Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preamble: Why this book? -- Acknowledgments -- Essay 1 How did I get here? -- Essay 2 Found! The survivor in the swamps (2005) -- Essay 3 In defense of footnotes (2014) -- Part I Change, the challenge -- Chapter 1 Conservation and change -- Chapter 2 A digression on paradigms -- Essay 4 The power of paradigms (2014) -- Essay 5 Patterns, paradigms, and preconceptions (2013) -- Essay 6 Fat times, lean times, and competition among predators (1993) -- Chapter 3 Equilibrium, stability, and change -- Essay 7 From our southern correspondent(s) (2011) -- Essay 8 Boom and bust: lessons from the outback (2014) -- Chapter 4 A digression on disturbance -- Essay 9 Oil, oil, everywhere...(2010) -- Part II The forces of change -- Chapter 5 Climate change and sea-level rise -- Essay 10 Polar bears, golden toads, and conservation futures (2008) -- Chapter 6 Land-use change -- Essay 11 Will land-use change erode our conservation gains? (2007) -- Essay 12 Landscape ecology: the science and the action (1999) -- Chapter 7 Distributional changes: invasive species -- Chapter 8 Societal, cultural, and political change -- Essay 13 Wildlife, people, and water: who wins? (2012) -- Chapter 9 Population growth -- Chapter 10 Linkages among changes -- Part III Conservation conundrums -- Chapter 11 Variation and history -- Essay 14 The eclipse of history? (2008) -- Essay 15 From our southern correspondent(s): which history? (2013) -- Chapter 12 A digression on baselines and targets -- Essay 16 Shooting at a moving target (2011) -- Chapter 13 Ecological thresholds -- Essay 17 Tipping points in the balance of nature (2010) -- Chapter 14 Ecological resilience -- Chapter 15 Dealing with novelty -- Essay 18 Black swans and outliers (2012) -- Essay 19 Moving outside the box (2009).

Chapter 16 Uncertainty: a boon or a bane? -- Essay 20 Taking risks with the environment (2012) -- Essay 21 Uncertainty and the relevance of ecology (2008) -- Chapter 17 Prioritization and triage -- Essay 22 Talking about triage in conservation (2015) -- Chapter 18 Protected areas: where the wild things are -- Essay 23 Build it and they will come (2013) -- Essay 24 The dangers of black-and-white conservation (2007) -- Chapter 19 Ecosystem services and the value of nature -- Essay 25 What's so new about ecosystem services? (2007) -- Part IV Doing conservation -- Chapter 20 What is it we are trying to conserve? -- Essay 26 Be careful what you wish for (2014) -- Essay 27 Concluding comments: Are bird communities real? (1980) -- Essay 28 A metaphor meets an abstraction: the issue of "Healthy Ecosystems" (2015) -- Chapter 21 Numbers, numbers, numbers -- Essay 29 Is "monitoring" a dirty word? (2009) -- Essay 30 The place of long-term studies in ornithology (1984) -- Essay 31 What use is small data in a big data world? (2013) -- Chapter 22 A digression on words -- Essay 32 Word processing versus writing (1983, 2011) -- Chapter 23 Debates in ecology and conservation -- Essay 33 On skepticism and criticism in ornithology (1981) -- Essay 34 The demise of wildness? (2007) -- Chapter 24 What lies behind the debates? Philosophy, values, and ethics -- Chapter 25 A digression on advocacy in conservation -- Essay 35 Scientific responsibility and responsible ecology (1997) -- Part V Concluding comments -- Chapter 26 Whither ecology and conservation in a changing world? -- Essay 36 "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." (2009) -- Essay 37 Being green isn't easy (2010) -- Essay 38 Stewart Udall and the future of conservation (2010) -- References -- Scientific names of species mentioned in the text -- Index -- EULA.