Dr. Régis Ferrière is Professor of Mathematical Ecology in the Department of Ecology at the Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, France and Associate Professor of Evolutionary Ecology in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona, Tucson, USA. Dr. Ulf Dieckman is Project Leader, Adaptive Dynamics Network at the IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria. Dr. Denis Couvet is Professor at Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France and Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, France.

• Contributing authors; Acknowledgements; Notational standards; 1. Introduction Régis Ferrière, Ulf Dieckmann and Denis Couvet; Part A. Theory of Extinction: Introduction; 2. From individual interactions to population viability Wilfried Gabriel and Régis Ferrière; 3. Age structure, mating system and population viability Stéphane Legendre; 4. Spatial dimensions of population viability Mats Gyllenberg, Ilkka Hanski and Johan A. J. Metz; Part B. The Pace of Adaptive Responses to Environmental Change: Introduction; 5. Responses to environmental change: adaptation or extinction Richard Frankham and Joel Kingsolver; 6. Empirical evidence for rapid evolution David Reznick, Helen Rodd and Leonard Nunney; 7. Genetic variability and life-history evolution Kimberly A. Hughes and Ryan Sawby; 8. Environmental stress and quantitative genetic variation Alexandra G. Imasheva and Volker Loeschcke; Part C. Genetic and Ecological Bases of Adaptive Responses: Introduction; 9. Fixation of new mutations in small populations Michael C. Whitlock and Reinhard Bürger; 10. Quantitative-genetic models and changing environments Reinhard Bürger and Christoph Krall; 11. Adaptive dynamics and evolving biodiversity Ulf Dieckmann and Régis Ferrière; Part D. Spatial Structure: Introduction; 12. Genetic structure in heterogeneous environments Oscar E. Gaggiotti and Denis Couvet; 13. Conservation implications of niche conservatism and evolution in heterogeneous environments Robert D. Holt and Richard Gomulkiewicz; 14. Adaptive responses to landscape disturbances: theory Kalle Parvinen; 15. Adaptive responses to landscape disturbances: empirical evidence Bruno Colas, Chris D. Thomas and Ilkka Hanski; Part E. Community Structure: 16. Co-evolutionary dynamics and extinction Judith Bronstein and Ulf Dieckmann; 17. Ecosystem evolution and conservation Michel Loreau, Claire de Mazancourt and Robert D. Holt; 18. The congener as an agent of extermination and rescue of rare species Donald A. Levin; 19. Epilogue Régis Ferrière, Ulf Dieckmann and Denis Couvet; References; Index.

'The book is certainly of much interest for students and researchers in conservation and related fields.' Folio Geobotanica