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Books > Earth & environment > Earth sciences
Hydrogeomorphology is the science relating to the geographical,
geological and hydrological aspects of water bodies and changes to
these in response to flow variations and to natural and human
caused events. The book covers the aspects of water resources,
aquifer properties, structural and drainage patterns, with special
reference to latest topics like Rain Water Harvesting, Watershed
Development, Remote Sensing, GIS, GPS, DSTM, MCE and TIR. With
social, cultural and administrative steps, problems with their
solutions and means of sustainable development finding their way in
the book, thus making the book a must buy for all concerned. The
present book covers detailed studies of hydrogeology and
geomorphology. Their simple and accurate presentation by images and
tables serves the appetite of not only the students but also of the
professionals in the field of agricultural and civil engineering,
environment, geology, geomorphology, hydrogeology, hydrology and
irrigation.
The Mediterranean region contains a diverse and interesting climate
ranging from areas with permanent glaciers to areas of subtropical,
semiarid regions. The region is potentially sensitive to climate
change and its progress has environmental, social, and economic
implications within and beyond the region. Produced by the
Mediterranean Climate Variability and Predictability Research
Networking Project, this book reviews the evolution of the
Mediterranean climate over the past two millennia with projections
further into the twenty-first century as well as examining in
detail various aspects of the Mediterranean region's climate
including evolution, atmospheric variables, and oceanic and land
elements. Integrated with this, the book also considers the social
and economic problems or vulnerabilities associated with the
region. Written and reviewed by multiple researchers to ensure a
high level of information presented clearly, Mediterranean Climate
Variables will be an invaluable source of information for
geologists, oceanographers, and anyone interested in learning more
about the Mediterranean climate.
With a new afterword, Why You Are Here: A speech on the opening of
the COP26 climate summit As a young man, I felt I was out there in
the wild, experiencing the untouched natural world - but it was an
illusion. The tragedy of our time has been happening all around us,
barely noticeable from day to day - the loss of our planet's wild
places, its biodiversity. I have been witness to this decline. A
Life on Our Planet contains my witness statement, and my vision for
the future - the story of how we came to make this, our greatest
mistake, and how, if we act now, we can yet put it right. We have
the opportunity to create the perfect home for ourselves and
restore the wonderful world we inherited. All we need is the will
do so.
Examining the science of stream restoration, Rebecca Lave argues
that the neoliberal emphasis on the privatization and
commercialization of knowledge has fundamentally changed the way
that science is funded, organized, and viewed in the United States.
Stream restoration science and practice is in a startling state.
The most widely respected expert in the field, Dave Rosgen, is a
private consultant with relatively little formal scientific
training. Since the mid-1990s, many academic and federal agency -
based scientists have denounced Rosgen as a charlatan and a hack.
Despite this, Rosgen's Natural Channel Design approach,
classification system, and short-course series are not only
accepted but are viewed as more legitimate than academically
produced knowledge and training. Rosgen's methods are now promoted
by federal agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency,
the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and
the Natural Resources Conservation Service, as well as by resource
agencies in dozens of states. Drawing on the work of Pierre
Bourdieu, Lave demonstrates that the primary cause of Rosgen's
success is neither the method nor the man but is instead the
assignment of a new legitimacy to scientific claims developed
outside the academy, concurrent with academic scientists'
decreasing ability to defend their turf. What is at stake in the
Rosgen wars, argues Lave, is not just the ecological health of our
rivers and streams but the very future of environmental science.
In The Big Muddy, the first long-term environmental history of the
Mississippi, Christopher Morris offers a brilliant tour across five
centuries as he illuminates the interaction between people and the
landscape, from early hunter-gatherer bands to present-day
industrial and post-industrial society.
Morris shows that when Hernando de Soto arrived at the lower
Mississippi Valley, he found an incredibly vast wetland, forty
thousand square miles of some of the richest, wettest land in North
America, deposited there by the big muddy river that ran through
it. But since then much has changed, for the river and for the
surrounding valley. Indeed, by the 1890s, the valley was rapidly
drying. Morris shows how centuries of increasingly intensified
human meddling--including deforestation, swamp drainage, and levee
construction--led to drought, disease, and severe flooding. He
outlines the damage done by the introduction of foreign species,
such as the Argentine nutria, which escaped into the wild and are
now busy eating up Louisiana's wetlands. And he critiques the most
monumental change in the lower Mississippi Valley--the
reconstruction of the river itself, largely under the direction of
the Army Corps of Engineers. Valley residents have been paying the
price for these human interventions, most visibly with the disaster
that followed Hurricane Katrina. Morris also describes how valley
residents have been struggling to reinvigorate the valley
environment in recent years--such as with the burgeoning catfish
and crawfish industries--so that they may once again live off its
natural abundance.
Morris concludes that the problem with Katrina is the problem with
the Amazon Rainforest, drought and famine in Africa, and fires and
mudslides in California--it is the end result of the ill-considered
bending of natural environments to human purposes.
The increasingly widespread production of toxins by marine and
freshwater microalgae raises serious concerns regarding seafood and
drinking water safety. This book compiles studies on the influence
of climate change on the spreading of toxin-producing species in
aquatic systems. The chemistry and biology of toxin production is
revised and an outlook on control and prevention of the toxins'
impact on human and animal health is given.
The Arctic: A Barometer of Global Climate Variability provides a
comprehensive source of information on all aspects of the Arctic
region. Through thorough research, first-hand accounts and case
studies, the book details international arctic research initiatives
and native environments, including flora and fauna. Sections
explore the impact of climate change, the effect of the Arctic on
climate change, the environmental issues facing the region and how
it is adapting. It is also a must-read source of information for
polar scientists, applicable PhD students, early researchers,
environmental scholars, and anyone searching for information on any
aspect of the Arctic region. Users will find a great resource that
brings together all aspects of Arctic research into one concise
book.
Geomorphological Mapping: a professional handbook of techniques and
applications is a new book targeted at academics and practitioners
who use, or wish to utilise, geomorphological mapping within their
work. Synthesising for the first time an historical perspective to
geomorphological mapping, field based and digital tools and
techniques for mapping and an extensive array of case studies from
academics and professionals active in the area. Those active in
geomorphology, engineering geology, reinsurance, Environmental
Impact Assessors, and allied areas, will find the text of immense
value.
Growth of interest in geomorphological mapping and currently no
texts comprehensively cover this topicExtensive case studies that
will appeal to professionals, academics and students (with
extensive use of diagrams, potentially colour plates)Brings
together material on digital mapping (GIS and remote sensing),
cartography and data sources with a focus on modern technologies
(including GIS, remote sensing and digital terrain
analysis)Provides readers with summaries of current advances in
methodological/technical aspectsAccompanied by electronic resources
for digital mapping
The book seeks to comprehend how indigenous knowledge systems of
local communities can be effectively used in disaster management of
various types. A prime example is the 2015 Sendai Framework for
Disaster Risk Reduction, promoting indigenous environmental
management knowledge and practices. Traditional knowledge of
indigenous peoples includes information and insight that supplement
conventional science and environmental observations, a
comprehensive understanding of the environment, natural resources,
culture, and human interactions with them which is not documented
before. A great deal of this knowledge have been lost in
translation. In this book, the authors attempt to keep a record of
each and every traditional knowledge study of the indigenous
communities in managing the disasters. The use of indigenous
knowledge systems in disaster understanding and management is the
primary focus of the chapters.  This book is organized
into four major sections. The first part gives an overview and help
in conceptualizing the different concepts of hazard and disaster
perception and how response and adaptation are connected with it.
This part also discusses the concept of the connection between
hazard and sustainable development and how the understanding of
risk reduction and resilience can happen with the help of
indigenous knowledge, insights, and strategies. The second part of
the book introduces the different approaches to disaster and risk
management. It establishes how vulnerability influences the risk
associated with a hazard and the responses can be both positive and
negative in disaster management. The approaches of the indigenous
communities in managing a disaster, their resilience, capacity
building, and community-based preparedness will be the area of
prime focus in this chapter. Part 3 of this book describes the
concept of sustainability through indigenous knowledge and
practice. The sole highlight of this chapter is the indigenous
knowledge efficacies in disaster identification, risk reduction,
climate risk management, and climate action. The last section of
the book explores how to meet the gaps between local knowledge and
policy formulation. It highlights how traditional knowledge of the
indigenous communities can prove to be beneficial in developing a
holistic regional-based policy framework which will be easily
accepted by the target stakeholders since they will be more
acquainted with the local strategies and methods. This section ends
with an assessment and discussion of the gaps and future scopes in
disaster risk reduction through integrating local knowledge and
modern technologies.
The paradigm and models of traditional soil science lack the
ability to adequately address issues of soil dynamics,
environmental integration, and change. Unexplainable research
results obtained from traditional soil studies applied to
non-traditional soil phenomena in physical geography, archaeology
and ecology speak to the current need for soil science to move
beyond description and classification and into a dynamic
process-oriented soil science capable of providing explanations.
Soils do not behave as static inert geologic detritus affected by
climate, organisms, relief, and parent material through time, but
instead soils behave as self-organizing systems dynamically
interrelating with their environment. Recognition of this dynamic
behaviour required a re-examination of how scientists in general
think and in how modern soil science specifically evolved its basic
paradigms and models. This book examines the dynamics of soil
organic carbon and demonstrates the self-organizing nature of soil
through time as soil responds to a wide range of environmental and
human perturbations.
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Vantine's.
N. A. a. Vantine and Company (New York
Hardcover
R669
Discovery Miles 6 690
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