Science, Conservation, and National Parks : The University of Chicago Press : 9780226423005 : 022642300X : 28 Feb 2017 : As the US National Park Service (NPS) marks its centennial in 2016, parks and protected areas worldwide are under increasing threat from a variety of factors, including storms and fires of greater severity, plant and animal extinctions, the changing attitudes of a public that has become more urbanized, and the political pressures of narrow special interest groups. In the face of such rapid environmental and cultural changes, Science, Conservation, and National Parks gathers a group of renowned scholars?including Edward O. Wilson, Jane Lubchenco, Thomas Dietz, and Monica Turner, among many others?who seek to address these problems and, in so doing, to secure a future for protected areas that will push forward the frontiers of biological, physical, and social science in and for parks. Examining the major challenges of parks and protected areas throughout the world, co