The Ecology of Browsing and Grazing II PDF
Preview The Ecology of Browsing and Grazing II
Ecological Studies 239 Iain J. Gordon Herbert H. T. Prins Editors The Ecology of Browsing and Grazing II Ecological Studies Analysis and Synthesis Volume 239 SeriesEditors JosepG.Canadell Canberra,Australia SandraDíaz Cordoba,Argentina GerhardHeldmaier Marburg,Germany RobertB.Jackson Stanford,California,USA DelphisF.Levia Newark,Delaware,USA Ernst-DetlefSchulze Jena,Germany UlrichSommer Kiel,Germany DavidA.Wardle Singapore,Singapore Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttp://www.springer.com/series/86 (cid:129) Iain J. Gordon Herbert H. T. Prins Editors The Ecology of Browsing and Grazing II Editors IainJ.Gordon HerbertH.T.Prins DivisionofTropicalEnvironment& AnimalSciencesGroup Societies WageningenUniversity JamesCookUniversity Wageningen,TheNetherlands Townsville,QLD,Australia ISSN0070-8356 ISSN2196-971X (electronic) EcologicalStudies ISBN978-3-030-25864-1 ISBN978-3-030-25865-8 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25865-8 ©SpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG2019 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartofthe materialisconcerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation, broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway,andtransmissionorinformation storageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodology nowknownorhereafterdeveloped. Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthispublication doesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfromtherelevant protectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. The publisher, the authors, and the editorsare safeto assume that the adviceand informationin this bookarebelievedtobetrueandaccurateatthedateofpublication.Neitherthepublishernortheauthorsor theeditorsgiveawarranty,expressedorimplied,withrespecttothematerialcontainedhereinorforany errorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade.Thepublisherremainsneutralwithregardtojurisdictional claimsinpublishedmapsandinstitutionalaffiliations. ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbytheregisteredcompanySpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG. Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland Browsers and grazers come from a range of taxa of large mammalian herbivores. Photos Iain J.Gordon(gorilla)andHerbertH.T.Prins(elephant) Grazers and browsers Long trotted the ancient lands: Humankind’s lifeblood Preface On the 6th of September 2016, the following e-mail came through from Andrea Schlitzbergerat23.46h.AndreaworksatSpringerNature,andSpringerpublished a book we co-edited unassumingly called The Ecology of Browsing and Grazing. Themessageread: Sofarca.12,700chaptersofyourEcologicalStudiesvolumeon“TheEcologyofBrowsing andGrazing”publishedin2008weredownloaded,whichisanexcellentsuccessandshows thegreatinterestinthistopic.Thereforewewouldliketoaskyouifyouthinkanewedition wouldmakesense.Aneweditionshouldincludeatleast20%newmaterial.Acompletely newbookonasimilartopicwouldalsobepossible.Whatdoyouthinkandwouldyoube interestedinactingasvolumeeditor? Now, it took us a couple of days to respond, because we had to liaise as to whetherwewereinterestedintakingontheproject.Wehadrecentlyfinishedthree otherbooksforotherpublishers(PrinsandGordon2014;Gordonetal.2017;Prins and Namgail 2017) and were not thinking of jumping into another book project anytimesoon.However,bothofusarepassionateungulateecologistsandhumbled by the interest in the original book. Also, a lot has happened in the world of the ecology of browsing and grazing ungulates in particular and large mammalian herbivores specifically over the past 11 years. For example, the development of new paleontological and genomics techniques, significant improvements in GPS technology and sensors and analytical techniques using artificial intelligence with bigdata,toname afew.Also,whilst only 11years hadpassedsince thebookwas published,itisclearthattheplightofmanyspeciesofwildungulatespeciesisdire and in need of firm evidence to support conservation and management efforts. So,onthe2ndofOctober2016,wewentbacktoSpringertosay“yes”,wewould beinterestedonfourconditions: 1. That this would not be a minor tweak of the original book: we have already mentionedthemajornewdevelopmentsthathavehappenedinthefieldoverthe past11years. 2. Also,withthenewbookwewantedtohaveaslightchangeintheemphasisofthe book to provide insights into the impact of large mammalian herbivores on the ix x Preface ecosystems in which they live. With the growing need to restore dysfunctional ecosystems,keystoneherbivorespeciesareoftenthefirstthatarebeingbrought backintosystemsandweneedevidencetomakesurewe’redoingtherightthing andthatweprecludeorlimitperverseoutcomes. 3. Rather than go back to the original authors, we try to have first authors for the chapters as women or researchers outside Australia, Europe or the USA and Canada. This would give a voice to those who are not always able to get their researchfindingsandideasintothemainstreamofAnglo-centricthinking. 4. Finally,andthiswasastickyone,wewantedtohaveashareofthesales’valueof thebookandnotanhonorariumasisnormallythecase. Well,clearly,therewassomenegotiationrequired.Surprisingly,wehadabitof knock-back on the second condition as it was deemed that it might affect the “quality” of the book. We hope you will agree, that, whilst we were not 100% successful in our endeavour to have first authors for the chapters as women or researchersoutsidetheAnglo-centricsphere,thebookisstillaverygoodsummary ofthefield!Thesecondboneofcontentionwasourfourthconditionandwedidnot manageto reach a compromiseintheend:just likechairman Mao Zedong usedto say that the last argument comes from the barrel of the gun, Springer informed us kindlybutfirmlythatourwishdidnotfitintheirbusinessmodel.Endofdiscussion. Weacceptedbecauseofourlovefornatureandsciencethatwewanttoshare,andfor dissemination,youneedpublishers.Itisasitis,isn’tit? Ofcourse,wewishtothankallofthecontributorstothebookfortheirsterling efforts and patience as we have crafted the chapters into a coherent and com- prehensive review of the field of the ecology of browsing and grazing. Special thanks,though,toDrYvetteWilliams,whohasmanagedtokeepthetwoofuson pointandhasensuredthatwewereapprisedofthecurrentstateofplayofthebook and who we needed to chivvy along! We couldn’t have done it without her support. So,thereyouhaveit,TheEcologyofBrowsingandGrazingII.BetweenOctober 2016 when we were asked to work on the sequel to The Ecology of Browsing and Grazing,tothedatethatwefinishedoureditingwork,thenumberofdownloadsof the 2008 book has increased from 12,700 to 20,800, showing that this field of science is thriving. We think we will leave you with the last couple of sentences oftheConclusionsbecausethesecatchoursentimentsasbothofusloveourecology andareteachersatheart: researchers should not forget that these ungulates are made of flesh and blood, that they grazeandbrowseinreallandscapes,andthatthereisaprofoundneedforhard-coreungulate ecologistswithabroadsetofskillsanddeepunderstandingof‘their’animals.Asabonus, we, and all other ungulate ecologists, get to see, feel and understand some of the most beautifulcreaturesthatshareourplanet. Townsville,QLD,Australia IainJ.Gordon Wageningen,TheNetherlands HerbertH.T.Prins 18thFebruary2019 Preface xi References GordonIJ,PrinsHHT(eds)(2008)Theecologyofbrowsingandgrazing.Ecological studies,vol195.Springer,Berlin Gordon IJ, Prins HHT, Squire G (eds) (2016) Food production and nature conser- vation:conflictsandsolutions.Routledge,London PrinsHHT,GordonIJ(eds)(2014)Invasionbiologyandecologicaltheory:insights fromacontinentintransformation.CambridgeUniversityPress,Cambridge Prins HHT, Namgail T (eds) (2017) Bird migration across the Himalayas: wetland functioning amidst mountains and glaciers. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
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