Download or read book Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning written by Michel Loreau and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2002 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Increasing domination of ecosystems by humans is steadily transforming them into depauperate systems. How will this loss of biodiversity affect the functioning and stability of natural and managed ecosystems? This work provides comprehensive coverage of empirical and theoretical research.
Download or read book Ecological Models and Data in R written by Benjamin M. Bolker and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2008-07-21 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction and background; Exploratory data analysis and graphics; Deterministic functions for ecological modeling; Probability and stochastic distributions for ecological modeling; Stochatsic simulation and power analysis; Likelihood and all that; Optimization and all that; Likelihood examples; Standar statistics revisited; Modeling variance; Dynamic models.
Download or read book Development and Perspectives of Landscape Ecology written by O. Bastian and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2002 with total page 534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book gives a fundamental representation of landscape ecology, which proves to be a young, but an interesting and very important trans-disciplinary science for the solution of environmental problems. Both the theoretical basis and practical application of landscape ecology are considered. Great value is attached to describe approaches and experiences from Germany and Central Europe, and to discuss them in an international context. The book is addressed to landscape planners, managers, conservationists and architects, to biologists and geographers, to colleges, universities, authorities, and to the general public being interested in ecological issues. Among the themes are e. g. the roots and the position of landscape ecology, problems of scale and dimension, landscape analysis, diagnosis, potentials, evaluation, change, prognosis, tools like remote sensing and information systems, spatial planning and nature conservation.
Download or read book Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function written by Ernst-Detlef Schulze and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 527 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The biota of the earth is being altered at an unprecedented rate. We are witnessing wholesale exchanges of organisms among geographic areas that were once totally biologically isolated. We are seeing massive changes in landscape use that are creating even more abundant succes sional patches, reductions in population sizes, and in the worst cases, losses of species. There are many reasons for concern about these trends. One is that we unfortunately do not know in detail the conse quences of these massive alterations in terms of how the biosphere as a whole operates or even, for that matter, the functioning of localized ecosystems. We do know that the biosphere interacts strongly with the atmospheric composition, contributing to potential climate change. We also know that changes in vegetative cover greatly influence the hydrology and biochemistry ofa site or region. Our knowledge is weak in important details, however. How are the many services that ecosystems provide to humanity altered by modifications of ecosystem composition? Stated in another way, what is the role of individual species in ecosystem function? We are observing the selective as well as wholesale alteration in the composition of ecosystems. Do these alterations matter in respect to how ecosystems operate and provide services? This book represents the initial probing of this central ques tion. It will be followed by other volumes in this series examining in depth the functional role of biodiversity in various ecosystems of the world.
Download or read book Valuation for Sustainable Development written by Sylvie Faucheux and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 1998 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This important new book develops an ecological-economics perspective on sustainability at the regional, national and international level. It explores prospects for sustainable development using methods firmly grounded in empirical reality, as well as emphasizing scientific, economic and socio-political concerns. This approach is based on the construction of non-monetary indicators for sustainability, and the application of cost-effectiveness analyses to identify robust alternatives for the achievement of specified policy norms. In calculating the requirements for sustainability the contributors attach importance to multiple criteria decision aid (MCDA) methods of analysis to evaluate the key components of sustainability and help assess the sustainability of aregional or national economic development trajectory. Case studies of water pollutants in the Bretagne region in France and greenhouse gas reduction in Europe are used to investigate resource allocation from this perspective. The contributors utilize the M3ED model - a structural economy-environment simulation model which gives a multi-sectoral representation of a national economy's production, final consumption and environmental pressures - to explore feasible economic futures. It is applied to scenarios in France to demonstrate ways that prospects for sustainability can be investigated at a national level. The contributors compare and contrast these models with the aims of more typical neoclassical modelling in their search for the most effective approaches to defining operational measures for sustainability. This book will be of great interest to academics in the field of ecological and environmental economics and to policymakers and planners in government and industry.
Download or read book Mathematical Modeling in Economics Ecology and the Environment written by N.V. Hritonenko and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-04-17 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The problems of interrelation between human economics and natural environment include scientific, technical, economic, demographic, social, political and other aspects that are studied by scientists of many specialities. One of the important aspects in scientific study of environmental and ecological problems is the development of mathematical and computer tools for rational management of economics and environment. This book introduces a wide range of mathematical models in economics, ecology and environmental sciences to a general mathematical audience with no in-depth experience in this specific area. Areas covered are: controlled economic growth and technological development, world dynamics, environmental impact, resource extraction, air and water pollution propagation, ecological population dynamics and exploitation. A variety of known models are considered, from classical ones (Cobb Douglass production function, Leontief input-output analysis, Solow models of economic dynamics, Verhulst-Pearl and Lotka-Volterra models of population dynamics, and others) to the models of world dynamics and the models of water contamination propagation used after Chemobyl nuclear catastrophe. Special attention is given to modelling of hierarchical regional economic-ecological interaction and technological change in the context of environmental impact. Xlll XIV Construction of Mathematical Models ...
Download or read book Texas Land Ethics written by Pete A. Y. Gunter and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors offer a new vision for living on the land, a "land ethic" that respects the stability, integrity, and beauty of the "land community."
Download or read book Introduction to Ecological Aesthetics written by Fanren Zeng and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-08-26 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores in detail the issues of ecological civilization development, ecological philosophy, ecological criticism, environmental aesthetics, and the ecological wisdom of traditional Chinese culture related to ecological aesthetics. Drawing on Western philosophy and aesthetics, it proposes and demonstrates a unique aesthetic view of ecological ontology in the field of aesthetics under the direct influence of Marxism, which is based on the modern economic, social cultural development and the modern values of traditional Chinese culture.This book embodies the innovative interpretation of Chinese traditional culture in the Chinese academic community. The author discusses the philosophical and cultural resources that can be used for reference in Chinese and Western cultural tradition, focusing on traditional Chinese Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and painting art, Western modern ecological philosophy, Heidegger's ontology ecological aesthetics, and British and American environmental aesthetics.In short, the book comprehensively discusses the author's concept of ecological ontology aesthetics as an integration and unification of ontology aesthetics and ecological aesthetics. This generalized ecological aesthetics explores the relationship between humans and nature, society and itself, guided by the brand-new ecological worldview in the post-modern context. It also changes the non-beauty state of human existence and establishes an aesthetic existence state that conforms to ecological laws.
Download or read book The Refinement of Production written by Arthur P. J. Mol and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The theory of ecological modernization explains the forces, mechanisms and dynamics of environmental reform in modern society. Its value is illustrated in the ecological restructuring of the chemical industry on a national and global scale. Detailed studies on the paint industry, the plastic and polymer sector and the pesticide industry show how and to what extent the environment is becoming a crucial factor in the redesigning of the institutional order of society.
Download or read book Marx and Nature written by P. Burkett and published by Springer. This book was released on 1999-02-14 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With Marx and Nature , Paul Burkett reconstructs Marx's approach to nature, society, and environmental crisis. While recognizing that production is structured by historically developed relations among producers, Marx also insists that production as a social and material process is shaped and constrained by natural conditions, including the natural condition of human bodily existence. Marx's value analysis places him squarely in the camp of the growing number of ecological theorists questioning the ability of monetary and market-based calculations to adequately represent the natural conditions of human production and development.
Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods for Social Ecological Systems written by Reinette Biggs and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-07-29 with total page 700 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods for Social-Ecological Systems provides a synthetic guide to the range of methods that can be employed in social-ecological systems (SES) research. The book is primarily targeted at graduate students, lecturers and researchers working on SES, and has been written in a style that is accessible to readers entering the field from a variety of different disciplinary backgrounds. Each chapter discusses the types of SES questions to which the particular methods are suited and the potential resources and skills required for their implementation, and provides practical examples of the application of the methods. In addition, the book contains a conceptual and practical introduction to SES research, a discussion of key gaps and frontiers in SES research methods, and a glossary of key terms in SES research. Contributions from 97 different authors, situated at SES research hubs in 16 countries around the world, including South Africa, Sweden, Germany and Australia, bring a wealth of expertise and experience to this book. The first book to provide a guide and introduction specifically focused on methods for studying SES, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of sustainability science, environmental management, global environmental change studies and environmental governance. The book will also be of interest to upper-level undergraduates and professionals working at the science–policy interface in the environmental arena.
Download or read book Foundations of Restoration Ecology written by Society for Ecological Restoration International and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2016-11 with total page 580 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Society for Ecological Restoration"--Cover.
Download or read book Collaboration Across Boundaries for Social Ecological Systems Science written by Stephen G. Perz and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-03-30 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Collaboration across boundaries is widely recognized as a vital requisite for the advancement of innovative science to address problems such as environmental degradation and global change. This book takes collaboration across boundaries seriously by focusing on the many challenges and practices involved in team science when spanning disciplinary, organizational, national and other divides. The authors draw on a shared framework for managing the challenges of collaboration across boundaries as applied to the science of understanding complex social-ecological systems. Teams working across boundaries on diverse social-ecological systems in countries around the world report their challenges and share their practices, outcomes and lessons learned. From these diverse experiences arise many commonalities and also some important differences. These provide the basis for a set of recommendations to any collaborators intending to use science as a tool to better understand social-ecological systems and to improve their management and governance.
Download or read book Landscape as Infrastructure written by Pierre Belanger and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-11-10 with total page 572 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As ecology becomes the new engineering, the projection of landscape as infrastructure—the contemporary alignment of the disciplines of landscape architecture, civil engineering, and urban planning— has become pressing. Predominant challenges facing urban regions and territories today—including shifting climates, material flows, and population mobilities, are addressed and strategized here. Responding to the under-performance of master planning and over-exertion of technological systems at the end of twentieth century, this book argues for the strategic design of "infrastructural ecologies," describing a synthetic landscape of living, biophysical systems that operate as urban infrastructures to shape and direct the future of urban economies and cultures into the 21st century. Pierre Bélanger is Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Co-Director of the Master in Design Studies Program at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. As part of the Department of Landscape Architecture and the Advansed Studies Program, Bélanger teaches and coordinates graduate courses on the convergence of ecology, infrastructure and urbanism in the interrelated fields of design, planning and engineering. Dr. Bélanger is author of the 35th edition of the Pamphlet Architecture Series from Princeton Architectural Press, GOING LIVE: from States to Systems (pa35.net), co-editor with Jennifer Sigler of the 39th issue of Harvard Design Magazine, Wet Matter, and co-author of the forthcoming volume ECOLOGIES OF POWER: Mapping Military Geographies & Logistical Landscapes of the U.S. Department of Defense. As a landscape architect and urbanist, he is the recipient of the 2008 Canada Prix de Rome in Architecture and the Curator for the Canada Pavilion ad Canadian Exhibition, "EXTRACTION," at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale (extraction.ca).
Download or read book Ethnoprimatology written by Kerry M. Dore and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-02-23 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A how-to guide for ethnoprimatological research in the Anthropocene, offering an inside look at the latest research in the field.
Download or read book Gene Drives on the Horizon written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2016-08-28 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Research on gene drive systems is rapidly advancing. Many proposed applications of gene drive research aim to solve environmental and public health challenges, including the reduction of poverty and the burden of vector-borne diseases, such as malaria and dengue, which disproportionately impact low and middle income countries. However, due to their intrinsic qualities of rapid spread and irreversibility, gene drive systems raise many questions with respect to their safety relative to public and environmental health. Because gene drive systems are designed to alter the environments we share in ways that will be hard to anticipate and impossible to completely roll back, questions about the ethics surrounding use of this research are complex and will require very careful exploration. Gene Drives on the Horizon outlines the state of knowledge relative to the science, ethics, public engagement, and risk assessment as they pertain to research directions of gene drive systems and governance of the research process. This report offers principles for responsible practices of gene drive research and related applications for use by investigators, their institutions, the research funders, and regulators.
Download or read book Capital as Power written by Jonathan Nitzan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-06-02 with total page 853 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conventional theories of capitalism are mired in a deep crisis: after centuries of debate, they are still unable to tell us what capital is. Liberals and Marxists both think of capital as an ‘economic’ entity that they count in universal units of ‘utils’ or ‘abstract labour’, respectively. But these units are totally fictitious. Nobody has ever been able to observe or measure them, and for a good reason: they don’t exist. Since liberalism and Marxism depend on these non-existing units, their theories hang in suspension. They cannot explain the process that matters most – the accumulation of capital. This book offers a radical alternative. According to the authors, capital is not a narrow economic entity, but a symbolic quantification of power. It has little to do with utility or abstract labour, and it extends far beyond machines and production lines. Capital, the authors claim, represents the organized power of dominant capital groups to reshape – or creorder – their society. Written in simple language, accessible to lay readers and experts alike, the book develops a novel political economy. It takes the reader through the history, assumptions and limitations of mainstream economics and its associated theories of politics. It examines the evolution of Marxist thinking on accumulation and the state. And it articulates an innovative theory of ‘capital as power’ and a new history of the ‘capitalist mode of power’.
