... In this chapter, our aim is to draw attention to common themes, look historically at the subject, and to consider the use of words, particularly “pest”, “abundant” and “overabundant”. One of the important points is to note that the word “pest” is a label that can categorise an animal in a way...

..., it is not surprising that the court is better suited to the barrister’s style. For a zoologist, the lawyers’ day-to-day words, such as “affidavit”, “cross-examination”, “litigation” and “expert witness”, can be intimidating but, like all disciplines, the language of law can be learnt. However, words like “significant...

... a satisfactory excuse for unsocial land-use (or, to use somewhat stronger words, for ecological atrocities).” Since Leopold's initial publications in the late 1940s, his powerful ideas have affected thinkers in a variety of fields, including theology, agriculture, journalism, philosophy, and psychology...

... to consumer goods especially cosmetics. Words like “quantum”, “scientifically tested”, or “DNA”, and images of microscopes and white-coated lab workers not only blind consumers with science, but lend a false air of scientific legitimacy to products that may have little or no proof of efficacy. This strategy...

... of the plenary. What follows is an edited version of the questions and answers that followed the talks. The editing was directed at making the spoken word readable. The questions and answers are presented partly to illuminate a point, but mostly to set the tone for the final plenary by letting readers see...

... words, the dingo is on our side as a pest controller. A Dingo Barrier Fence separates sheeplands in eastern and southern Australia from cattle country further west in inland and northern Australia. It was once c. 9,000 km long but was truncated in Queensland, and now is 5,531 km long. It also...

... The biological sciences, including zoology, arose out of our fascination with nature’s diversity. We strive to identify and catalogue that diversity and to understand how it evolved and what our impacts on it are. The biodiversity tail has always wagged the zoological dog. The word “biodiversity...