Risk Assessment in Conservation Biology

Conservation biologists and wildlife managers are constantly involved in the complex assessment of conservation problems such as the likely impact of a management action plan on rare species or those threatened with extinction. This book is a cohesive guide to the available mathematical modelling methods that can be used in population viability analysis. It is therefore extremely valuable to both the practitioner of conservation biology and the theoretical population biologist. Starting from first principles, the authors clearly explain the rationale behind the models and point out the relevant research, most of it recent, using a variety of examples from all different parts of the biosphere. The models used are stochastic models for demographic risk assessment particularly those dealing with unstructured population models, area-based models and structured, projection-matrix models. This new and growing area has been brought together by three expert conservation biologists so that conservation scientists can make and adapt their own models to aid the development of strategies to conserve species threatened with extinction.