Download or read book Soils of the Serengeti Woodlands Tanzania written by and published by . This book was released on 1982 with total page 614 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Mosaic Landscapes and Ecological Processes written by L. Hansson and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This series presents studies that have used the paradigm of landscape ecology. Other approaches, both to landscape and landscape ecology are common, but in the last decade landscape ecology has become distinct from its predecessors and its contemporaries. Landscape ecology addresses the relationships among spatial patterns, temporal patterns and ecological processes. The effect of spatial configurations on ecological processes is fundamental. When human activity is an important variable affecting those relationships, landscape ecology includes it. Spatial and temporal scales are as large as needed for comprehension of system processes and the mosaic included may be very heterogeneous. Intellec tual utility and applicability of results are valued equally. The Inter national Association for Landscape Ecology sponsors this series of studies in order to introduce and disseminate some of the new knowledge that is being produced by this exciting new environmental science. Gray Merriam Ottawa, Canada Foreword This is a book about real nature, or as close to real as we know - a nature of heterogeneous landscapes, wild and humanized, fine-grained and coarse-grained, wet and dry, hilly and flat, temperate and not so temper ate. Real nature is never uniform. At whatever spatial scale we examine nature, we encounter patchiness. If we were to look down from high above at a landscape of millions of hectares, using a zoom lens to move in and out from broad overview to detailed inspection of a square meter we would see that patterns visible at different scales overlay one another.
Download or read book Imagining Serengeti written by Jan Bender Shetler and published by Ohio University Press. This book was released on 2007-06-15 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many students come to African history with a host of stereotypes that are not always easy to dislodge. One of the most common is that of Africa as safari grounds—as the land of expansive, unpopulated game reserves untouched by civilization and preserved in their original pristine state by the tireless efforts of contemporary conservationists. With prose that is elegant in its simplicity and analysis that is forceful and compelling, Jan Bender Shetler brings the landscape memory of the Serengeti to life. She demonstrates how the social identities of western Serengeti peoples are embedded in specific spaces and in their collective memories of those spaces. Using a new methodology to analyze precolonial oral traditions, Shetler identifies core spatial images and reevaluates them in their historical context through the use of archaeological, linguistic, ethnographic, ecological, and archival evidence. Imagining Serengeti is a lively environmental history that will ensure that we never look at images of the African landscape in quite the same way.
Download or read book Soils of the Past written by Gregory J. Retallack and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2019-07-23 with total page 1005 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A student-friendly textbook that describes ancient soils, how they may be identified, and their use in paleoenvironmental reconstruction Ancient soils contain vital mineralogical, geochemical, textural, and paleontological information about the continental environments in which they formed. Advances in isotope geochemistry and sequence-stratigraphic models allow evermore detailed reconstructions of environmental change from paleosols, and new insights into such diverse topics as atmospheric chemistry, global change, paleoecology, geobiology and mass extinction. This book educates readers about the field of paleopedology and how it remains a key area of investigation for geologists and environmental scientists seeking to learn about, and reconstruct, the condition and evolution of paleoenvironments. Presented in three sections—Soils and Palesols; Factors in Soil Formation; and Fossil Record of Soils—Soils of the Past: An Introduction to Paleopedology describes the main types of ancient soil, procedures for identifying and studying them, their classification and, most significantly, a wide array of examples of how paleosols have been used for paleoenvironmental reconstruction. The book is an excellent reflection of the current state of knowledge and can be widely adopted over many disciplines. All chapters have been revised and updated to reflect advances in soil science in the last two decades New tables display a wealth of new data added since the 2nd edition published in 2001 New figures have been added and line art has been redrawn to improve clarity and promote understanding References have been updated throughout Soils of the Past, 3rd Edition is written for advanced undergraduates studying paleopedology as part of a degree in geology, environmental science, or physical geography, and for interested professional earth scientists.
Download or read book Serengeti written by A. R. E. Sinclair and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1979 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dynamics of the serengeti ecosystem: process and pattern; The serengeti environment; Grassland-herbivore dynamics; The eruption of the ruminants; The migration and grazing succession; Feeding strategy and the pattern of resource-partitioning in ungulates; Energy costs of locomotion and the concept of foraging radius; The dynamics of ungulate social organization; Serengeti predators and their social systems; Population changes in lions and other predators; The adaptations of scavengers; A simulation of the wildebeest population, other ungulates, and their predators; The influence of grazing, browsing, and fire on the vegetation dynamics of the serengeti; Changes in populations of resident ungulates.
Download or read book Serengeti IV written by Anthony R. E. Sinclair and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2015-05-11 with total page 854 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The vast savannas and great migrations of the Serengeti conjure impressions of a harmonious and balanced ecosystem. But in reality, the history of the Serengeti is rife with battles between human and non-human nature. In the 1890s and several times since, the cattle virus rinderpest—at last vanquished in 2008—devastated both domesticated and wild ungulate populations, as well as the lives of humans and other animals who depended on them. In the 1920s, tourists armed with the world’s most expensive hunting gear filled the grasslands. And in recent years, violence in Tanzania has threatened one of the most successful long-term ecological research centers in history. Serengeti IV, the latest installment in a long-standing series on the region’s ecology and biodiversity, explores the role of our species as a source of both discord and balance in Serengeti ecosystem dynamics. Through chapters charting the complexities of infectious disease transmission across populations, agricultural expansion, and the many challenges of managing this ecosystem today, this book shows how the people and landscapes surrounding crucial protected areas like Serengeti National Park can and must contribute to Serengeti conservation. In order to succeed, conservation efforts must also focus on the welfare of indigenous peoples, allowing them both to sustain their agricultural practices and to benefit from the natural resources provided by protected areas—an undertaking that will require the strengthening of government and education systems and, as such, will present one of the greatest conservation challenges of the next century.
Download or read book Paleontology and Geology of Laetoli Human Evolution in Context written by Terry Harrison and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-01-19 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume 1 and its companion volume 2 present the results of new investigations into the geology, paleontology and paleoecology of the early hominin site of Laetoli in northern Tanzania. The site is one of the most important paleontological and paleoanthropological sites in Africa, worldrenowned for the discovery of fossils of the early hominin Australopithecus afarensis, as well as remarkable trails of its footprints. The first volume provides new evidence on the geology, geochronology, ecology, ecomorphology and taphonomy of the site. The second volume describes newly discovered fossil hominins from Laetoli, belonging to Australopithecus afarensis and Paranthropus aethiopicus, and presents detailed information on the systematics and paleobiology of the diverse associated fauna. Together, these contributions provide one of the most comprehensive accounts of a fossil hominin site, and they offer important new insights into the early stages of human evolution and its context.
Download or read book Only in Africa written by Norman Owen-Smith and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-10-07 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: That humans originated from Africa is well-known. However, this is widely regarded as a chance outcome, dependant simply on where our common ancestor shared the land with where the great apes lived. This volume builds on from the 'Out of Africa' theory, and takes the view that it is only in Africa that the evolutionary transitions from a forest-inhabiting frugivore to savanna-dwelling meat-eater could have occurred. This book argues that the ecological circumstances that shaped these transitions are exclusive to Africa. It describes distinctive features of the ecology of Africa, with emphasis on savanna grasslands, and relates them to the evolutionary transitions linking early ape-men to modern humans. It shows how physical features of the continent, especially those derived from plate tectonics, set the foundations. This volume adequately conveys that we are here because of the distinctive features of the ecology of Africa.
Download or read book The Gnu s World written by Richard Estes and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2014-04-12 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first scholarly book on the antelope that dominates the savanna ecosystems of eastern and southern Africa. It presents a synthesis of research conducted over a span of fifty years, mainly on the wildebeest in the Ngorongoro and Serengeti ecosystems, where eighty percent of the worldÕs wildebeest population lives. Wildebeest and other grazing mammals drive the ecology and evolution of the savanna ecosystem. Richard D. Estes describes this process and also details the wildebeestÕs life history, focusing on its social organization and unique reproductive system, which are adapted to the animalÕs epic annual migrations. He also examines conservation issues that affect wildebeest, including range-wide population declines.
Download or read book World Savannas written by Jayalaxshm Mistry and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-09-15 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An interdisciplinary text on the world's savannas, covering the geography, ecology, economics and politics of savanna regions. Savannas are a distinct vegetation type, covering a third of the world's land surface area and supporting a fifth of the world's population. There has been a wide range of literature on the subject, but the majority of work has focused on the ecology or development of savanna areas, ignoring the wider interdisciplinary issues affecting contemporary savannas. World Savannas aims to buck this trend, providing students with an up-to-date and comprehensive introduction to the global importance of savannas.
Download or read book Serengeti III written by A. R. E. Sinclair and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-05-15 with total page 534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Serengeti National Park is one of the world’s most diverse ecosystems, a natural laboratory for ecology, evolution, and conservation, with a history that dates back at least four million years to the beginnings of human evolution. The third book of a ground- breaking series, Serengeti III is the result of a long-term integrated research project that documents changes to this unique ecosystem every ten years. Bringing together researchers from a wide range of disciplines—ecologists, paleontologists, economists, social scientists, mathematicians, and disease specialists— this volume focuses on the interactions between the natural system and the human-dominated agricultural system. By examining how changes in rainfall, wildebeest numbers, commodity prices, and human populations have impacted the Serengeti ecosystem, the authors conclude that changes in the natural system have affected human welfare just as changes in the human system have impacted the natural world. To promote both the conservation of biota and the sustainability of human welfare, the authors recommend community-based conservation and protected-area conservation. Serengeti III presents a timely and provocative look at the conservation status of one of earth’s most renowned ecosystems.
Download or read book An Ape s View of Human Evolution written by Peter Andrews and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-01-07 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our closest living relatives are the chimpanzee and bonobo. We share many characteristics with them, but our lineages diverged millions of years ago. Who in fact was our last common ancestor? Bringing together ecology, evolution, genetics, anatomy and geology, this book provides a new perspective on human evolution. What can fossil apes tell us about the origins of human evolution? Did the last common ancestor of apes and humans live in trees or on the ground? What did it eat, and how did it survive in a world full of large predators? Did it look anything like living apes? Andrews addresses these questions and more to reconstruct the common ancestor and its habitat. Synthesising thirty-five years of work on both ancient environments and fossil and modern ape anatomy, this book provides unique new insights into the evolutionary processes that led to the origins of the human lineage.
Download or read book Abstracts on Tropical Agriculture written by and published by . This book was released on 1982 with total page 700 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Savanna Ecology and Management written by P. A. Werner and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2009-07-15 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is the fifth in a series of publications produced over the last five years on the ecology of tropical savannas. The volumes arise from work undertaken by the Responses of Savannas to Stress and Disturbance (RSSD) Program, under the auspices of the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS) Decade of the Tropics Programme, co-sponsored by the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Program. Savannas cover just under one third of the world's land surface and contain a large and rapidly growing proportion of the world's population as well as the majority of its rangelands and livestock. Most savannas are experiencing increasing pressures from demographic and economic changes that have increased dramatically over the past few decades. In addition to the changing patterns in demography and economics, and the forecasts of global warming further alert us to the most important challenge - to conserve and manage wisely the savanna ecosystems of the world. It is this conservation that forms the basis of the work of the RSSD Program. This fifth publication is comprised of research papers presented at the RSSD's international symposium held in Darwin, Australia, in 1988. The papers address the Australian perspective and intercontinental comparisons and come from an international, expert authorship.
Download or read book The Status and Conservation of Africa s Elephants and Rhinos written by D. H. M. Cumming and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Clay Mineralogy and Chemistry of Soils Formed in Volcanic Material in Diverse Climatic Regions written by C. Mizota and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
