Human Population

This volume is the result of an effort to document the state of research and promote progress in addressing a fundamental question facing conservationists: What can the dynamics of Homo sapiens demographic and geographic distributions tell researchers and conservation practitioners about the status of, and prospects for, biological diversity? It is divided into three sections. The first comprises chapters presenting general theories and broad empirical relationships that help explain dramatic changes in the patterns of occurrence of terrestrial and aquatic species that have developed in parallel with human population growth, migration and settlement. The second section focuses on specific biomes and ecosystems as the context for human interactions with other species. Beyond their informational content, these chapters provide insights into the utility of using demographics and human geography to evaluate relationships between human settlement and the population dynamics of both native and non-native species. The third and conclusive section comprises a discussion of the prior two sections by geographers Thomas Crawford and Deirdre Mageean.