This book provides both the conceptual basis and technological tools that are necessary to identify and solve problems related to biodiversity governance. The authors discuss intriguing evolutionary questions, which involve the sometimes surprising adaptive capacity of certain organisms to dwell in altered and/or changing environments that apparently lost most of their structure and functionality. Space and time heterogeneities are considered in order to understand the patterns of distribution and abundance of species and the various processes that mold them. The book also discusses at which levelfrom genes to the landscape, including individuals, populations, communities, and ecosystemsmen should intervene in nature in order to prevent the loss of biodiversity.
Part I. Concepts
1 Redirections in Conservation Biology
Luciano M. Verdade, Carlos I. Pi?a, and Maria Carolina Lyra-Jorge
2 Historical Ecology and the Explanation of Diversity: Amazonian Case Studies
William Bal?e
3 Phylogenetic diversity and the sustainable use of biodiversity
Daniel P. Faith and Laura Jo Pollock
4 Adaptation and Evolution in Changing Environments
Luiz Miguel Rosalino, Maria Carolina Lyra-Jorge, and Luciano M. Verdade
5 Biodiversity loss and infectious diseases
Kevin D. Lafferty
6 The conservation value of agricultural landscapes
Luciano M. Verdade, Marli Penteado, Carla Gheler-Costa, Graziella Dotta, Luis Miguel Rosalino, V?nia Regina Pivello, Carlos I. Pi?a, and Maria Carolina Lyra-Jorge
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Part II. Innovation
7 The use of molecular tools in ecological studies of mammalian carnivores
Francisco Palomares ?and Bego?a Adrados
8 The RolelSG