Conservation Biology in Australia and Oceania

The extraordinary biological diversity of islands of the south-west Pacific nations is under severe threat from an array of processes, including, but not limited to, habitat fragmentation, degradation of marine and terrestrial environments, introduced predators, parasites and weeds, and direct exploitation. The region already has an unenviable record of extinctions attributed to human activity and this seems set to continue. The emerging discipline of Conservation Biology can counter these problems but its potential is far from realized, partly because of a communication gap between research oriented biologists and resource managers on the one hand and between scientists and the public on the other. The goal of this book is to make our conservation efforts more effective. To achieve this, a review of the major problems facing the regional biotas is carried out and ways in which conservation research can be made more efficient are suggested.