Download or read book Living with Biodiversity in an Island Ecosystem written by Takuo Furusawa and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-01-28 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a detailed case study of ecological and cultural interactions between the people and their natural environment at Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands, a land of rich biodiversity. This volume documents the subsistence lifestyle of the people and their indigenous ecological knowledge, analyzes the effects of recent socioeconomic changes on the people and ecosystem, and proposes future directions for sustainability. The contents have been designed to answer questions such as, “What kinds of factors have determined whether current human actions are sustainable or will result in a collapse of biocultural diversity in the Solomon Islands?”; “How do Solomon Islanders recognize nature and biodiversity conservation in traditional ways or under socioeconomic changes?”; and “How can harmony between humans and nature be achieved in the Solomon Islands under changing socioeconomic conditions?” A truly transdisciplinary approach is applied, integrating theories of human ecology, quantitative ethnobiology, and folk ecology and methods of vegetation surveys, ethnographic fieldwork, remote sensing, and health surveys, in order to link different domains of humans and the natural world. In addition, this work focuses on the importance of understanding of diversity not only in natural environments, but also in human societies, and will be a valuable source for many, especially ecologists, anthropologists, conservation practitioners, and rural development planners.
Download or read book Islands written by Peter Vitousek and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-08 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Oceanic islands represent a set of systems in which biological diversity varies as a consequence of remoteness or size, not environment; they are also generally simpler than continental ecosystems. Islands therefore provide an opportunity to determine the direct effects of biological diversity on ecosystem function. The volume addresses the components of biological diversity on islands and their patterns of variation; the modern threats to the maintenance of biological diversity on islands; the consequences of island biology and its modification by humanity regarding aspects of ecosystem function; the global implications of islands for conservation; and how islands can help one to understand the processes inducing changes throughout the world.
Download or read book Biodiversity Change and Human Health written by Osvaldo E. Sala and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2012-09-26 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biodiversity Change and Human Health brings together leading experts from the natural science and social science realms as well as the medical community to explore the explicit linkages between human-driven alterations of biodiversity and documented impacts of those changes on human health. The book utilizes multidisciplinary approaches to explore and address the complex interplay between natural biodiversity and human health and well-being. The five parts examine health trade-offs between competing uses of biodiversity (highlighting synergistic situations in which conservation of natural biodiversity actually promotes human health and well-being); relationships between biodiversity and quality of life that have developed over ecological and evolutionary time; the effects of changing biodiversity on provisioning of ecosystem services, and how they have affected human health; the role of biodiversity in the spread of infectious disease; native biodiversity as a resource for traditional and modern medicine Biodiversity Change and Human Health synthesizes our current understanding and identifies major gaps in knowledge as it places all aspects of biodiversity and health interactions within a common framework. Contributors explore potential points of crossover among disciplines (both in ways of thinking and of specific methodologies) that could ultimately expand opportunities for humans to both live sustainably and enjoy a desirable quality of life.
Download or read book Messages from Islands written by Ilkka Hanski and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2016-12-13 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Messages from Islands is a synthetic tour of the world of biodiversity species and their communitiesand the habitats in which they live. It looks at how biodiversity is generated in the course of evolution and how is it maintained over time. The itinerary of the tour is question based. What is causing the current biodiversity crisis ? What is extinction threshold and what is extinction debt? What is the biodiversity hypothesis about rapidly increasing allergies, asthma, and other chronic inflammatory disorders? What is the third-of-third rule, and could it be the solution to habitat conservation? Each chapter begins on an island, with reflections of his own studies and observations about biodiversity on islands, from a small islet in the Baltic Sea to the large tropical islands of Borneo and Madagascar to Greenland, the world s largest island. And then steeped in those locations he leads readers on tours of different themes in biodiversity research. Greenland, for example, is a starting point for the world of microbes, and how scientists are coming to understand their staggering biodiversity and how it impacts ecosystems, including the one that lives within our own guts. The result is a conceptually oriented narrative of research on biodiversity, infused with personal anecdotes to convey the excitement of doing aforementioned research. The book is an important introduction to current themes in ecological research to students, and is a highly engaging read for specialists, many of whom in ecology have been influenced by Mr. Hanski s work."
Download or read book Islands written by Peter Vitousek and published by Springer. This book was released on 1995-07-18 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Oceanic islands represent a set of systems in which biological diversity varies as a consequence of remoteness or size, not environment; they are also generally simpler than continental ecosystems. Islands therefore provide an opportunity to determine the direct effects of biological diversity on ecosystem function. The volume addresses the components of biological diversity on islands and their patterns of variation; the modern threats to the maintenance of biological diversity on islands; the consequences of island biology and its modification by humanity regarding aspects of ecosystem function; the global implications of islands for conservation; and how islands can help one to understand the processes inducing changes throughout the world.
Download or read book Island Biogeography written by Robert J. Whittaker and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1998 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Work on evolution on islands has a long-established biogeographical pedigree, stretching back to the work of Darwin and Wallace. Research generated ideas, theories, and models which have played a central role in the development of mainstream ecology, evolutionary biology, and biogeography. Island Biogeography is a new textbook, aimed at advanced undergraduates and graduate students. This is the first comprehensive book to be written on the topic since 1981. It provides a much needed synthesis of recent development across the discipline, linking current theoretical debates with applied island ecology. Some themes that the book covers include: the nature and formation of island environments, island ecological theories concerning species numbers, species assembly, and composition, and an assessment of the human impact on island biodiversity. Written by an author who has been researching and teaching biogeography for many years, Island Biogeography is wide-ranging, authoritative, and accessible to students from across geography and the life sciences. This is the first truly modern textbook on a fascinating and important subject in evolution and ecology.
Download or read book Biodiversity and Climate Change Adaptation in Tropical Islands written by Chandrakasan Sivaperuman and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2018-04-05 with total page 808 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biodiversity and Climate Change Adaptation in Tropical Islands provides comprehensive information on climate change, biodiversity, possible impacts, adaptation measures and policy challenges to help users rehabilitate and preserve the natural resources of tropical islands. While biodiversity and climate change of tropical islands has previously received less attention, it is ironically one of the most vulnerable regions in this regard. The core content of the work derives largely from the ideas and research output from various reputed scientists and experts who have recorded climate change impacts on aquatic and coastal life in tropical regions. Contributors have direct working experience with the tribes in some of the tropical islands. All of their expertise and information is compiled and presented in the work, including coverage related to climate change. This work highlights the ever-growing need to develop and apply strategies that optimize the use of natural resources, both on land and in water and judicious use of biodiversity. It functions as a critical resource on tropical island biodiversity for researchers, academicians, practitioners and policy makers in a variety of related disciplines. Covers a huge range of biodiversity documentation, conservation measures and strategies that can be applied to various sectors, from forests to agriculture Brings together expertise from researchers in the area who have direct experience in the regions described Contains a wealth of field research related to biodiversity conservation and its applications from a variety of tropical islands
Download or read book Island Life Celebrating Pacific Island Biodiversity written by and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Booklet first prepared for the 8th Conference of the Parties on the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) in Curitiba, Brazil, 20-31 March 2006. Printed work first distributed at the SPREP Environment Ministers’ Meeting, Noumea, New Caledonia, 15 September 2006.
Download or read book Conserving Biodiversity written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1992-02-01 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The loss of the earth's biological diversity is widely recognized as a critical environmental problem. That loss is most severe in developing countries, where the conditions of human existence are most difficult. Conserving Biodiversity presents an agenda for research that can provide information to formulate policy and design conservation programs in the Third World. The book includes discussions of research needs in the biological sciences as well as economics and anthropology, areas of critical importance to conservation and sustainable development. Although specifically directed toward development agencies, non-governmental organizations, and decisionmakers in developing nations, this volume should be of interest to all who are involved in the conservation of biological diversity.
Download or read book Biodiversity Assessment of Tropical Island Ecosystems written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Island Voices Island Choices written by Simon Rietbergen and published by IUCN. This book was released on 2008 with total page 43 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The publication presents a survey analysis of 300 island respondents on the socio-economic and environmental challenges facing islands today and establishes their needs/gaps in being able to address these challenges effectively.
Download or read book Understanding Invasive Species in the Galapagos Islands written by María de Lourdes Torres and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-02-15 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book investigates the introduction of invasive species and their behavior in oceanic islands. How can we define invasive species? What is their history? How did they come to dominate and transform ecosystems? These are relevant questions when trying to understand the behavior of invasive species—primarily in fragile ecosystems such as islands—and to understand the biological, ecological, social and economic impacts of invasions. We chose the Galapagos Islands, a place well-known to be unique in the study of evolution, as a laboratory to analyze the interactions between invasive and endemic species, to understand the makeup of the ecosystems emerging after invasions have occurred, to describe the relationships of invasives with the people that live in these islands, and to try to develop comprehensive analyses on this topic from multi-scalar and multi-disciplinary points of view. For a long time, the discussion has been about how proper management of the species could achieve two main goals: the eradication of the species to recover affected ecosystems and the conservation of endemic species. The discussion has taken on other nuances, including the suggestion that an invasive species, when it is already adapted to an ecosystem, forms an integral part of it, and thus eradication would in itself go against conservation. On the other hand, some invasive species are not only part of the biological compound of the island ecosystems, but they also form part of the social and cultural history of the inhabited islands. Some of these identified by the local inhabitants are species of real or potential economic value.
Download or read book Tropical Islands Biodiversity Crisis written by David J.W. Lane and published by Springer. This book was released on 2010-12-13 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work assesses the issues facing biodiversity maintenance on tropical islands, and the impacts of biodiversity loss. The emphasis is on the Indo-West Pacific region, which includes many small islands where the biodiversity is under threat as a result of not only climate change and habitat destruction, but invasions by organisms previously absent from an island. The contributors are distinguished biodiversity scientists from inside and outside the region, and cover topics ranging from the state of conservation action in South-East Asia, the role of parks, and the status and threat to endemics, to impacts of oil and gas exploration and forest fragmentation. Issues needing still to be addressed, especially in relation to implications of biodiversity loss or change for the maintenance of ecosystem processes, are highlighted. The conclusions and case studies have lessons for all involved in the conservation of the biotas and ecosystems of islands. Previously published in Biodiversity and Conservation 19:2 2010
Download or read book The Diversity of Life written by Edward O. Wilson and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1992 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: View a collection of videos on Professor Wilson entitled "On the Relation of Science and the Humanities" "In the Amazon Basin the greatest violence sometimes begins as a flicker of light beyond the horizon. There in the perfect bowl of the night sky, untouched by light from any human source, a thunderstorm sends its premonitory signal and begins a slow journey to the observer, who thinks: the world is about to change." Watching from the edge of the Brazilian rain forest, witness to the sort of violence nature visits upon its creatures, Edward O. Wilson reflects on the crucible of evolution, and so begins his remarkable account of how the living world became diverse and how humans are destroying that diversity. Wilson, internationally regarded as the dean of biodiversity studies, conducts us on a tour through time, traces the processes that create new species in bursts of adaptive radiation, and points out the cataclysmic events that have disrupted evolution and diminished global diversity over the past 600 million years. The five enormous natural blows to the planet (such as meteorite strikes and climatic changes) required 10 to 100 million years of evolutionary repair. The sixth great spasm of extinction on earth--caused this time entirely by humans--may be the one that breaks the crucible of life. Wilson identifies this crisis in countless ecosystems around the globe: coral reefs, grasslands, rain forests, and other natural habitats. Drawing on a variety of examples such as the decline of bird populations in the United States, the extinction of many species of freshwater fish in Africa and Asia, and the rapid disappearance of flora and fauna as the rain forests are cut down, he poignantly describes the death throes of the living world's diversity--projected to decline as much as 20 percent by the year 2020. All evidence marshaled here resonates through Wilson's tightly reasoned call for a spirit of stewardship over the world's biological wealth. He makes a plea for specific actions that will enhance rather than diminish not just diversity but the quality of life on earth. Cutting through the tangle of environmental issues that often obscure the real concern, Wilson maintains that the era of confrontation between forces for the preservation of nature and those for economic development is over; he convincingly drives home the point that both aims can, and must, be integrated. Unparalleled in its range and depth, Wilson's masterwork is essential reading for those who care about preserving the world biological variety and ensuring our planet's health.
Download or read book Island written by Dr. James Lazell and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2005-11-01 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Guana, in the British Virgin Islands, is home to a remarkably diverse assortment of animal and plant life: mangroves, flamingos, iguanas, frogs, birds, snakes, spiders, tortoises, grasshoppers, and bats, to name but a few. What is so surprising about Guana's astonishing panoply is that, according to prevailing ecological theories, the island's diversity should be much lower than it actually is. This provocative book describes Guana's flora and fauna against the backdrop of islands worldwide and their ecology, evolution, and conservation. Much more than a book about one island, it raises important challenges to prevailing dogma of island biogeography and theoretical ecology. James (Skip) Lazell demonstrates that meaningful conservation and avoiding tragic loss of biodiversity demand we know far more about biological interactions, physiographic and geological structure, meteorology, and other factors. He presents compelling evidence that high levels of natural biodiversity underpin ecosystem resilience and stability. Lazell's engaging narrative, containing many entertaining asides and personal reflections, widens into an evocative commentary about the nature of life on earth.
Download or read book Island Ecosystems written by Stephen J. Walsh and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-05-10 with total page 510 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sustainable development is a process to improve the quality of life of people, while maintaining the ability of social–ecological systems to continue to provide valuable ecological services that social systems require. In the Galapagos Islands, the maintenance of amenity resources to support tourism and the quality of life of residents is explicitly linked to ecosystem goods and services, particularly, the accessibility to high-quality natural environments and the terrestrial and marine visitation sites that showcase iconic species. On June 26-30, 2022, the Galapagos Science Center celebrated its 10-Year Anniversary. As the crowning event of the anniversary celebration, the World Summit on Island Sustainability was held on San Cristobal Island, Galapagos Archipelago of Ecuador. The intent of the World Summit was to bring together leading experts on island ecosystems and, particularly, on island sustainability from across the globe to represent a diversity of perspectives, approaches, and stakeholder groups. The World Summit was an exclusive event that featured an “expert convening” of scholars and practitioners to address the social, terrestrial, and marine sub-systems of the Galapagos Islands and other similarly challenged island ecosystems from around the globe. The World Summit attracted 150 scientists to the Galapagos Islands to discuss projects conducted, for instance, in the Galapagos Islands, Hawaii, Guam, French Polynesia, Chile, Australia, and the Caribbean Islands. Island vulnerability, resilience, and sustainability were examined by scholars, for instance, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Catholic University of Chile, University of Guam, James Cook University, University of the Sunshine Coast, North Carolina State University, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, California Academy of Sciences, University of San Francisco, and the University of South Alabama as well as affiliated scientists from Exeter University, University of Edinburgh, University of Southampton, and the Galapagos National Park. The World Summit also included scholars from Re:wild, World Wildlife Fund, EarthEcho, and the East-West Center, Hawaii.
Download or read book Biodiversity written by Alfonso Alonso and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2008-03 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biodiversity is the extraordinary variety of life on Earth -- from genes & species to ecosystems & the valuable functions they perform. Life as we know it will not be the same if our rich biodiversity heritage is dramatically altered. And the signs indicate that this is precisely what is happening. Biodiversity is threatened, & not because of catastrophic events. The current threat to biodiversity, & thus to the tapestry of life, stems primarily from expanding human populations & increased human consumption of natural resources. Fortunately, we can take steps to protect our rich biodiversity. This report explains what biodiversity is, why it is so important, why it is threatened, & what can be done to conserve this valuable resource. Illustrations.
