The vast scope of conservation problems has forced biologists and managers to rely on ""surrogate"" species to serve as shortcuts to guide their decision making. These species-known by a host of different terms, including indicator, umbrella, and flagship species-act as proxies to represent larger conservation issues, such as the location of biodiversity hotspots or general ecosystem health.
Synthesizing an immense body of literature, conservation biologist and field researcher Tim Caro offers systematic definitions of surrogate species concepts, explores biological theories that underlie them, considers how surrogate species are chosen, critically examines evidence for and against their utility, and makes recommendations for their continued use. The book
clarifies terminology and contrasts how different terms are used in the real world
considers the ecological, taxonomic, and political underpinnings of these shortcuts
identifies criteria that make for good surrogate species
outlines the circumstances where the application of the surrogate species concept shows promise
Conservation by Proxy is a benchmark reference that provides clear definitions and common understanding of the evidence and theory behind surrogate species. It is the first book to review and bring together literature on more than fifteen types of surrogate species, enabling us to assess their role in conservation and offering guidelines on how they can be used most effectively.
Preface
PART I. Introduction
Chapter 1. Buzzwords in Conservation Biology - Shortcuts - Biodiversity - Scale - Surrogate species in systematic conservation - Difficulties in surrogate typology - Summary
PART II. Distribution of Biodiversity
Chapter 2. Species Indicators of Biodiversity at a Large Scale - A big picture - Congruency of species richness - Congruency of endemism - Congruency of rarity - Congruency of threatened species - Complementarity and congruency - Concordance between measures of biodiversity - Biodiversity distribution and protected areas - Practical application - Summary
PART III. Reserve Site Selection
Chapter 3. Species Indicators of Biodiversity in Reserve Selection - A smaller scale - Cross-taxon congruence of species richness - With-taxon congruence of species richness - Congruency of endemism, congruency of rarity, and congruency of threatened species - Concordance between measures of biodiversity - Congruency of complementarity - Protected area coverage - Marine reserve prioritization - Environmental surrogates - Practical issues - Summary
PART IV. Reserve Design and management
Chapter 4. Umbrella Species and Landscape Species - Three conservation goals - Lambeck's insight - Umbrella species by taxon - Choosing an appropriate umbrella species - Problems with umbrella species - Management implications - Landscape species - Summary
Chapter 5. Keystone, Engineering and Foundation Species - The keystone species concept - Ecosystem engineers - Foundation species - Management issues - Summary
PART V. Species Indicators of Anthropegenic Change
Chapter 6. Environmental Indicator Species - Ecosystem health and biological integrity - Environmental indicators - Examples of the uses of environmental indicator species - Proliferation and obfuscation of terms - Summary
Chapter 7. Ecological Disturbance Indicator Species - Effects of disturbance - Proposed criteria for indicator species - Single species and species-groups as indicators of disturbance - Examples of the use of species-groups in documenting effects of land-use change - Changes in populations over time - Determining the number of species-groups - Management pointers - Summary
Chapter 8. Cross-taxon Response Indicator Species - Habitat alteration - Fora for cross-taxon-response indicator species - Intraguild-response indicator species - Population changes - Management indicator species - Early warnings - Substitute species - Problems with cross-taxon-response indicator species - Summary
PART VI. Promoting Conservation
Chapter 9. Flagship Species - Characteristics of flagship species - Multiple objectives - Are flagship species successful? - Qualities of flagship species - Iconic species - What's next? - Summary
PART VII. Summary of Concepts and Cost-Effectiveness
Chapter 10. Surrogate Species in the Real World - Surrogate categories - Synopsis - Distribution of biodiversity - Reserve site selection - Reserve design and management - Species indicators of anthropogenic change - Promoting conservation - Wrap-up - Summary
References Scientific Names of Species Mentioned in the Text Subject Index
"The book can be recommended to anyone with a deep interest in the fate of biological diversity and its conservation. It is clearly written with examples presented from all over the plant and animal kingdom. Furthermore it is nicely illustrated with numerous drawings, figures and tables... To sum up, if you are a conservation biologist, this is indeed a book you need to have on your own bookshelves and not borrow quickly from the library. It will prove to be useful repeatedly."
