Download or read book Ecological Systems written by Rik Leemans and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-12 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Earth is home to an estimated 8 million animal species, 600,000 fungi, 300,000 plants, and an undetermined number of microbial species. Of these animal, fungal, and plant species, an estimated 75% have yet to be identified. Moreover, the interactions between these species and their physical environment are known to an even lesser degree. At the same time, the earth’s biota faces the prospect of climate change, which may manifest slowly or extremely rapidly, as well as a human population set to grow by two billion by 2045 from the current seven billion. Given these major ecological changes, we cannot wait for a complete biota data set before assessing, planning, and acting to preserve the ecological balance of the earth. This book provides comprehensive coverage of the scientific and engineering basis of the systems ecology of the earth in 15 detailed, peer-reviewed entries written for a broad audience of undergraduate and graduate students as well as practicing professionals in government, academia, and industry. The methodology presented aims at identifying key interactions and environmental effects, and enabling a systems-level understanding even with our present state of factual knowledge.
Download or read book Preserving Ecological Systems written by Sidney Draggan and published by Praeger. This book was released on 1987 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1984, the Conference on Environmental Quality, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Science Foundation convened a series of panel meetings to discuss long-term environmental issues. Preserving Ecological Systems is the result of that prestigious conference. Drawing on contributions from nationally recognized scientists and experts from industry and government, this collection of papers covers geochemical and hydrologic processes and provides overall recommendations for conducting environmental research and development during the next twenty years. In addition, the book offers insights on how environmental analyses can be made more reliable. The book covers global cycles, habitat diversity and genetic variability, improved methods for mitigating the environmental impacts of current technologies, and anticipating the environmental impact of emerging technologies, among other topics.
Download or read book Understanding the Changing Planet written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2010-07-23 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the oceans to continental heartlands, human activities have altered the physical characteristics of Earth's surface. With Earth's population projected to peak at 8 to 12 billion people by 2050 and the additional stress of climate change, it is more important than ever to understand how and where these changes are happening. Innovation in the geographical sciences has the potential to advance knowledge of place-based environmental change, sustainability, and the impacts of a rapidly changing economy and society. Understanding the Changing Planet outlines eleven strategic directions to focus research and leverage new technologies to harness the potential that the geographical sciences offer.
Download or read book The Ecological Basis of Conservation written by Steward Pickett and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 477 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From its inception, the U.S. Department of the Interior has been charged with a conflicting mission. One set of statutes demands that the department must develop America's lands, that it get our trees, water, oil, and minerals out into the marketplace. Yet an opposing set of laws orders us to conserve these same resources, to preserve them for the long term and to consider the noncommodity values of our public landscape. That dichotomy, between rapid exploitation and long-term protection, demands what I see as the most significant policy departure of my tenure in office: the use of science-interdisciplinary science-as the primary basis for land management decisions. For more than a century, that has not been the case. Instead, we have managed this dichotomy by compartmentalizing the American landscape. Congress and my predecessors handled resource conflicts by drawing enclosures: "We'll create a national park here," they said, "and we'll put a wildlife refuge over there." Simple enough, as far as protection goes. And outside those protected areas, the message was equally simplistic: "Y'all come and get it. Have at it." The nature and the pace of the resource extraction was not at issue; if you could find it, it was yours.
Download or read book Sustainable Ecological Systems written by W. Wallace Covington and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This conference brought together scientists and managers from federal, state, and local agencies, along with private-sector interests, to examine key concepts involving sustainable ecological systems, and ways in which to apply these concepts to ecosystem management. Session topics were: ecological consequences of land and water use changes, biology of rare and declining species and habitats, conservation biology and restoration ecology, developing and applying ecological theory to management of ecological systems and forest health, and sustainable ecosystems to respond to human needs. A plenary session established the philosophical and historical contexts for ecosystem management."--Title page verso.
Download or read book Applying Ecological Principles to Land Management written by Virginia H. Dale and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2001-07-20 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume incorporates case studies that explore past and current land use decisions on both public and private lands, and includes practical approaches and tools for land use decision-making. The most important feature of the book is the linking of ecological theory and principle with applied land use decision-making. The theoretical and empirical are joined through concrete case studies of actual land use decision-making processes.
Download or read book Towards a Thermodynamic Theory for Ecological Systems written by S.E. Jorgensen and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2004-07-06 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book presents a consistent and complete ecosystem theory based on thermodynamic concepts. The first chapters are devoted to an interpretation of the first and second law of thermodynamics in ecosystem context. Then Prigogine's use of far from equilibrium thermodynamic is used on ecosystems to explain their reactions to perturbations. The introduction of the concept exergy makes it possible to give a more profound and comprehensive explanation of the ecosystem's reactions and growth-patterns. A tentative fourth law of thermodynamic is formulated and applied to facilitate these explanations. The trophic chain, the global energy and radiation balance and pattern and the reactions of ecological networks are all explained by the use of exergy. Finally, it is discussed how the presented theory can be applied more widely to explain ecological observations and rules, to assess ecosystem health and to develop ecological models.
Download or read book Coviability of Social and Ecological Systems Reconnecting Mankind to the Biosphere in an Era of Global Change written by Olivier Barrière and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-03-12 with total page 728 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book considers the principle of ‘sustainable development’ which is currently facing a growing environmental crisis. A new mode of thinking and positioning the ecological imperative is the major input of this volume. The prism of co-viability is not the economics of political agencies that carry the ideology of the dominant/conventional economic schools, but rather an opening of innovation perspectives through science. This volume, through its four parts, more than 40 chapters and a hundred authors, gives birth to a paradigm which crystallizes within a concept that will support in overcoming the ecological emergency deadlock.
Download or read book Applying Landscape Ecology in Biological Conservation written by Kevin Gutzwiller and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-06-27 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a current synthesis of principles and applications in landscape ecology and conservation biology. Bringing together insights from leaders in landscape ecology and conservation biology, it explains how principles of landscape ecology can help us understand, manage and maintain biodiversity. Gutzwiller also identifies gaps in current knowledge and provides research approaches to fill those voids.
Download or read book An Ecosystem Services Approach to Assessing the Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2013-12-20 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the Gulf of Mexico recovers from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, natural resource managers face the challenge of understanding the impacts of the spill and setting priorities for restoration work. The full value of losses resulting from the spill cannot be captured, however, without consideration of changes in ecosystem services-the benefits delivered to society through natural processes. An Ecosystem Services Approach to Assessing the Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico discusses the benefits and challenges associated with using an ecosystem services approach to damage assessment, describing potential impacts of response technologies, exploring the role of resilience, and offering suggestions for areas of future research. This report illustrates how this approach might be applied to coastal wetlands, fisheries, marine mammals, and the deep sea-each of which provide key ecosystem services in the Gulf-and identifies substantial differences among these case studies. The report also discusses the suite of technologies used in the spill response, including burning, skimming, and chemical dispersants, and their possible long-term impacts on ecosystem services.
Download or read book The New Wild written by Fred Pearce and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 2016-04-05 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Named one of the best books of 2015 by The Economist A provocative exploration of the “new ecology” and why most of what we think we know about alien species is wrong For a long time, veteran environmental journalist Fred Pearce thought in stark terms about invasive species: they were the evil interlopers spoiling pristine “natural” ecosystems. Most conservationists and environmentalists share this view. But what if the traditional view of ecology is wrong—what if true environmentalists should be applauding the invaders? In The New Wild, Pearce goes on a journey across six continents to rediscover what conservation in the twenty-first century should be about. Pearce explores ecosystems from remote Pacific islands to the United Kingdom, from San Francisco Bay to the Great Lakes, as he digs into questionable estimates of the cost of invader species and reveals the outdated intellectual sources of our ideas about the balance of nature. Pearce acknowledges that there are horror stories about alien species disrupting ecosystems, but most of the time, the tens of thousands of introduced species usually swiftly die out or settle down and become model eco-citizens. The case for keeping out alien species, he finds, looks increasingly flawed. As Pearce argues, mainstream environmentalists are right that we need a rewilding of the earth, but they are wrong if they imagine that we can achieve that by reengineering ecosystems. Humans have changed the planet too much, and nature never goes backward. But a growing group of scientists is taking a fresh look at how species interact in the wild. According to these new ecologists, we should applaud the dynamism of alien species and the novel ecosystems they create. In an era of climate change and widespread ecological damage, it is absolutely crucial that we find ways to help nature regenerate. Embracing the new ecology, Pearce shows us, is our best chance. To be an environmentalist in the twenty-first century means celebrating nature’s wildness and capacity for change.
Download or read book Transformations of Social Ecological Systems written by Tetsu Sato and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-12-08 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through this book, readers will gain a comprehensive overview of transdisciplinary knowledge co-production in local contexts as an issue-driven and solution-oriented process, and will come to understand its relationship to societal transformation processes toward sustainability. In a single volume, the theory, approaches and academic implications of this novel type of knowledge production are addressed, together with its societal impacts. In the midst of global anthropogenic impacts that affect various environments, over the past few decades we have observed autonomous initiatives in local communities around the world to tackle these environmental challenges. It is vital that such local actions be scaled up to achieve sustainable societies, which requires societal transformation on larger scales. Thanks to numerous collaborative actions in local communities, transdisciplinary knowledge co-production among diverse stakeholders has successfully been mobilized, resulting in the development of Integrated Local Environmental Knowledge (ILEK); knowledge that can inform and support decisions and actions promoting the sustainable transformation of society. This book uses comparative case studies in communities around the world to illuminate and clarify processes and factors promoting the co-production and utilization of ILEK to facilitate decision-making. In addition, readers will gain deeper insights into the science-society interactions that can contribute to finding collaborative solutions to a wide range of critical environmental problems. Though the book is ideally suited for researchers and students, it also offers a valuable resource for practitioners, government agencies, and stakeholder agencies.
Download or read book Economic Analysis of Critical Habitat Designation for the Mexican Spotted Owl written by and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Bioremediation of Emerging Contaminants from Soils written by Prasann Kumar and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2024-05-20 with total page 725 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bioremediation of Emerging Contaminants from Soils: Soil Health Conservation Along with Food Security deals with current challenges of sustainable soil health using eco-friendly approaches. This book provides ways of reducing the chemicals burden on the soil by maintaining balance in terms of society, environment and economy, which are considered basic pillars of sustainability. Designed to highlight soil health best practices for both environmental and agricultural sustainability, these approaches are also considered important for improving global food security by ensuring safe growing conditions for crops for food and feed. Presented in two parts, the book first highlights emerging contaminants and their sources. The second part explores a variety of steps and tools for addressing contaminated soils including bio- and phytoremediation options. Case studies in each part provide real-world insights for practical application. This book will be unique in the specified area of sustainability using the principles of bioremediation. Moreover, scientists, researchers, and policymakers will receive insights to develop and explore innovate approaches to achieve sustainable development goals. Contains the latest practical and theoretical aspects of the soil health crisis and its management Presents collective information to ensure the remediation of soil from emerging contaminants Serves as baseline information for environmental issues in agriculture along with their alternative eco-friendly solutions
Download or read book The Rural Economy and the British Countryside written by Paul Allanson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-04-23 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mention of the British countryside commonly evokes visions of pastoral contentment; but the nature of rural Britain has changed dramatically since 1945. The declining importance of farming as a source of income and employment in the course of this century has undermined the simple identity of the rural economy with the agricultural sector. The social composition of many villages has been transformed by incomers who commute to nearby towns and cities for their work. And EU policy is playing an increasingly important role in both the regulation of the countryside and the promotion of development through structural assistance programmes. The Rural Economy and the British Countryside offers critical perspectives on the changing profile of rural Britain by leading contributors in the field. It considers the meaning of the term 'rural' and what might constitute a sustainable rural economy; present and future patterns of rural development; the role of markets; natural resource management; agricultural pollution; marketing policies in the agricultural sector; environmental valuation techniques; rural policies and politics; and the future of the rural political economy. Written by a team of experts at the Centre for Rural Economy, which took a leading role in the debate surrounding preparation of the 1995 Rural White Paper, the book is ideal for students of rural and environmental policy, countryside management, planning and recreation, rural geography, and agriculture and environmental studies courses. Paul Allanson is a Lecturer in Economics at the University of Dundee, specialising in evolutionary economics and structural change in agriculture. Martin Whitby is Professor of Countryside Management at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and is the author of Incentives for Countryside Management: the Case of ESAs and the European Environment and CAP Reform, among other titles. Originally published in 1996
Download or read book Ecological Landscape Design and Planning written by Jala Makhzoumi and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2003-09-02 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors of this book offer an holistic methodological approach to the design and planning of landscape, based on both research and practical experience.
Download or read book Advancements in Climate and Smart Environment Technology written by Mabrouki, Jamal and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2024-05-06 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world faces escalating environmental and healthcare challenges, from climate change to managing natural resources and providing efficient medical services. These issues are complex, often requiring intricate modeling and intervention from domain experts. Traditional analytical methods need help to cope with the complexity and scale of these challenges, leading to inefficiencies and suboptimal outcomes. There is a pressing need for innovative solutions that can enhance our ability to address these issues effectively. Advancements in Climate and Smart Environment Technology present a compelling solution to these pressing problems. By leveraging the power of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, we offer a path toward more efficient and effective solutions in environmental engineering, healthcare management, and natural resource conservation. AI provides the tools to model complex systems, optimize processes, and make informed decisions without constant expert intervention, thus revolutionizing these fields. This book is a comprehensive guide for scholars, researchers, and practitioners in various fields related to environmental and healthcare sciences. It explores the applications of AI in areas such as innovative environments, sustainable agriculture, climate change mitigation, and healthcare delivery.
