Description
Book SynopsisGiven the reality of limited money for conservation efforts, there is a compelling need for scientists to help conservation practitioners set priorities and identify species most in need of urgent attention. This book provides the scientific approaches and analyses available for asking what we can expect from losing (or gaining) species.
Trade Review"I recommend this book both as practical advice for conservation practitioners, and as a summary of recent theory and experiments for any ecologist interested in the interface between species and their communities and ecosystems."--Gareth J. Russell, Ecology
Table of ContentsContributors ix Preface xiii Foreword xv Part I: USING EXPERIMENTAL REMOVALS OF SPECIES TO REVEAL THE CONSEQUENCES OF BIODIVERSITY DEPLETION P. Kareiva and S. A. Levin 1 1. Native Thistles: Expendable or Integral to Ecosystem Resistance to Invasion? S. M. Louda and T. A. Rand 5 2. The Overriding Importance of Environmental Context in Determining the Outcome of Species-Deletion Experiments B. A. Menge 16 3. Species Importance and Context: Spatial and Temporal Variation in Species Interactions C.D.G. Harley 44 4. Effects of Removing a Vertebrate versus an Invertebrate Predator on a Food Web, and What Is Their Relative Importance? T. W. Schoener and D. A. Spiller 69 5. Understanding the Effects of Reduced Biodiversity: A Comparison of Two Approaches J. T. Wootton and A. L. Downing 85 Part II: THE ANTHROPOGENIC PERSPECTIVE P. Kareiva and S. A. Levin 105 6. Models of Ecosystem Reliability and Their Implications for the Question of Expendability S. Naeem 109 7. Predicting the Effects of Species Loss on Community Stability D. Doak and M. Marvier 140 8. One Fish, Two Fish, Old Fish, New Fish: Which Invasions Matter? J. L. Ruesink 161 9. Ecological Gambling: Expendable Extinctions Versus Acceptable Invasions M. J. Wonham 179 10. Rarity and Functional Importance in a Phytoplankton Community D. E. Schindler, G. C. Chang, S. Lubetkin, S.E.B. Abella, and W. T. Edmondson 206 11. Community and Ecosystem Impacts of Single-Species Extinctions D. Simberloff 221 Part III: LINKAGES AND EXTERNALITIES P. Kareiva and S. A. Levin 235 12. Social Conflict, Biological Ignorance, and Trying to Agree Which Species Are Expendable E. G. Leigh Jr. 239 13. Which Mutualists Are Most Essential? Buffering of Plant Reproduction against the Extinction of Pollinators W. F. Morris 260 14. The Expendability of Species: A Test Case Based on the Caterpillars on Goldenrods R. B. Root 281 15. An Evolutionary Perspective on the Importance of Species: Why Ecologists Care about Evolution S. R. Palumbi 292 16. Recovering Species of Conservation Concern-Are Populations Expendable? M. Ruckelshaus, P. McElhany, and M. J. Ford 305 17. Virus Specificity in Disease Systems: Are Species Redundant? A. G. Power and A. S. Flecker 330 Conclusion P. Kareiva and S. A. Levin 347 References 353 Index 415
