Oceans and Human Health: Opportunities and Impacts, Second Edition explores the inextricably interconnected and complex relationship between oceans and humans. Through the lens of the expanding oceans and human health meta-discipline, this work examines the many invaluable ecosystem services offered by oceans as well as the global anthropogenic impacts, and explores the associated risks and benefits to human health. Written and edited by an interdisciplinary team of experts, the book features international perspectives on the resources available to address these benefits and risks, including enhanced research, policy, and community engagement. The book concludes by examining the future of ocean stewardship and how global populations can unite to nurture and promote our life-enhancing relationship with oceans. This is an indispensable resource for students, researchers, communities, and industry specialists in marine sciences, public health, and international policy. 

Weeds are the main biological constraint to crop production throughout the year. Uncontrolled weeds could cause 100% yield loss. In Australia, the overall cost of weeds to Australian grain growers was estimated at AU$ 3.3 billion annually. In terms of yield losses, weeds amounted to 2.7 million tonnes of grains at a national level. In the USA, weeds cost US$ 33 billion in lost crop production annually. In India, these costs were estimated to be much higher (US$ 11 billion). These studies from different economies suggest that weeds cause substantial yield and economic loss. Biology and Management of Problematic Weed Species details the biology of key weed species, providing vital information on seed germination and production, as well as factors affecting weed growth. These species include Chenopodium album, Chloris truncata and C. virgate, Conyza bonariensis and C. canadensis, Cyperus rotundus, and many more. This information is crucial for researchers and growers to develop integrated weed management (IWM) strategies. Written by leading experts across the globe, this book is an essential read to plant biologists and ecologists, crop scientists, and students and researchers interested in weed science.

How Plants Communicate with Their Biotic Environment addresses how plants perceive the presence of organisms (other plants, microbes, insects and nematodes) living in their proximity, how they manage to be attractive when these organisms are friendly, and how they defend themselves from foes. Specific chapters delve into ecology and defense mechanisms, allelopathy and the role of allelochemicals in plant defense, plant signaling, and plant communication with microbes and animals, including herbivores. In addition, the book presents discussions on communication and its role in plant pollination. This comprehensive resource presents tactics that can be taken from the lab, to the bench, to the forest.

In the past few years, the subject of climate change has frequently garnered headlines due to the usual political controversy surrounding it. However, setting aside the argument as to whether climate change is a man-made effect or not, we cannot deny the fact that humanity has been discharging carbon increasingly into the atmosphere for centuries. Likewise, similar reports on the growing Great Pacific Garbage Patch-and the general accumulation of plastics everywhere-are alarming. Moreover, it has also been recently demonstrated that microplastics are finally entering the food webs which include the human consumer. Air, soil, and water pollution are increasing; in some ways forcing certain countries and governments to modify their politics, while also creating new opportunities and opening new niches for the marketing of products, such as air and water filters. With current techniques, it is not possible to completely eliminate all toxic and hazardous waste, which means that security deposits are necessary. Security deposits are storage areas prepared for certain toxic and dangerous industrial waste, so that its harmful properties cannot affect the natural environment and human health-at least, in any case, for a very long time. Due to their geomorphological composition, topography, and hydrographic conditions, there are sites that can be used as waste deposits, given their natural isolation and projected stability for hundreds of years. Thus, they become security deposits. In addition, every day new materials and construction techniques are developed that allow for a total isolation of the waste. A relatively new view in the material life cycle is the reuse of the generated waste as new resources. This helps to mitigate the cost increases in raw materials, energy, and regulations regarding waste disposal, which have caused the industry to rethink its production methods, leading to a better use of raw materials and energy. Clean technologies are those used by the industry to reduce the need for treatment or disposal of waste and to reduce the demand for raw materials, energy, and water. For the proper implementation of clean technologies, industries and municipalities must develop a deep understanding of their own processes and activities, and must analyze the characteristics of their equipment and make any possible modifications. An environmental evaluation of the situation provides suitable information on the efficiency of each component and its integration in the whole process, on the proportion of waste, on energy consumption, and on how to reorganize or modify to improve cost-efficiency in economic and environmental terms, which in a middle term view results in synergistic goals. With this concise introduction to the world of waste and pollutant treatment technologies, the editors believe it is clear that the solutions are to be developed on a case-by-case basis; because the larger the number of mixed pollutants, the more complex and intimated the process will be. This book presents a series of selected approaches that can be used to approach different cases, also depending upon budget and viability of a sustainable approach. This book serves as a source of information, triggers ideas, and fosters interaction between all the players taking action in sustainable development initiatives.

In 2005, The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) provided the first global assessment of the world's ecosystems and ecosystem services. It concluded that recent trends in ecosystem change threatened human wellbeing due to declining ecosystem services. This bleak prophecy has galvanized conservation organizations, ecologists, and economists to work toward rigorous valuations of ecosystem services at a spatial scale and with a resolution that can inform public policy.
The editors have assembled the world's leading scientists in the fields of conservation, policy analysis, and resource economics to provide the most intensive and best technical analyses of ecosystem services to date. A key idea that guides the science is that the modelling and valuation approaches being developed should use data that are readily available around the world. In addition, the book documents a toolbox of ecosystem service mapping, modeling, and valuation models that both The Nature Conservancy and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) are beginning to apply around the world as they transform conservation from a biodiversity only to a people and ecosystem services agenda. The book addresses land, freshwater, and marine systems at a variety of spatial scales and includes discussion of how to treat both climate change and cultural values when examining tradeoffs among ecosystem services.

The book is based on data collected during the past 10 years by Zackenberg Ecological Research Operations (ZERO) at Zackenberg Research Station in northeast Greenland. This volume covers the function of Arctic ecosystems based on the most comprehensive long-term data set in the world from a well-defined Arctic ecosystem. Editors offer a comprehensive and authoritative analysis of how climate variability is influencing an Arctic ecosystem and how the Arctic ecosystems have inherent feedback mechanisms interacting with climate variability or change.
* The latest research on the functioning of Arctic ecosystems
* Supplements current books on Arctic climate impact assessment as a case study for ecological specialists
* Discusses the complex perpetuating effects on Earth
* Vital information on modeling ecosystem responses to understand future climates

The book is based on data collected during the past ten years by Zackenberg Ecological Research Operations (ZERO) at Zackenberg Research Station in Northeast Greenland. This volume covers the function of Arctic ecosystems based on the most comprehensive long-term data set in the world from a well-defined Arctic ecosystem. Editors offer a comprehensive and authoritative analysis of how climate variability is influencing an Arctic ecosystem and how the Arctic ecosystems have inherent feedback mechanisms interacting with climate variability or change.
* The latest research on the functioning of Arctic ecosystems
* Supplement current books on arctic climate impact assessment as a case study for ecological specialists
* Discusses the complex perpetuating effects on Earth
* Vital information on modelling ecosystem responses to understand future climates

The Arctic Tundra and adjacent Boreal Forest or Taiga support the most cold-adapted flora and fauna on Earth. The evolutionary capacity of both plants and animals to adapt to these thermally limiting conditions has always attracted biological investigation and is a central theme of this book. How the polar biota will adapt to a warmer world is creating significant and renewed interest in this habitat. The Arctic has always been subject to climatic fluctuation and the polar biota has successfully adapted to these changes throughout its evolutionary history. Whether or not climatic warming will allow the Boreal Forest to advance onto the treeless Tundra is one of the most tantalizing questions that can be asked today in relation to terrestrial polar biology. Tundra-Taiga Biology provides a circum-polar perspective of adaptation to low temperatures and short growing seasons, together with a history of climatic variation as it has affected the evolution of terrestrial life in the Tundra and the adjacent forested Taiga. It will appeal to researchers new to the field and to the many students, professional ecologists and conservation practitioners requiring a concise but authoritative overview of the biome. Its accessibility also makes it suitable for undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in tundra, taiga, and arctic ecology.

Reflecting the expertise and perspective of five leading mammalogists, the fourth edition of Mammalogy: Adaptation, Diversity, Ecology significantly updates taxonomy, includes a new chapter on mammalian molecular phylogenetics, and highlights several recently described species. There are close to 5,500 species in the class Mammalia, including the blue whale-the largest animal that has ever lived-and the pygmy shrew, which weighs little more than a penny. The functional diversity of mammals has allowed them to play critical roles in every ecosystem, whether marine, freshwater, alpine, tundra, forest, or desert. Many mammal species are critically endangered and present complex conservation and management challenges. This book touches on those challenges, which are often precipitated by overharvesting and habitat loss, as well as emerging threats, such as the impact of wind turbines and white nose syndrome on bats and chronic wasting disease on deer. Among the updates and additions to the fourth edition of Mammalogy are numerous new photos, figures, and cladograms, over 4,200 references, as well as: a completely new chapter on mammalian phylogeny and genomics; current taxonomy - including major changes to orders, suborders, and superfamilies of bats and rodents; an explanation of the recent inclusion of whales with terrestrial even-toed ungulates; updates on mammalian structural, functional adaptations, and fossil history; and, recent advances in our understanding of phylogeny, biogeography, social behavior, and ecology; a discussion of two new orders and thirteen newly recognized extant families It also includes: reflections on the implications of climate change for mammals; thorough examinations of several recently described species, including Durrell's vontsira ( Salanoia durrelli) and the Laotian rock rat ( Laonastes aenigmamus); an explanation of mammalian biomechanics, such as that seen in lunge feeding of baleen whales; Breakout boxes on unique aspects of mammals, including the syntax of bat songs, singing mice, and why there are no green mammals (unless we count algae-covered sloths). Maintaining the accessible, readable style for which Feldhamer and his coauthors are well known, this new edition of Mammalogy is the authoritative textbook on this amazingly diverse class of vertebrates.

Vegetation Dynamics and Crop Stress: An Earth-Observation Perspective focuses on vegetation dynamics and crop stress at both the regional and country levels by using earth observation (EO) data sets. The book uniquely provides a better understanding of natural vegetation and crop failure through geo-spatial technologies. This book covers biophysical control of vegetation, deforestation, desertification, drought, and crop-water efficiency, as well as the application of satellite-derived measures from optical, thermal, and microwave domains for monitoring and modeling crop condition, agricultural drought, and crop health in contrasting monsoon/weather episodes.

'Gow reinvents what it means to be a guardian of the countryside.'-Guardian 'This authentic, impassioned manifesto-cum-memoir will hopefully have a major impact on what is likely to be a long-running controversy.'-The Spectator 'Gow has a fire in his belly. We need more like him.'-BBC Wildlife Magazine A Waterstones Best Nature Writing Book of 2020 'Bringing Back the Beaver is a hilarious, eccentric and magnificent account of a struggle . . . to reintroduce a species crucial to the health of our ecosystems.'-George Monbiot Bringing Back the Beaver is farmer-turned-ecologist Derek Gow's inspirational and often riotously funny first-hand account of how the movement to rewild beavers into the British landscape became the single most dramatic and subversive nature conservation act of the modern era. Since the early 1990s - in the face of outright opposition from government, landowning elites and even some conservation professionals - Gow has imported, quarantined and assisted the reestablishment of beavers in waterways across England and Scotland. With a foreword by bestselling author of Wilding, Isabella Tree, Bringing Back the Beaver makes a passionate case as to why the return of one of nature's great problem solvers will be critical as part of a sustainable fix for the UK's growing flooding problems, whilst ensuring the creation of essential landscapes that enable the broadest spectrum of Britain's wildlife to thrive. 'It is wonderful to see that beavers are now officially back on the list of native species, having been absent for so long . . . far too long!'-Dame Judi Dench

Development and Commercialization of Biopesticides: Costs and Benefits provides a uniquely comprehensive view of the commercial production of biopesticides, from research to application, featuring case studies in various developed and developing countries of the world. The book offers guidance for future strategies to researchers, along with considerations for the industry's economic concerns, i.e., costs and benefits compared to conventional pesticides, future perspectives for application strategies, bioavailability and environmental safety, and impacts on intellectual property issues during commercialization. Finally, the book covers why the development of this industry must be strategic, comprehensive and forward-looking in order to be an accepted, safe and sustainable. There is no doubt that biopesticides are now in large-scale use, and a variety of novel techniques have been used to improve or modify existing biopesticides, which will further accelerate their development.

Applications of Biosurfactant in Agriculture explores the use of beneficial microorganisms as an alternative to current synthetic plant protection strategies. The book highlights a range of renewable raw substrates including agro-industrial waste as a dependable and cost-effective technology for the mass production of biosurfactant, emphasizes the formulation of biosurfactants using a full-factorial design, scientometric assessment, and presents mathematical modeling for the enhancement of production processes. Recent biotechnological techniques such as functional metagenomics that could help in the molecular characterization of novel biosurfactant with multifunctional activities majorly from uncultured and unexploited microbes available in the soil biosphere are also explored. This book identifies possible modes of action by which nutrients are normally released to plants through the formation of metal-biosurfactant complexes and presents recent research findings on the utilization of biosurfactants for the management of mycotoxins and microorganisms when evaluated in the field and in greenhouses. Finally, the book emphasizes the application of biosurfactants as a form of potent antibiotics for the management of several zoonotic diseases and in animal husbandry.

Silicon and Nano-silicon in Environmental Stress Management and Crop Quality Improvement: Progress and Prospects provides a comprehensive overview of the latest understanding of the physiological, biochemical and molecular basis of silicon- and nano-silicon-mediated environmental stress tolerance and crop quality improvements in plants. The book not only covers silicon-induced biotic and abiotic stress tolerance in crops but is also the first to include nano-silicon-mediated approaches to environmental stress tolerance in crops. As nanotechnology has emerged as a prominent tool for enhancing agricultural productivity, and with the production and applications of nanoparticles (NPs) greatly increasing in many industries, this book is a welcomed resource.

CO2 Acidification in Aquatic Ecosystems: An Integrative Approach to Risk Assessment focuses on the characterization of different aspects of ecosystem science to describe the situation of CO2 acidification in aquatic ecosystems. This extensive coverage looks at the effects of CO2 acidification throughout all oceans and coastal areas. In addition, the book describes integrative approaches based on global case studies to determine the effects associated with this kind of acidification. It allows the reader to understand the different sources of CO2 in the aquatic ecosystems and the different approaches and lines of evidence available to characterize the impact of this acidification. This book provides researchers, professors and post graduate students in oceanography and aquatic ecology with a new and complete tool set to address and understand the potential impacts of CO2 acidification in aquatic ecosystems.

Ecology and Biodiversity of Benthos provides insights into the characteristic features of marine and estuarine benthos that play an important role in coastal ecosystem functioning, a primary level in the food chain. The book provides the latest information on multidisciplinary reflections by various researchers studying the benthic community. Through the chapters, ecosystem services are explored as a way to share approaches and scientific methods to achieve knowledge-based sustainable planning and management of benthic ecosystems. This is a helpful guide for anyone working on marine and estuarine environments, and for those who need an introduction to benthic ecology. The book has a wide range of scientific coverage since it caters primarily to the requirement of marine ecologists, marine benthologists, EIA experts, aquatic researchers, scientists, teachers and research scholars. In addition to this, it also serves as a reference for postgraduate/undergraduate students studying aquatic ecosystems.

Wetlands are vital for human survival. They are among the world's most productive environments as they are cradles of biological diversity that provide the water and productivity upon which countless species of plants and animals depend for survival. Wetlands provide habitat for thousands of species of aquatic and terrestrial plants and animals as well as a number of societal benefits such as food and habitat for fish and wildlife, water quality improvement, flood storage, shoreline erosion control, economically beneficial natural products for human use, and opportunities for recreation, education, and research. According to the Federal Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Wetlands, more than one-third of the United States' threatened and endangered species live only in wetlands, and nearly half use wetlands at some point in their lives. This book offers a comprehensive look at the importance of wetland conservation, its challenges, and future aspects. The book highlights the challenges of wetland conservation and current scenarios of existing wetlands; the importance of the inland wetland and its conservation is particularly highlighted as it is critical and very important in the current existing wetland scenario. This book is critical for industries, academics, research scholars, and environmental consultants who are practicing wetland management.

Elements of Marine Ecology, Fifth Edition focuses on marine ecology as a coherent science, providing undergraduate students with an essential foundation of knowledge in the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems. The text reflects ecological groupings such as the pelagic lifestyle vs. the benthic lifestyle. In addition, background oceanographic material, previously in various chapters, is consolidated in the first chapter. The broad definition of ecology is the study of organisms in relation to their surroundings. This book presents marine ecology as a coherent science, providing undergraduate students with an essential foundation of knowledge in the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems. This new edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to meet the needs of today's courses and now includes worldwide examples, all thoroughly updated with brand new chapters.

Climate Change and Crop Stress: Molecules to Ecosystems expounds on the transitional period where science has progressed to 'post-genomics' and the gene editing era, putting field performance of crops to the forefront and challenging the production of practical applicability vs. theoretical possibility. Researchers have concentrated efforts on the effects of environmental stress conditions such as drought, heat, salinity, cold, or pathogen infection which can have a devastating impact on plant growth and yield. Designed to deliver information to combat stress both in isolation and through simultaneous crop stresses, this edited compilation provides a comprehensive view on the challenges and impacts of simultaneous stresses.