The Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners (NCEP) produces peer-reviewed teaching resources summarizing topics on conservation biology. Each module contains a synthesis document outlining the main concepts of a subject, a modifiable visual presentation, classroom exercises and solutions, teaching notes, and interdisciplinary case studies. For more information please visit where all NCEP modules are available free of charge.

This collection uses primary sources to environmental preservation in the Progressive Era. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

Course combines the fields of ecology and conservation with planning for the efficient use and preservation of land, water, wildlife, and forests. Within this course may be topics covering environmental factors affecting water, water pollution, water and land use management, alternative energy resources, metals and minerals.
** References to Common Core Standards are included as the first slide in each lesson's PowerPoint**

Why do some organisms go extinct? What impact do humans play in the extinction of animals? What can we do about it? If something is extinct is it truly gone forever? These are some of the major questions that conservation biologists are currently asking. Extinction is when a species no longer has any living members in the wild or in captivity. Extinction can happen for a number of reasons including habitat loss, overhunting, and climate change. Mass extinction is widespread extinction across many species. Right now, we are experiencing the sixth mass extinction event on Earth and it has been primarily caused human activity. Conservation biologists have been hard at work coming up with solutions to prevent extinction of organisms at risk, however, extinction still occurs. But does it have to be permanent? This module walks students through the major processes that cause extinction, what strategies conservation has used so far to prevent extinction, what de-extinction is, and what consequences de-extinction may have through the use of videos, research, and a class debate. 

This resource actually meant to create awareness on depletion and conservation of forests.As we need our future generations should also enjoy the love of nature,but by degradation of forest ,which creates an ecological imbalance. So to avoid such situations it is necessary to build an awareness among us.

Fish, Fishing, and Conservation is a 389-page, peer-reviewed open textbook intended for undergraduate students who are exploring majors in Fish & Wildlife. It is also relevant to a general audience or for use in courses which explore social and ethical aspects of fish, fishing and conservation.

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People, places, and approaches to fishing are as varied as the diverse fish fauna that exist on the planet. As conservation planners recognize the value of substantial engagement of stakeholders in decision making and ineffectiveness of rigid top-down management approaches, Fish, Fishing, and Conservation asserts that all peoples must play a role in conservation. Through case studies, engaging narrative and graphics, and exercises, the text explores major motivations for fishing and non-fishing related values, responsible fisheries practices, the rights of all people to decide how to manage and conserve fish, their habitats, and how they are utilized in the context of overfishing as a pressing global problem for which appropriate solutions are not easily found nor implemented.

Introductory chapters examine fish, fishing, and why fish matter and examine the role of values in driving conservation initiatives. Fish and their unique sensory capabilities are described along with a review of recent studies to examine issues of pain, sentience, and learning in fishes living in a foreign, underwater world. The text incorporates these new findings in conservation and management leading readers to evaluate and adopt suitable approaches to ethical reasoning which consider the welfare needs of wild and cultured fishes. Later chapters focus on the role of gender in fishing, conservation organizations, recreational fishing, and a focus on specific fisheries that reveal the principles of conservation and management as they play out in major controversies. Additionally, the textbook contains audio recordings of professional profiles by Virginia Tech students. These are linked at the beginning of each end-of-chapter Professional Profile. Audio recordings are also available on Spotify.

How to Access the Book
The main landing page for this book is https://doi.org/10.21061/fishandconservation. The text is available in multiple formats, including PDF, ePub, and Pressbooks https://pressbooks.lib.vt.edu/fishandconservation.

Teaching Resources
Additional teaching resources including a sample syllabus, course schedule, and selected assignments related to this book are available at http://hdl.handle.net/10919/115425. Individuals who wish to share their materials relevant to teaching in this subject area are encouraged to join and share their openly-licensed resources via the Fish, Fishing, and Conservation Instructor Group in OERCommons

ISBN
ISBN PDF 978-1-957213-27-9
ISBN Print 978-1-957213-28-6
ISBN Pressbooks 978-1-957213-31-6 https://pressbooks.lib.vt.edu/fishandconservation
ISBN ePub 978-1-957213-29-3

Table of Contents
1. Fish, Fishing, and Why They Matter
2. Values Drive Fish Conservation
3. Sensory Capabilities of Fish
4. Ethical Reasoning and Conservation Planning
5. Pain, Sentience, and Animal Welfare
6. Public Aquariums and Their Role in Education, Science, and Conservation
7. Gender and Fishing
8. Angling and Conservation of Living Fishy Dinosaurs
9. Fly Fishing’s Legacy for Conservation
10. Recreational Fishing and Keep Fish Wet
11. Integrating Fishers in the Management of Arapaima
12. Conserving Tunas: The Most Commercially Valuable Fish on Earth
13. Groupers and Spawning Aggregations
14. Menhaden and Forage Fish Management
15. Takeaways for Successful Fish Conservation

Suggested Citation: Orth, Donald (2023). Fish, Fishing, and Conservation. Blacksburg: Virginia Tech Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation. https://doi.org/10.21061/fishandconservation. Licensed with CC BY 4.0.

About the Author
Donald J. Orth is the Thomas H. Jones Professor in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He has taught the following courses: Ichthyology, Stream Habitat Management, Fisheries Management, Fish Population Dynamics, Fish, Fishing, and Conservation, and First-Year Experience in Natural Resources. His principal interests are in population and community ecology, stream fish ecology, regulated rivers, instream flow and stream habitat assessment, fisheries management, and fish population dynamics. He has guided numerous undergraduate research projects and advised 33 graduate students during his career.

Don attended Eastern Illinois University (BS) and Oklahoma State University (MS and PhD). He is a Life Member of the American Fisheries Society and a Certified Fisheries Professional. He is also a Fellow of the American Fisheries Society, the American Institute of Fisheries Research Biologists, and the Virginia Natural Resources Leadership Institute. Don has published more than 150 primary papers and 50 technical reports on fish, fisheries, and riverine management. Much of his research was also communicated with a general audience in over 180 popular articles. He has received numerous awards for his teaching and contributions to conservation and public outreach. Most recently, the Virginia Chapter of the American Fisheries Society awarded him the Eugene W. Surber Award for years of significant contributions to the field of fisheries science.

Selected Acknowledgments
Publication of this work was made possible in part by grants from VIVA, the Virtual Library of Virginia, and the University Libraries at Virginia Tech through its Open Education Initiative, which provides development assistance and financial support to Virginia Tech faculty who wish to use, create, or adapt openly licensed teaching materials to support student learning. The University Libraries also contributed faculty and staff support. Donald Orth’s contributions were supported in part by the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the National Institute of Food and Agriculture Program and Virginia Tech Polytechnic Institute and State University. Additional funding support was provided by the Thomas H. Jones Endowment.

Errata and Error Reporting
Errata
Error Reporting

Accessibility Statement: Virginia Tech is committed to making its publications accessible in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The Open Education Initiative is committed to continuous improvement regarding accessibility. The text, images, and links in the PDF versions of this text are tagged structurally and include alternative text, which allows for machine readability. Audio recordings of each profile in fish conservation are available as mp3 files via Spotify and Pressbooks. Please contact openeducation at vt.edu if you are a person with a disability and have suggestions to make this book more accessible.

Cover Art: Nora Ligus
Cover Design: Kindred Grey

Approximately 600,000 sea birds die each year by getting caught on hooks used in line fishing. A device called the Hookpod, invented by a UK company in Devon, has a clever solution to this problem. The fish hook is covered by a case so birds cannot get hooked. At a certain depth (below the diving depth of indigenous birds) a mechanism is triggered to release the case which floats to the surface and is retrieved to be used again. These lesson ideas provide an interesting practical idea to use a particle model to explain density and pressure in a gas. Students will then take part in a STEM design challenge to make a device to respond to a pressure change at a particular depth of water.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Flavonoids are ubiquitous, nutritionally non-essential natural products of plants and they are frequently used to promote health. However, flavonoid metabolism and the impact of flavonoids on gut microbiomes are not well understood. Bamboo is particularly flavonoid rich, making giant pandas, with their all-bamboo diet, a unique research target. A recent study examined the diet, feces, and plasma of giant pandas to get a comprehensive view of flavonoid metabolism and its impact on the gut microbiome. The researchers found that bamboo leaves had more flavonoids than bamboo shoots. They also found that only a small fraction of dietary flavonoids were absorbed into the bloodstream and that the gut microbiota extensively utilized and transformed the flavonoids. The seasonal shifts in the flavonoid profile of bamboo drove changes to the gut microbial composition..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

What factors lead to a natural disaster? What causes a famine? Why do cities flood? According to a recent article in The Atlantic, Houston's flooding during the 2017 Hurricane Harvey was primarily caused by impervious pavement which prevents the absorption of water into the land. This example illustrates how nature and society are interlinked, which is the main focus of Geography 30, Penn State's introductory course to nature-society geography. In addition to examining the linkages between human development and natural hazards, this course will also explore human society's connection to food systems, climate change, urbanization and biodiversity. The course will also cover topics of ethics and decision making in order to help students evaluate the tradeoffs of these interconnections.
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Faced with the potential of a large expense related to water quality, the Portland (Maine) Water District performed a thorough analysis of their options. Their choice came down to making an investment in conservation or concrete.

This article highlights hands-on or multimedia lesson plans about oceans. Science lessons are paired with suggested literacy lesson plans. All lessons are aligned to national standards.

Students complete three different activities to evaluate the energy consumption in a household and explore potential ways to reduce that consumption. The focus is on conservation and energy efficient electrical devices and appliances. The lesson reinforces the relationship between power and energy and associated measurements and calculations required to evaluate energy consumption. The lesson provides the students with more concrete information for completing their culminating unit assignment.

This is a module to go over the basic definition of conservation, why it is important, and how to take action to protect the environment.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Coral reefs are important ocean ecosystems. However, they have been declining in recent years due to human activities, including elevated nitrate in the water. Corals maintain complex relationships with numerous microbes, including the dinoflagellate algae Symbiodiniaceae and bacteria. To better understand the impact of nitrate on coral and their resident microbes, researchers recently examined coral and microbial gene expression changes in larval Pocillopora damicornis. Under elevated nitrate conditions, the Symbiodiniaceae algae generally hoarded more nutrients for its own growth. Normally Symbiodiniaceae share nutrients with the coral, so this was a shift from a mutualistic relationship to a parasitic one, which led to impaired development in the larval coral. However, the prokaryotic microbes might reduce this negative interaction by restraining Symbiodiniaceae growth, which partially restores coral larval development..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Sara Rivers-Cofield, Curator of Federal Collections at the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory, walks through applying acid-free paper labels to artifacts. This is an alternative to labelling artifacts with permanent archival ink, and the tutorial is appropriate for both students and professional education. The Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory (MAC Lab) standards and guidelines for preparing artifact collections and their associated records, both paper and digital, for permanent curation at the lab can be found at https://jefpat.maryland.gov/Documents/mac-lab/technical-update-no1-collections-and-conservation-standards.pdf

The MAC Lab is a state-of-the-art archaeological research, conservation, and curation facility located at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum, the State Museum of Archaeology. The MAC Lab serves as the primary repository for archaeological collections recovered from land-based and underwater projects conducted by state and federal agencies throughout Maryland.

This resource is part of Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum’s open educational resources project to provide history, ecology, archaeology, and conservation resources related to our 560 acre public park. JPPM is a part of the Maryland Historical Trust under the Maryland Department of Planning.

Walk through how to pack artifacts in bags and boxes for curation and storage with Sara Rivers-Cofield, Curator of Federal Collections, and Alice Merkel, Collections Assistant, at the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory. In addition, tips are offered as to how best to arrange boxes to simplify handling and, as always, best protect artifacts. The Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory (MAC Lab) standards and guidelines for preparing artifact collections and their associated records, for permanent curation at the lab can be found at https://jefpat.maryland.gov/Documents/mac-lab/technical-update-no1-collections-and-conservation-standards.pdf

The MAC Lab is a state-of-the-art archaeological research, conservation, and curation facility located at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum, the State Museum of Archaeology. The MAC Lab serves as the primary repository for archaeological collections recovered from land-based and underwater projects conducted by state and federal agencies throughout Maryland.

This resource is part of Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum’s open educational resources project to provide history, ecology, archaeology, and conservation resources related to our 560 acre public park. JPPM is a part of the Maryland Historical Trust under the Maryland Department of Planning.

Students will explore trees in their outdoor classroom, learn about the important functions that trees serve and devise ways to conserve trees by changing human behaviors: recycling, etc.

Students learn about the human water cycle, or how humans impact the water cycle by settling down in civilizations. Specifically, they learn how people obtain, use and dispose of water. Students also learn about shortages of treated, clean and safe water and learn about ways that engineers address this issue through water conservation and graywater recycling.

This module explores the introduction of the American bullfrog on their ecosystem. Using species diversity calculations and data collection techniques, students explore how the bullfrog affected the species in its community. Students are introduced to calculations like species richness, species evenness, and species diversity indices. Also, this activity provides students an understanding of how this information is gathered in the field and provides them an opportunity to learn how to collect data themselves.

Art tells the story of humanity across societies and cultures, but keeping that art around for future generations can be a monumental task. In this episode of Crash Course Art History, we’ll learn how art historians preserve, restore, and conserve art that tells the story of who we are and who we want to be.
Chapters:
Introduction: "The Last Supper"
Preservation
Restoration
"Ecce Homo"
Conservation
Review & Credits
Credits