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Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Applied ecology
In recent years, the increasing number of tourists traveling to
specific urban and resort destinations has caused challenges for
the effective management of tourism in these areas, with a
resulting negative impact on towns, cities, and host communities.
Such issues have included placing undue pressure on infrastructure;
destruction of the physical, economic, and socio-cultural
environment; and affecting the quality of residents' daily lives by
impacting their mobility and, in some cases, the price and rent of
resident accommodation, goods, and services. To achieve a certain
level of balance between the interests of local residents and
visitors, new regulatory measures and legislation in high tourism
areas must be discussed. Impacts, Challenges, and Policy Responses
to Overtourism is a collection of innovative research on best
practices and legislation solutions for the management of tourism
destinations suffering from overtourism, tourismophobia, or
antitourism movement issues. While highlighting topics including
overcrowding, social displacement, and tourism management, this
book is ideally designed for local government officials,
policymakers, lawmakers, researchers, entrepreneurs, industry
professionals, travel agencies, hotels, academicians, and students
seeking current innovative empirical research on
destination-management practices and application techniques.
Social insects such as ants and termites can be viewed as powerful problem-solving systems with sophisticated collective intelligence. Composed of simple interacting agents, this intelligence lies in the networks of interactions among individuals and between individuals and the environment. Social insects are also a powerful metaphor for artificial intelligence. The problems they solve - for instance, finding food, dividing labor among nestmates, building nests, and responding to external challenges - have important counterparts in engineering and computer science. This book provides a detailed look at models of social insect behaviour and how these can be applied in the design of complex systems. It draws upon a complementary blend of biology and computer science, including artificial intelligence, robotics, operations research, informationdisplay, and computer graphics. The book should appeal to a broadly interdisciplinary audience of modellers, engineers, neuroscientists, and computer scientists, as well as some biologists and ecologists.
The work builds on the results of the COMPETE Bioenergy
Competence Platform for Africa, which was supported by the European
Commission and coordinated by WIP Renewable Energies, Germany. The
five sections cover biomass production and use, biomass
technologies and markets in Africa, biomass policies,
sustainability, and financial and socio-economic issues. This
valuable work is, in effect, a single-source treatment of a key
energy sector in a part of the world which still has a lot of
unrealised potential for development.
Developing CDM Projects in the Western Balkans: Legal and
Technical Issues Compared, arises from the professional practical
experience gained by an interdisciplinary team of legal and
technical experts acting in the framework of the environmental
bilateral cooperation performed by the Italian Ministry for the
Environment, Land and Sea in the Western Balkan countries, through
the "Task Force for Central and Eastern Europe."
The added value of the book consists in the fact that it jointly
presents the real professional experience gained by a multi
sectoral team of lawyers, economists, engineers and other technical
experts, working in synergy with a shared vision.
This volume will be useful not only to those specifically
interested in the Western Balkan area, but represents a broader
example of lessons learned in the development of CDM projects.
Therefore, it may have a broad market among Government officials
and legal-economic-technical professionals dealing with climate
change issues as well as academics developing scientific research
in this field.
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Pregame
(Hardcover)
Margaret King
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R630
R569
Discovery Miles 5 690
Save R61 (10%)
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Ships in 18 - 22 working days
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Natural and constructed wetlands play a very important role within
the landscape and their ecological services are highly valuable.
Water management, including flood water retention, biomass
production, carbon sequestration, wastewater treatment and as a
biodiversity source are among the most important ecological
services of wetlands. In order to provide these services, wetlands
need to be properly evaluated, protected and maintained. This book
provides results of the latest research in wetland science around
the world. Chapters deal with such topics as the use of constructed
wetlands for treatment of various types of wastewater, use of
constructed wetlands in agroforestry, wetland hydrology and
evapotranspiration, the effect of wetlands on landscape
temperature, and chemical properties of wetland soils.
Sustainable entrepreneurship focuses on how the environment is
embedded within business practices. This book examines
collaboration strategies and initiatives for sustainable
entrepreneurs with a wide variety of partners, and demonstrates how
they can be used to increase overall performance and achieve global
competitiveness. Based on the latest empirical evidence from
emerging economies, the book's respective chapters address
sustainability issues in connection with knowledge creation and
learning, outsourcing, and the roles of universities, consultants,
and the public sector.
The book provides basic knowledge in mycorrhizal ecology,
knitted with novel conceptual frameworks and contemporary
perspectives, especially in the context of global change. In a fast
changing world wherein anthropogenic climate change, biological
invasions, deforestation, desertification, and frequent droughts
have become routine hard realities, the contents of this book urge
readers to rethink basic notions of setting and accomplishing
objectives in mycorrhizal research to make sense vis-a-vis
contemporary challenges. In this book, a global perspective of
mycorrhizal diversity and distribution is provided, followed by
some insights into the impact of various global change elements
such as climate change, plant invasion, and extreme environmental
conditions on mycorrhizas and the role of these mutualists in turn
to help their host plants to withstand such novel selection
pressures. Special attention here is given to the interesting, but
largely neglected, topics such as the role of mycorrhizas in
ecological restoration of degraded environments and mycorrhizal
status of aquatic plants. The basic idea is to unify various
topical areas in mycorrhizal science in an integrated framework.
This book can be used by the undergraduate and graduate level
students studying mycorrhizal symbioses in the context of current
ecological applications. The materials in this book will benefit
biological scientists actively involved in research on mycorrhizal
ecology and global environmental change. Besides, the contents of
the book could be of special interest to restoration ecologists and
biodiversity managers. "
This volume brings together a range of voices from across the
global environmental media community to build a comparative
international set of perspectives on 'green' film and television
production. Through this, it provides a necessary intervention in
environmental media studies that actively foregrounds media
infrastructure, production, policy, and labour - that is, the
management and practice of media production cultures. Due to its
immense sociocultural influence and economic resources, the global
screen media industry is at the forefront of raising awareness for
the political and social issues resulting from accelerated
environmental instability. However, the 21st century relationship
between screen media and the environment has another face that
demands urgent scrutiny. The advent of the digital age and the vast
electrical and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
infrastructures required to support digital production,
distribution, and archiving has resulted in the rapid expansion and
diversification of the industry's resource use, infrastructure
construction, energy dependency, and consequent waste and emissions
production. Addressing these structures is essential to alleviating
their environmental and social impact and ensuring that the
industry's rhetoric on environmental responsibility is reflected in
its practice. As a mitigating counterbalance to the above trends,
there has been a heightenedpush for sustainability measures along
various lines of industry management, policy, and practice. These
initiatives-including the cultural values they reflect, the
political economies that form their logic, the managerial and
marketing tactics that orchestrate them, and the environmental
realities of their implementation-form the central object of
inquiry for this collection.
Bioenergy Options for a Cleaner Environment describes the biomass
resource and its delivery. A panel of international experts
describe the range of conversion technologies both commercially
available and under development, and explore the technical,
environmental and socio-economic barriers and benefits of using
biomass in both developed and developing countries.
*Covers a number of perspectives, taking the reader through the
whole process from the bioenergy resource through conversion to
fuel, to policy issues.
*World class Editor and contributors
*Accessible and useful to those working in agriculture, forestry
and planning, as well as energy researchers.
In an effort to implement conservation measures farmers have used a
variety of production methods, including the use of reduced or zero
tillage and cover crops. One benefit of these production methods
has been early season weed control. The literature suggests that a
variety of mechanisms may be involved, among them the allelopathic
effects of phenolic acids. This retrospective analysis addresses
the following: How likely are phenolic acid concentrations and
environmental conditions in wheat no-till cropping systems for the
inhibition of annual broadleaf weed emergence? and Do phenolic
acids have a dominant role or are they just one component of a
larger promoter/modifier/inhibitor complex? The book covers
allelopathic plant-plant interactions, laboratory and field
experiments, and future research. It uses a journal format,
provides justifications for procedures used, if-then hypotheses,
and cons and pros so that readers can reach their own conclusions.
This book describes the main features of tropical streams and their
ecology. It covers the major physico-chemical features, important
processes such as primary production and organic-matter
transformation, as well as the main groups of consumers:
invertebrates, fishes and other vertebrates. Information on
concepts and paradigms developed in north-temperate latitudes and
how they do not match the reality of ecosystems further south is
expertly addressed. The pressing matter of conservation of tropical
streams and their biodiversity is included in alomost every
chapter, with a final chapter providing a synthesis on conservation
issues. For the first time, Tropical Streams Ecology places an
important emphasis on viewing research carried out in contributions
from international literature.
* First synthetic account of the ecology of all types of tropical
streams
* Covers all of the major tropical regions
* Detailed consideration of possible fundamental differences
between tropical and temperate stream ecosystems
* Threats faced by tropical stream ecosystems and possible
conservation actions
* Descriptions and synstheses life-histories and breeding patterns
of major aquatic consumers (fishes, invertebrates)
There are many books on biological control, but this will bring up
to date the regulatory and other specific challenges facing
biological control, and how they are being met. It is the first
book to bring together a comprehensive account of global activities
in biological control, region-by-region, amalgamating information
from introduction biological control, conservation biological
control and augmentative biological control (including commercial
use). Offers a historical summary of organisms and main strategies
used in biological control. Outlines key challenges confronting
biological control in the 21st century and describes the main
socioeconomic challenges that need to be addressed. Global
overview: summarises biological control efforts around the globe
and highlights important successes and failures, providing
suggestions to best move biological control forward in a changing
world. Biological control is a fairly specialized field but one
that is spread across a broad array of socio-environments in
agriculture and public health around the world. There is also a
significant regulatory component to a subset of this field
(classical biological control) that researchers must navigate to
achieve the aims of their research and its application. This book
will help!
David Ehrenfeld is a highly esteemed writer on ecology and conservation biology. The founding editor of The Journal of Conservation Biology and author of The Arrogance of Humanism and Beginning Again, his new book is an elegant study of the cost to human dignity and potential, of the shrinking wilderness and the ongoing degredation of the environment. He ruminates on the impacts of short-sighted governmental and economic policies, and of new technologies on human values and communities, tracing the human impacts upon the urban, agricultural and wilderness environments. Ehrenfeld has a unique, unmistakable voice as a major spokesperson for the conservation ethic and the human values implicit in environmentalism and conservation biology. This book should appeal strongly to readers of Ehrenfeld's earlier books and essays, and reach and satisfy a broad constituency on the green end of the political spectrum.
A vast amount has been written on climate change and what should be
our response. Rise and Fall of the Carbon Civilisation suggests
that most of this literature takes a far too optimistic position
regarding the potential for conventional mitigation solutions to
achieve the deep cuts in greenhouse gases necessary in the limited
time frame we have available. In addition, global environmental
problems, as exemplified by climate change, and global resource
problems - such as fossil fuel depletion or fresh water scarcity -
have largely been seen as separate issues. Further, proposals for
solution of these problems often focus at the national level, when
the problems are global. The authors argue that the various
challenges the planet faces are both serious and interconnected.
Rise and Fall of the Carbon Civilisation takes a global perspective
in its treatment of various solutions: * renewable energy; *
nuclear energy; * energy efficiency; * carbon sequestration; and *
geo-engineering. It also addresses the possibility that realistic
solutions cannot be achieved until the fundamentally ethical
question of global equity - both across nations today and also
inter-generational - is fully addressed. Such an approach will also
involve reorienting the global economy away from an emphasis on
growth and toward the direct satisfaction of basic human needs for
all the Earth's people. Rise and Fall of the Carbon Civilisation is
aimed at the many members of the public with an awareness of
climate change, but who wish to find out more about how we need to
respond to the challenge. It will also be of interest to technical
professionals, as well as postgraduate students and researchers,
from the environmental and engineering science sectors.
New Zealand and Australia are broadly considered to be countries in
which sustainability and responsibility discourses are being
pursued by governments and business alike, and in which incentives
and initiatives are helping confront and overcome
sustainability-related challenges. This book takes a closer look
behind and beyond the marketing mantras of both Australia's and New
Zealand's "clean and green" campaigns and, on the basis of
representative examples and cases, critically evaluates the status
quo. The book assesses the effectiveness of sustainability and
responsibility models with a focus on the South Pacific and argues
that the ways in which issues have been dealt with in this more
closely defined geographical region are most likely a good
indicator of how similar issues are (or soon will be) dealt with
around the globe. As such, the book offers a rich source of cases
on sustainability and responsibility in the business arena, a
critical review, and an inspirational affirmation of responsible
business practice.
This book performs a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats) analysis to examine the current food crisis and how it
relates to the use of crops for energy. It analyses how energy
crops may help solve humankind's environmental changes and
summarises the economic and practical changes of cultivating and
utilising energy crops. Two of humanity's greatest challenges are
the need for more food production as well as growing demands for
energy. Biofuel cultivation has been identified as a solution to
growing energy use, and biomass power plants offer a rare renewable
energy source that requires only basic technology. In this context,
a dilemma arises concerning whether energy crops should be used for
energy or to help remedy the food crisis. SWOT analysis allows us
to organise and weigh different pros and cons against each other in
terms of economics, job creation, environmental impacts, the
climate change agenda, and European Union (EU) directives that
promote biofuels over fossil fuels. By pursuing this approach, the
book helps researchers and decision-makers cut through the many
competing arguments in connection with this complex subject.
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