Originally published in 1972, Homo Sapiens examines how humans emerged from among the millions of other species and achieved our unique position within the animal kingdom. The book examines what direction future evolution will take and what may be regarded as the 'meaning' of human existence. It stipulates that these are the questions for which no real basis of discussion existed before the 20th century, and at the time of publication, some were still without a definite answer. The book sets out analyse these questions and the continuing debate that has arisen from their study. This is an account of the uniqueness of man in the animal kingdom, how this uniqueness arose during evolution, and what traces of it can be detected in animals other than man. The book describes the mental and physical evolution of man, from his earliest ancestors to the present day. He also gives an account of man's cultural development seeking to establish that there is an underlying principal of cultural evolution, a principle that has been denied by many historians. Later chapters deal with the future and with possible forecasts of mankind's further physical, intellectual and cultural evolution.

When first published in 2009, Nature's Matrix set out a radical new approach to the conservation of biodiversity. This new edition pushes the frontier of the biodiversity/agriculture debate further, making an even stronger case for the need to transform agriculture and support small- and medium-scale agroecology and food sovereignty. In the first edition, the authors set out a radical new approach to the conservation of biodiversity. This is based on the concept of a landscape as a matrix of diverse, small-scale agricultural ecosystems, providing opportunities to enhance conservation under the stewardship of local farmers. This contrasts with the alternative view of industrial-scale farms and large protected areas which exclude local people. However, since then the debate around conservation and agriculture has developed significantly and this is reflected in this updated second edition. The text is thoroughly revised, including: a reorganization of chapters with new and timely topics introduced, updates to the discussion of agroecology and food sovereignty, bringing it in line with the current debates, greater coverage of the role of agroecology, in particular agroforestry, as an important component of climate change adaptation and mitigation, highlighting recent studies on the role of intensive agriculture in climate change and loss of biodiversity, and more attention given to the discussion of land sparing versus land sharing. By integrating the ecological aspects of agriculture and conservation biology, with a political and social analysis as well as historical perspective, the book continues to set a progressive agenda and appeals to a wide range of students and professionals.

Swathes of the human world are covered in ornamental grass lawns; they are the single most commonly encountered horticultural feature on the planet. Unfortunately, they are now often viewed as resource-draining green deserts due to the lack of plant and animal diversity, the need for frequent mowing and watering, and addition of lawn greening products to keep them looking at their best. It is a venerable horticultural feature that is essentially frozen in time, and with few alternatives to whet the appetite, the lawn has languished in its current grass-only format for decades. Until now. Tapestry lawns are a new, practically researched and timely development of the ornamental lawn format that integrates both horticultural practice and ecological science and re-determines the potential of a lawn. Mown barely a handful of times a year and with no need for fertilisers or scarifying, tapestry lawns are substantially richer in their diversity of plant and animal life compared to traditional grass-only lawns and see the return of flowers and colour to a format from which they are usually purposefully excluded. Tapestry Lawns: Freed from Grass and Full of Flowers traces the changes in the lawn format from its origins to the modern day and offers information on how and why the tapestry lawn construct is now achievable. It provides guidance on how to create and maintain a tapestry lawn of your own and champions the potential benefits for wildlife that can follow. Features Accessible and informative to all types of readers from academic to amateur Includes a refined and tested set of useful tapestry lawn plants Contains step-by-step instructions for creation and management methods of grass-free lawns Illustrated in full colour If you have ever thought about mowing your lawn much less, making it much more colourful and wildlife friendly, then this book will inform and guide you to create a perfect, grass-free lawn.

"Diagnostics in Plant Breeding" is systematically organizing cutting-edge research reviews on the development and application of molecular tools for the prediction of plant performance. Given its significance for mankind and the available research resources, medical sciences are leading the area of molecular diagnostics, where DNA-based risk assessments for various diseases and biomarkers to determine their onset become increasingly available. So far, most research in plant genomics has been directed towards understanding the molecular basis of biological processes or phenotypic traits. From a plant breeding perspective, however, the main interest is in predicting optimal genotypes based on molecular information for more time- and cost-efficient breeding schemes. It is anticipated that progress in plant genomics and in particular sequence technology made recently will shift the focus from "explanatory" to "predictive" in crop science. This book assembles chapters on all areas relevant to development and application of predictive molecular tools in plant breeding by leading authorties in the respective areas.

This is the first volume in the new multi-volume set, Global Biodiversity. Each volume in this series aims to provide insightful information on the biodiversity of selected nations in particular regions. The volumes summarize the available data on both wild and cultivated plants, wild and domesticated animals, and microbes of the different nations. Global Biodiversity, Volume 1: Selected Countries in Asia focuses on selected countries of Asia, providing an abundance of biodiversity information on Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, and Vietnam. The first chapter in the volume provides an informative overview of what is biodiversity along with biogeographic classifications. It provides explanations of biodiversity patterns and species number; biodiversity conservation, protection, and international commitments and cooperation; biodiversity threats and drivers of change (such as human population growth, climate change, land use change); and the economics of biodiversity as well.

This is the second volume in the new multi-volume set, Global Biodiversity.Each volume in this series covers the biodiversity of a selection of nations in particular regions of the world. The volumes discuss and summarize the available information on both wild and cultivated plants, wild and domesticated animals, and the variety of microbes of the different nations. Global Biodiversity, Volume 2: Selected Countries in Europe looks at the biodiversity of selected countries of Europe, providing an abundance of biodiversity information on Bosnia-Herzegovina, France, George, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Each chapter features a different country and is written by research scientists and conservationists. The information covers geographical status, ecosystem diversity, species diversity, genetic diversity, and conservation efforts in that particular country. The authors provide statistical data on plants, animals, and microbes of that country along with genetic diversity with the focus on crop plants/cultivated plants and domesticated animals and their wild relatives.

This volume provides an enlightening and pragmatic approach to preserving biological diversity by gathering a wide range of peer-reviewed scientific content from biodiversity researchers and conservators from around the world. It brings comprehensive knowledge and information on the present status of conservation of biological diversity including floral, faunal, and microbial diversity. A detailed account of recent trends in conservation and applications under changing climate conditions, focusing mainly on agriculturally and industrially important microbes and their sustainable utilization, is presented as well. Over the past five decades, extensive research work has been done on many aspects of biodiversity conservation and sustainable utilization of biological resources. This book examines this crucial issue. Chapters discuss biodiversity concepts, benefits, and values for economic and sustainable development; explores applications and strategies for biodiversity preservation; and considers the role of biodiversity conservation in public awareness services and cultural significance. The volume also examines the process of evolution and the future of biodiversity in conjunction with climate change factors, with special reference to infectious diseases.

The book synthesizes knowledge on the arthropod taxon Oribatida, a suborder of Acari (the mites and ticks), that are a key group in soil ecology and biodiversity studies for Canada and Alaska but also worldwide. This book is unparalleled in the comprehensive nature of the information provided on this key biotic group. It is presented by two leading global experts for this group. There is no competing text in English. Reviewers were unanimous in their view that there is an "unquestionable" need for this book. The book provides highly reliable set of data, well prepared from a content and methodological point of view, bringing much interesting information on the subject and a valuable contribution to the knowledge of ecology of the group of invertebrates.

At the turn of the eighteenth century, selfhood was understood as a "tabula rasa" to be imprinted in the course of an individual's life. By the middle of the nineteenth-century, however, the individual had become defined as determined by heredity already from birth. Examining novels by Goethe, Jean Paul, and E.T.A. Hoffmann, studies on plant hybridization, treatises on animal breeding, and anatomical collections, Romanticism, Origins, and the History of Heredity delineates how romantic authors imagined the ramifications of emerging notions of heredity for the conceptualization of selfhood. Focusing on three fields of inquiry-inbreeding and incest, cross-breeding and bastardization, evolution and autopoiesis-Christine Lehleiter proposes that the notion of selfhood for which Romanticism has become known was not threatened by considerations of determinism and evolution, but was in fact already a result of these very considerations. Romanticism, Origins and the History of Heredity will be of interest for literary scholars, historians of science, and all readers fascinated by the long duree of subjectivity and evolutionary thought.

This title was first published in 2000: An edited collection based on a workshop which explored the biological, social, ethical, economic and political pressures underlying the present perceived loss of biodiversity. It brings together philosophers, economists, biologists and others whose fields deal with the conservation of nature's diversity, and with the preservation and protection of species and ecosystems.

First Published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This open access book features essays written by philosophers, biologists, ecologists and conservation scientists facing the current biodiversity crisis. Despite increasing communication, accelerating policy and management responses, and notwithstanding improving ecosystem assessment and endangered species knowledge, conserving biodiversity continues to be more a concern than an accomplished task. Why is it so?The overexploitation of natural resources by our species is a frequently recognised factor, while the short-term economic interests of governments and stakeholders typically clash with the burdens that implementing conservation actions imply. But this is not the whole story. This book develops a different perspective on the problem by exploring the conceptual challenges and practical defiance posed by conserving biodiversity, namely: on the one hand, the difficulties in defining what biodiversity is and characterizing that "thing" to which the word 'biodiversity' refers to; on the other hand, the reasons why assessing biodiversity and putting in place effective conservation actions is arduous.

Forestry today, like many other sectors that traditionally rely on material goods, faces significant global drivers of societal change that are less often addressed than the environmental concerns commonly in the spotlight of scientific, political, and news media. There are three major interconnected issues that are challenging forestry at its foundation: urbanization, tertiarization, and globalization. These issues are at the core of this book. The urbanization of society, a process in development from the first steps of industrialization, is particularly significant today with the predominance and quick growth rate of the world's urban population. Ongoing urbanization is creating new perspectives on forestry, inducing changes in its social representation, and changing lifestyles and practices with a tendency toward dematerialization. The process of urbanization is also creating a disconnect and in some ways is leaving behind rurality, the sector of society where forestry has traditionally developed and taken place over centuries. The second issue covered in this book is the tertiarization of the economy. In society today, the sector of services largely dominates the economy and occupies the major part of the world's active population. This ongoing process modifies professional modalities and ways of life and opens new doors to forests through the immaterial goods they provide. It also profoundly changes the framework, rules, processes, means of production, exchanges between economic factors, and the processes of innovation. The third issue is undoubtedly globalization in its economic, political, and social components. Whether it's through bridging distances, crossing borders, accelerating changes, standardizing practices, leveling hierarchical structures, or pushing for interdependence, globalization impacts everyone, everywhere in multiple ways. Forestry is no exception. Forestry in the Midst of Global Changes focuses on these global drivers of change from the perspective of their relationships with how society functions. By analyzing them in depth through multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and even transdisciplinary approaches, this book is helping to design the forestry of tomorrow.

There is much current controversy over whether the rights to seeds or plant genetic resources should be owned by the private sector or be common property. This book addresses the legal and policy aspects of the multilateral seed management regime. First, it studies in detail the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (the Treaty) in order to understand and identify its dysfunctions. Second, it proposes solutions - using recent developments of the "theory of the commons" - to improve the collective seed management system of the Treaty, a necessary condition for its member states to reach the overall food security and sustainable agriculture goals. Redesigning the Global Seed Commons provides a significant contribution to the current political and academic debates on agrobiodiversity law and governance, and on food security and food sovereignty, by analyzing key issues under the Treaty that affect the design and implementation of regulatory instruments managing seeds as a commons. It also examines the practical, legal, political and economic problems encountered in the attempt to implement these obligations in contemporary settings. In particular, it considers how to improve the Treaty implementation by proposing ways for Contracting Parties to better reach the Treaty's objectives taking a holistic view of the human-seed ecosystem. Following the tenth anniversary of the functioning the Treaty's multilateral system of access and benefit-sharing, which is currently under review by its Contracting Parties, this book is well-timed to examine recent developments in the field and guide the current review process to design a truly Global Seed Commons.

Bees are critically important for ecosystem function and biodiversity maintenance through their pollinating activity. Unfortunately, bee populations are faced with many threats, and evidence of a massive global pollination crisis is steadily growing. As a result, there is a need to understand and, ideally, predict how bees respond to pollution disturbance, to the changes over landscape gradients, and how their responses can vary in different habitats, which are influenced to different degrees by human activities. Modeling approaches are useful to simulate the behavior of whole population dynamics as well as to focus on important phenomena detrimental to bee-life history traits. They also allow simulation of how a disease or a pesticide can impact the survival and growth of a bee population. In Silico Bees provides a collection of computational methods to those primarily interested in the study of the ecology, ethology, and ecotoxicology of bees. The book presents different cases studies to enable readers to understand the significance and also the limitations of models in theoretical and applied bee research. The text covers modeling of honey bee society organization, infectious diseases in colonies, pesticide toxicity, chemical contamination of the hive, and more. Written by an international team of scientists, this book is of primary interest to those whose research or professional activity is directly concerned with the study of bees. It is also intended to provide graduate and post-graduate students with a clear and accessible text covering the main types of modeling approaches that can be used in terrestrial ecology and ecotoxicology.

The field of ecohydraulics integrates hydrodynamic and eco-dynamic processes. While hydrodynamic processes are usually well described by partial differential equations (PDE's) based on physical conservation principles, ecosystem dynamics often involve specific interactions at the local scale. Because of this, Cellular Automata (CA) are a viable paradigm in ecosystem modelling. All cells in a CA system update their states synchronously at discrete steps according to simple local rules. The classical CA configuration consists of uniformly distributed cells on a structured grid. But in the field of hydrodynamics, the use of unstructured grids has become more and more popular due to its flexibility to handle arbitrary geometries. The main objective of this research is to identify whether the CA paradigm can be extended to unstructured grids. To that end the concept of Unstructured Cellular Automata (UCA) is developed and various UCA configurations are explored and their performance investigated. The influence of cell size was analyzed in analogy with the Finite Volume Method. A characteristic parameter -min distance of UCA- was put forward and tested by numerical experiments. Special attention was paid to exploring the analogies and differences between the discrete CA paradigm and discrete numerical approximations for solving PDE's. The practical applicability of UCA in ecohydraulics modelling is explored through a number of case studies and compared with field measurements.

Out-migration might decrease the pressure of population on the environment, but what happens to the communities that manage the local environment when they are weakened by the absence of their members? In an era where community-based natural resource management has emerged as a key hope for sustainable development, this is a crucial question. Building on over a decade of empirical work conducted in Oaxaca, Mexico, Communities Surviving Migration identifies how out-migration can impact rural communities in strongholds of biocultural diversity. It reflects on the possibilities of community self-governance and survival in the likely future of limited additional migration and steady - but low - rural populations, and what different scenarios imply for environmental governance and biodiversity conservation. In this way, the book adds a critical cultural component to the understanding of migration-environment linkages, specifically with respect to environmental change in migrant-sending regions. Responding to the call for more detailed analyses and reporting on migration and environmental change, especially in contexts where rural communities, livelihoods and biodiversity are interconnected, this volume will be of interest to students and scholars of environmental migration, development studies, population geography, and Latin American studies.

This book is a product of the TEEB study (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity). It provides important evidence of growing corporate concern about biodiversity loss and offers examples of how leading companies are taking action to conserve biodiversity and to restore ecosystems. This book reviews indicators and drivers of biodiversity loss and ecosystem decline, and shows how these present both risks and opportunities to all businesses. It examines the changing preferences of consumers for nature-friendly products and services, and offers examples of how companies are responding. The book also describes recent initiatives to enable businesses to measure, value and report their impacts and dependencies on biodiversity and ecosystem services. The authors review a range of practical tools to manage biodiversity risks in business, with examples of how companies are using these tools to reduce costs, protect their brands and deliver real business value. The book also explores the emergence of new business models that deliver biodiversity benefits and ecosystem services on a commercial basis, the policy enabling frameworks needed to stimulate investment and entrepreneurship to realize such opportunities, and the obstacles that must be overcome. The book further examines how businesses can align their actions in relation to biodiversity and ecosystem services with other corporate responsibility initiatives, including community engagement and poverty reduction. Finally, the book concludes with a summary and recommendations for action.

Population genomics has provided unprecedented opportunities to unravel the mysteries of marine organisms in the oceans' depths. The world's oceans, which make up 70% of our planet, encompass diverse habitats and host numerous unexplored populations and species. Population genomics studies of marine organisms are rapidly emerging and have the potential to transform our understanding of marine populations, species, and ecosystems, providing insights into how these organisms are evolving and how they respond to different stimuli and environments. This knowledge is critical for understanding the fundamental aspects of marine life, how marine organisms will respond to environmental changes, and how we can better protect and preserve marine biodiversity and resources. This book brings together leading experts in the field to address critical aspects of fundamental and applied research in marine species and share their research and insights crucial for understanding marine ecosystem diversity and function. It also discusses the challenges, opportunities and future perspectives of marine population genomics.

This book describes how an era of biohappiness, based on the conservation and sustainable and equitable use of biodiversity, can be launched. It deals with all aspects of conservation such as in situ, ex situ and community conservation, and also covers conservation issues relating to mangroves and other coastal bioresources, whose importance has grown with the emerging possibility of sea-level rise from global warming. The book includes concrete examples of how local tribal families have taken to the establishment of gene, seed, grain and water banks in villages, thus linking conservation, cultivation, consumption and commerce in a mutually-reinforcing manner.

Structured in the form of a dichotomous key, comparable to those widely used in botany, the mineral key provides an efficient and systematic approach to identifying rock-forming minerals in thin-section. This unique approach covers 150 plus of the most commonly encountered rock-forming minerals, plus a few rarer but noteworthy ones. Illustrated in full colour, with 330 plus high quality mineral photomicrographs from a worldwide collection of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks, it also provides a comprehensive atlas of rock-forming minerals in thin-section. Commencing with a brief introduction to mineral systems, and the properties of minerals in plane-polarised and cross-polarised light, the mineral key also includes line drawings, tables of mineral properties and an interference colour chart, to further aid mineral identification. To minimise the chance of misidentification, and enable less experienced petrologists to use the key with confidence, the key has been arranged to prioritise those properties that are most easily recognised. Designed for simplicity and ease of use, it is primarily aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate students of mineralogy and petrology, but should also provide a valuable source of reference for all practising geologists dealing with rock thin sections and their interpretation.

This book describes the reasons humankind may be facing its last moments on Planet Earth. Darwin marked the path of species evolution, modification, and extinction. Following Darwin's trajectory of evolution, the author reveals how human-made technologies have had a devastating impact on Earth's biosphere, signaling the continuing disappearance of landscapes and the decline of species life.

This book is the most thorough exploration to date of the many ways in which a wild creature has been absorbed, reimagined and represented across the ages in all of the major art forms. The authors consider not only how the identity of sharks in the natural environment became incorporated into a cultural environment but also how sharks came to be considered the most feared creatures in the open oceans as a consequence of this incorporation. Yet sharks are especially important in helping to maintain a balance that is essential to the health of the oceans. The book begins with a treatment of the three sharks at the top of global shark-attack files from scientific, economic and environmental perspectives. Subsequent chapters engage with cultural representations of sharks in poetry, drama, art, novels, screenplay adaptations and films. Through an exploration of the ways in which sharks have been represented in human culture through the centuries, this book alerts the global community to the importance of sharks as a common cultural heritage. It aims to change perceptions of sharks so that they can become more revered than feared. The authors of this book argue that an increased understanding of sharks should lead to the development of better strategies for shark and human interactions. This book will be of great interest to researchers and students of the Environmental Humanities, Cultural History and the Arts. It is also excellent supplementary reading for courses in Zoology and Marine Science.

DIRECTLY APPLIES TO LIFE ON LAND SDG and CLIMATE CHANGE SDG. International organizations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization and World Organization for Animal Health have all reminded us that health impacts of climate change will become some of societies' greatest challenges. How we respond or adapt to climate change will have profound implications for people, animals, biodiversity, economies and ecosystems today as well as in the future. The book provides, in one easy reference, all of the information Animal Health practitioners need from defining the climate change concept, providing science-based evidence of climate change degradation of animal (ecosystem) health and successful mitigation and reversal strategies. Despite being arguably the most important challenges of the 21st century, engagement, and leadership from the animal health sector on climate change remains hard to find. This book attempts to support animal health professionals by providing information, knowledge, and experiences they can use to remedy this situation. There is no other book that covers anything like the proposed subject matter to this level of completeness and detail. The publishing of a text of this nature could help erode the power of the climate denialism lobby, shifting the debate and allowing mitigation efforts to gain higher priority. The tone of the book has an understated sense of urgency, leaning slightly toward presenting as a 'Manual for the apocalypse'. This has potential to be a benchmark publication. The text not only defines climate change but takes a proactive approach with intervention and corrective action examples: each chapter ends with suggestions on teachable and actionable ideas that could be used to mobilize concepts and information provided into education or advocacy. In this way, the book not only brings key ideas, principles and information to understand the implications for climate change for animal health, but will help translate the book's offerings into education and intervention. Teachers and researchers could use this one-of-a-kind book to frame a course or seminar series heightening student career engagement and stewardship of a more sustainable and healthier planet.

Until now, information on mammals in South Asia has never been brought together on a single platform providing all inclusive knowledge on the subject. This book is the most up to date comprehensive resource on the mammalian diversity of South Asia. It offers information on the diversity, distribution and status of 504 species of terrestrial and aquatic mammals found in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. This work is unique being the first of its kind that deals with diversity and distribution at the subspecies level. The book is divided in to three chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the subject and takes off from the recent works on mammals at the global level, provides an historical perspective on mammal studies in South Asia and concludes with a note on recent phylogenetic changes at supraordinal levels. Chapter 2 summarizes the information on the diversity of South Asian Mammals, provides analysis by country of mammalian diversity (supported by data in tabular form) dealing with species richness, endemism and possibly occurring species, separate analysis for each country with details on endemic and threatened species, extinct mammals, domestic mammals, and finally the IUCN status of mammals with special emphasis on threatened mammals. Chapter 3 is a comprehensive checklist that provides information oneach species, including its scientific name, type details, standardized English name, synonyms, subspecies, distribution and comments on taxonomic status. Country wise listings and analysis of species richness with emphasis on subspecies distribution Most of the analysis is supported by data in tabular forms for better understanding Notes on extinct and domesticated mammals as well as their IUCN Red List Status with criteria for such status A very comprehensive bibliography that would help readers track down specific literature