A Place like No Other: Discovering the Secrets of Serengeti

by Anthony R. E. Sinclair, René Beyers (Editor)

Overview

From famed zoologist Anthony Sinclair, an account of his decades-long quest to understand one of Earth's most spectacular ecosystems

With its rich biodiversity, astounding wildlife, and breathtaking animal migrations, Serengeti is like no other ecosystem on the planet. A Place like No Other is Anthony Sinclair's firsthand account of how he and other scientists discovered the biological principles that regulate life in Serengeti and how they rule all of the natural world.

When Sinclair first began studying this spectacular ecosystem in 1965, a host of questions confronted him. What environmental features make its annual migration possible? What determines the size of animal populations and the stunning diversity of species? What factors enable Serengeti to endure over time? In the five decades that followed, Sinclair and others sought answers. What they learned is that seven principles of regulation govern all natural processes in the Serengeti ecosystem. Sinclair shows how these principles can help us to understand and overcome the challenges facing Serengeti today, and how they can be used to repair damaged habitats throughout the world.

Blending vivid storytelling with invaluable scientific insights from Sinclair's pioneering fieldwork in Africa, A Place like No Other reveals how Serengeti holds timely lessons for the restoration and conservation of our vital ecosystems.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691222349
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	10/19/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	30 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Anthony R. E. Sinclair is professor emeritus of zoology at the University of British Columbia and one of the world's leading Serengeti researchers. His books include Serengeti Story: Life and Science in the World's Greatest Wildlife Region. René Beyers is a research associate in the Department of Zoology at the University of British Columbia. Twitter @ReneBeyers

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xiii

1 Why Serengeti? 1

2 The Discovery of Rinderpest 25

3 Finding Regulation 33

4 The Discovery of Food Regulation 44

5 How Predators Regulate Prey 59

6 How Migration Structures Serengeti 74

7 Biodiversity and the Regulation of Ecosystems 89

8 Disturbance and the Persistence of Ecosystems 106

9 Continuous Change in Ecosystems 115

10 Appearance of Multiple States and Rapid Shifts in Ecosystems 133

11 The Fundamental Principle of Regulation, and Future Directions 143

12 Threats to the Serengeti 155

13 Lessons from the Serengeti 172

14 Rewilding 193

Appendix: Mammals and Trees Mentioned in the Text 219

Notes 225

Index 271

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“When it comes to understanding the hidden workings of Serengeti, Anthony Sinclair is a scientist like no other. Thanks to his rich and authoritative account of more than a half century of research, we all get to see the majestic Serengeti through expert and loving eyes.”—Sean B. Carroll, author of The Serengeti Rules and A Series of Fortunate Events

“Anthony Sinclair recounts how he and other remarkable field scientists figured out how the world’s most Pleistocene ecosystem works, why it is changing, and how it can be saved. His story begins with wonder, follows through by revealing the interplay of hard-won field data with ecological theory, and ends with an inspired vision of how to restore and protect Serengeti and other great ecosystems.”—Mary Power, University of California, Berkeley

“A Place like No Other is a spellbinding story of scientific discovery in one of the most spectacular places on Earth. This wonderful book is an intellectual safari led by an expert who, over the course of an extraordinary career, has coaxed Serengeti into divulging many of its secrets. On the journey, we learn that the ecological rules discovered in Serengeti offer guidance for those who seek to heal damaged ecosystems and bring the wild things back.”—Robert M. Pringle, Princeton University

“Few places inspire the way Serengeti does, from its vast plains where iconic species play out life-and-death dramas to some of the world’s last great mammal migrations. Sinclair draws on his own wonder and curiosity as an ecologist to help us understand what makes Serengeti work, along the way revealing the scientific principles that underpin all life on Earth.”—Stuart Pimm, Duke University

“Understanding how ecosystems change through time is central to our ability to conserve the last remaining areas of wilderness on the planet. Sinclair has spent much of the past fifty years observing and quantifying change in Serengeti. A Place like No Other reveals what that lifetime of work tells us about Serengeti and other wild places that need to be studied and conserved.”—Andy Dobson, Princeton University

Editorial Reviews

Shortlisted for the Wildlife Publication Award in Biography/History of Wildlife Biology, The Wildlife Society

From the Publisher

"A keystone ecosystem provides lessons in how we can save the world from ourselves."

Kirkus Reviews

2021-08-13
A keystone ecosystem provides lessons in how we can save the world from ourselves.

Sinclair, a professor emeritus of zoology at the University of British Columbia, has made a lifetime study of the Serengeti, the vast East African ecosystem that contains an unrestrained river, expansive grasslands, and low-growing forests. Inside of this ecosystem, one of the few in the world that is nearly unchanged from Pleistocene times, there is an astonishing diversity of plant and animal life as well as massive migrations of herbivore species such as wildebeest, to say nothing of elephants, buffalos, zebras, and other creatures. As Sinclair notes, the Serengeti has more large-mammal species than any other place on the planet and nearly as many bird species as can be found in all of Europe. From his studies of the interaction of species and their environment, the author discerns seven principles of regulation that help explain how the place works: “the rules that produced the unique features of the great Serengeti ecosystem and allowed it to persist.” One of the most vexing of these principles to figure out was how animal populations grew to optimal size and, for the most part, remained at that size over generations, disproving Malthusian demographics. The mechanisms that regulate population size are bottom-up, dependent on food supply, and top-down, dependent on predators; in healthy operation, they work out so that each birth is accompanied by a death, assuring stability. Ironically, writes Sinclair, just as this nearly untrammeled ecosystem has lasted for so long without significant damage, the government of Kenya, for one, has big plans, including damming the major river and building roads on the Serengeti plains. Both are guaranteed, by Sinclair’s lights, to introduce untoward levels of disturbance and disrupt this natural regulation. The principles he outlines, including the maintenance of large areas of natural habitat and a diverse population, are essential to “rewilding” natural ecosystems throughout the world.

An important book for conservationists, land-use planners, and environmental activists.

Kirkus Reviews