Ecologists sometimes have a less-than-rigorous background in quantitative methods, yet research within this broad field is becoming increasingly mathematical. Written in a step-by-step fashion, Fractals and Multifractals in Ecology and Aquatic Science provides scientists with a basic understanding of fractals and multifractals and the techniques for utilizing them when analyzing ecological phenomenon. With illustrations, tables, and graphs on virtually every page - several in color - this book is a comprehensive source of state-of-the-art ecological scaling and multiscaling methods at temporal and spatial scales, respectfully ranging from seconds to months and from millimeters to thousands of kilometers. It illustrates most of the data analysis techniques with real case studies often based on original findings. It also incorporates descriptions of current and new numerical techniques to analyze and deepen understanding of ecological situations and their solutions. Includes a Wealth of Applications and Examples This book also includes nonlinear analysis techniques and the application of concepts from chaos theory to problems of spatial and temporal patterns in ecological systems. Unlike other books on the subject, Fractals and Multifractals in Ecology and Aquatic Science is readily accessible to researchers in a variety of fields, such as microbiology, biology, ecology, hydrology, geology, oceanography, social sciences, and finance, regardless of their mathematical backgrounds. This volume demystifies the mathematical methods, many of which are often regarded as too complex, and allows the reader to access new and promising concepts, procedures, and related results.

Adopts an "issues approach" to teaching introductory biology Up-to-date on relevant topics like climate change, CRISPR, new hominids, and new cancer therapies Suitable for both a majors and non-majors course More succinct for ease in teaching and more affordable for students A large suite of student resources, such as questions to enable self-testing, simulations of key processes to aid learning, web links to encourage further reading Instructor resources to use in teaching, such as PowerPoint slides with figures from the book, activity and assignment ideas, and comprehensive lesson plans

Landscapes are being degraded and simplified across the globe. This book explores how forest restoration might be carried out to increase landscape heterogeneity, improve ecological functioning and restore ecosystem services in such landscapes. It focuses on large, landscape-scale reforestation because that is the scale at which restoration is needed if many of the problems that have now developed are to be addressed. It also shows how large-scale forest restoration might improve human livelihoods as well as improve conservation outcomes. A number of governments have undertaken national reforestation programs in recent years; some have been more successful than others. The author reviews these to explore what type of reforestation should be used, where this should be carried out and how much should be done. For example, are the traditional industrial forms of reforestation necessarily the best to use in all situations? How can forest restoration be reconciled with the need for food security? And, are there spatial thresholds that must be exceeded to generate economic and environmental benefits? The book also examines the policy and institutional settings needed to encourage large-scale reforestation. This includes a discussion of the place for incentives to encourage landholders to undertake particular types of reforestation and to reforest particular locations. It also considers forms of governance that are likely to lead to an equitable sharing of the costs and benefits of forest restoration.

A balanced review of differing approaches based on remote sensing tools and methods to assess and monitor biodiversity, carbon and water cycles, and the energy balance of terrestrial ecosystem. Earth Observation of Ecosystem Services highlights the advantages Earth observation technologies offer for quantifying and monitoring multiple ecosystem functions and services. It provides a multidisciplinary reference that expressly covers the use of remote sensing for quantifying and monitoring multiple ecosystem services. Rather than exhaustively cover all possible ecosystem services, this book takes a global look at the most relevant remote sensing approaches to estimate key ecosystem services from satellite data. Structured in four main sections, it covers carbon cycle, biodiversity, water cycle, and energy balance. Each section contains a review of conceptual and empirical methods, techniques, and case studies linking remotely sensed data to the biophysical variables and ecosystem functions associated with key ecosystem services. The book identifies relevant issues and challenges of assessment, presents cutting-edge sensing techniques, uses globally implemented tools to quantify ecosystem functions, and presents examples of successful monitoring programs. Covering recent developments undertaken on the global and national stage from Earth observation satellite data, it includes valuable lessons and recommendations and novel ways to improve current global monitoring systems. The book delineates the use of Earth observation data so that it can be used to quantify, map, value, and manage the valuable goods and services that ecosystems provide to societies around the world.

Farmers' Rights are essential for maintaining crop genetic diversity, which is the basis of all food and agricultural production in the world. The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture recognizes Farmers' Rights and provides for relevant measures. However, implementation is slow, and in many countries there is resistance. This book shows the necessity of realizing Farmers' Rights for poverty alleviation and food security, the practical possibilities of doing so, and the potential gains for development and society at large. It provides decision-makers and practitioners with a conceptual framework for understanding Farmers' Rights and success stories showing how each of the elements of Farmers' Rights can be realized in practice. The success stories have brought substantial achievements as regards one or more of the four elements of Farmers' Rights: the rights of farmers to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seed; the protection of traditional knowledge; benefit- sharing; and participation in decision-making. This does not mean that these examples are perfect. Challenges encountered on the way are conveyed and offer important lessons. The stories represent different regions and localities, including Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as various categories of stakeholders and types of initiatives and policies.

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.

Understanding Human Ecology offers a coherent conceptual framework for human ecology - a clear approach for understanding the many systems we are part of and for how we frame and understand the problems we face. Blending natural, social, and cognitive sciences with dynamical systems theory, this key text offers offer systems approaches that are accessible to all, from the undergraduate student to policymakers and practitioners across government, business, and community. In the first edition, road-tested and refined over a decade of teaching and workshops, the authors built a clear, inspiring and important framework for anyone approaching the management of complex problems and the transition to sustainability. Fully updated for the second edition, the book now goes further in using systems-thinking principles to explain fundamental processes of change in social-ecological systems. Revised case examples provide a working application of these principles, whilst a new discussion of the hierarchical structure of complex systems is included to guide practical policy making. This new edition is essential reading for students and scholars of human ecology, environmental ethics, and sustainability studies.

Both authors are ideally suited to prepare this book, offering a nice mix of biological and geological expertise on coral reef systems. There is a glaring gap in the market for this book - there is no literature or database that comprehensively summarises the latest remote sensing imagery for global atolls. There is no comparable book. The treatment employs state-of-the-art satellite imagery and updates the existing Atlas of Coral Reefs by Spalding et al which came out more than 20 years ago. Atolls are a favorite topic of research in the biological/ecological and geological sciences due to their unusual ring-like reef form and their laboratory-like, isolated settings. The great strength and contribution of this book is the comprehensive analysis and summary of all these different atolls and their main characteristics in one place. The writing is excellent, striking a nice balance between providing enough detail while also being accessible to a general reader. A useful resource for a range of higher education courses, undergraduate and masters level courses i.e., coastal processes and environments, coral reefs and climate change, oceans coasts and climate. One reviewer says: "This is a superb volume, which I suspect will be much referred to. The authors a pre-eminent in this, and it will be authoritative as well as useful to a wide range of people."

The key aim of this book is to explore the global conservation and management of sharks. There has been a rapid decline in populations of many shark species, while new science has emerged of the critical role they play in marine ecosystems. However, the authors show that conservation law and policy have been slow to develop, with only a small number of iconic species being protected worldwide. The increase in fishing impact - primarily through shark finning and by-catch - has led to shark conservation receiving greater international attention in recent years. The book explores our current knowledge and status of the law and science in relation to sharks with a particular focus on improving frameworks for their conservation and management. Recent trends are analysed, including shark finning bans that have been put in place in several countries, the widening number of nations establishing shark sanctuaries and the growth of shark-based tourism. The efficacy of current listing processes for endangered species and fisheries regulations is also examined. Tourism is explored as an alternative to fishing and the risks and impacts associated with this industry are analysed. Contributors include leading authorities from universities and conservation organizations in North America, Europe and Australia. A common theme is to emphasise the importance of collaborative governance between various interest groups and the need for inter-disciplinary research and management approaches that are necessary to address the decline in sharks.

Southeast Asia is highly diversified in terms of socio-ecosystems and biodiversity, but is undergoing dramatic environmental and social changes. These changes characterize the recent period and can be illustrated by the effects of the Green Revolution in the late 1960s and 1970s, to the globalization of trade and increasing agronomic intensification over the past decade. Biodiversity Conservation in Southeast Asia provides theoretical overviews and challenges for applied research in living resource management, conservation ecology, health ecology and conservation planning in Southeast Asia. Five key themes are addressed: origin and evolution of Southeast Asian biodiversity; challenges in conservation biology; ecosystem services and biodiversity; managing biodiversity and living resources; policy, economics and governance of biodiversity. Detailed case studies are included from Thailand and the Lower Mekong Basin, while other chapters address cross-cutting themes applicable to the whole Southeast Asia region. This is a valuable resource for academics and students in the areas of ecology, conservation, environmental policy and management, Southeast Asian studies and sustainable development.

In most countries, the development of environmental programs follows a similar pattern. Early efforts concentrate on direct threats to public health, such as contaminated drinking water and air pollution. Only after these problems are addressed does the need to improve day-to-day management of hazardous wastes reach the top of the environmental agenda. In this new report, RFF's Katherine Probst and Thomas Beierle compare the development of hazardous waste management programs in eight countries---the United States, Canada, Germany, Denmark, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Thailand---and discuss steps taken to foster proper hazardous waste management. The authors focus on two questions: What were the major steps in the evolution of a successful hazardous waste program? What role, if any, did the public sector play in financing modern treatment and disposal facilities? Based on interviews and secondary sources, this report includes country-specific profiles that detail the steps in the evolution of each country's hazardous waste management program and describe the role of the public sector in facility financing.

Combining a journalist's view of major trials with a political-legal analysis, this text gives a picture of the politics of justice in Russia. Coverage of major court cases ranges from the 1961 trial of the "currency speculators" to the Communist Party trial of 1992.

Pollution control, a key component of U.S. environmental policy, has made important progress in recent decades. Yet important problems remain and there is need for improvement in the pollution control regulatory system. This book is the most extensive evaluation of that system ever produced. It reveals many strengths and accomplishments, but also illustrates serious shortcomings and the need for reform. The volume emerges from three years of research on a fragmented 'system' of institutions, statutes, and procedures that is often inefficient and ineffective, hobbled by misplaced priorities. Part I provides an in-depth description of this system, centered on the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the labyrinthine laws it must implement. The authors evaluate the federal legislation, administrative decisionmaking, and the state-federal division of labor that defines the system. Davies and Mazurek assess the effectiveness and efficiency of U.S. pollution control. They discuss the performance of U.S. laws and regulations in comparison with those of other nations, assess the ability of the U.S. pollution control system to meet future problems, and consider proposals for reform and repair. Within this far reaching analysis, they include criteria that are often overlooked by policymakers and analysts, including social values, equity, nonintrusiveness, and public participation.

This book presents a hypothesis and evidence that organisms promote and ecosystems maximize biodiversity. All species have a net positive effect on their environment, other species, and diversity. The sun is 30% hotter than when life began, but the temperature has been kept moderate by life. Life created high oxygen, the ozone layer, and fertile soil, a diverse, living system. No species evolves in isolation, and most evolution is coevolution. The nature and number of links between species are as important as species number. Eukaryotes coevolve with complex ecosystems of microbes with which they exchange genes. Genomes and intraspecific interactions both act to promote evolution and diversification. Viruses increase diversity of their hosts and cause macroevolutionary transitions. Key Features Life alters the Earth in ways that increase biodiversity All species make their environment better for other species and promote diversity Life created the life-friendly atmosphere, temperature, and soil of today

This original contribution to the field is the first to bring economic sociology theory to the study of federal land exchanges. By blending public choice theory with engaging case studies that contextualize the tactics used by land developers, this book uses economic sociology to help challenge the under-valuation of federal lands in political decisions. The empirically-based, scholarly analysis of federal-private land swaps exposes serious institutional dysfunctions, which sometimes amount to outright corruption. By evaluating investigative reports of each federal agency case study, the book illustrates the institutional nature of the actors in land swaps and, in particular, the history of U.S. agencies' promotion of private interests in land exchanges. Using public choice theory to make sense of the privatization of public lands, the book looks in close detail at the federal policies of the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service land swaps in America. These pertinent case studies illustrate the trends to transfer federal lands notwithstanding their flawed value appraisals or interpretation of public interest; thus, violating both the principles of equality in value and observance of specific public policy. The book should be of interest to students and scholars of public land and natural resource management, as well as political science, public policy and land law.

Written by leading authorities from Australasia, Europe and North America, this book examines the dynamic conflicts and synergies between nature conservation and human development in contemporary Cambodia. After suffering conflict and stagnation in the late twentieth century, Cambodia has experienced an economic transformation in the last decade, with growth averaging almost ten per cent per year, partly through investment from China. However this rush for development has been coupled with tremendous social and environmental change which, although positive in some aspects, has led to rising inequality and profound shifts in the condition, ownership and management of natural resources. High deforestation rates, declining fish stocks, biodiversity loss, and alienation of indigenous and rural people from their land and traditional livelihoods are now matters of increasing local and international concern. The book explores the social and political dimensions of these environmental changes in Cambodia, and of efforts to intervene in and 'improve' current trajectories for conservation and development. It provides a compelling analysis of the connections between nature, state and society, pointing to the key role of grassroots and non-state actors in shaping Cambodia's frontiers of change. These insights will be of great interest to scholars of Southeast Asia and environment-development issues in general.

In this volume of the TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity) publication series, the key concepts of the project are applied to local and regional policy and public management. The aim is to show that by taking nature's benefits into account, decision makers can promote local development to ensure human well-being and economic growth and stability, while maintaining environmental sustainability. The book explores the potential for local development provided by an approach based on nature. It offers examples of successful implementation of this approach from across the world, highlighting the importance of local decision making in management and planning. It provides tools and practical guidance for reform, and throughout the volume the economic benefits of environmental consideration at a local level are expounded. This book is intended to offer inspiration and practical suggestions for the improvement and sustainable management of the environment and human well-being. The local aspect of this book complements the focus of the previous three volumes, completing the set to provide a comprehensive approach to simultaneously improving and maintaining economic and environmental stability, as well as human well-being.

While biodiversity loss is an ecological phenomenon, it also has further dimensions - political, social and, last but not least, economic. From the economic perspective, the rapid loss of biological diversity can be viewed in two ways. First, the consequence of this deterioration process is a loss of options and an increase in scarcity of the environmental 'good', biodiversity. Second, economic activity and the structure of global and local economic institutions have frequently been identified as the major drivers of biodiversity loss. In economic terms, this constitutes a market failure - market-based economic activities lead to processes which undermine the long-term stability of these very activities. This book provides an ecological economic perspective on the value of diversity in ecosystems. Combining insights from various sub-disciplines of ecology and environmental/ecological economics, the author constructs a conceptual framework which identifies the ways in which biodiversity influences human well-being and offers a novel, unifying perspective on the economic value of biodiversity. This framework demonstrates that biodiversity's economic value mainly results from uncertainty about the future, regarding both supply of and demand for ecosystem services, and interconnections between ecosystems. The book goes on to identify suitable methods for economic valuation of biodiversity and discusses the currently underdeveloped and underused approach of deliberative monetary valuation. Combining a strong theoretical framework with practical examples, this book will be of great interest to students and researchers of ecological economics, ecosystem services, environmental values and environmental and resource economics.

The current, unprecedented loss of global biodiversity resulting from anthropogenic interference in the world's ecosystems is affecting human well-being across the globe with increasing severity. This book examines two issues that are at the center of the public discussion on biodiversity. It examines whether genetic information derived from biodiversity can be used to create incentives to preserve biodiversity. Then, it examines whether establishing protected areas can be accomplished on an international level by using transfer payments.

It is 20 years since environmental issues were first put on the international agenda at the Stockholm Conference, and concern for planetary survival has shifted from desertification to acid rain to ozone depletion to biodiversity. The official responses to all the various crises, however, has largely been one of offering technological and managerial 'fixes,' which often fail to address or solve the basic ecological issues. Genuine, viable improvements can only be implemented at ground level, by those most strongly affected by the problem. Because of their location 'on the fringes,' and their traditional role in providing sustenance, it is women who are often able to offer ecological insights that are deeper and richer than the technocratic recipes of international experts, or the responses of men in their own societies. Close to Home emphasises that the environment is not some distant concern, but one that affects the health and well-being of communities on a daily basis. For women, 'the environment' is the place in which we live. The contributions in this book, edited by Vandana Shiva, show how women worldwide are taking action at grass-roots level, battling toxic wastes, low-level radiation and biotechnology in the struggle for truly sustainable community development.

In the past decade, the growing realization that biodiversity and human wellbeing are inextricably linked has led to the adoption of numerous environmental policies. The concept of the Green Economy has gained particular attention as an economic system where growth is possible within environmental limits. The preservation of ecosystem services and the halt of biodiversity loss are identified as key pillars of the Green Economy. Despite the concept's momentum there is still no clear understanding of how biodiversity fits within a Green Economy. In the current debate, biodiversity is rarely acknowledged in economic sectors other than agriculture, forestry, fisheries and tourism, and when it is acknowledged biodiversity and its conservation feature more as buzzwords than as concrete and tangible components of the Green Economy. This book aims to identify, understand and offer pragmatic recommendations of how biodiversity conservation can become an agent of green economic development. This book establishes ways to assess biodiversity's contributions to the economy and to meaningfully integrate biodiversity concerns in green-economy policies.

The loss of biodiversity is a major environmental problem in nearly every terrestrial ecosystem on Earth. This loss is accelerating driven by climate change, as well as by other causes including agricultural exploitation, fragmentation and degradation triggered by land use changes. The crucial issue under debate is the impact on the welfare of current and future population, and the role of humans in the exploitation of natural resources. This is of particular importance in Central America, which it is amongst the richest and most threatened biodiversity regions on the Earth, and where the loss of ecosystems strongly affects its socio-economic vulnerability. This book addresses the impacts of climate and land-use change on tropical forest ecosystems in this important region, and assesses the expected economic costs if no policy action is taken, under different future scenarios and for different geographical scales. This innovative collection utilises both theoretical approaches and empirical results to provide a conceptual framework for an integrated analysis of climate and land-use change impacts on forest ecosystems and related economic effects, offering insight into the complex relationship between ecosystems and benefits to humans. This important contribution to forest ecosystems and climate change provides invaluable reading for students and scholars in the fields of environmental and ecological economics, environmental science and forestry, natural resource management, agriculture and climate change.

Limnology provides an in-depth and current overview of the field of limnology. The result of a major tour de force by two renowned and experienced experts, this unique and richly illustrated reference presents a wealth of data on limnology history, water as a substrate, lakes' origins and aquatic biota. Besides a general part, it gives special focus to neotropical limnology, prevalently applicable in countries in the Southern Hemisphere. Starting with the essentials, some definitions and a historical account, this volume then details the main interaction mechanisms with physical and chemical factors, diversity and geographical distribution. With regard to the major continental aquatic systems, it treats the dynamics, variability and characterization of lakes, reservoirs, flooded areas, saline lakes, estuaries and coastal lagoons. The impact of human activity on water resources and the need for the rehabilitation of watersheds, watershed ecosystems and estuaries are addressed subsequently. To illustrate theory, the final part includes research examples in limnology, ecology and environmental sciences in different geographical contexts, as well as ideas for new investigations. This reference volume is intended for researchers and professionals working on inland waters, lakes and rivers within the fields of biology, ecology, environment, forestry, geochemistry, geophysics, and water management. It will also benefit students in the aforementioned areas and readers involved with limnology in related disciplines, such as earth sciences, environmental, water and geological engineering.

The richer countries spend about US$165 billion yearly on overseas aid, mainly to keep human development going. These efforts are undermined by climate change, water-catchment damage, biodiversity loss, and desertification, and their interactions with social systems at all scales, which few aid designs or evaluations fully address. This must change if aid performance is to be improved. Constraints to be overcome include limited understanding of the very complex systems that aid investments affect, and of the ecology behind climate change adaptation and mitigation. Aid Performance and Climate Change targets these problems and others, by explaining how to use multiple points of view to describe each aid investment as a complex system in its own unique context. With examples throughout, it reviews cases, ideas, and options for mitigation using technology and ecology, and for adaptation by preserving resilience and diversity, while exploring related priorities, treaties, and opportunities. Combining an empirical, eye-witness approach with methodological conclusions, this book is an essential resource for those looking to improve aid design and evaluation, and will be a necessary tool in training the next generation of aid professionals to respond to the causes and consequences of climate change.

The Nagoya Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is rapidly receiving signatures and ratifications. Many countries are preparing to implement the protocol through national research permit systems and/or biodiversity laws. Yet there is still considerable confusion about how to implement the Protocol, regarding access and benefit-sharing (ABS) procedures, and minimal experience in many countries. This book seeks to remedy this gap in understanding by analysing a number of ABS case studies in light of the Nagoya Protocol. The case studies are wide-ranging, with examples of plants for medicinal, cosmetic, biotech and food products from or for development in Australia, North Africa, Madagascar, Switzerland, Thailand, USA and Oceania. These will encourage countries to develop national systems which maximise their benefits (both monetary and non-monetary) towards conservation and support for local communities that hold traditional knowledge. In addition, the author analyses new expectations raised by the Nagoya Protocol, such as the encouragement of the development of community protocols by indigenous and local communities. As a result, stakeholders and policy-makers will be able to learn the steps involved in establishing ABS agreements, issues that arise between stakeholders, and the types of benefits that might be realistic.