This book provides a complete overview of an alpine ecosystem, based on the long-term research conducted at the Niwot Ridge LTER. The alpine ecosystem features conditions near the limits of biological existence, and is a useful laboratory for asking more general ecological questions, because it offers large environmental change over relatively short distances. Factors such as macroclimate, microclimate, soil conditions, biota, and various biological factors change on differing scales, allowing insight into the relative contributions of the different factors on ecological outcomes.

As climate change continues to dominate the international environmental agenda, phenology - the study of the timing of recurring biological events - has received increasing research attention, leading to an emerging consensus that phenology can be viewed as an early warning system' for climate change impact. A multidisciplinary science involving many branches of ecology, geography and remote sensing, phenology to date has lacked a coherent methodological text. This new synthesis, including contributions from many of the world's leading phenologists, therefore fills a critical gap in the current biological literature. Providing critiques of current methods, as well as detailing novel and emerging methodologies, the book, with its extensive suite of references, provides readers with an understanding of both the theoretical basis and the potential applications required to adopt and adapt new analytical and design methods. An invaluable source book for researchers and students in ecology and climate change science, the book also provides a useful reference for practitioners in a range of sectors, including human health, fisheries, forestry, agriculture and natural resource management.

This title discusses various effects of heavy metal exposure to legumes as well as the bioremediation potential of rhizosphere microbes. Availability of heavy metals, their uptake and the effects of metals on various signaling pathways within legumes are presented. Furthermore, the effects of heavy metals to nitrogen fixing microorganisms and how microsymbionts can overcome metal stress is presented in detail. The role of nitrogen fixers in decontamination of heavy metal toxicity, mycoremediation of metal contaminated soils, microbially mediated transformation of heavy metals and action of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria and nitrogen fixers together in detoxifying heavy metals are broadly explained. This volume is a useful tool for scientists, policy makers and progressive legume growers intending to develop safe and healthy legumes for future generations.

Environmental Policy is an increasingly important subject as we enter an era where environmental issues are affecting all walks of life. This informative Research Review provides a guide through the behavioral and political foundations of environmental economic policy. It discusses articles which give an in-depth view of the current economic discipline whilst also looking at research from other social and behavioral sciences. Students and scholars as well as environmental policy makers will find this an essential tool to navigate the political and behavioural issues that we have to understand in order to resolve some of the biggest political issues of our time.

Biodesign in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Deep Green investigates the potential of nature based technology for shaping the evolution of contemporary architecture and design. It takes on the now pervasive topic of design intelligence, extending its definition to encompass both biological and digital realms. As in their first title, Systemic Architecture: Operating Manual for the Self Organizing City, the authors engage the topic through the specific lens of their innovative design practice, ecoLogicStudio and their research at the University of Innsbruck and at the Bartlett, UCL. Part One of the book, entitled PhotoSynthetica (TM), illustrates design solutions that engage the urban microbiome and seek to achieve an immediate impact, while Part Two, entitled Deep Green, includes synthetic landscapes and operates within a much larger spatio-temporal frame, going beyond human perception and life span to envision design as a geographical and geological force. In the age of catastrophic climate change, such perceptual expansion helps to clarify that change cannot simply be stopped or rolled back. We must instead establish more positive dynamics of change within the living world. To this end, this book proposes to engage with design and architecture as an extended cognitive interface, a sentient being that is co-evolutionary and symbiotic with the living planet, contributing to its beauty and to our continued enjoyment of it.

This book offers a selection of the best articles presented at the CUPUM (Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management) Conference, held in the second week of July 2017 at the University of South Australia in Adelaide. It provides a state-of-the-art overview of the availability and application of planning support systems (PSS) in the context of smart cities, big data, and urban futures. Rapid advances in computing, information, communication and web-based technologies are reaching into all facets of urban life, creating new and exciting urban futures. With the universal adoption of networked computing technologies, data generation is now so massive and all pervasive in society that it offers unprecedented technological solutions for planning and managing urban futures. These technologies are essential to effective urban planning and urban management in an increasingly challenging world, with socially disruptive changes, more complex and sophisticated urban lives and the need for resilience to deal with the possibility of adverse future environmental events and climate change. The book discusses examples of these technologies which encompass, inter alia: 'smart urban futures', where cities with myriad sensors are networked with communication technologies that enable the city planners to monitor well-being and be responsive to citizens' needs to allow dynamic management in real-time; PSS that encompass new hardware, develop new indicators, applications and innovative ways of facilitating public and community involvement in the management and planning of urban areas; and urban modelling that draws on theory and the richness of data from the growing range of urban sensing and communication technologies to build a better understanding of urban dynamics, trends and 'what-if' scenario investigations, and to provide better tools for planning and policymaking.

We are in the second decade of modem environmental law. By some indicators this body of regulation has matured greatly. We can point to statutes and codes at the federal, state, and local levels which address almost every conceivable form of pollution and environmental insult. Yet, despite the existence of this large body of law, despite considerable expenditures on enforcement, and despite the energetic efforts of people sympathetic to environmental objectives, violations are numerous. Serious pollution problems are commonplace. Love Canal, the Valley of the Drums, Times Beach, and Stringfellow Acid Pits epitomize the national environmental quality challenge. Daily, a major illegal disposal of haz ardous waste is recorded; a new mismanaged dump site is discovered; a toxic substance is found in our drinking water; or a failure to meet a water or air quality standard is identified. Many of these violations involve American business. Failures to comply are of several types. A small businessman in Pennsylvania mistakenly allows a spillover of a pollutant into a protected stream. An industrialist in the Midwest adds to his fortune by illegally dumping dangerous chemicals. A series of errors by several firms, some of which no longer exist, combine to create a health threatening conflagration on the West Coast. An automobile company interprets one of the almost innumerable air pollution rules differently from government: It produces a car which the government says fails to comply with the Clean Air Act."

Debate about how best to ensure the preservation of agricultural biodiversity is caught in a counter-productive polemic between proponents and critics of market-based instruments and agricultural modernisation. This book argues that neither position does justice to the range of strategies that farmers use to manage agrobiodiversity and other livelihood assets as they adapt to changing social, economic, and environmental circumstances. Chapters explore relationships between the exploitation and conservation of agricultural biodiversity and the livelihoods of agricultural communities, and evaluate the capacity of national and multilateral institutions and policy settings to support the protection and capture by communities of agrobiodiversity values. The place of ecosystem services in valuing biodiversity in the marketplace is emphasized. A number of authors assess the potential for market-based instruments and initiatives to encourage the protection of biodiversity, while others compare agrobiodiversity/community relationships, and the effectiveness of instruments designed to enhance these, across international boundaries. The book takes a comparative approach, drawing on empirical case studies from across the developed and developing worlds. In doing so, the book does not simply point to similarities and differences in the experience of rural communities. It also shows how global trade and multilateral institutions bring these otherwise disparate communities together in networks that exploit and/or preserve agrobiodiversity and other resources.

This book presents the latest technologies and operational methods available to support sustainable freight transport practices. It highlights market requirements, cutting edge applications, and case studies from innovators in the logistics services industry. The goal is to help bridge the gap between advanced computational techniques and complex applied problems such as those in sustainable transport and logistics operations. Freight transport has traditionally focused on costs and service levels. However, it is no longer possible or socially responsible to neglect the environmental, social, climate, and energy implications of the freight moving globally. This book places sustainability at the forefront of the freight transport agenda. Sustainable Freight Transport: Theory, Models and Case Studies is divided into three sections. Section I focuses on green freight transport policies for air and marine ports. Section II is devoted to using modelling techniques and optimization for achieving sustainable freight transport, while Section III examines policies to support sustainable freight transport practices in urban areas. The contributions come from authors from different areas, backgrounds, and countries to cover a global perspective.

This book explores how individuals and communities perceive and understand climate change using their observations of change in the world around them. Because processes of climatic change operate at spatial and temporal scales that differ from those of everyday practice, the phenomenon can be difficult to understand. However, flora and fauna, which are important natural and cultural resources for human communities, do respond to the pressures of environmental change. Humans, in turn, observe and adapt to those responses, even when they may not understand their causes. Much of the discussion about human experiences of our changing climate centers on disasters and extreme events, but we argue that a focus on the everyday, on the microexperiences of change, has the advantage of revealing how people see, feel, and make sense of climate change in their own lives. The chapters of this book are drawn from Asia, Europe, Africa, and South and North America. They use ethnographic inquiry to understand local knowledge and perceptions of climate change and the social and ecological changes inextricably intertwined with it. Together, they illustrate the complex process of coming to know climate change, show some of the many ways that climate change and our responses to it inflict violence, and point to promising avenues for moving toward just and authentic collaborative responses.

The field of insect nutritional ecology has been defined by how insects deal with nutritional and non-nutritional compounds, and how these compounds influence their biology in evolutionary time. In contrast, Insect Bioecology and Nutrition for Integrated Pest Management presents these entomological concepts within the framework of integrated pest management (IPM). It specifically addresses bioecology and insect nutrition in modern agriculture. Written for graduate students and professionals in entomology, this book covers neotropical information in three sections:

• General Aspects: Basic bioecology and insect nutrition; artificial diets; insect/plant interactions; insect symbionts; the interface of chemical ecology with the food; and insect cannibalism
• Specific Aspects: Specific feeding guilds of insects including ants, social bees, leaf chewers, seed suckers, seed chewers, root feeders, gall makers, detritivorous feeders, pests of storage grains, fruit flies, aphids, endo- and ectoparasitoids, predators, crisopids, and hematophagous insects
• Applied Aspects: Host plant resistance and the design of IPM programs in the context of insect bioecology and nutrition

Much of the research on which these chapters were written was done in Brazil and based on its neotropical fauna. The complexity and diversity of the neotropics provides enough data that readers from all zoogeographical regions can readily translate the information in this book to their specific conditions. The book s value as an entry point for further research is enhanced by the inclusion of approximately 4,000 references.

Growing concerns about the impacts of climate change and dependence on fossil fuels have intensified interest in bioenergy from sugar cane and other crops, highlighting important links between energy, environment and development goals. Sub-Saharan Africa is characterized by severe poverty; the possibility to exploit a renewable energy resource offers valuable avenues for sustainable development and could support a more dynamic and competitive economy. This book describes how the bioenergy expansion will improve rural livelihoods, reduce costly energy imports, reduce GHG emissions, and offer new development paths.

Drawing on international experience, it is shown that harnessing this potential will require significant increases in investment, technology transfer, and international cooperation. Because of its high efficiency, the authors argue that sugar cane should be viewed as a global resource for sustainable development and should command much greater focus and concerted policy action. Through an analysis of the agronomy, land suitability and industrial processing of sugar cane and its co-products, along with an assessment of the energy, economic and environmental implications, this volume demonstrates that sugar cane offers a competitive and environmentally beneficial resource for Africa's economic development and energy security.

With fourty-four authors representing thirty organisations in sixteen countries, the book offers a truly international and interdisciplinary perspective by combining technical and economic principles with social, political and environmental assessment and policy analysis.

Part of a series which covers advances and progress in the field of human ecology, this volume discusses such topics as: the components of socioecological organization; social entropy theory; and, minimum data for comparative human ecological studies; among other topics.

This book argues that the strength of our dynamic society is a market economy, which functions well only if positive and constructive marketing practices are performed. It offers innovative alternatives for achieving economic progress and outlines strategies to create conditions for equal opportunity. The American economy has transitioned from a "survival of the fittest" to "survival of the fattest" mentality, focusing less on the people and quality of life and more on the amount of dollars to be gained. The divide between the 1% and 99% leaves lower-income individuals at a significant disadvantage and threatens both economic and societal advancement. The author offers clear, intelligible solutions to accomplish this such as eliminating discrimination, providing opportunities for new ideas and industries, enhancing quality of life, and encouraging more competition so that radical innovations can emerge and make a positive difference. This book will appeal to leaders and researchers across marketing, economics, management, and accounting looking for answers on how to get the American economy back on track.

This volume highlights the problems of the environment and industry in Ukraine from 1985 to 1990. The main theme of the book is the close link between the damage to nature and the growth of political activism and patriotism in Ukraine.

The important yet contradictory role of innovation in society calls for a philosophy of innovation. Critically exploring innovation in relation to values, the economy and social change, Rafael Ziegler proposes a collaborative theory and practice of innovation that aims to liberate possibilities for our common futures. Following cues from the arts and drawing on the innovation literature across the social sciences, this book exposes pro-innovation bias and the gospel of disruptive change. Not only entrepreneurs but also civic networks and tinkerers are discussed as sources of innovation, and social change as a balancing act of innovation, exnovation and restoration. The discussion of capabilitarian, communitarian, liberal, republican and socialist ideas of justice and innovation leads Ziegler to a transformative proposal: 'enough innovation' based on enough for all and with respect for all. This is a thought-provoking read for scholars working on sustainability-transformation, democratic, responsible and social innovation, and philosophy of economics.

Because marine governance in most countries is sectoral, maritime policies are frequently fragmented, reactive, and even contradictory, meaning that marine resources are underutilized and poorly protected. To avoid these problems, the concept of integrated national maritime policy (INMP) has been developed. This book examines this concept, analysing its current application in four countries Australia, Canada, UK and USA whilst discussing at length how it might be applied to Saudi Arabia.

Based on extensive fieldwork carried out in Saudi Arabia including interviews with officials in government departments with maritime responsibilities, and a survey administered to 230 stakeholders the book offers a unique insight into INMP in the Kingdom. The book provides a practical template for developing the political will and civil constituency in Saudi Arabia necessary for the introduction of INMP. In setting out in detail its benefits, this book could help build the momentum in Saudi Arabia required to implement the concept as well as attract other countries to do the same. A significant contribution to the growing literature on ocean governance, this book will be of great importance to policy makers and scholars of Middle Eastern studies, marine governance and comparative politics.

This book examines the social dimension of sustainability in the wine industry. Social sustainability focuses on people and communities. Contributors explore topics such as philanthropy, poverty, natural disasters, communication, and wine tourism from a global perspective using research and case studies in developed and developing countries. This edited book provides researchers, academics, practitioners and students with varied perspectives of social sustainability in the global wine industry.

In dealing with the IUCN, one must bear in mind that there never has been, and undoubtedly never will be, any other organization even remotely resembling it. Its peculiarities, subtleties and complexities are sometimes mind-boggling (Nicholson 1990 in Holdgate 1999: ix). Green Web-II investigates IUCN's role in global biodiversity conservation policy as well as in national program development in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. It explores how nature protection priorities and approaches are promoted or addressed by IUCN, an international organization, and how environment conservation policies are created and maintained in states with different capacities of South Asia. It also evaluates IUCN's competency in bio-diversity, climate change, nature conservation and environmental policy formulation at global, regional and country level. This study is the first detailed scholarly study on the IUCN as an organization as well as on its efforts in biodiversity conservation. This book adds to our knowledge, firstly by contributing to a small but growing body of work on the sociology of international organizations. IOs, especially International Governmental Organizations (IGOs), have long been the subject of mostly political science. Secondly, it applies a fuller sociological imagination to the study of IOs by critically exploring one of the largest and most active nature conservation organizations in the world. Thirdly, it also explores how the IUCN actually goes about building protectoral programs with individual member nations. Additionally, the book explores the recent development of the green economy (GE) concepts into IUCN's program planning today. The green economy initiative applies a people-first approach. Although the concept is relatively new, this research explores the theoretical development of a green economy and illustrates how this theory is applied in IUCN's program planning to program implementation. Technical topics discussed in the book include: Motivation of Environment Conservation - How personal efforts make difference Role of International Environment Conservation Organizations Political Economy of Organizations, Network theory, Institutional theory, Stakeholder theory, Governance theory Governance performances and Competitiveness Popularity indices Knowledge creation and diffusion Conservation commons

Integrated assessment modelling is an active and rapidly developing field, triggered by the debate on climate change and the move towards the goal of sustainable development. This book provides an integrated approach to modelling, using a transdisciplinary approach. The author summarizes the main issues involved in the changing global system, and gives an overview of the emerging field of integrated assessment. He then presents a general discussion of the methodological principles of a multidisciplinary integrated modelling approach. Existing tools are examined and new methodological approaches are applied to various aspects of the problem of global change. The case studies focus on optimizing climate change mitigating policies, the allocation of emission rights and the the adaptive behaviour of social and biological agents. Special attention is given to the role of uncertainty, especially the subjective interpretation of uncertainties (world views), and the role of adaptive multi-agent modelling. The book concludes with a discussion on future uses of integrated assessment modelling in the global environment. Modelling Global Change will be vital to economists and scientists who have an interest in integrated assessment modelling, global modelling and decision support, environmental and ecological economists and those interested in sustainable development.

Ecological Significance of Riparian Ecosystems: Challenges and Management Strategies examines the current issues related to river ecosystems, their environmental importance, pollution issues and potential management strategies. The book is divided into 4 key themes: Basics of river ecosystem, Natural phenomenon of river ecosystem, Human-induced problems of river ecosystem, and Management measures for the river ecosystem. Through these four themes, the contributors present both practical and theoretical aspects of river ecosystem in changing climate. An emphasis has been made on the recent research of climate change and its impact on the river ecosystem. River ecosystems have tremendous potential to store CO2, however, with changing climatic and anthropogenic activities, these habitats are under threat, and river ecosystems are losing the very vital service of storing carbon. Unlike well documented terrestrial biodiversity, the biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems is still unrecognized to some extent.

This book provides a richly illustrated study of sustainability, innovation and entrepreneurship. Specifically, it examines the ways in which governmental policies and practices modify the social conditions necessary to promote innovation in businesses and by so doing impact economic development. Exploring topics such as green innovation, green customer capital, smart cities, green entrepreneurship and environmental responsibility, this book presents some of the most current research and best practices in the field. In today's global economy, strategies, policies and practices that address the negative effects of human activity on the environment need to be incorporated into the business framework in order for companies to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Around the world, such changes have already resulted in a broad range of products, production methods and technical features that ensure environmental protection. At the same time, the mass media's communication of a deteriorating earth have motivated a growing number of citizens in both developed and developing nations to modify their consumption habits towards more ecological products. Consequently, an increasing number of companies are reacting to these changes in business and legal frameworks and consumer preferences by investing in new forms of green innovation or "eco-innovation" designed to promote both environmental and corporate sustainability. For example, Hewlett-Packard eliminated lead from its welding process; Wal-Mart reduced the emissions of their suppliers; and Cisco, Dell and IBM are investing in smart grids. This volume showcases pioneering efforts among companies, citizens, and government agencies that are moving from theory to practice by placing sustainability at the core of their development strategies.

Forest inventories throughout the world have evolved gradually over time. The content as well as the concepts and de?nitions employed are constantly adapted to the users' needs. Advanced inventory systems have been established in many countries within Europe, as well as outside Europe, as a result of development work spanning several decades, in some cases more than 100 years. With continuously increasing international agreements and commitments, the need for information has also grown drastically, and reporting requests have become more frequent and the content of the reports wider. Some of the agreements made at the international level have direct impacts on national economies and international decisions, e. g. , the Kyoto Protocol. Thus it is of utmost importance that the forest information supplied is collected and analysed using sound scienti?c principles and that the information from different countries is comparable. European National Forest Inventory (NFI) teams gathered in Vienna in 2003 to discuss the new challenges and the measures needed to get data users to take full advantage of existing NFIs. As a result, the European National Forest Inventory Network (ENFIN), a network of NFIs, was established. The ENFIN members decided to apply for funding for meetings and collaborative activities. COST- European Cooperation in Science and Technology - provided the necessary ?n- cial means for the realization of the program.

This book presents a comprehensive typology and a comprehensible description of spatiotemporal models used in population dynamics. The main types included are: reaction-diffusion systems, patch models, matapopulation approaches, host parasitoid models, cellular automata (interacting particle systems), tessellations and distance models. The models are introduced through examples and with informative verbal explanations to help understanding. Some of the cellular automation examples are models not yet published elsewhere. Possible extensions of certain model types are suggested.

The first edition of the widely praised Marine Protected Areas for Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises, published in 2005, led to numerous new marine protected area proposals and a number of notable conservation successes around the world.

In this completely revised and expanded second edition, new developments in the Mediterranean, Caribbean and Pacific are described, as well as future directions for High Seas protection. New sections show how to design and manage Marine Protected Areas (MPA's) in an ever noisier ocean subject to climate change, increased shipping and hydrocarbon exploration. The process of protected area creation for cetaceans has been accelerated and more than 200 exciting new places are detailed in this edition. This book provides a route map for MPA managers, as well as countries, to meet the ambitious targets for highly protected MPA networks by 2012 and 2020.

Marine Protected Areas for Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises is a key conservation tool and a springboard for worldwide change in human attitudes toward the world ocean where all life originated and where the majority of life on Earth still lives.