This book begins with an overview of current thinking on bioavailability, its definition, cutting edge research in speciation and advancement in tools for assessing chemical bioavailability in the terrestrial environment. The second section of the book focuses on the role of chemical speciation in bioavailability. Section three addresses bioavailability and ecotoxicity of contaminants and leads into the next section on bioavailability of nutrients and agrichemicals. Subsequent sections provide an overview of tools currently being used and new cutting edge techniques to assess contaminant bioavailability. The last section of the book builds on previous sections in relating bioavailability to risk assessment and how this could be used for managing risks associated with contaminated land.
* Provides the latest information on developing concepts and definitions of bioavailability
* Includes a discussion of bioavailability and ecotoxicity of contaminants and bioavailability of nutrients and agrichemicals for applications in agriculture
* Analysizes tools for assessing bioavailability and the role of bioavailability in risk assessment and remediation

The theory of Memory Evolutive Systems represents a mathematical model for natural open self-organizing systems, such as biological, sociological or neural systems. In these systems, the dynamics are modulated by the cooperative and/or competitive interactions between the global system and a net of internal Centers of Regulation (CR) wich a differential access to a central heirarchical Memory.
The MES proposes a mathematical model for autonomous evolutionary systems and is based on the Category Theory of mathematics. It provides a framework to study and possibly simulate the structre of "living systems" and their dynamic behavior. MES explores what characterizes a complex evolutionary system, what distinguishes it from inanimate physical systems, its functioning and evolution in time, from its birth to its death.
The behavior of this type of system depends heavily on its former experiences, and a model representing the system over a period of time, could anticipate later behavior and perhaps even predict some evolutionary alternatives.
The role of the MES model will be two-fold: theoretical, for a comprehension of a fundamental nature and practical, for applications in biology, medicine, sociology, ecology, economy, meteorology, and other sciences.
Key Features:
*Comprehensive and comprehensible coverage of Memory Evolutive System
*Written by the developers of the Memory Evolutive Systems
*Designed to explore the common language between sciences

Grazing animals need to be managed in order to accommodate desired results in terms of animal, plant, land and economic responses. Grazing Management, 2nd Edition integrates principles and management techniques that apply to all grazing lands and to all grazing animals. This comprehensive volume provides authoritative review on a wide range of relevant topics: animal nutrition and nutritional balance when fed on different sorts of grazing lands; seasonal variation and limits placed on ecosystems by grazing; the effects of grazing on grazing lands; the various sorts of grazing behaviors; selecting plants and managing grazing lands, as well as many other important topics bearing upon the methods, practises and procedures for properly managing grazing lands and animals.
* Animal nutrition and nutritional balance when fed on different sorts of grazing lands
* Seasonal variation and limits placed on ecosystems by grazing
* The effects of grazing on grazing lands
* The various sorts of grazing behaviours
* Selecting plants and managing grazing lands

Vertisols, one of the eleven established soil orders, are clay soils with unusual and interesting properties. They cover more than 350 million hectares of land in the world and in tropical Africa alone there are over 100 million hectares. Because of their very small particle size and high surface area, these soils have higher physical and chemical reactivity than other soils. Their interaction with agrochemicals/industrial wastes, has been, increasingly, the subject of research especially in the last two decades. Vertisols create special problems when used for engineering purposes.

This book is intended to provide comprehensive and state-of-the-art information about Vertisols worldwide. Special attention is given to the use and management of soils such as fertilizer use, crop selection, soil tillage, water restriction on land including irrigation, and soil erosion. A special chapter has been added to deal with geotechnical engineering of Vertisols.

Vertisols have great potential for agricultural production but many, especially in the developing world, are underutilized due to a lack of understanding regarding their behaviour and management.

This book is written by leading scientists worldwide. It is expected that this monograph will be of great use to soil scientists and agronomists, graduate and senior graduate students.

Improvement of their management may solve the current food deficiency in the world.

Wood Chemistry, Fundamentals and Applications, Second Edition, examines the basic principles of wood chemistry and its potential applications to pulping and papermaking, wood and wood waste utilization, pulping by-products for production of chemicals and energy, and biomass conversion.

No other book on natural rubber covers such a broad spectrum of subjects as this unique publication. Subjects related to the biology, cultivation and technology of natural rubber are dealt with, along with such important aspects as its history, production and processing, through to its sophisticated engineering applications. Every chapter follows a monograph style of presentation, with comprehensive citations and depth of treatment. Contributions from highly experienced, and still active, renowned scientists reflect the truly international effort to the development of this commodity. In addition to the wealth of information presented, most of the chapters contain elaborate lists of earlier contributions in the respective fields; one chapter each has been included on rubber wood, ancillary products and guayule.

"Brassica" crop species and their allies ("Raphanus, Sinapis, Eruca, " etc.) are important sources of edible roots, stems, leaves, buds and inflorescences, as well as of edible or industrial oils, condiments and forage. Many well known names of plants or plant products, such as kale, cabbage, brocolli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohl-rabi, Chinese cabbage, turnip, rape, rutabaga, swede, colza or rapeseed, canola, mustard, rocket, etc. are directly associated to this botanical group.
The scientific interest for this botanical group has run parallel to its economical importance, and research achievements in our days would have certainly appeared unimaginable only two decades ago. As the end of the millenium approaches, entirely new fields (transformation, somatic fusion, etc.) have been added to the classical ones. Thus, nobody can doubt the opportuneness of this book, which combines and presents both the basic and applied biological aspects of the Brassica species.

This book provides a clear picture of the use of applied mathematics as a tool for improving the accuracy of agricultural research. For decades, statistics has been regarded as the fundamental tool of the scientific method. With new breakthroughs in computers and computer software, it has become feasible and necessary to improve the traditional approach in agricultural research by including additional mathematical modeling procedures.

The difficulty with the use of mathematics for agricultural scientists is that most courses in applied mathematics have been designed for engineering students. This publication is written by a professional in animal science targeting professionals in the biological, namely agricultural and animal scientists and graduate students in agricultural and animal sciences. The only prerequisite for the reader to understand the topics of this book is an introduction to college algebra, calculus and statistics. This is a manual of procedures for the mathematical modeling of agricultural systems and for the design and analyses of experimental data and experimental tests. It is a step-by-step guide for mathematical modeling of agricultural systems, starting with the statement of the research problem and up to implementing the project and running system experiments.

The value of multi-disciplinary research lies in the exchange of ideas and methods across the traditional boundaries between areas of study. It could be argued that many of the advances in science and engineering take place because the ideas, methods and the tools of thought from one discipline become re-applied in another.
The topic of "the visual" has become increasingly important as advances in technology have led to multi-media and multi-modal representations, and extended the range and scope of visual representation and interpretation in our lives. Under this broad heading there are many different perspectives and approaches, from across the entire spectrum of human knolwedge and activity.
The editors and authors of this book aim to break down cross-disciplinary barriers, by bringing together people working in a wide variety of disciplines where visual representations and interpretations are exploited. Contributions come from researchers actively investigating visual representations and interpretations in a wide variety of areas, including art history, biology, clinical science, cognitive science, computer science, design, engineering, linguistics, mathematics, philosophy, physics, psychology, and sociology.
The book provides a forum for wide-ranging and multi-disciplinary contributions on visual representations and interpretations.
* Contributors include researchers actively investigating visual representations and interpretations
* Content spans a wide variety of areas including but not limited to biology, sociology, and computer science
* Discusses how new technology has affected "the visual" representation of information

This work is an interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, widely-calibrated checklist for EU sustainable landscape management, which is intended to serve both as an analytical tool of reference as well as a design tool for local, regional and European policy making on sustainable developments.

The tool has been developed out of a multidisciplinary study in EU countries which was designed to find out what would be the overall requirements for a sustainable management of the landscape of rural areas. Could these stipulations be brought together in a comprehensive system with sufficient consistency to comply with the notion that the landscape is an entity, which should be managed accordingly? Cooperation of the scientific experts with those involved in the practical side, and alternating plenary reporting with subgroup visits to farms in the rural landscapes of the participants' countries, allowed for the development of some truly interdisciplinary teamwork. Organic agriculture has been included to find out how organic agriculture contributes to the rural landscape.

Dr. Harris has played a major role in the development of this organism as a model system. Her previous version of the "Chlamydomonas Sourcebook" which published in 1989, has been a classic in the field and is considered required reading for anyone working with this organism. This latest edition has been expanded to include three volumes providing molecular techniques, analysis of the recently sequenced genome, and reviews of the current status of the diverse fields in which Chlamydomonas is used as a model organism. Methods for Chlamydomonas research and best practices for applications in research, including methods for culture, preservation of cultures, preparation of media, lists of inhibitors and other additives to culture media, are included. Additions to this volume also include help with common laboratory problems such as contamination, student demonstrations, and properties of particular strains and mutants.
"This volume is part of a 3-Volume Set (ISBN: 978-0-12-370873-1) and is also sold individually."
* Expanded revision of gold standard reference
* Includes latest advances in research, including completion of the genome
* Provides broad perspective with studies in cell and molecular biology, genetics, plant physiology and related fields
* Available as part of a 3-Volume Set or sold individually

Volume 3 reviews virtually everything that is known about cell motility and behavior in Chlamydomonas. World experts in each area focus on mitosis and cytokinesis; flagellar assembly and motility; intraflagellar transport; dynein; the structure and function of centrioles/basal bodies and their associated structures; ciliary signaling; mating and gamete fusion; photobehaviors; and Chlamydomonas as a model for understanding human diseases of the cilium. The volume is richly illustrated and is supplemented by a website containing both classic and previously unpublished videos of cell motility in Chlamydomonas. A unique and especially valuable feature is the inclusion of tables listing the known proteins (with NCBI accession numbers) for each structure discussed, and the known mutations that affect each structure and process. Because Chlamydomonas has been the premier model for investigating the function and behavior of cilia and flagella, the chapters summarize the current state of knowledge in these areas as it applies to all ciliated organisms. Thus, this volume will be an essential source for all students and researchers interested in cell motility.
* Essential reference to a model species for the study of mechanisms of motility in free living cells
* Includes methods for Chlamydomonas motility research.
* Companion Website with videos illustrates the marvels of the Chlamydomonas flagella in action

The increased knowledge about the structure of genomes in a number of species, about the complexity of transcriptomes, and the rapid growth in knowledge about mutant phenotypes have set off the large scale use of transgenes to answer basic biological questions, and to generate new crops and novel products. This volume includes twelve chapters, which to variable degrees describe the use of transgenic plants to explore possibilities and approaches for the modification of plant metabolism, adaptation or development. The interests of the authors range from tool development, to basic biochemical know-how about the engineering of enzymes, to exploring avenues for the modification of complex multigenic pathways, and include several examples for the engineering of specific pathways in different organs and developmental stages.
* Prologue by Paul K. Stumpf and Eric E. Conn
* Incorporates new concepts and insights in plant biochemistry and biology
* Provides a conceptual framework regarding the challenges faced in engineering pathways
* Discusses potential in engineering of metabolic end-products that are of vast economical importance, including genetic engineering of cellulose, seed storage proteins, and edible and industrial oils

Knowledge of plant names can give insight into largely forgotten beliefs. For example, the common red poppy is known as "Blind Man" due to an old superstitious belief that if the poppy were put to the eyes it would cause blindness. Many plant names derived from superstition, folk lore, or primal beliefs. Other names are purely descriptive and can serve to explain the meaning of the botanical name. For example, Beauty-Berry is the name given to the American shrub that belongs to the genus Callicarpa. Callicarpa is Greek for beautiful fruit. Still other names come from literary sources providing rich detail of the transmission of words through the ages.
Conceived as part of the author's wider interest in plant and tree lore and ethnobotanical studies, this fully revised edition of "Elsevier's Dictionary of Plant Names and Their Origins" contains over 30,000 vernacular and literary English names of plants. Wild and cultivated plants alike are identified by the botanical name. Further detail provides a brief account of the meaning of the name and detailed commentary on common usage.

* Includes color images
* Inclusive of all Latin terms with vernacular derivatives
* The most comprehensive guide for plant scientists, linguists, botanists, and historians

Microirrigation has become the fastest growing segment of the irrigation industry worldwide and has the potential to increase the quality of food supply through improved water fertilizer efficiency. This book is meant to update the text "Trickle Irrigation, Design, Operation and Management." This text offers the most current understanding of the management criteria needed to obtain maximum water and fertilization efficiency.
* Presents a detailed explanation of system design, operation, and management specific to various types of MI systems
* Analyzes proper use of irrigation technology and its effect to increase efficiency
* Provides an understanding to the basic science needed to comprehend operation and management
* Over 150 figures of designs and charts of systems including, surface drip, subsurface drip, spray/microsprinkler, and more

This two-volume work surveys the entire range of general aspects of chromosome research on plants. This first volume is divided into two sections. Section A consists of 11 chapters covering the entire range of general aspects of chromosome research in plants (including a chapter on genetic engineering in crop improvement). Section B is devoted to cytogenetics of cereals and millets (wheat, rye, barley, triticale, oats, maize, rice, pearl millet, and minor millets). More than one chapter is devoted to the same crop to give a detailed treatment of chromosome research (including molecular biology) in these crops.

The second volume deals with cytogenetics of plant materials including legumes, vegetable and oil crops, sugar crops, forage crops, fibre crops, medicinal crops and ornamentals. This work will be useful both as a reference work and a teaching aid to satisfy a wide range of workers. Every chapter has been written by an expert who has been involved in chromosome research on a particular plant material for many years.

During the 4th ESA-Congress, held in the Netherlands, 7-11 July 1996, a new perspective for agronomy emerged. Various contributions demonstrate the need for a new role of agronomy and its tools. In recent decades, agriculture has evolved from an activity with mainly productivity aims, into an issue conciliating environmental, agricultural, and economic and social objectives. Placing agriculture in such a broadened perspective requires a different agronomy, with new tools and approaches at a range of aggregration levels. It calls for detailed knowledge concerning the functioning, productivity and ecological relationships of agricultural plants and crops. In addition, it calls for a constant update and synthesis of existing and newly generated knowledge, the design of new ideotypes and genotypes, new production technologies, cropping systems, farming systems and agro-ecological land use systems.

This proceedings book presents a set of case studies illustrating the various agronomic tools that can be used for specific agronomic questions. The case studies are grouped in sections illustrating relevant subquestions in developing an agriculture with broadened objectives. The book starts with an introductory paper on the role of agronomy in research and education in Europe. The second section deals with agricultural land use, food security and environment. This is followed by a set of papers describing experimental research and modeling approaches used to design new ideotypes of crops, including physiological properties in relation to growth factors such as radiation, CO2, temperature and water.

Sustained soil fertility directly links to nutrient cycling and soil organic matter. A selected set of papers addresses the improvements in resource use efficiency and as such their contribution towards economic, environmental and agricultural objectives. The final section addresses the design of integrated and ecological arable farming systems. It highlights the role of prototyping interaction with leading-edge farmers, as promising tools to design, implement and test new farming systems.

It is hoped that the activities of the European Society for Agronomy and the "Proceedings" of its 4th Congress will stimulate to serve the new perspectives of agronomy, i.e. to adopt ecological principles, to optimally manage the use of resources and to meet social and economic objectives.

More than two billion people worldwide have currently no access to grid electricity or other efficient energy supply. This is one third of humanity and the majority live in rural areas. The productivity and health of these people are diminished by reliance on traditional fuels and technologies, with women and children suffering most. Energy is the key element to empower people and ensure water, food and fodder supply as well as rural development. Therefore access to energy should be treated as the fundamental right to everybody. Renewable energy has the potential to bring power, not only in the literal sense, to communities by transforming their prospects.
This book offers options that meet the needs of people and communities for energy and engage them in identifying and planning their own provision. It describes updated renewable energy technologies and offers strategies and guidelines for the planning and implementation of sustainable energy supply for individuals and communities.

This volume highlights aspects and approaches to questions on the development and findings of biotic indicator (systems), considering the complex problems of conversion into practice. Biotic indication in relation to sustainable land use and biodiversity is discussed from many angles.

Covered in this volume are the following topics:

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• Political requirements and statements on biotic agri-environmental indicators;
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• Requirements regarding agri-environmental indicators from a scientific as well as an applied point of view;
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• Scientific reviews and critical discussions of "state of the art" knowledge regarding several kinds of agri-environmental indicators for biodiversity and/or sustainable agriculture;
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• Original experiments on certain aspects regarding indication of biodiversity in agroecosystems;
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• Practical experience with the application and suitability of agri-environmental indicators (as far as they are already established);
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• Conceptions and models to show the economic effects and possibilities of practical application of such indicators.
  
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This book provides an introduction to the analysis of chaos and chaos theory as it relates to agricultural science. With clear explanations of chaos theory and principles, the first part of the book offers some basic facts, the fundamental terminology, and the concepts of deterministic chaos.

The second part of this volume contains rich applications of the theory as applied to real agricultural systems. Applications include a wide area such as alternate bearing in tree crops, weed control and tillage, nonlinear vibrations in agricultural tractors, and piglet pricing analysis.

Readers will find useful tools for calculating the order, rules and theory behind complex phenomena observed in arable land.

Reviving the Living: Meaning Making in Living Systems presents a novel perspective that relates to current biological knowledge and issues. Written by polymath Dr. Yair Neuman, the book challenges the dogmas that frame our understanding of living systems and presents a radical alternative approach to understanding the world around us, one that avoids the pitfalls of non-scientific perspectives such as Vitalism and Creationism. In this thought provoking and iconoclastic manuscript, Neuman follows the footsteps of Gregory Bateson, Mikhail Bakhtin, Michael Polanyi and others, to suggest that living systems are meaning making systems. The book delves into the unique processes of meaning making that characterize organisms as a unique category of nature, and offers new and fascinating insights into a variety of enigmatic biological phenomena from immune memory to hidden life (cryptobiosis). It consists of four parts divided into 18 chapters and covers topics ranging from reductionism and its pitfalls to genetics; why organisms are irreducible; immunology; meaning making in language and biology; meaning-bridging the gap between physics and semantics; context and memory; and the poetry of living. Core concepts and themes are illustrated using examples based in current science. This text would be of high interest to biologists, philosophers, cognitive scientists, psychologists, and semioticians, as well as to any reflective individual who is willing to examine the realm of the living from a novel and fascinating perspective.

Recognizing the increased interest in forest management world wide, this book addresses the current knowledge gap by defining sustainable forest management, clarifying methods by which ecological knowledge can be applied and how traditional silvicultural methods can be improved.

Sustainable forest management involves the enhancement of various aspects of forest functions such as conservation of biodiversity, conservation of soil and water resources, contribution to the global carbon cycle as well as wood production. To establish ecological and silvicultural theories to enhance these functions harmoniously, recognizing the relationship between stand structures and their functions is essential.

This volume presents target stand structures for aimed forest functions in relation to stand development stages, as well as ecological and silvicultural methods to lead and maintain them. Ecological and silvicultural strategies are discussed, both on stand and landscape levels, and from local to international levels in temperate and boreal forest zones.

During the last few years, many journal articles have shown the usefulness of the Additive Main Effects and Multiplicative Interaction (AMMI) model for analyzing regional yield trials. AMMI helps agronomists and breeders in several ways: to understand or model complex data sets, especially the interactions; to estimate yields more accurately, even with less data; to make better selections; and to design more efficient yield-trial experiments.

This book is the first systematic treatment of these topics, collecting concepts from the scattered literature and also presenting many new results. Although agricultural applications are emphasized here, AMMI is applicable to two-way data tables containing one kind of data, either replicated or not, so AMMI appears in many areas of science and technology.

The volume's first seven chapters review the agricultural and statistical principles and the final chapter indicates the difference that AMMI can make for agricultural research and world food supplies. This book will be of great value to agricultural scientists throughout the world, enabling them to learn more from their data and thereby make greater progress.

This dictionary contains approximately 60,000 entries, constituting the most extensive listing of Russian, English and Latin names of plants, trees, shrubs, fungi, and lichens. It also includes a large number of botanical and biological terms frequently occurring in Russian botanical literature.

Plant biotechnology offers important opportunities for agriculture, horticulture, and the pharmaceutical and food industry by generating transgenic varieties with altered properties. This is likely to change farming practice and reduce the potential negative impact of plant production on the environment. This volume shows the worldwide advances and potential benefits of plant genetic engineering focusing on the third millennium.
The authors discuss the production of transgenic plants resistant to biotic and abiotic stress, the improvement of plant qualities, the use of transgenic plants as bioreactors, and the use of plant genomics for genetic improvement and gene cloning. Unique to this book is the integrative point of view taken between plant genetic engineering and socioeconomic and environmental issues. Considerations of regulatory processes to release genetically modified plants, as well as the public acceptance of the transgenic plants are also discussed.
This book will be welcomed by biotechnologists, researchers and students alike working in the biological sciences. It should also prove useful to everyone dedicated to the study of the socioeconomic and environmental impact of the new technologies, while providing recent scientific information on the progress and perspectives of the production of genetically modified plants.

The work is dedicated to Professor Marc van Montagu.