Ecology And Conservation Of Butterflies
This book was conceived and published to mark the silver anniversary of the British Butter ̄y Conservation Society and contains a range of papers outlining the advances in butter ̄y conservation knowledge and the status of current butter ̄y research. The book is divided into four sections: Monitoring Distributions and Abundance, Butter ̄ies and Land Use In Britain, Managing Endangered Species, and European and Global Perspectives. The ®rst three focus largely on work in Britain while the ®nal section deals with butter ̄y conservation research in Europe, Africa, North America and Australasia. Given the origins of this publication this bias is to be expected and re ̄ects the importance of work by British conservation organizations in distributional and autoecological aspects of conservation within this ®eld. The twenty-two papers cover a wide range of study from garden butter ̄y monitoring (Chapter 9) through speci®c habitats, eg. grassland (Chapter 7) and woodland (Chapter 8), and national conservation issues (eg.Chapter 16 `Measuring changes in butter ̄y abundance in The Netherlands') to continental biogeographical structures (eg.Chapters 15 and 22 on Europe and North America, respectively). The chapter location within the larger section headings allows a clear understanding of their connectivity with the other areas of research. This addressing of all scales and many habitats within just 363 pages is a particular strength placing of much of the smaller-scale ecological and monitoring work into national and international frameworks successfully and allowing the amateur and professional lepidopterist alike to realize the signi®cance of their contributions. As the editor states in the preface, there is an impression of a watershed having been reached. Thanks to long-running monitoring schemes, an increased awareness of the importance of management of butter ̄y habitats and the detailed long-term research on rare species our understanding of butter ̄y/habitat relationships has advanced to the stage where declines can be reversed and populations restored. These themes along with the problems of habitat loss and fragmentation and the lack of data recur in many of the chapters and emphasize the need to bridge the gap between scienti®c research and practical conservation ± one of the particular aims of the book. The presentation of the book itself is excellent. It is clear and easy to read with the headings and sub-headings within each chapter allowing the reader to focus on a particular element. For example, one can consider the threats to the butter ̄y fauna within the overall chapter on butter ̄y conservation within the Afrotropical region (Chapter 20) or look at case studies of butter ̄y populations on British nature reserves (Chapter 5). The illustrations are sparse but, in contrast to the few dark photographs included, are clear and add to the text, as do the many useful maps and tables. These features, in combination with the extensive bibliography, make it a particularly useful reference tool for both site managers and students of butter ̄y conservation.