New Trophic Cascade Books available from Island Press

Island Press is offering Wildlands Network Supporters a 25% discount on two new books that provide a fascinating and in-depth look at "trophic cascades," a scientific concept quickly rising to the surface as a key influencing factor in conservation planning and action. It recognizes that animals such as wolves, sea otters, and sharks exert a disproportionate influence on their environment.  Dramatic ecological consequences can result when they are removed from -- or returned to -- an ecosystem.

In The Wolf's Tooth: Trophic Cascades, Keystone Predators and Biodiversity, author and scientist Cristina Eisenberg relates her own deep experience in the field in a way that clearly explains trophic cascades while also in captivating her readers, science savvy or not!   Her compelling, wide-ranging book explains the science surrounding keystone predators and considers how this notion can help provide practical solutions for restoring ecosystem health and functioning.  Robert Michael Pyle, author of Wintergreen and Chasing Monarchs praises Eisenberg's book, "Besides showing how trophic cascades actually work and how top predators can help rewild North America, her book is a fine primer for both theoretical and practical ecology."

Trophic Cascades: Predators, Prey, and the Changing Dyamics of Nature, is the first comprehensive presentation of the science on this intriquing topic.  In this volume, according to Mary E. Power, Professor of Integrative Biology at University of California, Berkeley... "leading experts in terrestrial, marine and lake food webs distill decades of evidence and lifetimes of insight to show that large carnivores, as apex predators, exert ubiquitous and powerful effects over nature."  Trophic Cascades not only teaches us where and why many ecosystems are breaking down; it also inspires us with a strategy to restore them, through the presence of top-down regulation by predators. John Terborgh is a research professor and director of the Center for Tropical Conservation at Duke University.  James A. Estes is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the Universty of California, Santa Cruz.

To order your copies, please visit www.islandpress.org and use the code WILD25 to receive your 25% discount. This code is valid until December 31, 2010.