C. Philip Wheater – författare

The author presents an illustrated and practical guide to the wide range of urban habitats and the flora and fauna that live within them. The important conservation and management issues presently being faced within our towns and cities are examined.Topics of concern to the conservationalist or habitat manager are explored, including:* the impact and monitoring of pollution* the effects of invasive species* guidelines for the ecological management of sites to enhance their nature conservation value.Urban Habitats is richly illustrated, features up-to-date references and data, and proposes a series of projects.

Offers a comprehensive, accessible introduction to experimental design, field monitoring skills for plants and animals, data analysis, interpretation and reportingThis user-friendly book presents field monitoring skills for both plants and animals, within the context of a research project. This text provides a single resource to take the reader all the way through from the planning stage, into the field, guiding through sampling, organism identification, computer-based data analysis and interpretation, and finally how to present the results to maximise the impact of the work. Logically structured throughout, and revised extensively in the second edition, the book concentrates on the techniques required to design a field-based ecological survey and shows how to execute an appropriate sampling regime. It evaluates appropriate sampling and analytical methods, identifying potential problems associated with various techniques and how to mitigate these.The second edition of this popular text has updated reference material and weblinks, increased the number of case studies by 50% to illustrate the use of specific techniques in the field, added over 20% more figures (including 8 colour plates), and made more extensive use of footnotes to provide extra details. Extensions to topics covered in the first edition include additional discussion of: ethical issues; statistical methods (sample size estimation, use of the statistical package R, mixed models); bioindicators, especially for freshwater pollution; seeds, fecundity and population dynamics including static and dynamic life tables; forestry techniques including tree coring and tree mortality calculations; the use of data repositories; writing for a journal and producing poster and oral presentations. In addition, the use of new and emerging technologies has been a particular focus, including mobile apps for environmental monitoring and identification; land cover and GIS; the use of drones including legal frameworks and codes of practice; molecular field techniques including DNA analysis in the field (including eDNA); photo-matching for identifying individuals; camera trapping; modern techniques for detecting and analysing bat echolocation calls; and data storage using the cloud.  Divided into six distinct chapters, Practical Field Ecology, 2nd Edition begins at project inception with a chapter on planning—covering health and safety, along with guidance on how to ensure that the sampling and experimental design is suitable for subsequent statistical analysis. Following a chapter dealing with site characterisation and general aspects of species identification, subsequent chapters describe the techniques used to survey and census particular groups of organisms. The final chapters cover analysing, interpreting and presenting data, and writing up the research. Offers a readable and approachable integrated guide devoted to field-based research projectsTakes students from the planning stage, into the field, and clearly guides them through organism identification in the laboratory and computer-based data analysis, interpretation and data presentationIncludes a chapter on how to write project reports and present findings in a variety of formats to differing audiencesAimed at undergraduates taking courses in Ecology, Biology, Geography, and Environmental Science, Practical Field Ecology, 2nd Edition will also benefit postgraduates seeking to support their projects.

Studying invertebrates is a comprehensive guide to designing and carrying out ecological investigations, especially those involving sampling invertebrates. A highly practical guide to fieldwork, statistical testing and interpretation. The book introduces ways of designing and analysing experiments so that complex situations can be described and summarised, comparisons made, and interactions between organisms and their environment examined objectively.This digital reprint replaces ISBN 0-85546-313-9. First published in 2003.Editors’ prefaceThe books in this series are designed to encourage readers to undertake their own studies of natural history. Each one describes some relevant techniques, but they have not enough space to cover the substantial body of more generally applicable ideas and approaches that underlies the design and analysis of such field studies. By describing a selection of these general methods, Studying invertebrates aims to support those venturing into ecological fieldwork for the first time. The authors have plenty of experience in helping beginners to plan, carry out and interpret ecological surveys and experiments, and we hope this handbook will serve as a welcome companion and guide, especially for those who lack confidence in their knowledge of statistical and other methods.

Logs, stones and the like provide an interesting interface between the damp depths of the soil and the drier open ground surface, offering refuges for a fascinating array of animals. The communities of organisms that live beneath them are little noticed and even less studied, yet the potential for ecological work here is great. Some of the animals are relatively large and frequently not difficult to find. They exhibit a wide range of lifestyles – from slow slugs or snails to very fast centipedes, from generalist to specialist feeders and from herbivores to carnivores.With chapters covering the cryptosphere environment, species groups, identification, guidelines and ideas for further research, this much-expanded and updated new edition also includes extensive, easy-to-use, comprehensively illustrated keys. Ground-surface debris can be found almost anywhere, often presenting highly accessible microhabitats for study and bringing immediate rewards to the curious: here is the ideal tool to unlock these worlds.