The book attempts to match user need to the level of technology required for management, planning and monitoring of natural resources. It provides clear guidance on the reliability, accuracy and cost of applications. Editors believe that this endeavour shall provide a valuable scientific basis to students and researchers to address the future challenges in natural resources monitoring and management. Accurate inventory, assessment and periodic monitoring of resources will enable the policy makers to keep an eye on optimal utilization of resources and development process to take timely interventions. We further hope this book will be a valuable reference and provide practical guidance for all who work towards the goal of the sustainable and judicious use of resources.

Consciously or not, wildlife managers generally act from a theoretical basis, although they may not be fully versed in the details or ramifications of that theory. In practice, the predictions of the practitioners sometimes prove more accurate than those of the theoreticians. Practitioners and theoreticians need to work together, but this proves di

The 26 papers in these proceedings are divided into five sections. The first two sections are an introduction and a plenary session that introduce the principles and role the shrub life-form in the High Plains, including the changing dynamics of shrublands and grasslands during the last four plus centuries. The remaining three sections are devoted to: fire, both prescribed fire and wildfire, in shrublands and grassland-shrubland interfaces; water and ecophysiology shrubland ecosystems; and the ecology and population biology of several shrub species.