The Great Basin, a stark and beautiful desert filled with sagebrush deserts and mountain ranges, is the epicenter for public lands conflicts. Arising out of the multiple, often incompatible uses created throughout the twentieth century, these struggles reveal the tension inherent within the multiple use concept, a management philosophy that promises equitable access to the region's resources and economic gain to those who live there. Multiple use was originally conceived as a way to legitimize the historical use of public lands for grazing without precluding future uses, such as outdoor recreation, weapons development, and wildlife management. It was applied to the Great Basin to bring the region, once seen as worthless, into the national economic fold. Land managers, ranchers, mining interests, wilderness and wildlife advocates, outdoor recreationists, and even the military adopted this ideology to accommodate, promote, and sanction a multitude of activities on public lands, particularly those overseen by the Bureau of Land Management. Some of these uses are locally driven and others are nationally mandated, but all have exacted a cost from the region's human and natural environment. In The Size of the Risk, Leisl Carr Childers shows how different constituencies worked to fill the presumed ""empty space"" of the Great Basin with a variety of land-use regimes that overlapped, conflicted, and ultimately harmed the environment and the people who depended on the region for their livelihoods. She looks at the conflicts that arose from the intersection of an ever-increasing number of activities, such as nuclear testing and wild horse preservation, and how Great Basin residents have navigated these conflicts. Carr Childers's study of multiple use in the Great Basin highlights the complex interplay between the state, society, and the environment, allowing us to better understand the ongoing reality of living in the American West.

People often believe that we can overcome the profound environmental and climate crises we face by smart systems, green innovations and more recycling. However, the quest for complex technological solutions, which rely on increasingly exotic and scarce materials, makes this unlikely. A best-seller in France, this English language edition introduces readers to an alternative perspective on how we should be marshalling our resources to preserve the planet and secure our future. Bihouix skilfully goes against the grain to argue that 'high' technology will not solve global problems and envisages a different approach to build a more resilient and sustainable society.

'Without vision the people perish.' So wrote the poet William Blake. Lord Northbourne (1896-1982) was a man of exceptional and comprehensive vision, who diagnosed the sickness of modern society as stemming from the severance of its organic links with the wholeness of life. But like his better-known younger contemporary E. F. Schumacher (author of Small is Beautiful), whose work developed along very similar lines, Northbourne's occupation as a practicing organic farmer (he coined the term) was joined to a deep conviction that humanity does not live by bread alone, and that the fullness of life properly integral to human nature demands obedience to sacred law. Thus his vision of life came to embrace the interrelationship of God, humanity, and the soil as a unity presupposing a way of life in stark contrast to that of the myopic, mechanististic world he saw encroaching on all sides. And so, as it becomes increasingly evident that such a way of life stands to emperil our very future and that of the delicate ecosystem on which all life depends, it is time to re-examine the work of this pioneering thinker. In an age of specialization and fragmentation, we have much to learn from Northbourne, whose vision of what is required by a truly meaningful and sustainable society embraced religion, farming, the arts, the rural crafts, monetary form, and traditional metaphysics. Northbourne's later works, Religion in the Modern World and Looking Back on Progress, present his wider reflections on the Divine and human society, but always with the sensibility of a man who knows the soil, recalling in many ways the writings of Wendell Berry. He corresponded with Thomas Merton, as well as mountaineer and Tibetan Buddhist Marco Pallis (The Way and the Mountain), who introduced him to the school of perennialist writers. Northbourne translated Ren Gu non's The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times, described by Huston Smith as one of the truly seminal books of the twentieth century, as well as Frithjof Schuon's Light on Ancient Worlds and Titus Burckhardt's Sacred Art in East and West. He was also an accomplished flower gardener and watercolorist, and a frequent contributor to the British periodical Studies in Comparative Religion, described by Schumacher as one of the two most important journals to read. Sophia Perennis is republishing all three of Northbourne's works, a fourth volume of uncollected essays spanning agriculture and metaphysics, as well as the 23-volume Collected Writings of Ren Gu non, including The Reign of Quantity. Lord Northbourne (1896-1982) was a man of exceptional vision, who already in the 1940s diagnosed in detail the sickness of modern society as stemming from the severance of its organic links with the wholeness of life. A leading figure in the early organic farming movement, his writings profoundly affected such other pioneers as Sir Albert Howard, Rolf Gardiner, Ehrenfried Pfeiffer, and H. J. Massingham. His path led him on to a profound study of comparative religion, traditional metaphysics, and the science of symbols, which he employed in incisive observations on the character of modern society. His later writings exercised considerable influence on his younger contemporaries E. F. Schumacher and Thomas Merton, and in many ways anticipate the essays of Wendell Berry. The republication of this milestone ecological text will be followed by three volumes of Northbourne's later metaphysical and cultural writings. "A major text in the organic canon, too long out-of-print" - Philip Conford, The Origins of the Organic Movement "We have tried to conquer nature by force and by intellect. It now remains for us to try the way of love." - From the book (possibly for front cover, if not too long?)

In the past, the science of ecology has frequently been excluded from the development agenda for various reasons. Increasingly however there has been a renewed interest in finding more ecologically sustainable means of development that have required a strong foundation in ecological knowledge (for example EcoAgriculture Partnerships, EcoHealth presented at ESA, and EcoNutrition proposed by Deckelbaum et al). Each of these examples has already taken the critical first step at integrating ecological knowledge with agriculture, health and nutrition, respectively. However, this is only the first step; more attention needs to be placed not only on the role that two fields can play towards poverty alleviation, but on the role of a truly integrated, interdisciplinary approach towards development goals that is firmly grounded in ecological understanding. We feel that a critical look at what ecology can and cannot provide to the development agenda, in light of the Millennium Development goals, is timely and crucial. The introduction and the final section of the book will then integrate the lessons and principles outlined in each of the chapters. All chapter authors will be heavily encouraged to focus on how their sub-discipline in ecology impacts overall human well-being and environmental sustainability.

Most of the Earth's biosphere is characterized by low temperatures. Vast areas (>20%) of the soil ecosystem are permanently frozen or are unfrozen for only a few weeks in summer. Permafrost regions occur at high latitudes and also at high ele- tions; a significant part of the global permafrost area is represented by mountains. Permafrost soils are of global interest, since a significant increase in temperature is predicted for polar regions. Global warming will have a great impact on these soils, especially in northern regions, since they contain large amounts of organic carbon and act as carbon sinks, and a temperature increase will result in a release of carbon into the atmosphere. Additionally, the intensified release of the clima- relevant tracer gas methane represents a potential environmental harzard. Significant numbers of viable microorganisms, including bacteria, archaea, p- totrophic cyanobacteria and green algae, fungi and protozoa, are present in per- frost, and the characteristics of these microorganisms reflect the unique and extreme conditions of the permafrost environment. Remarkably, these microorg- isms have been reported to be metabolically active at subzero temperatures, even down to ?20 DegreesC.

Endophytes are commonly known as microorganisms, mainly bacteria and fungi, which live inside plant tissues without inducing symptoms. Considering the long-lived trees, endophytes have a fundamental role in preparing their hosts to face extreme weather conditions, drought, heat, cold, and pathogen and herbivore attacks. The current knowledge clearly demonstrates the importance of endophytes in shaping the plant diversity in a forest. Endophytes have an important capacity for biocontrol of forest diseases. Considering endophyte diversity and the range of various compounds and enzymes they can produce, endophytes can be used for various biotechnological applications.

While it is possible for a company achieve short-term profit, it is much more difficult to sustain corporate success over time. This book is intended for those who run, or want to run, a business whatever its size or activity, with the objective of making it sustainable so that it will be a legacy for future generations. Indeed, the real purpose of corporate strategy is not only to make quick profits, but more importantly to create an organization that will endure. There is much to learn from the experience of established firms that have existed for a hundred years or more. They provide the material for this clear and concise book, which details the main elements of corporate strategy. Recognizing that each firm is unique, the book resists the temptation of quick fixes, instead offering lessons to be pondered and used on a case-by-case basis.

This book emerges from the recognition that energy, environment and ecosystems are dynamically and inextricably connected. The energy environment system must be addressed in its totality, so that we can devise sustainable solutions that incorporate both economic growth and environmental conservation. No single clean energy source will sustain long-term energy security, and fossil fuels will remain prominent in the mix of energy sources for several decades to come. Energy solutions, therefore, must employ a broad and diverse range of approaches, including cleaner fossil fuel technologies, and an affordable transition to greener power generation employing waste, water and renewable resources. Moreover, adapting to this changing global energy picture will require a transformational shift in the ways we use and deliver energy services. The authors begin with a broad introductory chapter on sustainable energy and the environment, classifying energy resources, cataloging environmental degradations, and outlining the concepts and practices of sustainability. In Chapters Two and Three, they summarize the basic constituents of the environment, the biosphere and its natural cycles, and offer a model of Earth's planetary temperatures and the greenhouse effect. Chapters Four and Five outline conventional energy and power systems, and related environmental degradations. The next several chapters cover clean coal technologies for power generation, and discuss sustainable energy and power technologies based on both thermal and photovoltaic solar energy, along with biomass and wind. The final chapters examine in depth the management of waste and water, pollution control and energy conservation. The book introduces a unique approach to sustainability and energy conservation which emphasizes the relationships between underlying scientific principles and practical applications employed in engineering solutions. All this is offered in a form that matches the requirements of college-level environmental science and engineering courses.

This authored monograph provides in-depth analysis and methods for aligning electricity demand of manufacturing systems to VRE supply. The book broaches both long-term system changes and real-time manufacturing execution and control, and the author presents a concept with different options for improved energy flexibility including battery, compressed air and embodied energy storage. The reader will also find a detailed application procedure as well as an implementation into a simulation prototype software. The book concludes with two case studies. The target audience primarily comprises research experts in the field of green manufacturing systems.

The Sirex woodwasp, Sirex noctilio, is the most important invasive alien insect pest of Pinus plantations in the Southern Hemisphere. It now also threatens pines in North America. This book brings together the worldwide knowledge of researchers from Universities and Government institutions, as well as forest industry practitioners that have worked on the pest. Importantly, it is the first comprehensive treatment of the subject since S. noctilio was discovered outside its native range around 1900. The book covers all aspects of the biology and management of S. noctilio, including aspects of the insects' taxonomy, general life history, host-plant relationships, population dynamics, chemical ecology and symbiosis with the fungus Amylostereum areolatum. The book also contains a comprehensive synthesis of the history and current status of the pest and worldwide efforts to control it, including biological control, silviculture and quarantine.

The adverse consequences of pollution impact on terrestrial ecosystems have been under careful investigation since the beginning of the twentieth century. Several thousand case studies have documented the biotic effects occurring in contaminated areas. However, after more than a century of research, ecologists are still far from understanding the effects of pollution on biota. Only a few generalisations have been made on the basis of extensive monitoring programs and numerous expe- ments with industrial contaminants. The need to reveal general patterns in the responses of terrestrial biota to ind- trial pollution and to identify the sources of variation in these responses became obvious more than a decade ago. At about that time, our team initiated a quanti- tive research synthesis of the biotic effects caused by industrial pollution, based on 1 a meta-analysis of published data. All meta-analyses conducted so far (covering diversity and abundance of soil microfungi, diversity of vascular plants, diversity and abundance of terrestrial arthropods, and plant growth and reproduction) c- sistently showed high heterogeneity in the responses of terrestrial biota to industrial pollution. At the same time, they demonstrated an unexpected shortage of infor- tion suitable for meta-analyses, as well as a considerable influence of methodology of primary studies on the outcome of the research syntheses. To overcome the identified problems, we designed a comparative study, the results of which are reported in this book.

It is now 20 years since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, better known as the Earth Summit was held in Rio de Janeiro. An important achievement of the conference was an agreement on the Climate Change Convention which in turn led to the Kyoto Protocol. Another was agreement to 'not carry out any activities on the lands of indigenous peoples that would cause environmental degradation or that would be culturally inappropriate'. Recently we have seen an updated and revised conference in Rio where the same issues were again discussed. Since then ideas about sustainability have changed considerably and to some extent they have merged with ideas about corporate social responsibility and about governance, determined by the economic and political fortunes of the actors involved. It is now time therefore to re-examine the concept of sustainability in the aftermath of this conference and to consider what issues are now considered pertinent around the world. This book therefore takes different positions concerning different aspects of this vital topic.

New interventions are needed to reduce the burden of vector-borne diseases like malaria and denguA(c), which are among the most serious and prevalent infectious diseases worldwide. The release of genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes may offer an alternative strategy to do so while circumventing the pitfalls of current vector control methods. Current methodologies are stalling because of drug resistance, absence of vaccines and inadequate mosquito control techniques. GM mosquitoes have been developed that are resistant to pathogen infection and transmission, but the public-health and environmental consequences of releasing such insects are unclear, mainly because of a lack of knowledge of the ecology and population biology of mosquitoes.

This book is the reflection of a workshop, held in June 2002, that addressed these issues. Experts on mosquito ecology met for the first time to discuss the current knowledge of mosquito ecology with respect to GM-insect technology. Emphasis of the workshop was on evaluating how human health and natural ecosystems, including target wild-mosquito populations, will respond to the invasion of GM vectors. This volume will stimulate discussion by clearly showing the importance of vector ecology for prevention of vector-borne diseases.

In the course of evolution, a great variety of root systems have learned to overcome the many physical, biochemical and biological problems brought about by soil. This development has made them a fascinating object of scientific study.This volume gives an overview of how roots have adapted to the soil environment and which roles they play in the soil ecosystem. The text describes the form and function of roots, their temporal and spatial distribution, and their turnover rate in various ecosystems. Subsequently, a physiological background is provided for basic functions, such as carbon acquisition, water and solute movement, and for their responses to three major abiotic stresses, i.e. hard soil structure, drought and flooding. The volume concludes with the interactions of roots with other organisms of the complex soil ecosystem, including symbiosis, competition, and the function of roots as a food source.

International concern in scientific, industrial, and governmental communities over traces of xenobiotics in foods and in both abiotic and biotic environments has justified the present triumvirate of specialized publications in this field: comprehensive reviews, rapidly published research papers and progress reports, and archival documentations. These three international publications are inte grated and scheduled to provide the coherency essential for nonduplicative and current progress in a field as dynamic and complex as environmental contamina tion and toxicology. This series is reserved exclusively for the diversified litera ture on ''toxic'' chemicals in our food, our feeds, our homes, recreational and working surroundings, our domestic animals, our wildlife and ourselves. Tre mendous efforts worldwide have been mobilized to evaluate the nature, pres ence, magnitude, fate, and toxicology of the chemicals loosed upon the earth. Among the sequelae of this broad new emphasis is an undeniable need for an articulated set of authoritative publications, where one can find the latest impor tant world literature produced by these emerging areas of science together with documentation of pertinent ancillary legislation. Research directors and legislative or administrative advisers do not have the time to scan the escalating number of technical publications that may contain articles important to current responsibility. Rather, these individuals need the background provided by detailed reviews and the assurance that the latest infor mation is made available to them, all with minimal literature searching."

A practical guide to the protection and management of ecosystems against invasions by non-indigenous plant species. The authors seek to offer an accessible account of the subject and how to protect natural habitats. The majority of countries suffer from invasive plants and there are case studies from North America, Europe, Australia, South and South East Asia and the Pacific and Atlantic islands. There is also a list of invasive species, with their countries of origin and regions of introduction.

The central message of the book is that stakeholder participation in the governance of fisheries is beneficial, but confers responsibilities as well as rights: all stakeholders have a public duty to act as stewards of the marine environment. With chapters by leading scholars and participants in fisheries governance, this book recounts contemporary techniques of public participation, and develops a new concept of environmental stewardship as a form of fisheries governance.

This book discusses how systems thinking and approaches can aid management consultants in navigating the complexities of client advisory in current realities. It thereby brings to the forefront aspects of holism, flexibility and responsibility - the keys to success in today's world. Management consultants are called in to offer an independent expert view of an organisation/ a situation and are expected to address some of the most pressing problems businesses face. The client does not exist in a silo, but in a complex environment that lies at the intersection of a range of internal and external factors that are often unseen and unpredictable. The organisation itself presents an alien territory that the consultant is expected to acclimatise to within a very short period of time, and come up with solutions that "insiders" would not have been able to visualise. The book presents a range of ideas, concepts and reference cases that are relevant and topical for consultants in their daily work. It argues that systems thinking allows holism and flexibility in management consulting - while holism is about the ability to encompass the environmental and organisational complexity, flexibility is about the ability to think creatively and adopt different approaches to accommodate this complexity. With commentaries, case studies, conceptual models and perspectives that cut across multiple industries, sectors and countries, this book is a valuable resource for academics and professionals alike. The book's inner pages and its page on Springer.com contain additional comments providing perspectives of clients, industry experts and academia.

This book is divided in two parts, the first of which shows how, beyond paleontology and systematics, macroevolutionary theories apply key insights from ecology and biogeography, developmental biology, biophysics, molecular phylogenetics and even the sociocultural sciences to explain evolution in deep time. In the second part, the phenomenon of macroevolution is examined with the help of real life-history case studies on the evolution of eukaryotic sex, the formation of anatomical form and body-plans, extinction and speciation events of marine invertebrates, hominin evolution and species conservation ethics. The book brings together leading experts, who explain pivotal concepts such as Punctuated Equilibria, Stasis, Developmental Constraints, Adaptive Radiations, Habitat Tracking, Turnovers, (Mass) Extinctions, Species Sorting, Major Transitions, Trends and Hierarchies - key premises that allow macroevolutionary epistemic frameworks to transcend microevolutionary theories that focus on genetic variation, selection, migration and fitness. Along the way, the contributing authors review ongoing debates and current scientific challenges; detail new and fascinating scientific tools and techniques that allow us to cross the classic borders between disciplines; demonstrate how their theories make it possible to extend the Modern Synthesis; present guidelines on how the macroevolutionary field could be further developed; and provide a rich view of just how it was that life evolved across time and space. In short, this book is a must-read for active scholars and because the technical aspects are fully explained, it is also accessible for non-specialists. Understanding evolution requires a solid grasp of above-population phenomena. Species are real biological individuals and abiotic factors impact the future course of evolution. Beyond observation, when the explanation of macroevolution is the goal, we need both evidence and theory that enable us to explain and interpret how life evolves at the grand scale.

This book is the first comprehensive global review of all aspects of alien plant invasions in protected areas. It provides insights into advances in invasion ecology emanating from work in protected areas, and the link to locally relevant management support for protected areas. The book provides in-depth case studies, illuminating interesting and insightful knowledge that can be shared across the global protected area network. The book includes the collective understanding of 80 ecologists and managers to extract as much information as possible that will support the long-term management of protected areas, and the biodiversity and associated ecosystem services they maintain.

" This outstanding volume draws together pretty much all that can be said on this topic, ranging from the science, through policy, to practical action ." Dr. Simon N. Stuart, IUCN Species Survival Commission, UK.

""This important and timely volume addresses two of the most serious problems affecting biodiversity conservation today: assessing the extent to which protected areas are impacted by biological invasions and the complex problems of managing these impacts. Written by leading specialists, it provides a comprehensive overview of the issues and gives detailed examples drawn from protected areas across the world."" Professor Vernon H. Heywood, School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, UK

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With its focus on the practical application of the techniques of multivariate statistics, this book shapes the powerful tools of statistics for the specific needs of ecologists and makes statistics more applicable to their course of study. It gives readers a solid conceptual understanding of the role of multivariate statistics in ecological applications and the relationships among various techniques, while avoiding detailed mathematics and the underlying theory. More importantly, the reader will gain insight into the type of research questions best handled by each technique and the important considerations in applying them. Whether used as a textbook for specialised courses or as a supplement to general statistics texts, the book emphasises those techniques that students of ecology and natural resources most need to understand and employ in their research. While targeted for upper-division and graduate students in wildlife biology, forestry, and ecology, and for professional wildlife scientists and natural resource managers, this book will also be valuable to researchers in any of the biological sciences.

This is the first text aimed at introducing machine learning methods to a readership of professional ecologists. All but one of the chapters have been written by ecologists and biologists who highlight the application of a particular method to a particular class of problem.