Ecology and Conservation of Lesser Prairie-ChickensEcology and Conservation of Lesser Prairie-Chickens edited by David A. Haukos and Clint W. Boal. 2016. Studies in Avian Biology 48. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, USA. x + 394 pp., 8 color and 50 black-and-white illustrations. $179.95 (hardcover), ISBN 978-1-4822-4022-1. $125.97 (ebook), ISBN 978-1-4822-4023-8.

Ecology and Conservation of Lesser Prairie-Chickens edited by David A. Haukos and Clint W. Boal. 2016. Studies in Avian Biology 48. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, USA. xþ 394 pp., 8 color and 50 black-and-white illustrations. $179.95 (hardcover), ISBN 978-1-48224022-1. $125.97 (ebook), ISBN 978-1-4822-4023-8. Scholars, conservationists, policymakers, and students will find critical information and a detailed case study on an avian species of conservation concern in this edited volume. Haukos and Boal have gathered work by 29 contributing authors in a well-designed set of 18 chapters that showcases current information about the Lesser Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus). The book is timely in covering this species, which has found itself in the throes of the court system recently, having been designated with federal protection as a threatened species in 2014, only to have the courts vacate the listing rule in 2015, just as this volume went to press. In 2016, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the species from the Federal List of Threatened and Endangered Wildlife in accordance with the court decision. However, in November 2016, the agency determined that a new petition for listing had merit, which suggests further controversy in the future as states with large agricultural interests argue against federal policy intrusion. Regardless of the status of the Lesser Prairie-Chicken, many chapters in the book are reviews of the best current information for the species on infectious and noninfectious diseases, genetic structure, habitat, harvest, energy development, and climate change. The topics are covered efficiently and with accessible language, which is important, because policymakers will likely become an eager set of users of this book in the near future. I found R. Rodgers’s chapter on historical perspectives especially insightful and useful. Indeed, I had not contemplated how the Dust Bowl factored in the species’ decline. The overview of landuse change is accessible to both lay and scientific audiences, and this chapter may be useful as a reference to anyone working with landscape conservation in the southern Great Plains. I also appreciated a short chapter on the legal status of the species by W. Van Pelt. Such a state-by-state review is not typically available to students of conservation biology, and this introductory chapter should serve as a useful template for similar publication efforts for other species. A chapter by D. Elmore and D. Dahlgren on the dichotomy of public and private land conservation makes a critical point that the Lesser Prairie-Chicken exists mainly on private land. Thus, the flavor of conservation planning