This edited work brings out a comprehensive collection of information on Potentials, Threats and Conservation of Biodiversity in Africa. The main focus of this book is to address the sustainability of Biodiversity of Africa. Biodiversity are organisms that typically have life and possess the characteristics of living things. The biodiversity is being affected by human activities as well as natural effects. This in turn is affecting the uses of biodiversity which are mainly food and medicine. Therefore it will be useful to point possible means of conserving biodiversity of African so as to enhance the sustainability of their uses especially in Africa. This book is of interest and useful to biodiversity experts, policy makers, conservationists and industries interested in biodiversity conservation of native flora and fauna in the area. It will also be useful to environmental and agricultural scientists, foresters, horticulturists, ecologists, and valuable source of reference to the relevant researchers and students (undergraduate and Post graduate) in the region.

The last few decades have seen a rapid growth of interest in the mangrove ecosystems. This is due, on the one hand, to the perception that mangrove ecosystems are valuable resources, and, on the other hand, due to vested economic interests. There is an accelerated rate of destruction of mangroves worldwide. Almost all nations of the world tropical belt are concerned with the conservation of this natural wealth, but surreptitiously permit the misuse of mangroves for quick monetary returns unabatedly. The scientific community and decision makers of many nations are now in a state of alert, requesting sound directives for the sustainable use of mangroves worldwide. The present publication is an attempt to present in an organized manner the present state of knowledge which could be useful for decision makers and of interest to all those who see the ecological and economical potential of the various types of mangrove ecosystems.

This book consists of a diverse collection of chapters that seeks to broaden our fundamental understanding of the ecological function and biological importance of the Earth's lower atmosphere, which provides a huge living space for billions of animals moving within and across continents. Their migration, dispersal and foraging activities connect water and land habitats within and across continents. Drawing upon the wide-ranging experience of the authors, the book takes an inherently interdisciplinary approach that serves to introduce the reader to the topic of aeroecology, frame some of the basic biological questions that can be addressed within the context of aeroecology, and highlight several existing and emerging technologies that are being used to promote aeroecological studies. The book begins with several background chapters, that provide introduction into such topics as atmospheric science, the concept of the habitat, animal physiology, and methods of navigation. It then continues with a broad discussion of observational methods available to and used by aeroecologists. Finally, several targeted examples of aeroecological studies are presented. Following the development of the chapters, the reader is provided with a unifying framework for investigating how the dynamic properties of meteorological conditions at local, regional, and global scales affect the organisms that depend on the air for foraging and movement. Material presented in the book should be of interest to anyone wishing to gain a comprehensive understanding of the aerosphere itself and the myriad airborne organisms that inhabit and depend upon this environment for their existence. The material should be accessible to a diverse set of readers at all stages of training and across a range of research expertise.

This book integrates 30 years of mercury research in the Florida Everglades to inform scientists and policy makers. The Everglades is an iconic ecosystem by virtue of its expanse; diversity of biota; and multiple international designations. Despite this, the Everglades has been subjected to multiple threats including: habitat loss, hydrologic alterations, invasive species and altered water quality. Less well recognized as a threat to Everglades human use and wildlife populations is the toxic metal, mercury. The first half of Volume II focuses on biogeochemistry and factors unique to the Everglades that make it extraordinarily susceptible to mercury methylation following its deposition: warm subtropical climate, shallow depth, high levels of dissolved organic matter, sulfate contamination, nutrient enrichment and sediment redox conditions (for review of atmospheric mercury deposition significance, see Vol. I). The second half of Volume II answers the "so what" question - why biomagnification of the methylmercury produced in the Everglades is a threat to the health of top predators including humans. The results of the synthesis presented in Volume II suggest that the mercury problem in the Florida Everglades is one of the worst in the world due to its areal extent and the degree of risk to ecological receptors and humans.

This volume explores major wetland ecosystem services, such as climate cooling and water quality improvement, and discusses the recent wetland conservation and restoration activities in China and neighboring countries. The role of wetlands in either cooling or warming the climate is analyzed as the net balance between carbon sequestration and emissions of methane and nitrous oxide. Wetlands start off having a net warming effect on the climate but in time switch to net cooling. Further, they remove 40% of the N and P from run-off and groundwater flow in agricultural areas, but wetlands need to amount to 10% of the total catchment area to make a difference. Reflecting on the recent large investment in wetland ecological studies in China and neighboring countries, the book addresses invasive species in coastal wetlands as well as the protection and wise use of tidal flats around the Yellow Sea. It also presents promising regional case studies on wetland restoration. The book is intended for academics, students and practitioners in the field of wetland ecology, management and restoration, as well as consultants and professionals working in conservation, wise use and environmental policy.

The depletion of fossil fuel reserves and concerns for environmental degradation due to the fossil fuel burning have led the scientific community to look for alternative renewable energy sources. Among the available renewable energy sources, bioenergy derived from biomass and waste resources have great potential to not only prevent environmental pollution but also be a carbon neutral energy source. In addition, adaptation of this technology could streamline new green products, alternative energy sources into real-world applications and promote a circular economy towards zero-waste approach. This book tries to bridge the existing knowledge gap in the area of bioenergy resources. The first two chapters provide introduction to the anaerobic digestion (AD) technologies and direct interspecies electron transfer in AD. The next three chapters are on biomass pretreatment technologies for process improvement. The sixth to eighth chapter discuses biogas and other by-product production from specific wastes such from dairy, food and agricultural solid waste. The following two chapters focuses on the downstream processing of anaerobic digestate and on biochar production. Integration of AD in biorefineries using bioelectrochemical systems, syngas fermentation and electricity production are discussed in the next three chapters. The final two chapters elaborates on life cycle assessment of AD based technologies.

Mangrove forests, seagrass beds, and coral reefs are circumtropical ecosystems that are highly productive, and provide many important biological functions and economic services. These ecosystems cover large surface areas in the shallow tropical coastal seascape but have suffered from serious human degradation, especially in the last few decades. Part of their diversity, productivity, and functioning seems to be based on their juxtaposition. Especially in the last decade significant advances have been made on new insights into their ecological connectivity. This authoritative book provides a first-time comprehensive review of the major ecological interactions across tropical marine ecosystems that result from the mutual exchange of nutrients, organic matter, fish, and crustaceans. A group of leading authors from around the world reviews the patterns and underlying mechanisms of important biogeochemical and biological linkages among tropical coastal ecosystems in 15 chapters. Included are chapters that review cutting-edge tools to study and quantify these linkages, the importance of such linkages for fisheries, and how tropical ecosystems should be conserved and managed for sustainable use by future generations. The book uses examples from all over the world and provides an up-to-date review of the latest published literature. This book is a 'must read' for professionals working on the conservation, management, and ecology of mangrove, seagrass and coral reef ecosystems.

ing damage ranged from odor. to general visual appearance. Attributes of seedling quality are categorized as either to cutting buds. to scraping bark to detect dead cambium. performance attributes (RGP. frost hardiness. stress resistance) One nursery reported using frost hardiness as an indicator of or material attributes (bud dormancy. water relations. nutrition. when to begin fall lifting. but none reported using it as an morphology). Performance attributes are assessed by placing indicator of seedling quality before shipping stock to customers. samples of seedlings into specified controlled environments and evaluating their responses. Although some effective short 23.4.3 Stress resistance cut procedures are being developed. performance tests tend Only three nurseries measure stress resistance. They use to be time consuming; however, they produce results on whole the services of Oregon State University and the test methods plant responses which are often closely correlated with field described in 23.2.3. One nursery reported that results of stress performance. Material attributes. on the other hand. reflect tests did not agree well with results of RGP tests and that RGP only individual aspects of seedling makeup and are often correlated better with seedling survival in the field. Most stress poorly correlated with performance. tests are conducted for reforestation personnel rather than for Bud dormancy status seems to be correlated. at least nurseries."

Recent changes in the pattern of agricultural practices from use of hazardous pesticides to natural (organic) cultivation has brought into focus the use of agriculturally important microorganisms for carrying out analogous functions. The reputation of plant growth promoting rhizomicroorganisms (PGPRs) is due to their antagonistic mechanisms against most of the fungal and bacterial phytopathogens. The biocontrol potential of agriculturally important microorganisms is mostly attributed to their bioactive secondary metabolites. However, low shelf life of many potential agriculturally important microorganisms impairs their use in agriculture and adoption by farmers. The focal theme of this book is to highlight the potential of employing biosynthesized secondary metabolites (SMs) from agriculturally important microorganisms for management of notorious phytopathogens, as a substitute of the currently available whole organism formulations and also as alternatives to hazardous synthetic pesticides. Accordingly, we have incorporated a comprehensive rundown of sections which particularly examine the SMs synthesized, secreted and induced by various agriculturally important microorganisms and their applications in agriculture. Section 1 includes discussion on biosynthesized antimicrobial secondary metabolites from fungal biocontrol agents. This section will cover the various issues such as development of formulation of secondary metabolites, genomic basis of metabolic diversity, metabolomic profiling of fungal biocontrol agents, novel classes of antimicrobial peptides. The section 1 will also cover the role of these secondary metabolites in antagonist-host interaction and application of biosynthesized antimicrobial secondary metabolites for management of plant diseases. Section 2 will discuss the biosynthesized secondary metabolites from bacterial PGPRs, strain dependent effects on plant metabolome profile, bio-prospecting various isolates of bacterial PGPRs for potential secondary metabolites and non-target effects of PGPR on microbial community structure and functions. Section 3 encompasses synthesis of antimicrobial secondary metabolites from beneficial endophytes, bio-prospecting medicinal and aromatic hosts and effect of endophytic SMs on plants under biotic and biotic stress conditions.

This book focuses on China's efforts to address climate change on both the strategic and practical levels since the Katowice Climate Change Conference. Featured articles provide readers with both an overview and detailed discussions of topics such as assessment of low-carbon city development, building climate resilience, global climate governance, just transition, climate finance, and others. All the contributors are leading experts in the field from Research Institute for Eco-civilization (formerly Institute of Urban and Environmental Studies), Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and China Meteorological Administration.

Evolution gave rise to a prominent insect diversity at every level of ecological niche. Since then, hordes of insects have threatened human and cattle health as well as most of all green lands and agricultural crops. Now, the insect problem expands from many mutant forms of yellow dengue fever mosquitoes to highly-resistant larvae of most all various phytophageous species. The tremendous expansion of insects is due not only to an increasing resistance capacity to insecticides, but also to a strong capacity for adapting to different climate and environmental changes, including global warming. Obviously insects display a number of rudimentary systems to build an extremely efficient organism to survive in a changing world. In many species, one pheromone molecule is enough to trigger mating behavior. Therefore, insects have become crucial models not only for evolutionary studies, but also for understanding specific mechanisms underlying sensory-based behaviors. Most of insect species such as ants, beetles, cockroaches, locusts, moths and mosquitoes largely rely on olfactory cues to explore the environment and find con-specifics or food sources. A conglomerate of renowned international scientific experts is gathered to expose the insect problem on the various continents of the planet and propose an alternative to the use of toxic insecticides. Sex pheromones, specific chemical signals necessary for reproduction, and pheromone detection in insects are described with full details of the olfactory mechanisms in the antennae and higher centers in the brain. Thus, new synthetic pheromones and/or plant odors with specific molecular target sites in the insect olfactory system are proposed for sustainable development in agricultural and entomological industries. Disrupting insect pheromone channels and plant odor detection mechanisms is solemnly envisioned as a unique way to control invasive insect pest species while preserving human and environment safety.

The instant New York Times bestseller | A Washington Post Notable Book | One of NPR's Best Books of the Year "Expert storytelling . . . [Pollan] masterfully elevates a series of big questions about drugs, plants and humans that are likely to leave readers thinking in new ways." -New York Times Book Review From #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Pollan, a radical challenge to how we think about drugs, and an exploration into the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants-and the equally powerful taboos. Of all the things humans rely on plants for-sustenance, beauty, medicine, fragrance, flavor, fiber-surely the most curious is our use of them to change consciousness: to stimulate or calm, fiddle with or completely alter, the qualities of our mental experience. Take coffee and tea: People around the world rely on caffeine to sharpen their minds. But we do not usually think of caffeine as a drug, or our daily use as an addiction, because it is legal and socially acceptable. So, then, what is a "drug"? And why, for example, is making tea from the leaves of a tea plant acceptable, but making tea from a seed head of an opium poppy a federal crime? In This Is Your Mind on Plants, Michael Pollan dives deep into three plant drugs-opium, caffeine, and mescaline-and throws the fundamental strangeness, and arbitrariness, of our thinking about them into sharp relief. Exploring and participating in the cultures that have grown up around these drugs while consuming (or, in the case of caffeine, trying not to consume) them, Pollan reckons with the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants. Why do we go to such great lengths to seek these shifts in consciousness, and then why do we fence that universal desire with laws and customs and fraught feelings? In this unique blend of history, science, and memoir, as well as participatory journalism, Pollan examines and experiences these plants from several very different angles and contexts, and shines a fresh light on a subject that is all too often treated reductively-as a drug, whether licit or illicit. But that is one of the least interesting things you can say about these plants, Pollan shows, for when we take them into our bodies and let them change our minds, we are engaging with nature in one of the most profound ways we can. Based in part on an essay published almost twenty-five years ago, this groundbreaking and singular consideration of psychoactive plants, and our attraction to them through time, holds up a mirror to our fundamental human needs and aspirations, the operations of our minds, and our entanglement with the natural world.

This first volume includes scientific sources that were foundational in the professionalization of science and in the development and dissemination of scientific thinking as it moved towards evolutionary thought, including emerging ideas in biology, botany, zoology, anatomy, natural theology, and geology. The volume is comprised of specialist and popular science, and because science was becoming increasingly internationalised, particularly significant and influential overseas sources have been included. The volume includes extracts from works by Rev. Gilbert White, Baron Cuvier, William Paley, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Rev. William Buckland, Charles Waterton, Charles Lyell, Richard Owen, Louis Agassiz, Roderick Murchison, Alexander von Humboldt, Henry Sedgwick, Hugh Miller, Patrick Mathew, Robert Chambers, John Ruskin, and Philip Gosse.

This book integrates a variety of issues such as regional settings of productivity and nutrient cycling; plankton of coastal and shelf systems; plankton, climate change and human-induced changes; harmful algae and their impacts; and gelatinous zooplankton. This book explores the intriguing marine plankton communities of the SWA region of South America encompassing low to high latitude environments, framed by a complex hydrographic background and global climate change. This vast and iconic region has been largely under-recognized and under-studied. However, in recent years a strong interest has emerged along with the acknowledgment of its high biological productivity. The book concludes by discussing conservation in the region, highlighting regional biodiversity hotspots where the challenges of climate change, habitat loss, and other threats to biodiversity may be particularly acute. Plankton Ecology of the Southwestern Atlantic is a timely synthesis of the field, setting a new baseline for future research. It will be important reading for both researchers and graduate students, and will also be of interest and use to a professional audience of oceanographers, conservation biologists, stake holders and educated science enthusiasts

This volume discusses the climate responsiveness of sustainable architecture design and technology in China, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea in recent years, addressing concepts and applications in urban planning, building design, and structural performance evaluation. The four sections of the text cover the theory and implementation of sustainable architecture within various geographic boundaries and contexts, offering an interdisciplinary assessment of the challenges faced in urban areas at different climate zones. The main topics covered are: 1) urban ecological restoration under the influence of climate environment; 2) health and human considerations of building and environment; 3) prototype optimization of sustainable building, and 4) feedback of building performance and design evaluation. The book is intended to be a contribution to the growing body of knowledge on sustainable architecture for applicable use by practitioners, city planners, field researchers, and building operators in building design, construction, usage, operation, and maintenance.

Published by Sinauer Associates, an imprint of Oxford University Press. Conservation biology relies not only on the general concepts, but on the specific methods, of population ecology to both understand and predict the viability of rare and endangered species and to determine how best to manage these populations. The need to conduct quantitative analyses of viability and management has spawned the field of "population viability analysis," or PVA, which, in turn, has driven much of the recent development of useful and realistic population analysis and modeling in ecology in general. However, despite calls for the increased use of PVA in real-world settings-developing recovery plans for endangered species, for example-a misperception remains among field-oriented conservation biologists that PVA models can only be constructed and understood by a select group of mathematical population ecologists. Part of the reason for the ongoing gap between conservation practitioners and population modelers has been the lack of an easy-to-understand introduction to PVA for conservation biologists with little prior exposure to mathematical modeling as well as in-depth coverage of the underlying theory and its applications. Quantitative Conservation Biology fills this void through a unified presentation of the three major areas of PVA: count-based, demographic, and multi-site, or metapopulation, models. The authors first present general concepts and approaches to viability assessment. Then, in sections addressing each of the three fields of PVA, they guide the reader from considerations for collection and analysis of data to model construction, analysis, and interpretation, progressing from simple to complex approaches to answering PVA questions. Detailed case studies use data from real endangered species, and computer programs to perform all described analyses accompany the text. The goal of this book is to provide practical, intelligible, and intuitive explanations of population modeling to empirical ecologists and conservation biologists. Modeling methods that do not require large amounts of data (typically unavailable for endangered species) are emphasized. As such, the book is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate students interested in quantitative conservation biology, managers charged with preserving endangered species, and, in short, for any conservation biologist or ecologist seeking to better understand the analysis and modeling of population data.

The highly anticipated second volume of Freshwater Fishes of North America, a monumental, fully illustrated reference that provides comprehensive details on the freshwater fishes of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. When the first volume of Freshwater Fishes of North America was published, it was immediately hailed as the definitive reference in the field. Readers have been fervently awaiting the next volume in this encompassing three-book set ever since. Now complete, volume 2, covering families Characidae to Poeciliidae, is the result of decades of analysis by leading fish experts from universities and research laboratories across North America. Each volume in this authoritative synthesis covers the ecology, morphology, reproduction, distribution, behavior, taxonomy, conservation, and the fossil record of the included North American fish families. The encyclopedic reviews of each family are accompanied by color photographs (nearly 250 in this volume alone), range maps, and artwork created by noted fish illustrator Joseph R. Tomelleri. The result is a rich textual and visual experience that covers everything known about the diversity, natural history, ecology, and biology of North American freshwater fishes. Volume 2 covers the following North American families of fishes: Characidae (Characins) Ictaluridae (North American Catfishes) Ariidae (Sea Catfishes) Heptapteridae (Three-barbeled Catfishes) Osmeridae (Smelts) Esociformes (Esocidae, Pikes and Umbridae, Mudminnows) Percopsidae (Trout-perches) Amblyopsidae (Cavefishes) Aphredoderidae (Pirate Perches) Gadidae (Cods and Cuskfishes) Mugilidae (Mullets) Atherinopsidae (New World Silversides) Beloniformes (Needlefishes and Halfbeaks) Rivulidae (New World Rivulines) Profundulidae (Middle American Killifishes) Goodeidae (Goodeids) Fundulidae (Topminnows) Cyprinodontidae (Pupfishes) Poeciliidae (Livebearers) The chapter authors of Volume 2 are: Gianetta Adams Clyde Barbour Micah Bennett Ricardo Bentancur-R. Peter B. Z. Berendzen Brooks M. Burr Mollie Cashner Robert C. Cashner Bruce B. Collette Matthew Davis Alice F. Echelle Anthony A. Echelle Fernando Galvez Michael Ghedotti Nicholas Gidmark Terry Grande Robert L. Hopkins Lauren M. Kuehne Frank McCormick Norman Mercado-Silva Ann U. O'Connell Martin T. O'Connell Julian D. Olden Claudia Patricia Ornelas-Garcia Mark Sabaj Perez Kyle R. Piller Steven Powers Jacob Schaefer Juan J. Schmitter-Soto Andrew M. Simons Roger A. Tabor Cheryl Thiele Matthew Thomas Melvin L. Warren, Jr. Mark V. H. Wilson

This book covers the understanding on relationship between climate change, urban development, and environment sustainability with emphasis on relevant issues and challenges of urban environment sustainability. It deals with the concept of climate resilient urban development, effective implementation of climate change adaptation and mitigation actions to promote urbanization from a social, economic, and environmental perspective. Climate change is a critical issue and having serious concern. Understanding the mechanism of climate change and climate variability is an important aspect and requires monitoring in their regional perspectives.Smart and resilient urbanization are essential in tackling the growing threat of climate instability. Different analytical and practical approaches to foster resilience and environmental sustainability in urban areas covering the recent trends, developments and tools related to urban environment, sustainability, and climate change. There is a big demand of understanding on the relationship between climate change, urban environment sustainability due to fast urbanization and an urgent need for constructive and effective mechanism to protect the life and property of human being from expected or anticipated hazards and disasters. This book is of interest and useful to academicians, researchers, scientists, environmentalists, land resource managers, climate change scientists, forest administrators. Also, the book serves as a reference to researchers and students of agriculture, forestry, ecology, soil science, and environmental sciences. Policy makers will also find this to be a useful read.

Human societies are influencing nature in such a way that their independent analysis is no longer suitable. Fortunately, social-ecological systems provide a conceptual framework for the interconnected analysis of societies and ecosystems. However, in the case of Latin America, the complexity of social-ecological processes undermined a much-needed compilation of theoretical concepts, methods and case studies. Increasing readers' understanding of such systems using a postnormal approach, the book discusses current concepts and methods with examples of studies from eight countries. It is a useful resource for social actors, government decision makers and scholars.

How can we save our planet and survive the 21st century? How can you argue with deniers? How can we create positive change in the midst of the climate crisis?

Professor Mark Maslin has the key facts that we need to protect our future.

Global awareness of climate change is growing rapidly. Science has proven that our planet and species are facing a massive environmental crisis. How to Save Our Planet is a call to action, guaranteed to equip everyone with the knowledge needed to make change. Be under no illusion the challenges of the twenty-first century are immense. We need to deal with: climate change, environmental destruction, global poverty and ensure everyone's security.

How to Save Our Planet is your handbook of how we together can save our precious planet. From the history of our planet and species, to the potential of individuals and our power to create a better future, Maslin inspires optimism in these bleak times.

We stand at the precipice. The future of our planet is in our hands. It's time to face the facts and save our planet from, and for, ourselves.

This edited book discusses Blue-Green Infrastructure (BGI) from conception to implementation in building resilience and urban sustainability. The book emphasizes on infrastructures, institutions, and perceptions as three main pillars of implementing and managing successful BGI, with a special focus on Asia. The book highlights concepts as well as field-based experiences from different parts of Asia by experts, with a special focus on advances and opportunities in advancing BGI, challenges and constraints, followed by case studies on BGI mainstreaming. It addresses sustainable water management, multiscale environmental design, environmental risk assessment, and finally understanding policy implications and concerns for BGI mainstreaming in growing urban sprawls of the region. There has been growing global momentum and recognition of Blue-Green Infrastructure (BGI) as a multifunctional Nature-based Solution (NbS) with multiple co-benefits. There is strong evidence from many urban centres of Europe, USA, China, and South Africa demonstrating that mainstreaming BGI can help in addressing growing vulnerability of urban areas by ensuring safety, resilience, and sustainability for urban residents in the warming world. This book is a timely contribution for researchers, students, scholars, urban planners, consultants, and policy makers in the fields of environment, resilience, urban planning, climate adaptation, and sustainability science.

Aurthored by a leading contributor to the Big History movement - the current Vice President of the International Big History Association (IBHA) Documents what the biosphere is, and what our position as humans within it is today. Describes how the biosphere has become the way it is. Summarizes the novel simple theoretical model proposed in the book, and thus, how the biosphere functions. Predicts what the possibilities and limitations are for future human action Emphasizes how simple but careful observations can lead to far-reaching theoretical implications.

The fascinating story of the urban honeybee garden on the roof of the legendary Waldorf Astoria hotel. The tale of Honeybee Hotel begins over one hundred years ago, with the Astor family and the birth of the iconic Manhattan landmark, the magnificent Waldorf Astoria. In those early days the posh art deco masterpiece had its own rooftop garden for guests to enjoy. Fast-forward to the turn of the twenty-first century, and we meet executive chef David Garcelon, the creative genius behind the idea of restoring the celebrated rooftop garden. His vision included six hives containing some 300,000 honeybees, which would provide a unique flavor for his restaurant's culinary masterpieces. Yet Garcelon's dream was much grander than simply creating a private chefs' garden: he wanted the honeybee garden to serve as a bond among people. Soon the staff of the hotel, the guests, local horticulturists, and beekeeping experts formed a community around the bees and the garden, which not only raised vegetables, herbs, and honey to be served in the hotel but also provided healthy food to the homeless shelter across the street at St. Bartholomew's Church. Through her meticulous research and interviews with culinary glitterati, entomologists, horticulturists, and urban beekeepers, Leslie Day leads us on a unique insider's tour of this little-known aspect of the natural world of New York City. She familiarizes us with the history of the architectural and cultural gem that is the Waldorf and introduces us to the lives of Chef Garcelon and New York City's master beekeeper, Andrew Cote. Day, an urban naturalist and incurable New Yorker, tells us of the garden's development, shares delectable honey-based recipes from the hotel's chefs and mixologist, and relates the fate of the hotel in the wake of the Waldorf's change of ownership. During our journey, we learn quite a bit about apiaries, as well as insect and flower biology, through the lives of the bees that travel freely around the city in search of nectar, pollen, and resin. This absorbing narrative unwraps the heart within the glamour of one of the world's most beloved cities, while assuring us that nature can thrive in the ultimate urban environment when its denizens care enough to foster that connection.

This volume explores the diversity of distributed eyes and other unusual visual systems in nature.  It compares the unique themes of optics, neural processing, and behavioral control that emerge from these visual systems with more-canonical eyes. This volume attempts to answer a number of questions about distributed visual systems. What are distributed visual systems good for, how do they function, and why have they arisen independently in so many phyla? Why are eye designs and visual system arrangements much more diverse in invertebrates? Each chapter includes an overview of the visual systems that exist in their group of animals, relates vision to ecology, and takes a comparative approach. 

Although there are some biological processes that are supported by UV radiation, most organisms are stressed by it in various ways, e.g. through DNA damage.Top international experts present an integrated overview of UV radiation and its effects on terrestrial, freshwater and marine Arctic biota. Increased stratospheric ozone depletion and the corresponding increase in ground levels of UV radiation as well as ambient, "natural" UV radiation as a key ecological factor in the Arctic spring and summer are discussed in detail. Additionally, basic information on Arctic ecosystems is given. The volume provides not only an excellent account of present-day knowledge of the subject, but also describes the state of the art on which future research can be built.