Abstract
In this volume our contributors have explored several central themes in conservation biology such as the patterns of species diversity, rates and causes of extinction, habitat losses resulting from fragmentation, community dynamics in islands or insular habitat patches, population genetics, demographic aspects of viable populations, design of nature reserves, and some other practical issues. Clearly, there remain many areas that should be covered, especially for a comprehensive text (e.g., agroecosystem theory and management, worldwide conservation programs for genetic resources in domesticated genera). It is equally cogent to point out that conservation involves much more than the biology of populations or communities; all of natural history, biosystematics, and other biological disciplines as well as social, economic, and political sciences dealing with the human use of natural resources are relevant areas. In fact, a recent forum on biodiversity (Wilson 1988) considers in some detail the various international programs of conservation that require changes in our perceptions and attitudes. For example, the international program developed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources involves eight different categories of protected lands that include cultural landscapes, retiring farmlands, and multiple-use areas, allowing humans to seek a fine-tuned balance of sustaining land use along with protection (Reid and Miller 1989).
The essential solutions entail dramatic and rapid changes in human attitudes, especially those relating to reproductive behavior, economic growth, technology, the environment, and resolution of conflicts.
—Ehrlich, Ehrlich, and Holdren 1977
We need ecosophy (wisdom of household) and not only ecology (knowledge of household).
—Arne Naess 1986
Intellectuals, as much as the religious, have delusions of grandeur.
—John Passmore 1974
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© 1992 Routledge, Chapman & Hall, Inc. and Diane C. Fiedler
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Fiedler, P.L., Jain, S.K. (1992). Epilogue. In: Fiedler, P.L., Jain, S.K. (eds) Conservation Biology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-6426-9_19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-6426-9_19
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