Brahana Selassie is a product of the African-Caribbean Diaspora from Grenada. As a young man of twenty in 1975, he discovered and then became a convert to the unique ancient multi-layered world of Ethiopia's ancient Nile Valley civilisation. He then immersed himself in studying its origins and continuity into the 20th century. Two out of an unbroken chain of precious pearls he discovered from his studies are: * Ethiopia's possession of the cradle for the scientific study of the origins of the human race in its section of Africa's Great Rift Valley in the Afar Triangle. * Its rich biblical faith and life heritage, associated with the sacred ancestral family unit of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar that gave birth to three of the major living religions of the world: Judaism, Christianity, Islam. Receiving the Ethiopian Orthodox Priesthood in 1980, Brahana Selassie has matured into a multi-skilled communicator involved with various dialogue partners, in which he has shared chosen topical subject areas of Ethiopia's wealthy galaxy of precious and unique mystical treasures, as it relates to Africa's people on the continent, in its diaspora, and with the international community of scholars.

His father, an Irishman, was on the run from the "Brits". He took refuge in Jersey C.I. where Desmond was born. The family left the island when he was four, but retained strong ties and family to this very day. After the tragic deaths of his two young brothers at 17 and 27 he was reminded that you only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. From humble beginnings as a butcher in Birmingham, he made himself into a relatively small but successful businessman, with a chain of shops and houses to rent. He took life by the scruff of the neck and lived a playboy life of booze, women and fast cars. He has dived the oceans of the world, travelled to all the places he ever wanted to see and ticked all his boxes. Retiring from business at 49, he turned to a new life of songwriting, TV plays and a successful trilogy of Jack Reec novels. Once asked, "Is there anything you haven't done?" Thoughtfully he replied, "Well if there is, it's because I didn't want to do it". Share the ride with him, on an exciting journey to far flung exotic locations in this hugely readable and amusingly written autobiography.

How did time begin? What conditions led to humans evolving on Earth? Will we survive the Anthropocene? And is it really true that we're all made from stars? Combining knowledge from chemistry, biology, and physics, with insights from the social sciences and humanities, A Brief History of the Last 13.8 Billion Years follows the continuum of historical change in the cosmos - from the Big Bang, through the evolution of life, to human history. In this compelling and revealing book, David Baker traces the rise of complexity in the cosmos, from the first atoms to the first life and then to humans and the things we have made. He shows us how simple clumps of hydrogen gas transformed into complex human societies. This approach - Big History - allows us to see beyond the chaos of human affairs to the overall trajectory. Finally, Baker looks at the dramatic and sudden changes we're making to our planet and its biosphere and how history hints at what might come next.

The book is dedicated to the study and mathematical definition of the biogeochemical patterns of organic and inorganic matter interaction with the marine environment's radioactive and chemical components. This book describes the radioisotope and mineral exchange theory between organic and inorganic matters in the marine environment on a time scale of metabolic processes and trophic interactions. The approach is parametrically compatible with modern techniques describing the matter and energy balance in aquatic ecosystems. The criteria for assessing the ecological capacity, biogeocenoses assimilation capacity, and water masses radio capacity, which form the basis of the theory of radioisotope and mineral homeostasis of marine ecosystems, are substantiated. This book presents methods to implement sustainable development of the Black Sea's critical and recreational zones according to the marine pollution factors. This book does that by regulating the balance between the consumption of water quality resources and their reproduction as a result of natural biogeochemical processes are proposed. The book is of interest to scientists working in marine geology, marine ecology, biogeophysics, and biogeochemistry. This book is also necessary for professionals working in institutions and administrations coordinating maritime activities, environmental projects, and developing aquaculture technologies.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of recent research on estuaries of the east coast of India, and how changing biogeochemical dynamics as a result of climate change and human activity have impacted estuaries and other open water ecosystems. Though estuaries only cover a very small portion of the earth's hydrosphere, they are some of the most biogeochemically active regions among the global water bodies. As such, this book focuses on estuaries of the east coast of India going all the way to the Bay of Bengal, which is the world's largest freshwater input from perennial rivers and rain-fed estuaries, and is therefore a unique area of study. Through its unique coverage of the Bay of Bengal in particular, the book presents a new perspective not present in the literature on estuary biogeochemistry and ecosystem dynamics. Moreover, the book addresses SDG 13 (Climate Action) and 14 (Life below Water), with a focus on ecosystem services of the natural aquatic system.The book will be useful to researchers, policy makers, coastal managers and marine sustainability scientists and organizations.

All sub disciplines in Organic Geochemistry (Petroleum Geochemistry, Environmental Geochemistry etc.) are linked by the basic analytical approaches used for identification and quantitation of individual organic substances. Hence, a fundamental prerequisite for organic geochemists is the knowledge not only about the individual analytical techniques but more about their potential as well as their limitations. In this issues basic analytical procedures and techniques are introduced comprising fundamental steps like sampling and sample storage, aspects of sample treatment like extraction and fractionation procedures and finally the specific techniques used for organic analyses on partially very low concentration levels such as mass spectrometry or infrared spectroscopy. Beside the technical aspects also application on organic-geochemical problems and the standard data evaluation practice is introduced. Finally, special chapters point to analytical pitfalls and to principal standard operation procedures. The intention of this issue is to get the readers familiar with analytical Organic Geochemistry and to enable them to assess the quality and suitability of specific analytical approaches, in particular with respect to the organic-geochemical problems.

This book presents the polycentric and multiscale view of landscape which has been developed in Russia within a framework of physical geography since the early twentieth century. The authors develop the ideas of hierarchical organization of a landscape and strong relationships between abiotic and biotic components with equal attention to both vertical fluxes and lateral transfer. Three-dimensional representation of landscape involves strong emphasis on abiotic drivers of pattern development including relief, geological structures and runoff. The objective of this book is to demonstrate the multiplicity of models and multiscale approach to description and explanation of landscape pattern, functioning, dynamics, and evolution. The contributions deal with various hierarchical levels ranging from within-unit interior variability to between-units interaction at landscape level, as well as regional and supra-regional zonal patterns. Divided into 8 clear parts, the 28 chapters treat spatial pattern in one of the following aspects: indicator of actual matter and energy flows control over actual processes including disturbance expansion as well as determinant of future development indicator of genesis and prerequisite for future trends driver for short-term dynamics of processes response to climatic and anthropogenic influences factor of settlement network and land use adaptation at various historical epochs framework for actual land use spatial arrangement. This contributed volume is written for researchers and students in the field of landscape ecology, physical geography, environmental impact assessment, and ecological planning.

This book introduces readers to the background, general framework, main operators, and other basic characteristics of biogeography-based optimization (BBO), which is an emerging branch of bio-inspired computation. In particular, the book presents the authors' recent work on improved variants of BBO, hybridization of BBO with other algorithms, and the application of BBO to a variety of domains including transportation, image processing, and neural network learning. The content will help to advance research into and application of not only BBO but also the whole field of bio-inspired computation. The algorithms and applications are organized in a step-by-step manner and clearly described with the help of pseudo-codes and flowcharts. The readers will learn not only the basic concepts of BBO but also how to apply and adapt the algorithms to the engineering optimization problems they actually encounter.

This book presents a summary of terrestrial microbial processes, which are a key factor in supporting healthy life on our planet. The authors explain how microorganisms maintain the soil ecosystem through recycling carbon and nitrogen and then provide insights into how soil microbiology processes integrate into ecosystem science, helping to achieve successful bioremediation as well as safe and effective operation of landfills, and enabling the design of composting processes that reduce the amount of waste that is placed in landfills. The book also explores the effect of human land use, including restoration on soil microbial communities and the response of wetland microbial communities to anthropogenic pollutants. Lastly it discusses the role of fungi in causing damaging, and often lethal, infectious diseases in plants and animals.

This book introduces what sclerotia grains are, and where and how they exist in soils, by compiling the results obtained from the studies on fungal sclerotia formed by Cenococcum geophilum (Cg) and related species, the visible black small grains persistent for a few thousand to ten thousands of years in forest soils and sediments. The chapters contain the results and discussions on the ecological distribution and regulating factors, characteristics, and function of Cg sclerotia grains, carried out by researchers from soil geography, soil science, soil microbiology, physiology, forestry, analytical chemistry, environmental chemistry, material science, and related disciplines. The anatomy of sclerotia grains in soil was realized in terms of interdisciplinary joint researches, which resulted in deepening understanding of the ecological function of the mesoscale organic component in soils. This book covers the natural history of sclerotia in soils, pedo-sclerotiology.

This volume addresses major evolutionary changes that took place during the Ediacaran and the Paleozoic. These include discussions on the nature of Ediacaran ecosystems, as well as the ichnologic signature of evolutionary radiations, such as the Cambrian explosion and the Great Ordovician biodiversification event, the invasion of the land, and the end-Permian mass extinction. This volume set provides innovative reviews of the major evolutionary events in the history of life from an ichnologic perspective. Because the long temporal range of trace fossils has been commonly emphasized, biogenic structures have been traditionally overlooked in macroevolution. However, comparisons of ichnofaunas through geologic time do reveal the changing ecology of organism-substrate interactions. The use of trace fossils in evolutionary paleoecology represents a new trend that is opening a window for our understanding of major evolutionary radiations and mass extinctions. Trace fossils provide crucial evidence for the recognition of spatial and temporal patterns and processes associated with paleoecologic breakthroughs.

Interdisciplinary Teaching about the Earth and Environment for a Sustainable Future presents the outcomes of the InTeGrate project, a community effort funded by the National Science Foundation to improve Earth literacy and build a workforce prepared to tackle environmental and resource issues. The InTeGrate community is built around the shared goal of supporting interdisciplinary learning about Earth across the undergraduate curriculum, focusing on the grand challenges facing society and the important role that the geosciences play in addressing these grand challenges. The chapters in this book explicitly illustrate the intimate relationship between geoscience and sustainability that is often opaque to students. The authors of these chapters are faculty members, administrators, program directors, and researchers from institutions across the country who have collectively envisioned, implemented, and evaluated effective change in their classrooms, programs, institutions, and beyond. This book provides guidance to anyone interested in implementing change-on scales ranging from a single course to an entire program-by infusing sustainability across the curriculum, broadening access to Earth and environmental sciences, and assessing the impacts of those changes.

This volume addresses major evolutionary changes that took place during the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic. These include discussions on major evolutionary radiations and ecological innovations on land and at sea, such as the Mesozoic marine revolution, the Mesozoic radiation of vertebrates, the Mesozoic lacustrine revolution, the Cenozoic radiation of mammals, the evolution of paleosol biotas, and the evolution of hominins. The roles of mass extinctions at the end of the Triassic and at the end of the Cretaceous are assessed. This volume set provides innovative reviews of the major evolutionary events in the history of life from an ichnologic perspective. Because the long temporal range of trace fossils has been commonly emphasized, biogenic structures have been traditionally overlooked in macroevolution. However, comparisons of ichnofaunas through geologic time do reveal the changing ecology of organism-substrate interactions. The use of trace fossils in evolutionary paleoecology represents a new trend that is opening a window for our understanding of major evolutionary radiations and mass extinctions. Trace fossils provide crucial evidence for the recognition of spatial and temporal patterns and processes associated with paleoecologic breakthroughs.

This book focuses on fluxes of energy, carbon dioxide and matter in and above a Central European spruce forest. The transition from a forest affected by acid rain into a heterogeneous forest occurred as a result of wind throw, bark beetles and climate change. Scientific results obtained over the last 20 years at the FLUXNET site DE-Bay (Waldstein-Weidenbrunnen) are shown together with methods developed at the site, including the application of footprint models for data-quality analysis, the coupling between the trunk space and the atmosphere, the importance of the Damkoehler number for trace gas studies, and the turbulent conditions at a forest edge. In addition to the many experimental studies, the book also applies model studies such as higher-order closure models, Large-Eddy Simulations, and runoff models for the catchment and compares them with the experimental data. Moreover, by highlighting processes in the atmosphere it offers insights into the functioning of the ecosystem as a whole. It is of interest to ecologists, micrometeorologists and ecosystem modelers.

This book presents study findings involving the Changjiang River estuary and Jiaozhou Bay, China, etc. It takes a large catchment as a combined ecosystem to study nutrients biogeochemistry and environmental aspects of the Changjiang River. Some of the findings have sparked new research directions, including systematic studies of nutrients in the Changjiang River; sources and control mechanisms of nitrogen and phosphorus in the Changjiang River and its estuary; removal and transport of nutrients in the turbidity maximum zone and upwelling area of the Changjiang estuary; long-term changes in nutrients and ecological responses in the Changjiang River estuary and Jiaozhou Bay; and a study on nutrient structure and nutrient composition of phytoplankton, which are topics at the forefront ofinternational marine The studies address different fields, such as biogeochemistry, marine chemistry, ecology, environmental science, oceanography and biology.

The geochemistry of the earth 's surface is controlled by chemical equilibrium, and the kinetics of the approach toward equilibrium. Many low temperature processes, such as weathering, do not reach equilibrium except over geologically long time periods. The approach to equilibrium can be described by kinetic theory and the application of kinetic theory to geochemical systems has made vast advances in the last several decades. Geochemical kinetics as a topic is now of importance to a wide range of geochemists in academia, industry, and government, and all geochemists need a rudimentary knowledge of the field. This book will summarize the fundamentals of geochemical kinetics with examples drawn especially from mineral dissolution and precipitation, but will also encompass discussion of high temperature processes and global geochemical cycle modeling. Analysis of textures of rocks, sediments, and mineral surfaces will be incorporated throughout and will be a subtheme of the book.

Examines each of these parameters in crucial depth and makes the argument that life forms we would recognize may be more common in our solar system than many assume. Considers exotic forms of life that would not have to rely on carbon as the basic chemical element, solar energy as the main energy source, or water as the primary solvent and the question of detecting bio- and geosignatures of such life forms, ranging from earth environments to deep space. Seeks an operational definition of life and investigate the realm of possibilities that nature offers to realize this very special state of matter. Avoids scientific jargon wherever possible to make this intrinsically interdisciplinary subject understandable to a broad range of readers.

From the cross-disciplinary perspective of urban management and planning, geography and architecture, this book explores the theory and methods of urban memory, selecting Beijing's historic buildings, historic areas, central areas and city walls as research cases. It is divided into three parts: factors analysis, modeling and practical application. It lays a scientific foundation and provides practical methods for the management of historical spaces, residents' and commercial activities, optimizing the layout and structure of the historic spaces, updating the protection of old buildings, promoting the organic growth of historic sites and the sustainable development of urbanization with new concepts.

There is an increasing interest of biotechnologists in the potential of cold-adapted organisms, since they play a major role in the processes of nutrient turnover and primary biomass production in cold ecosystems. Essential advantages of the application of such organisms are the rapid microbial metabolism at low temperatures, the low activation energy for enzymatic substrate hydrolysis and the low thermostability of enzymes from cold-adapted organisms. Benefits can also be deduced from the frost hardiness and frost resistance of cold-adapted plants and animals.

This monograph describes ways of using trees and their byproducts in environmental protection technologies and methodologies throughout their lifecycles. The tree, the planet's main source of biomass, is an indispensable tool for sustainable technologies, and the authors present a holistic picture of how and why in this volume. The authors describe the indispensable role of the living tree in phytoremediation and biomonitoring and detail the relationship of the tree with its surrounding ecosystem. The direct and indirect relationships of a tree at its vegetation period with various components of the ecosystem (i.e. atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and soil) contribute to the role of a tree as the medium for integrating aerogenic and edaphic pollutants. Trees phytostabilize pollutants in their organisms and remove them from the soil. The ability of some species of trees to reflect the quality of the environment makes a basis for the environmental bioindication, while quantitative representation of the chemical composition of the surrounding environment allows for the use of trees in biomonitoring. Morphological features of trees (e.g. annual tree rings) allow us to observe environmental conditions in the past and retrospectively evaluate them. This monograph also details how wood products (e.g. biochar, chips, bark, etc.) of a tree after it has died are used in environmental technologies. Due to the specific morphological form and physical and chemical composition of wood products, they may be used as active materials in the technologies aimed at reducing pollution in an effective and sustainable manner.

Foraminiferal cultures now serve as tools for researching biological, environmental, and geological topics. However, the biological backgrounds, in particular the natural histories of foraminifera, largely remain unclear. It is also true that the different techniques used in different subdisciplines are a setback to fully understanding the subject. Taken together, these factors prevent progress in experimental approaches to foraminiferal studies. This book aims to share and exchange knowledge between researchers from different subdisciplines, and the book should interest not only foraminiferal researchers but also scientists who are working with marine organisms to explore questions in relation to biology, geology, and oceanography.