Wildlife tend our forests — they pollinate flowers, disperse seeds, eat insects that harm trees, and keep herbivores and diseases in check. They keep our forests healthy and resilient — ready and able to face and counter any challenges, such as global warming and climate change. They are the individual cogs that keep the forest machine functioning. And we desperately need our forests — to sequester carbon, to purify our air and water, to protect our soils from getting eroded, and to save our dams and waterways. Wildlife do need our care, concern, and attention, but we also need our wildlife — perhaps much more sincerely. A majority of wildlife arrived on this planet much before humans, and the Earth belongs to them as well.
So how do we conserve wildlife? This is the question that Principles of Wildlife Conservation seeks to answer. It presents a lucid — cogent, yet simple — narration about the why’s and how’s of conserving wildlife. It begins with the first principles — and thus requires no prerequisite other than an urge to seek knowledge. It is full of pictures and case studies from the field — to facilitate easy grasping of the subject. The book builds a solid foundation of the theory of wildlife conservation, and tops that up with experiences from actually doing wildlife conservation. In this way, it equips the reader to master both the science — and the art — of conserving wildlife.
Biography
Dr. Ankur Awadhiya (b. 1987) is an IFS officer of 2014 batch borne on the Madhya Pradesh cadre. Trained as an engineer, he earned his B. Tech in Biological Sciences and Bioengineering in 2009 from IIT Kanpur, followed by a Ph.D from IIT Kanpur in 2015, AIGNFA (Honours Diploma) from IGNFA Dehradun in 2016 and Post Graduate Diploma in Advanced Wildlife Management (Honours Diploma) from WII Dehradun in 2018. He maintains a keen interest in academics and research and has been a recipient of several honours including the NTSE scholarship, KVPY fellowship, Shri P. Srinivas Memorial prize, K. P. Sagriya Shreshta Vaniki puraskar and the S. K. Seth Prize. Besides academics, he maintains a passion towards photography, painting, movie-making, and creative literary pursuits.
"This comprehensive textbook on wildlife conservation covers the main principles of animal ecology while opening readers' eyes to Asian examples of conservation approaches and Asian views and priorities. Eleven chapters address the organization of life (biodiversity, energetics, interactions), emphasizing demography and extinction threats. Detailed methods for monitoring populations and trends, managing disease, and handling wildlife are provided, from capturing and sedating to sampling and tagging. Population genetics, viability analysis, and habitat management are covered as are new technologies and economics and controversies over management in zoos vs. wild management. Theory is well illustrated by figures, and mathematics is limited to simple algebra. Numerous black-and-white photographs—mostly clear—of wildlife and their habitats and conservationists at work are included. Particularly valuable are the sections on methodology for finding, observing, and counting wildlife. Many conservation studies require capturing animals, testing them for disease, and marking them for subsequent identification. One unique feature is the inclusion of details on anesthetizing and handling dangerous animals —think tigers."
--J. Burger, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, Choice May 2023
