Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright13; -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- 1 Introduction -- Human influences: implications for conservation -- Outline of the chapters -- 2 Studying change -- Defining terms and questioning assumptions -- Experiments and investigations -- Darwins scientific method -- Advances in the design of experiments -- Elements of experimental design -- Quasi-experiments -- 'Proof and falsification -- Testing hypotheses about the past -- Predicting the future -- Weighing the evidence -- Concluding remarks -- 3 Key concepts in plant evolution -- Darwins ideas about the evolution of species -- Post-Darwinian contributions to our understanding of evolution -- Cyto-genetic studies -- Chemical basis of hereditary information -- Genetic mutation -- Chromosome changes -- Microevolution in plant populations -- Populations -- Gene flow -- Gene flow and population structure -- Effects of chance in populations -- Stability of natural populations -- Animal and plant interactions -- Plants are different from animals -- Different modes of natural selection -- r- and K-selection -- r-selection -- K-selection -- Fitness -- Neutral theory of selection -- Post-Darwinian models of speciation -- Gradual speciation -- Speciation and founder effects -- Introgressive hybridisation -- Sympatric speciation -- Cytogenetics of polyploidy -- The success of polyploids -- Evidence from the fossil record -- Mass extinctions -- Punctuated equilibrium -- Continental drift -- Orbital variations -- Conclusions -- 4 The origin and extent of human-influenced ecosystems -- The origin of humans -- Human uses of plants -- Reaching 5 million: hunter-gatherers -- Reaching 50 million: the beginnings of agriculture -- The process of domestication of plants -- Reaching half a billion: the spread of agriculture from 2000 BC to AD 1500 -- The first billion humans: from subsistence to commercial farming 15001825 -- Populations rising to 2 billion: the expanding frontiers of agriculture 18251927 -- From 2 to over 6.5 billion: the rise of industrial food production 1927 to the present day -- What is the present extent of human-modified ecosystems? -- Human geomorphic activities -- The rise of concern about the environment -- Conservation through protection -- The wise use of resources -- Environmental concerns about pollution -- Atmospheric pollution -- The greenhouse effect and global climate change -- Heavy metal pollution -- Nitrogen (N) compounds -- Phosphate (P) compounds -- Pesticides -- Organic pollutants from various sources -- Concerns about the loss of biodiversity -- Confronting the adverse effects of introduced organisms -- Soil erosion and salination -- The inexorable rise of human populations -- Demographic projections for the next 4050 years -- Ecological footprints -- Conclusions -- 5 Consequences of human influences on the biosphere -- Cultural landscapes -- Is there any wilderness left? -- Wilderness concepts -- Wilderness and the 'Pristine Myth -- Megafaunal extinctions -- Cultural landscapes and fire -- How 'virgin is virgin rainforest? -- Wild areas in Europe -- The myth of ocean.