Geography & the Environment
May 2021
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BiodiversityJanuary 2004Biodiversity of West African Forests
An Ecological Atlas of Woody Plant Species
by Edited by Lourens Poorter, Frans Bongers, Francois N Kouamé, William D Hawthorne
The rain forests of West Africa have been designated as one of the world's hotspots of biodiversity. They extend from Ghana to Senegal and are referred to as the Upper Guinean forests. Because of their isolated position, they harbour a large number of rare and endemic animal and plant species.This book focuses on the biodiversity and ecology of these forests. It analyses the factors that give rise to biodiversity and structure tropical plant communities. It also includes an atlas with ecological profiles of rare plant species and large timber species.
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BiodiversityApril 2002Tropical Mycology: Volume 2, Micromycetes
by Edited by Roy Watling, Juliet C Frankland, M Ainsworth, Susan Isaac, Clare H Robinson
Tropical mycology is attracting increasing interest, as the key role of fungi in tropical ecosystems and as pathogens becomes appreciated. This book describes the ecology, biology, economic dimensions and systematics of tropical Micromycetes and is the second of two complementary volumes (Volume 1 covers Macromycetes) developed from papers given at the British Mycological Society’s symposium held in Liverpool in April 2000.
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BiodiversityFebruary 2002Tropical Mycology: Volume 1, Macromycetes
by Edited by Roy Watling, Juliet C Frankland, M Ainsworth, Susan Isaac, Clare H Robinson
Tropical mycology is attracting increasing interest, as the key role of fungi in tropical ecosystems and as pathogens becomes appreciated. This book is the first of two complementary volumes (Volume 2 covers Micromycetes) produced from papers given at the British Mycological Society's symposium held in Liverpool in April 2000. It describes the ecology, biology, economic dimensions and systematics of tropical Macromycetes. Written by leading experts in their field, the papers have been thoroughly edited and revised.
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BiodiversitySeptember 2001Invasive Alien Species
A Toolkit of Best Prevention and Management Practices
by Edited by R Wittenberg, Matthew J W Cock
Human activities have contributed to the distribution of many plant, animal and microbial species to parts of the world where they are not native. This spread of alien species can have devastating consequences on native biodiversity. Examples include alien mammals consuming native vegetation and alien insects spreading viruses, as well as plants such as water hyacinth, which has caused major problems to waterways when introduced from South America.The Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP) was established to address concerns with alien invasive species, formulated in the Convention on Biological Diversity. GISP is coordinated by:the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE)the World Conservation Union (IUCN)CAB InternationalIts goal is to improve prevention and management of biological invasions, and this book represents a key outcome. It has been assembled by a team of international experts. Features include:case studies from around the globe, with some emphasis on islandsa focus on biodiversity, but with some consideration of traditional agriculture and forestryadvice on national management plans, including risk analysis.
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BiodiversityDecember 2007Crop Wild Relative Conservation and Use
by Edited by Nigel Maxted, Brian V Ford-Lloyd, Shelagh P Kell, José M Iriondo, Mohammad E Dulloo, Jozef Turok
Crop wild relatives (CWR) are species closely related to crop plants which can contribute beneficial traits, such as pest or disease resistance and yield improvement. These species are critical for improving agricultural production and increasing food security. They are also essential components of natural and semi-natural habitats as well as agricultural systems, and are therefore vital in maintaining ecosystem health. However, CWR, like any other group of wild species, are subject to an increasing range of threats: habitat loss, degradation and mismanagement, over-collection and climate change. Through an examination of the national, regional and global context of CWR, these authoritative studies present methodologies and case studies that review and provide recommendations for global conservation and use. Topics range from the establishment of conservation priorities and strategies, threat assessment and genetic erosion and pollution.
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BiodiversityNovember 2007International Research on Natural Resource Management
Advances in Impact Assessment
by Edited by Hermann Waibel, David Zilberman
Over the past two decades, significant investment has been made into agriculture-related natural resource management research in developing countries. With investors beginning to request the impact of their investments in this research, a review was needed on the economic, social and environmental effects of these projects. Stemming from an effort to address these concerns, this collection of case studies establishes a methodological foundation for impact assessments of NRMR through a discussion of research conducted by the CGIAR around the world. Both micro and macro projects are examined to consider the results of these agricultural and development programs at the farm level as well as on a regional scale.
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BiodiversitySeptember 2014Global Forest Fragmentation
by Edited by Chris J Kettle, Lian Pin Koh.
Forest fragmentation will inevitably continue over the coming years, especially in developing economies. This book provides a cutting edge review of the multi-disciplinary sciences related to studies of global forest fragmentation. It specifically addresses cross-cutting themes from both an ecological and a social sciences perspective. The ultimate goal of Global Forest Fragmentation is to provide a detailed scientific base to support future forest landscape management and planning to meet global environmental and societal needs.
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Geography & the EnvironmentOctober 2020Plant Invasions
The Role of Biotic Interactions
by Anna Traveset, David M Richardson
Despite many books on plant invasions, none has focused on the role of species interactions. This book is a comprehensive overview of how plant invasions are mediated by varied species interactions and how such invasions influence this important component of biodiversity which involves the interactions (the 'glue') among a community's species. Besides highlighting relevant findings, the book digs deeply into new methodologies to understand species interactions in plant invasions and how this can improve management of invaded communities. The book covers: - Main theories/hypotheses in plant invasion ecology that invoke species interactions - Plant invasions promoted by mutualistic interactions and release from enemies - Antagonistic interactions preventing or hindering plant invasions - Consequences of plant invasions on native species interactions and ecosystem functioning - The interaction network approach to understanding plant invasions - Importance of considering species interactions in managing plant invasions Future avenues of research are highlighted in a final chapter. Table of contents Part I: Background Chapter 1: Plant invasions: the role of biotic interactions – An overview Chapter 2: The role of biotic interactions in invasion ecology: theories and hypotheses Part II: Positive and negative interactions in the soil Chapter 3: Soil biota and non-native plant invasions Part III: Mutualistic interactions that promote plant invasions Chapter 4: Pollination interactions promoting plant invasions- Chapter 5: Seed dispersal interactions promoting plant invasions Chapter 6: Ungulates as dispersal vectors of non-native plants Chapter 7: The role of plant-plant facilitation in non-native plant invasions Chapter 8: How direct and indirect non-native interactions can promote plant invasions, lead to invasional meltdown, and inform management decisions Part IV: Antagonistic interactions that hinder plant invasions Chapter 9: Biotic resistance to plant invasions Chapter 10: EICA 2.0: A general model of enemy release and defence in plant and animal invasions Chapter 11: The role of pathogens in plant invasions Chapter 12: Direct and indirect effects of herbivores influencing plant invasions Part V: Consequences of plant invasions for biotic interactions among native species Chapter 13: Impacts of non-native plants on plant-pollinator interactions Chapter 14: The effect of non-native plant invasions on seed dispersal of native plants Chapter 15: Allelopathic disruptions of biotic interactions due to non-native plants Chapter 16: Competition between native and non-native plants Chapter 17: Indirect biotic interactions between non-native plants and native plants and animals Part VI: Novel techniques and experimental approaches in the study of plant invasions Chapter 18: How a network approach has advanced the field of plant invasion ecology Chapter 19: Molecular ecology of plant-microbial interactions during invasions: progress and challenges Part VII: Biotic interactions and the management of ecosystems invaded by non-native plants Chapter 20: How can progress in the understanding of antagonistic interactions be applied to improve biological control of plant invasions? Chapter 21: Restoration of pollination interactions in communities invaded by non-native plants Chapter 22: Restoration of seed dispersal interactions in communities invaded by non-native plants Chapter 23: Multiple feedbacks due to biotic interactions across trophic levels can lead to persistent novel conditions that hinder restoration
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Geography & the EnvironmentOctober 2017Aquatic Plants from the Colombian Orinoquia
by Santiago Madriñán, Anabel Rial, Ana-María Bedoya, Mateo Fernández-Lucero
This book presents, through short descriptions and detailed photographs taken during three years of fieldwork, almost three hundred species of aquatic plants found in the lower basin of the Colombian Orinoco. It is written in a language that is accessible to the general public but that does not neglect the scientific and rigorous nature characteristic of botanics. It constitutes the most complete list of aquatic plants of the Colombian Oronoco to date; a product of specimens collected in the field and classified in a herbarium by the authors. One of the goals of this book is to inspire and instruct the reader whether he is sitting at home, studying at University, working at the herbarium or walking through the majestic floodplains of the Colombian Orinoco. In the field, the book helps professional and amateur botanists, Colombian and foreign, and from the plains or any of the country's other regions, to identify the different species. The beauty of the aquatic flora of the Colombian Orinoco, recorded in the photographs, is an incentive to see beyond the apparent monotony of the grasslands that dominate the savannas and to discover among the surales, creeks and Moriche palms and immense and cryptic diversity. After all, the Colombian plains are very diverse and home to unique species that deserve to be studied for their beauty and their ecological importance, and to be protected from the terrible threats they currently face.
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Children's & YAThe Curious Tale of the Dodo.
by Anthony Cooper & Simon Kewer
‘The curious tale of the dodo’, is the first book in the series from the altruistic environmental brand Don’t do the Dodo. A fun introduction to conservation through the story of the dodo and written in an easy to read Dr Seuss rhyming style with fantastic color illustrations and….. the perfect length for a bedtime story! French translation available. The second book “ Dodo and the importance of BEEing”is now in draft form following the same format and an introuction to bees and their plight.
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BiodiversityOctober 1999Perspectives on Biodiversity
Valuing Its Role in an Everchanging World
by Committee on Noneconomic and Economic Value of Biodiversity, National Research Council
Resource-management decisions, especially in the area of protecting and maintaining biodiversity, are usually incremental, limited in time by the ability to forecast conditions and human needs, and the result of tradeoffs between conservation and other management goals. The individual decisions may not have a major effect but can have a cumulative major effect. Perspectives on Biodiversity reviews current understanding of the value of biodiversity and the methods that are useful in assessing that value in particular circumstances. It recommends and details a list of components-including diversity of species, genetic variability within and among species, distribution of species across the ecosystem, the aesthetic satisfaction derived from diversity, and the duty to preserve and protect biodiversity. The book also recommends that more information about the role of biodiversity in sustaining natural resources be gathered and summarized in ways useful to managers. Acknowledging that decisions about biodiversity are necessarily qualitative and change over time because of the nonmarket nature of so many of the values, the committee recommends periodic reviews of management decisions.
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BiodiversityJanuary 2012
Twenty-First Century Ecosystems
Managing the Living World Two Centuries After Darwin: Report of a Symposium
by Committee for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: A Symposium; U.S. National Committee for DIVERSITAS; Board on International Scientific Organizations; Policy and Global Affairs; National Research Council
The two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, February 12, 2009, occurred at a critical time for the United States and the world. In honor of Darwin's birthday, the National Research Council appointed a committee under the auspices of the U.S. National Committee (USNC) for DIVERSITAS to plan a Symposium on Twenty-first Century Ecosystems. The purpose of the symposium was to capture some of the current excitement and recent progress in scientific understanding of ecosystems, from the microbial to the global level, while also highlighting how improved understanding can be applied to important policy issues that have broad biodiversity and ecosystem effects. The aim was to help inform new policy approaches that could satisfy human needs while also maintaining the integrity of the goods and services provided by biodiversity and ecosystems over both the short and the long terms. This report summarizes the views expressed by symposium participants; however, it does not provide a session-by-session summary of the presentations at the symposium. Instead, the symposium steering committee identified eight key themes that emerged from the lectures, which were addressed in different contexts by different speakers. The focus here is on general principles rather than specifics. These eight themes provide a sharp focus on a few concepts that enable scientists, environmental NGOs, and policy makers to engage more effectively around issues of central importance for biodiversity and ecosystem management.
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BiodiversityMarch 2012
In the Light of Evolution
Volume V: Cooperation and Conflict
by Joan E. Strassmann, David C. Queller, John C. Avise, and Francisco J. Ayala, Editors; National Academy of Sciences
Biodiversity--the genetic variety of life--is an exuberant product of the evolutionary past, a vast human-supportive resource (aesthetic, intellectual, and material) of the present, and a rich legacy to cherish and preserve for the future. Two urgent challenges, and opportunities, for 21st-century science are to gain deeper insights into the evolutionary processes that foster biotic diversity, and to translate that understanding into workable solutions for the regional and global crises that biodiversity currently faces. A grasp of evolutionary principles and processes is important in other societal arenas as well, such as education, medicine, sociology, and other applied fields including agriculture, pharmacology, and biotechnology. The ramifications of evolutionary thought also extend into learned realms traditionally reserved for philosophy and religion. The central goal of the In the Light of Evolution (ILE) series is to promote the evolutionary sciences through state-of-the-art colloquia--in the series of Arthur M. Sackler colloquia sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences--and their published proceedings. Each installment explores evolutionary perspectives on a particular biological topic that is scientifically intriguing but also has special relevance to contemporary societal issues or challenges. This book is the outgrowth of the Arthur M. Sackler Colloquium "Cooperation and Conflict," which was sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences on January 7-8, 2011, at the Academy's Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center in Irvine, California. It is the fifth in a series of colloquia under the general title "In the Light of Evolution." The current volume explores recent developments in the study of cooperation and conflict, ranging from the level of the gene to societies and symbioses. Humans can be vicious, but paradoxically we are also among nature's great cooperators. Even our great conflicts-wars-are extremely cooperative endeavors on each side. Some of this cooperation is best understood culturally, but we are also products of evolution, with bodies, brains, and behaviors molded by natural selection. How cooperation evolves has been one of the big questions in evolutionary biology, and how it pays or does not pay is a great intellectual puzzle. The puzzle of cooperation was the dominant theme of research in the early years of Darwin's research, whereas recent work has emphasized its importance and ubiquity. Far from being a rare trait shown by social insects and a few others, cooperation is both widespread taxonomically and essential to life. The depth of research on cooperation and conflict has increased greatly, most notably in the direction of small organisms. Although most of In the Light of Evolution V: Cooperation and Conflict is about the new topics that are being treated as part of social evolution, such as genes, microbes, and medicine, the old fundamental subjects still matter and remain the object of vigorous research. The first four chapters revisit some of these standard arenas, including social insects, cooperatively breeding birds, mutualisms, and how to model social evolution.
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BiodiversityApril 2010
Understanding Climate's Influence on Human Evolution
by Committee on the Earth System Context for Hominin Evolution; Board on Earth Sciences and Resources; Division on Earth and Life Studies; National Research Council
The hominin fossil record documents a history of critical evolutionary events that have ultimately shaped and defined what it means to be human, including the origins of bipedalism; the emergence of our genus Homo; the first use of stone tools; increases in brain size; and the emergence of Homo sapiens, tools, and culture. The Earth's geological record suggests that some evolutionary events were coincident with substantial changes in African and Eurasian climate, raising the possibility that critical junctures in human evolution and behavioral development may have been affected by the environmental characteristics of the areas where hominins evolved. Understanding Climate's Change on Human Evolution explores the opportunities of using scientific research to improve our understanding of how climate may have helped shape our species. Improved climate records for specific regions will be required before it is possible to evaluate how critical resources for hominins, especially water and vegetation, would have been distributed on the landscape during key intervals of hominin history. Existing records contain substantial temporal gaps. The book's initiatives are presented in two major research themes: first, determining the impacts of climate change and climate variability on human evolution and dispersal; and second, integrating climate modeling, environmental records, and biotic responses. Understanding Climate's Change on Human Evolution suggests a new scientific program for international climate and human evolution studies that involve an exploration initiative to locate new fossil sites and to broaden the geographic and temporal sampling of the fossil and archeological record; a comprehensive and integrative scientific drilling program in lakes, lake bed outcrops, and ocean basins surrounding the regions where hominins evolved and a major investment in climate modeling experiments for key time intervals and regions that are critical to understanding human evolution.
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BiodiversityJanuary 2009
In the Light of Evolution
Volume II: Biodiversity and Extinction
by John C. Avise, Stephen P. Hubbell, and Francisco J. Ayala, Editors, National Research Council
The current extinction crisis is of human making, and any favorable resolution of that biodiversity crisis--among the most dire in the 4-billion-year history of Earth--will have to be initiated by mankind. Little time remains for the public, corporations, and governments to awaken to the magnitude of what is at stake. This book aims to assist that critical educational mission, synthesizing recent scientific information and ideas about threats to biodiversity in the past, present, and projected future. This is the second volume from the In the Light of Evolution series, based on a series of Arthur M. Sackler colloquia, and designed to promote the evolutionary sciences. Each installment explores evolutionary perspectives on a particular biological topic that is scientifically intriguing but also has special relevance to contemporary societal issues or challenges. Individually and collectively, the ILE series aims to interpret phenomena in various areas of biology through the lens of evolution, address some of the most intellectually engaging as well as pragmatically important societal issues of our times, and foster a greater appreciation of evolutionary biology as a consolidating foundation for the life sciences.
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ChemistryApril 2023Biodiversity
Concepts, Crises, and Conservation
by Vir Singh
The variety of life the Planet Earth flowers with is a wonderful culmination of natural evolution. All natural ecosystems and cultivated lands blossoming with biodiversity set out the preconditions for a healthy, vibrant, and sustainable biosphere. Authored by an eminent academician, expert, and celebrated author, the book on Biodiversity: Concepts, Crises and Conservation embraces all dimensions of the biological diversity we need to conceive, understand, recognize, discover, and practically protect, conserve, and augment for posterity, sustainability, and happiness. Emerging concepts, ongoing crises, and potential conservation tactics of biodiversity have been ecstatically explained. The book is composed in a textbook flavor setting out mental agility exercises for students belonging to multiple disciplines and comes out with renewed, enriched, and innovation-disrupting academic content. Apart from the students and their teachers in the life sciences/ biological sciences, environmental sciences, agricultural sciences, geography, and natural resource management streams, the book will also serve as a useful guide for planners, policy-makers, environmental activists, government, and non-government organizations. FEATURES Provides diverse concepts, crises, and conservation strategies Elaborates on a wide range of biodiversity values · Presents magnificent scenarios of agrobiodiversity (biodiversity in agriculture), pedo-biodiversity (biodiversity in soils), biodiversity in the chemosynthesis-based communities Examines biodiversity-climate links Discusses the vital biodiversity-sustainability relationships · Elucidates biodiversity-based sustainability principles and operationalization techniques
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BiodiversityJanuary 2012Agri-Horticultural Biodiverstiy of Temperate and Cold Arid Regions
by Nazir Ahmad Zeerak & Shafiq A. Wani
The book describes the existing Plant Biodiversity of Agri-horticultural importance of temperate (Kashmir) and cold arid (Ladakh) Himalayan regions of India. The diversity presented is based on actual survey conducted by the authors across the regions over the last several year. The contents of the book include the available varietal wealth, both in wild as well cultivated forms, existing within all major economic plant groups of the regions viz Cereals, Pulses, Oilseeds, Spice and Condiments, Forages, Vegetables, Ornamentals, Fruits and Nuts and Underutilized Plants. Technical, English and Kashmiri/Ladakhi names of plants of economic importance are given along with brief notes on their status and utility. The work will be helpful to researchers and students working in the fields of Plant Biodiversity, Plant Breeding, Horticulture and Economic Botany. It can specifically serve as a ready reference book for researchers and planners working on management and conservation of plant genetic resources of Indian Himalayan regions.
