Review: There has been a revolution in wildlife management in the last 15 years. Originally seen as an adjunct to ecology and a source of trial-and-error working, the subject has transformed into a quantitative, model-driven system which aims to use all aspects of ecology to further its principles. Not only is this good for the discipline it also demonstrates the impact that widespread conservation can have on the biogeography and ecology of an area. The construction of this second edition is witness to this fact.

The introductory chapter outlines the organisation of the text and the basic ideas behind wildlife management and decision making. From this point onwards, the text is divided into two parts. Part one focusses on wildlife ecology. In keeping with the new subject perspective, this is not ecology for managed species but the ecology of those species commonly subjected to human intervention. This is not a semantic point but a realisation that the subject has developed to the extent that it is a discrete part of ecology. What follows then is an overview of key ecological principles that wildlife ecologists need to be familiar with. This starts with a very simple overview of global biomes - a reminder that examples in this book are taken from around the world. Chapter three explores animal variation in terms of adaptation and selection as mediated through genetic variation. Chapter four is a very good overview of food from the perspective of energy consumption and nutrition - the focus is not just of food but metabolism and physiology. Alongside food, behaviour is also a key consideration especially in terms of range size and foraging behaviour for animals (chapter six). If these elements are right then the next two chapters, looking at population dynamics and dispersal respectively, should indicate an increase in numbers and range. Of course, population numbers are important but, as several cases show, increase can quickly turn to over-population. This makes population dynamics and wildlife demography key areas. Chapter 8 looks at population stability and changes within species whilst the companion chapter, 9, examines the dynamics from outside. Chapter 10 moves up the food chain to study the role of predation in population numbers whilst chapter 11 discusses the role of pathogens. Of the two, the former is often seen as the more important but, as recent research shows (review) pathogen dynamics can be crucial in establishing a new population. The final chapter in this part looks at the impact of resource levels on population size. Part two goes into the more usual work of wildlife conservation in terms of management. This work starts with two chapters outlining the most common questions - population size and age/gender structure. These measurements are crucial because success often hinges upon these figures going in the right direction. However, chapter 15 shows that there's more than one way of looking at this issue - it focusses on modelling and altering management regimes based of the results obtained. More normal, up to now, is the experimental management of chapter 16 where a series of plots can be set up with varying strategies. Whereas this might be useful in smaller areas it's obvious that modelling is the way to go. Next, we have two chapters which describe the issues in genetics and demographics. The first chapter looks at theory whilst the second examines practice. The central argument of course is not that one is superior to the other but that both as needed because the arsenal of the modern conservationist is far more detailed than that of earlier years. Chapter 19 goes to the heart of conservation by considering when/if it's possible to cull wildlife. This starts with the idea of maximum sustainable yield and then reviews other ideas. This is followed by a discussion of control theory - the far more complex idea of resource, demographic and habitat manipulation to control population numbers. Up to this point most of the work has focussed on the species: a final chapter looks at the ecosystem and its role in conservation.

This new edition shows how far and how fast the topic has developed. As if to underline the point this book has one very interesting feature: it comes with a CD Rom complete with exercises and an evaluation copy of a mathematical calculating/drawing program called Mathcad. Here, it's a 120-day limited version but it means that many of the calculations from chapter 6 onwards can be explored. It makes an interesting choice. On the upside, it allows equations to be written down and explored as if from a maths text making an interactive modelling system. This should reinforce the value of mathematical modelling in current conservation ideas. On the downside, it's another program to learn and if your institution doesn't have it, another problem to overcome. Might a more common system such as Microsoft's Excel have been able to achieve the same results without the overheads? Whichever way you go here the basic idea is a positive. Overall, a comprehensive text, well designed, aimed at the more experienced student/conservationist.