Changing environmental conditions substantially affect genetic variation and its dynamics in forest ecosystems and various systems of plantations. In response to these challenges, the present book focuses on the response to stress in terms of case studies which address physiological and genetic characters as well as various metric traits. Furthermore a choice of studies is presented which refers to diversity and geographic variation of various species and site conditions, respectively. In addition, genetic resources are characterised and a variety of studies is compiled which address reproduction and migration as well as management aspects. Finally, a set of studies is presented which focus on forest tree breeding with respect to uncertain climatic futures.

What have we learnt about the Nile since the mid-1970s, the moment when Julian Rzoska decided that the time had come to publish a comprehensive volume about the biology, and the geological and cultural history of that great river? And what changes have meanwhile occurred in the basin? The human popu- tion has more than doubled, especially in Egypt, but also in East Africa. Locally, industrial development has taken place, and the Aswan High Dam was clearly not the last major infrastructure work that was carried out. More dams have been built, and some water diversions, like the Toshka lakes, have created new expanses of water in the middle of the Sahara desert. What are the effects of all this on the ec- ogy and economy of the Basin? That is what the present book sets out to explore, 33 years after the publi- tion of "The Nile: Biology of an Ancient River". Thirty-seven authors have taken up the challenge, and have written the "new" book. They come from 13 different countries, and 15 among them represent the largest Nilotic states (Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Kenya). Julian Rzoska died in 1984, and most of the - authors of his book have now either disappeared or retired from research. Only Jack Talling and Samir Ghabbour were still available to participate again.

This book provides a comprehensive, updated syntheses of all the information available on Mar Chiquita, covering various aspects of the geography, geological history, biology and ecology of the site, as well as a detailed analysis of the current land-use patterns, environmental threats, and conservation issues. Mar Chiquita, located in the province of Cordoba, Argentina, is a protected wilderness area that includes South America's largest saline lake and wetland. It has a very rich bird biodiversity, including three of the six species of flamingos that exist in the world, and high numbers of intercontinental migratory shorebirds. For this reason, the area has been declared an International Site by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, and also a Site of Hemispheric Importance by the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserves Network. Largely unknown until very recently, particularly in terms of the English literature, the site is rapidly gaining international visibility, not only in terms of scientific research, but also as site of interest for the nature lovers around the globe. Written in a language accessible to the non-specialists, the book focuses on integrating the dynamic, functional processes in the ecosystem, while at the same time providing the necessary descriptive information. Accordingly, it is of interest to scientists from diverse disciplines interested in saline wetlands, as well as to students, managers, and the general public.

WINNER OF THE JOHN AVERY AWARD AT THE ANDRE SIMON AWARDS If we can save the salmon, we can save the world Over the centuries, salmon have been a vital resource, a dietary staple and an irresistible catch. But there is so much more to this extraordinary fish. As international bestseller Mark Kurlansky reveals, salmon persist as a barometer for the health of our planet. Centuries of our greatest assaults on nature can be seen in their harrowing yet awe-inspiring life cycle. Full of all Kurlansky's characteristic curiosity and insight, Salmon is a magisterial history of a wondrous creature. 'An epic, environmental tragedy' Spectator 'These creatures have nurtured our imagination as surely as our bodies. This book does them justice!' Bill McKibben

"Biodegradative Bacteria" highlights the novel nature of bacterial cell functions in the field of biodegradation by putting them into three parts: (1) Genetic and genomic systems, (2) Degradative enzyme systems, and (3) Bacterial behavior in natural environmental systems. The first part of the book includes cell functions as degradative machinery, genome systems for effective degradation, and the evolution of degradative systems by mobile genetic elements. The second part deals with the structure, function, evolution, diversity, and application of degradative and related enzymes. The third part presents cell or genomic behaviors of biodegradative bacteria in natural ecosystems.

Bacterial metabolic capacity, which plays an important role in the global material cycle, contributes significantly to the buffering capacity for the huge and unintended release of various chemicals. Recently, however, the prosperity and globalization of material civilization has led not only to severe local contamination by hazardous chemicals, but also to continuous increment of contaminant concentrations worldwide. To solve such urgent global issues, bacterial functions that are involved in biodegradation of hazardous chemicals have been analyzed. The term biodegradative bacteria refers to those bacteria that have the ability to degrade such xenobiotic (man-made) and/or hazardous chemicals. Analyses of biodegradative bacteria include diverse areas of study, such as genetics, enzymology, genomics, cell physiology, ecology, and evolutionary biology. In other words, the targets investigated in research on biodegradative bacteria include single molecules, single cell systems, bacterial consortia (interaction with surrounding microorganisms), and interaction with surrounding biotic and abiotic materials. Such complexity makes the research on biodegradative bacteria difficult but quite interesting."

One common characteristics of a complex system is its ability to withstand major disturbances and the capacity to rebuild itself. Understanding how such systems demonstrate resilience by absorbing or recovering from major external perturbations requires both quantitative foundations and a multidisciplinary view on the topic.
This book demonstrates how new methods can be used to identify the actions favouring the recovery from perturbations. Examples discussed include bacterial biofilms resisting detachment, grassland savannahs recovering from fire, the dynamics of language competition and Internet social networking sites overcoming vandalism.
The reader is taken through an introduction to the idea of resilience and viability and shown the mathematical basis of the techniques used to analyse systems. The idea of individual or agent-based modelling of complex systems is introduced and related to analytically tractable approximations of such models. A set of case studies illustrates the use of the techniques in real applications, and the final section describes how one can use new and elaborate software tools for carrying out the necessary calculations.
The book is intended for a general scientific audience of readers from the natural and social sciences, yet requires some mathematics to gain a full understanding of the more theoretical chapters.
It is an essential point of reference for those interested in the practical application of the concepts of resilience and viability

There is now evidence that exotic earthworm invasions are increasing world-wide and may be having significant impacts on soil processes and plant communities in some regions. Much remains to be learned about these cryptic' biological invasions. The papers in this book are based on efforts by an international group of soil ecologists to assess the biological and ecological mechanisms of earthworm invasions, their geographic extent and impacts on terrestrial ecosystems, and possible means by which earthworm invasions might be mitigated.

This book focuses on environmental aspects of Boka Kotorska Bay in Montenegro (South Adriatic Sea), an area that has been shaped by seasonal tourism, and explores the use and limitations of its natural resources. The individual chapters highlight its geographic and oceanographic characteristics, climate, history and development, biology, fisheries, agriculture, coastal zones, shipping, marine tourism and pollution. Above all, the environmental impact of tourism on marine, coastal and shoreline areas and the resulting conflicts are discussed in detail. The volume is intended for specialists working in various fields of environmental sciences and ecology, water resources and management, land reclamation and agriculture, and regional climate change.

The Danube River Basin is shared by 19 countries and there is no river basin in the world shared by so many nations. Covering an area of about 800,000 km, it is Europe's second largest river basin and home to 83 million people of different cultures, languages and historical backgrounds.

Management of common water sources and overcoming difficulties caused by droughts and floods requires co-operation between these countries. In the past twenty years political turbulence has caused an increase in the number of countries included, making co-operation difficult at times. Nevertheless several projects were launched and a number of reports were produced. In 2008, at the 22nd Working Meeting of the Regional Hydrological Co-operation of the Danube Countries in the framework of IHP/UNESCO at the XXIVth Conference of the Danubian Countries, it was decided that these reports would be summarised in one special publication. It was also agreed to include additional reports serving the common interest.

This publication therefore brings together the reports and papers related to regional co-operation. It is the result of a major collaboration and examines a broad range of topics. These include hydrological forecasting and hydro-meteorological extremes, global climate change and hydrological processes, water management, and developments in hydrology. The book includes the efforts of many hydrologists and technical staff from different Universities and Agencies from all countries of the Danube River Basin. "

This book is the outcome of more than 20 years of experience of the author in teaching and research field. The wider scope and coverage of the book will help not only the students/ researchers/professionals in the field of agriculture and allied disciplines, but also the researchers and practitioners in other fields. Written in simple and lucid language, the book would appeal to all those who are meant to be benefitted out of it. All efforts have been made to present "RESEARCH", its meaning, intention and usefulness. The book reflects current methodological techniques used in interdisciplinary research, as illustrated with many relevant worked out examples. Designing of research programme, selection of variables, collection of data and their analysis to interpret the data are discussed extensively. Statistical tools are complemented with real-life examples, making the otherwise complicated subject like statistics seem simpler. Attempts have been made to demonstrate how a user can solve the problems using simple computer-oriented programme. Emphasis is placed not only on solving the problems in various fields but also on drawing inferences from the problems. The importance of instruments and computers in research processes and statistical analyses along with their misuse/incorrect use is also discussed to make the user aware about the correct use of specific technique. In all the chapters, theories are combined with examples, and steps are enumerated to follow the correct use of the available packages like MSEXCELL, SPSS, SPAR1, SAS etc. Utmost care has been taken to present varied range of research problems along with their solutions in agriculture and allied fields which would be of immense use to readers.

This volume discusses the rich and interesting properties of dynamical systems that appear in ecology and environmental sciences. It provides a fascinating survey of the theory of dynamical systems in ecology and environmental science. Each chapter introduces students and scholars to the state-of-the-art in an exciting area, presents new results, and inspires future contributions to mathematical modeling in ecology and environmental sciences.

A fascinating work that provides a wealth of information on one of the world 's most biodiverse ecosystems. This is the result of investigations by almost 30 groups of researchers from various disciplines. They performed ecosystem analyses following two gradients: an altitudinal gradient and a gradient of land use intensity and ecosystem regeneration following human use. Based on these analyses, this volume discusses these findings in a huge variety of subject areas.

This volume investigates the challenges facing the Egyptian Northern coastal lakes, focusing on the impact of climate change, their biodiversity and sustainable management. Presenting up-to-date research, it covers the following topics: climate change and water quality modeling and their impacts on the sustainability of the lakes; the economic role of the lakes; the use of remote sensing in monitoring; and the biodiversity of the lakes with detailed discussions. Further, management strategies for the sustainable development of these valuable resources are proposed to maintain the lakes sustainability. The book closes with a concise summary of the conclusions and recommendations presented in the preceding chapters. As such, it offers an invaluable resource for the academic community and postgraduate students, as well as for environmental managers and policymakers.

Woody plants provide many challenges to the tissue culturist. Although there are many excellent tissue culture books and manuals available, these are generally strongly biased towards herbacious crops. Consequently, they often do not pay sufficient attention to the problems that specifically apply to in vitro culture of tree species. Culture of the latter often poses problems which are either absent or of lesser significance when culturing herbacious species. When trees in the field are used as explant source, the problems can be especially severe. For example, the physiological condition of the explants is difficult to control because of variation in weather and biotic factors. Furthermore, it is often difficult to obtain explants free of contaminants from field grown trees. Lack of genetic uniformity and maturation are additional problems one often has to deal with when culturing tree cells or tissues. These problems are emphasized in this text. In vitro culture of trees is not viewed in isolation. It is considered in conjunction with breeding, traditional cloning and other common tree improvement techniques. The text discusses theoretical as well as practical aspects of the in vitro culture of trees.

Animals are a major link between the water column (pelagic) and the bottom (benthic) habitats in most shallow systems. This coupling is dominated by active processes such as suspension-feeding in which the organism actively uses energy to pump water that is then filtered to remove suspended particles that are consumed while undigested remains are deposited on the bottom. As a result of this feeding on and metabolism of particles, the animals excrete dissolved inorganic and organic waste back into the water column, and thus, become major components in the cycling and feedback of essential elements. With relatively high weight specific filtration rates of 1a" 10 liters/hour/gram dry tissue and a propensity to form large aggregated populations (beds, reefs, schools and swarms), these organisms can play an important role in regulating water column processes.

Although estuarine bivalve molluscs such as oysters and mussels dominate the suspension-feeder literature, other groups including plankton and nekton that are found in estuarine as well as other aquatic systems are also potentially important removers of suspended particles. Thus, a significant part of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop focused on suspension-feeders as controllers of plankton abundance, biomass and diversity, system metabolism, nutrient cycling and scale dependency.

Systems dominated by suspension-feeders are typically impacted by human activities including recreation, aquaculture, human and industrial pollution, and bilge water from shipping. Suspension-feeders are often impacted by fisheries and over-exploitation. These impacts commonly result in changes in ecosystem structure either through the food chainconcentration of harmful substances or diseases, the introduction of alien species of suspension-feeders, or the instability of suspension-feeders systems through species displacement or phase shifts in the dominance between different suspension-feeding components such as nekton or zooplankton. These issues were addressed near the close of the workshop along with conclusions and syntheses developed by the working groups.

Coastal dunes occur in almost every latitude - from tropical to polar - and have been substantially altered by human activities. Many are already severely and irreversibly degraded. Although these ecosystems have been studied for a long time (as early as 1835), there has been a strong emphasis on the mid-latitude dune systems and a lack of attention given to the tropics where, unfortunately, much of the modern exploitation and coastal development for tourism is occurring.

This book brings together coastal dune specialists from tropical and temperate latitudes, which together cover a wide set of topics, including: geomorphology, community dynamics, ecophysiology, biotic interactions and environmental problems and conservation. A major product of this book is a set of recommendations for future research, identifying relevant topics where detailed knowledge is still lacking. It also identifies management tools that will promote and maintain the rich diversity of the dune environments in the context of continuing coastal development.

This book is the first of its kind on environmental change research devoted to monsoon-arid environment evolution history and its mechanism involved. Capturing the most prominent features of Asian climate and environmental changes, it gives a comprehensive review of the Asian Monsoon records providing evidence for spatial and temporal climatic and environmental changes across the Asian continent since the Late Cenozoic. The dynamics underlying these changes are explored based on various bio-geological records and in particular based on the evidence of loess, speleothems as well as on mammal fossils. The Asian monsoon-arid climate system which quantifies the controlling mechanisms of climate change and the way it operates in different time scales is described. Attempts to differentiate between natural change and human-induced effects, which will help guide policies and countermeasures designed to support sustainable development on the Chinese Loess Plateau and the arid west.

A comprehensive text and reference book covering all the aspects of biodiversity science for students and researchers of biodiversity, plant science, biotechnology, as well as zoology.

This book completes Robert G. Bailey's celebrated study of ecoregions, begun in the landmark Ecosystem Geography (1996) and further articulated in Ecoregions (1998). In this third installment, the author expands his system for defining large-scale ecological zones to encompass principles of land management, regional planning, and design. In an engaging, non-technical discussion, he shows how larger patterns and processes that characterize a region-its climate, topography, soils, vegetation, fauna, and human culture-provide essential keys to the sustainability of ecosystems. Regional Landscape Ecology and Sustainable Design will be welcomed by land and resource managers, landscape architects and urban planners, ecologists, students, and anyone interested in ecology-based design. Robert G. Bailey is a geographer with the United States Forest Service in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Papers presented at the 20th meeting of the International Ornithological Congress held in New Zealand, December 1990 emphasizing New Zealand and the southern Pacific Ocean. Topics include: a summary of ornithological work in New Zealand, enemy recognition and response, parasitism and sexual selectio

Antimicrobial resistance is recognised among the world’s most challenging problems. Despite its global spread, Africa, specifically sub-Saharan Africa, is the most affected by this malaise. Poor living conditions and inadequate access to sanitation and potable water supplies are among contributing factors that have influenced a high disease burden on the continent, requiring extensive antimicrobials. Weak health systems and the absence of firm policies further aggravate the problem, as the use of antimicrobials is mostly unregulated. The increasing demand for animal protein to meet the starving populations’ demands has also influenced the use of these antimicrobials, including those banned on other continents, for food animal production. The ripple effect of indiscriminate use in humans and animals is the massive discharge of antimicrobials, their residues, antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms and their associated genes into the environment.  This 14-chapter unique masterpiece presents the AMR problem in African, addressing the various compartments of the One Health – humans, animals, and the environment, to illustrate the need for concerted efforts in the fight against AMR, especially in Africa. Authors from the four cardinal points present diverse aspects of AMR in Africa, starting with behavioural and social drivers of AMR in Africa. Antimicrobial stewardship in an African context is also discussed. AMR in humans is presented through studies on antibiotic-resistant neonates and nontyphoidal Salmonella infections and the clinical relevance of the genetics of viral resistance. Topics on AMR in mastitis, biosecurity in animal farming and the linkage between disinfectants and AMR are discussed. The environmental dimension of AMR is discussed, notably in the aquatic environment, and its implication for aquaculture and irrigation and using nanomaterials to treat polluted waters from such environments are highlighted. Finally, Africa’s rich floral diversity is portrayed as an eco-friendly and cost-effective approach to combat AMR. Hopefully, the work presented will spur greater collaboration between scientists, environmental, animal and human health practitioners, the general population, and policymakers to assimilate and implement the One Health approach to combating AMR, rather than working in silos on their various sectors

The International Handbook of Political Ecology features chapters by leading scholars from around the world in a unique collection exploring the multi-disciplinary field of political ecology. This landmark volume canvasses key developments, topics, issues, debates and concepts showcasing how political ecologists today address pressing social and environmental concerns. Introductory chapters provide an overview of political ecology and the Handbook. Remaining chapters examine five broad themes: issues and approaches; governance and power; knowledge and discourse; method and scale; and connections and transformations. The authors focus on an intrinsically international endeavour, considering both the topic and source of research, and integrate the approaches, debates, concepts and methods that define the field internationally. A combination of general reflection and case study research demonstrates both political ecology's place in wider social science debates and trends, as well as how its concerns relate to diverse empirical problems and settings. Across diverse topics and perspectives, these chapters amount to a wide-ranging survey of current research, making the International Handbook an indispensable reference for scholars and students in political ecology. Contributors: A. Acharya, B. Agarwal, H. Alimonda, A. Asiyanbi, L. Baker, S. Barca, S. Batterbury, P. Blaikie, E. Bravo, R.L. Bryant, B. Buscher, G. Cederloef, D. Chartier, C.A. Claus, L. Cortesi, A. Doolittle, M.R. Dove, W. Dressler, R. Fletcher, T. Forsyth, T.A.M. Freitas, D. Gautier, B. Hautdidier, A. Hayes-Conroy, J. Hayes-Conroy, H. Healy, C. Hebdon, L. Jarosz, S. Joshi, G. Kallis, A.H. Kimura, T. Kizos, C.A. Kull, P. Le Billon, S. Lee, E. Leff, A. Loftus, J. Martinez-Alier, B.R. Middleton, M. Moreano, A.C. Salomao Mozine, J. Muldavin, S. Nair, H. Neo, R.P. Neumann, C. Noe, G.G. Nunez, A. Paniagua, N.L. Peluso, C.P. Pow, M. Ramutsindel