Download or read book Natural Diversity in the New Millennium written by Joanna M. Cross and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2016-09-06 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Natural diversity has been extensively used to understand plant biology and improve crops. However, studies were commonly based on visual phenotypes or on a few measurable parameters. Nowadays, a large number of parameters can be measured thanks to next generation sequencing, metabolomics, proteomics, and transcriptomics thus providing an unprecedented resolution in the detection of natural diversity. This enhanced resolution offers new possibilities in terms of understanding plant biology. Technology advances also contribute to a better assessment of the biodiversity loss currently taking place. Hence, the topic presents an overview on efforts for maintaining biological diversity in crops, on possibilities offered by recent technologies in the assessment of natural variation, and ends with examples of the diversity found even at the cellular level.
Download or read book Environmentalism for a New Millennium written by Leslie Paul Thiele and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1999 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anyone interested the future of environmentalism will find this book an invaluable guide.
Download or read book Biological Diversity written by Michael A. Huston and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1994-09-15 with total page 708 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The key to preserving and managing biodiversity is understanding which processes are important at different scales, and how changes affect different components of biodiversity. In this book, existing theories on diversity are synthesised into a logical framework. Global and landscape-scale patterns of biodiversity are described in the first section. In the second, the spatial and temporal dynamics of diversity are emphasised. The third section develops an integrated set of mechanistic explanations for diversity patterns at the levels of population, community, ecosystem and landscape. Finally, case studies examine diversity patterns in marine and terrestrial ecosystems and the effects of biological invasions. The book concludes with a discussion of the economics of preserving biological diversity. This book will interest research workers and students of ecology, biology and conservation.
Download or read book Diversity in the Next Millennium written by Peter Risher and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 55 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Beginning Again written by David Ehrenfeld and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1993 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Early in this volume, David Ehrenfeld describes what prophecy really is. Referring to the biblical prophets, he says they were not the "holy fortunetellers that the word prophet has come to signify....The business of prophecy is not simply foretelling the future; rather it is describing the present with exceptional truthfulness and accuracy." Once this is done, then it can be seen that broad aspects of the future have suddenly become apparent. The twentieth century is drawing to a chaotic close amidst portents of unprecedented change and upheaval. The unravelling of societies and civilizations and the destruction of nature march together--linked--a fact whose enormous significance is often lost. In Beginning Again, David Ehrenfeld has undertaken the difficult task of describing the present clearly enough to reveal the future. Out of his broad vision emerges a glimpse of a new millennium: a vision at once frightening and comforting, a scene of great devastation and great rebuilding. Ehrenfeld ranges far and wide to present a coherent vision of our relationship with Nature--its many aspects and implications--as our century opens into the next millennium. Whether he is writing about the problem of loyalty to organizations, rights versus obligations, our over-managed society, the vanishing of established knowledge, the failure of experts, the triumph of dandelions, Dr. Seuss, Edward Teller, or the future of farming, he is always concerned with the intricate interaction between technology and nature. As in his classic book, The Arrogance of Humanism, Ehrenfeld never loses sight of our fatal love affair with the fantasy of control. We now have no choice, he argues, but to transform the dream of control, of progress, from one of overweening hubris, love of consumption, and the idiot's goal of perpetual growth, to one based on "the inventive imitation of nature," with its honesty, beauty, resilience, and durability. Few American writers and even fewer scientists can describe these timeless, transcendent qualities of nature so well. In "Places," the opening chapter, David Ehrenfeld tells about nightly vigils he spent alone on the moonlit beach of Tortuguero, watching giant sea turtles emerging from the sea to lay their eggs in the black sand where they were born. "I could watch the perfect white spheres falling," he writes. "Falling as they have fallen for a hundred million years, with the same slow cadence, always shielded from the rain or stars by the same massive bulk with the beaked head and the same large, myopic eyes rimmed with crusts of sand washed out by tears. Minutes and hours, days and months dissolve into eons. I am on an Oligocene beach, an Eocene beach, a Cretaceous beach--the scene is the same. It is night, the turtles are coming back, always back; I hear a deep hiss of breath and catch a glint of wet shell as the continents slide and crash, the oceans form and grow."
Download or read book Biological Diversity written by Paul E. Hatcher and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-03-23 with total page 789 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biological Diversity takes a fresh, innovative approach to the teaching of biodiversity. Rather than detailing and cataloguing the major taxa and their evolutionary relationships, the authors have selected 18 groups of organisms and used these as a framework in which to discuss the species and their interactions with man and each other. There is a strong narrative theme throughout – the exploited and the exploiters - and, in many cases, there is emphasis on the historical context. A wide range of organisms are covered, from the unicellular to birds and mammals and with an equal consideration of plants and animals. Species have been chosen for their ability to best illustrate particular biological principles, and for their strong interaction with other species. After an introduction the book is divided into two parts: 'Exploited' and 'Exploiters'. Each of the chapters, although linked to each other, forms a stand-alone essay. They are scientifically rigorous, up-to-date and do not shy away from addressing some controversial issues. Chapters have 'text boxes' highlighting important issues and concepts, lists of further reading and references. In addition to tables and figures the book has a selection of original illustrations drawn by leading artist Steven Appleby. This fresh approach will appeal to all those interested in the biological sciences, and aims to be accessible to people with a diversity of backgrounds. It will prove particularly useful to biology students, enabling them to get to grips with important biological principles and concepts that underpin the diversity of life, and the interrelationship of humans with other groups of organisms.
Download or read book Biodiversity written by and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Conserving the World s Biological Diversity written by Jeffrey A. McNeely and published by International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural. This book was released on 1990 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biological diversity: what it is a and why it is important; The values of biological diversity; How and why biological resources are threatened; Approaches to conserving biological diversity; The information required to conserve biological diversity; Establishing priorities for conserving biological diversity; The role of strategies and action plans in promoting conservation of biological diversity; How to pay for coserving biological diversity; Enlisting new partners for conservation of biological diversity.
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 Protection of Global Biodiversity written by Lakshman D. Guruswamy and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The rate of extinction of biological species is greater today than at any time in the last 65 million years. Some predict that if this rate continues, two-thirds of all living species will disappear during the next century. Because reaching consensus on specific courses of action involves complex issues, any adequate response to this impending crisis must include coverage of many areas of inquiry and understanding. Protection of Global Biodiversity features essays by distinguished international experts who communicate with each other across disciplinary boundaries to address the challenge of formulating policies to protect biodiversity. Although the global community has recently adopted a Convention of Biological Diversity, the agreement sets forth only abstract goals. Contributors to this volume advance the Convention's initial steps by providing workable solutions that can be implemented regionally, nationally, and locally. The contributors--including natural, social, and political scientists; economists; lawyers; and environmentalists; and decisionmakers in business, agriculture, and government--have united to create a common discourse and to evaluate and propose strategies for halting this alarming loss of biodiversity. In recognizing the diverse aspects of this task--scientific, economic, institutional, moral, and legal--this book presents a new picture of emerging action. Contributors. S. James Anaya, Gregory Benford, Graciela Chichilnisky, S. Todd Crider, Yvonne Cripps, Robert T. Fraley, Anil K. Gupta, Lakshman D. Guruswamy, G. M. Heal, Brent Hendricks, Robert B. Horsch, Laura L. Jackson, Annie Lovejoy, Ariel E. Lugo, Jeffrey A. McNeely, Brian G. Norton, Elinor Ostrom, Peter H. Raven, John W. Reid, Walter V. Reid, Mark Sagoff, Roger A. Sedgo, R. David Simpson, Ana Sittenfeld, Christopher D. Stone, Gary H. Toenniessen
Download or read book Scarcity and Growth Revisited written by R. David Professor Simpson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-05-23 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this volume, a group of distinguished international scholars provides a fresh investigation of the most fundamental issues involved in our dependence on natural resources. In Scarcity and Growth (RFF, 1963) and Scarcity and Growth Reconsidered (RFF, 1979), researchers considered the long-term implications of resource scarcity for economic growth and human well-being. Scarcity and Growth Revisited examines these implications with 25 years of new learning and experience. It finds that concerns about resource scarcity have changed in essential ways. In contrast with the earlier preoccupation with the adequacy of fuel, mineral, and agricultural resources and the efficiency by which they are allocated, the greatest concern today is about the Earth‘s limited capacity to handle the environmental consequences of resource extraction and use. Opinion among scholars is divided on the ability of technological innovation to ameliorate this 'new scarcity.' However, even the book‘s more optimistic authors agree that the problems will not be successfully overcome without significant advances in the legal, financial, and other social institutions that protect the environment and support technical innovation. Scarcity and Growth Revisited incorporates expert perspectives from the physical and life sciences, as well as economics. It includes issues confronting the developing world as well as industrialized societies. The book begins with a review of the debate about scarcity and economic growth and a review of current assessments of natural resource availability and consumption. The twelve chapters that follow provide an accessible, lively, and authoritative update to an enduring-but changing-debate.
Download or read book Biodiversity in the Next Millennium written by Peter Risher and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book ON BIOCULTURAL DIVERSITY written by MAFFI LUISA and published by Smithsonian Books (DC). This book was released on 2001-04-17 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biodiversity loss is a well-known phenomenon. Over the next thirty years, according to most projections, 20 percent of the world's species may cease to exist. Less widely known, though attracting increasing attention, is the diversity loss that is affecting the world's languages and cultures. Up to 11 percent of an estimated 6,000 spoken languages in the world today are "nearly extinct", and as many as 90 percent of those languages may vanish during the course of this century. On Biocultural Diversity brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars from the social and natural sciences as well as cultural advocates, human rights specialists, and indigenous experts to discuss the ways in which the losses of biological, linguistic, and cultural diversity are linked. Combining research with advocacy, this book outlines the threats to the world's diversity, explores the connections among its various forms, and recommends measures to help preserve and perpetuate the variety of life on Earth. Presenting case studies from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas, the contributors show how the loss of linguistic and cultural diversity -- often involving indigenous peoples' removal from their lands, suppression of their languages, and the loss of traditional environmental knowledge based on subsistence practices -- can affect biodiversity. The final chapters suggest new directions for research, documentation, training, and action in order to conserve biocultural diversity. This collection reveals a broad picture of why diversity matters. It offers a common foundation and practical avenues for preserving the wealth of biological life as well as the cultural riches represented byindigenous and minority languages and the knowledge they embody.
Download or read book Global Biodiversity in a Changing Environment written by Osvaldo E. Sala and published by Boom Koninklijke Uitgevers. This book was released on 2001-08-09 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climatic change, conservation biology
Download or read book Values for a New Millennium written by Robert L. Humphrey and published by . This book was released on 2012-03 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Robert L. Humphrey was an Iwo Jima veteran, Harvard graduate, and cross cultural conflict resolution specialist during the Cold War. He proposed the "Dual Life Value Theory" of Human Nature. From the experiences of childhood in the Great Depression, trips as a teenager in the Panamanian Merchant Marines, national-class boxing, the awe-inspiring sights of selfless sacrifice on Iwo Jima, and finally, fifteen years in overseas ideological warfare, Humphrey observed that universal values exist and, ultimately control human behavior. Humphrey is a graduate of Wisconsin University, Harvard Law School, and the Fletcher School of Diplomacy. At the beginning of the Cold War, he left a teaching position at MIT to help lead the struggle against Communism. Finding that U.S. education was contributing to, rather than reducing, American overseas problems, he developed a new leadership approach that overcame Ugly American syndrome among hundreds of thousands in crucial Third World areas. More recently, his methodology won commendations for educating the alleged uneducable: Mexican-American street-gang youths in southern California, and Canadian Native teenage dropouts. Until Communism's fall, Humphrey kept his new methods confidential. Those methods are significant: (1) From his experiences with young infantrymen in heavy combat, and with the peasants in many villages of the world, he perceived humankind's basic goodness that philosophers have missed or under-rated. (2) In place of compartmentalized, primarily mental education, Humphrey has developed a human-nature-guided (moral, physical, artistic, mental) approach.
Download or read book Bioregional Planning written by David J. Brunckhorst and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presenting a pragmatic mixture of science, landscape ecology, ecosystem management, sociology, policy development and methods for transforming social and institutional cultures. Bioregional Planning: Resource Management Beyond the New Millennium is a timely and practical guide for the analysis, planning and development of bioregional projects for a sustainable future. Significantly, this book presents the strategic actions necessary to plan for, manage and adapt to Ecologically Sustainable Development with a view beyond the new millennium and towards the next. Postgraduates, researchers and policy makers in natural resources management, land planning, sustainable agriculture, rural sciences, ecosystem management and conservation biology will find this book captures the essence of bioregional planning succinctly and makes a compelling argument for why it is a key mechanism in the development of effective governance institutions.
Download or read book Homeland Earth written by Edgar Morin and published by Hampton Press (NJ). This book was released on 1999 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Summary: Edgar Morin, one of the leading figures in European thought, challenges us to think differently about our past, our present, and our future. Morin points to the development of a planetary culture that is not homogenizing or fragmented, and the need to recognize complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity as potential sources of creativity, learning, and transformation. Given the uncertainty of our journey, Morin presents "complex thought" as a way to overcome the "crisis of the future," and stresses the importance of solidarity.
