exist in populations? What is a sustainable population size for a particular species? Answers to these questions are embedded in the management system. All environmental systems are open systems with throughputs of matter and energy whilst maintaining structure and permanence in the medium term. A conservation management system will become part of this ecosystem with linkages to several feedback mechanisms, some positive and some negative, so that feedback loops can be unpredictable. This situation makes it virtually impossible to map the system as a whole, and usually the feedback is only revealed as an unexpected response, once management has commenced. It is in this sense that a management plan can be considered as the first stage of a research project, and the plan is changed in response to its outcomes. References Pinchot, G., (1947) Breaking New Ground, Harcourt Brace, New York Usher, M. B. (1973) Biological Management and Conservation: Chapman and Hall London Carter, G. F., (1975) Man and the Land- A Cultural Geography, Holt Rinehart & Winston, New York Hays, S. P., (1975) Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency, Atheneum, New York Ratcliffe, D. Ed (1977) A Nature Conservation Review Vols 1 & 2: Cambridge University Press Slobodkin, L. B., (1988). Intellectual problems of applied ecology. Bioscience 38: 337-42 Fiedler, P. L., and Jain, S. K. Eds. (1992) Conservation Biology; the Theory and Practice of Nature Conservation Preservation and Management, Chapman and Hall, New York Botsford, L. W., and Jain, S. K. (1991) Population biology and its application to practical problems, In Applied population biology, ed. S.K. Jain and L.W.Botsford, Kluever, Dordrecht Snyder, G., (1995) The Rediscovery of Turtle Island, A Place in Space, Aesthetics and Watersheds, Counterpoint, Washington D.C. Christie, I., and Warburton, D. (2001) From Here to Sustainability, Earthscan Publications, London. External links Conservation Management System Consortium, an international partnership of conservation organisations from the UK and the Netherlands Conservation in the United Kingdom