are now commonly achieved. However, whereas the geomorphologist may model the landform–habitat interactions, many conservationists remain wedded to protection of a particular example or endangered species, with little consideration of why it exists in its particular site. This volume seeks to close the gap between the two approaches, enabling recognition of the temporary nature of a site during natural landscape development, a temporal element not always appreciated by conservationists. Despite the variety of authorship there is a pleasant uniformity of style and level of the contributions. Make no mistake, this is not a trivial text for a little light reading. It provides well-informed opinion and thoroughly referenced material throughout. While much of this material is derived from the 1970s and 1980s in the early chapters, addressing issues of landscape structure and development, in later chapters the references are drawn principally from the 1990s as the topics under discussion are those more recently recognized, such as climate change and global warming. By far the majority of the works referred to are reasonably accessible. Throughout the work recurrent themes can be recognized, highlighting the forms and styles of activity within the geomorphological systems. The scales of short-term events, their frequency of occurrence, and how they differ from habitat to habitat, with explanations or attempts to recognize and predict long-term future trends feature in many chapters. Striking parallels between debates in the ecological and geomorphological disciplines are recognized and valid comparisons between approaches are made. Overall, this is a very informative and thoughtful contribution. It serves to identify gaps in our knowledge and the lack of ‘joined up thinking’ in two important areas for conservation scientists. As such it will be a valuable addition to libraries in both the academic institutions and conservation organizations. Mercifully the paperback edition, at £24.95, is accessible to most pockets. For the many practising conservationists lacking geomorphological background this will be an invaluable addition to the bookshelves. There is much to learn from the text. Hopefully it will facilitate a more rounded appreciation of our natural systems. My commendation is strongly supported by the difficulty experienced in retrieving the text from graduate students working in this interesting boundary area for research. PROF. JOHN MCMANUS Uni6ersity of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK DOI: 10.1002/aqc.489 COASTAL CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, by Pat J. Doody. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, MA, 2000. 308 pp. Price £90. ISBN 0-412-59470-6. This is an extremely condensed book, which sets out to assess the effectiveness of different types of coastal zone management by using examples from the author’s Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. extensive knowledge of Europe in general, and Britain in particular. The organization of the book is essentially based on coastal habitats and ecosystems, which accords with the objectives of the conservation biology series of which this is the 13th volume. It also addresses the reality of wide-ranging and diverse types of land use, management and exploitational trends in different parts of Europe. Finally, the book concludes

Journal

Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater EcosystemsWiley

Published: Sep 1, 2001

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