For the first time, an effort to conduct coordinated interdisciplinary research on a vast and complex saline lake has been undertaken for the purposes of providing baseline data to guide restoration project activities. This volume compiles state-of-the-art science for the Salton Sea and will serve as the foundation for the next several generations of scientific inquiry for California's largest lake. The science presented here reveals the Salton Sea to be one of the most productive fisheries in the world, details why the Salton Sea is important to migratory and wintering birds, investigates the microbial world and reports numerous taxa new to science, and documents chemical and physical interactions which make this inland saline lake function.
This book is intended for specialists in saline lake research who are interested in all aspects of saline lake ecology.

An international symposium entitled "Ocean, River and Lakes: Energy and Substance Transfers at Interfaces" was held in Nantes, France in October 1996. It was the third International Joint Conference on Limnology and Oceanography which brings together specialists of both environments. Considered to be necessary in Europe, this confrontation of two different aspects of common subjects could produce innovative approaches. The main purpose concerns scientific researches relative to the interfaces between various aquatic environment compartments. The principal treated topics are bioavailability and mobility of substances, influence of biotic and abiotic factors on transfers, and fluxes at the interfaces. It is particularly interesting to note the contribution of limnologists and oceanographers on the impact of nutrients and pollutants, and flux quantification of river basin inputs. As well as scientists, this book is also of interest to all engineers and consultants involved in teaching and working in aquatic management, restoration and enhancement.

The book aims to capture, describe and convey the current significance, the values and potentials of urban biodiversity and ecosystem services to scientists and professionals in the context of sustainable urban development and ongoing urbanization processes. Current developments, different approaches and future challenges in the competition of green spaces and urban land consumption in China and Germany are elaborated, discussed and illustrated within case studies and good practice examples. The strategic goal is a long-term appreciation of the potentials and increased consideration of urban green spaces in city planning and development. This book provides tangible recommendations for urban planners, politicians and stakeholders in the fields of green infrastructure at the interface of environment and urban landscape.

Advances in Agronomy, Volume 158, continues to be recognized as a leading reference and first-rate source for the latest research in agronomy. Each volume contains an eclectic group of reviews by leading scientists throughout the world. As always, the subjects covered are rich, varied, and exemplary of the abundant subject matter addressed by this long-running serial.

The volume focuses on the ecological functioning of rivers, which has received less attention than functioning of lakes and reservoirs. The selected papers cover a large range of topics relating to aquatic communities, eutrophication, nutrient dynamics and organic pollution, erosion and sediment transport, and fate of micropollutants at the basin scale. Integrated approaches developed in order to study the ecological functioning of fluvial systems perturbed by human activity are presented. This functioning is analysed from the point of view of fundamental research, but insights into system management are not neglected. This book will be of interest to researchers in the field of aquatic ecology, river system functioning, and water surface pollution, to postgraduate students, to the institutions involved in water resource management, and to the drinking water and waste water treatment industries. It draws information from many large river systems in the world.

This two-volume work is a testament to the increasing interest in the role of microbes in sustainable agriculture and food security. Advances in microbial technologies are explored in chapters dealing with topics such as carbon sequestration, soil fertility management, sustainable crop production, and microbial signaling networks. Volume I is a collection of research findings that invites readers to examine the application of microbes in reinstating degraded ecosystems and also in establishing sustainable croplands. Highly readable entries attempt to close the knowledge gap between soil microbial associations and sustainable agriculture. An increase in the global population with changing climate is leading to environments of various abiotic and biotic stresses for agricultural crops. It therefore becomes important to identify the techniques to improve soil fertility and function using different microbial groups such as actinobacteria, microalgae, fluorescent pseudomonads and cyanobacterial systems. These are examined in this volume in greater detail. This work is a significant contribution to research in this increasingly important discipline, and will appeal to researchers in microbiology, agriculture, environmental sciences, and soil and crop sciences.

Is ecological knowledge relevant to environmental policy and if so, to what extent and in what way? After a series of oxygen depletion events in coastal waters in the 1980s, North Sea states acted to reduce inputs of nitrogen and phosphorus to the North Sea. The book analyzes the role of scientists and scientific information, as well as civil servants, in the formulation and implementation of these decisions.

Riverbank filtration is widely used in Europe and to some extent in the United States for the public water supply. It is a cost-effective and realisable treatment technology in which horizontal and vertical wells pump a mixture of ground water and induced surface water from a river. This book describes the biogeochemical issues involved in contaminant removal from surface water and the mechanisms of pathogen removal. Specifically, the following three points are considered:
*The role of hydrogeological and well construction factors in the development of redox zones at bank filtration sites and the resulting impacts on contaminant removal.
*The mechanisms of pathogen removal, including the processes, colloid filtration, die-away, decay, and predation.
*The status of riverbank filtration processes in NATO partner countries.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India, consist of 572 islands with a land area of 8,249 km2. Their topography is hilly and undulating, with elevations up to 732 m on the Andaman and up to 568 m on the Nicobar Islands. They are known for their rich biodiversity and a very high degree of endemicity in all taxa, especially in plants, reptiles, fishes and corals. Their habitats include bays, mangroves, moist deciduous forests and evergreen forests. Comprising 20 chapters each written by an expert or professional in his/her particular field this book offers new insights into the fascinating faunal communities of these islands and provides the fundamentals for their conservation and environmental management.

Considerable experience with radioecological and related ecological research on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems has been achieved, especially after the Chernobyl accident. The combined effects of the radiation, chemical and biological factors, after a contamination of the environment and during its remediation have shown an interactive complexity that highlights the need for equidosimetrical evaluations of the influence of the various stressors and the need for their ecological normalization.

In radioecology and radiation protection, methods of radiation dosimetry are key for dose assessment. It is therefore highly desirable to develop a clear theoretical approach as well as a practical method of equidosimetry that would allow for an ecological normalization of the different stressors in unified uniform units, especially for comparison purposes.

Maritime canals dissolve natural barriers to the dispersal of marine organisms, thus providing novel opportunities for natural dispersal, as well as for shipping-mediated transport. The introduction of alien species has proved to be one of the most profound and damaging of anthropogenic deeds - with both ecological and economic costs. This book is the first to assess the impacts of the world's three principal maritime canals - the Kiel, the Panama, the Suez - as invasion corridors for alien biota. These three canals differ in heir hydrological regimes, the types of biotas they connect, and in their permeability to invasions.

Arthropods are invertebrates that constitute over 90% of the animal kingdom, and their bio-ecology is closely linked with global functioning and survival. Arthropods play an important role in maintaining the health of ecosystems, provide livelihoods and nutrition to human communities, and are important indicators of environmental change. Yet the population trends of several arthropods species show them to be in decline. Arthropods constitute a dominant group with 1.2 million species influencing earth's biodiversity. Among arthropods, insects are predominant, with ca. 1 million species and having evolved some 350 million years ago. Arthropods are closely associated with living and non-living entities alike, making the ecosystem services they provide crucially important. In order to be effective, plans for the conservation of arthropods and ecosystems should include a mixture of strategies like protecting key habitats and genomic studies to formulate relevant policies for in situ and ex situ conservation. This two-volume book focuses on capturing the essentials of arthropod inventories, biology, and conservation. Further, it seeks to identify the mechanisms by which arthropod populations can be sustained in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and by means of which certain problematic species be managed without producing harmful environmental side-effects. This edited compilation includes chapters contributed by over 80 biologists on a wide range of topics embracing the diversity, distribution, utility and conservation of arthropods and select groups of insect taxa. More importantly, it describes in detail the mechanisms of sustaining arthropod ecosystems, services and populations. It addresses the contribution of modern biological tools such as molecular and genetic techniques regulating gene expression, as well as conventional, indigenous practices in arthropod conservation. The contributors reiterate the importance of documenting and understanding the biology of arthropods from a holistic perspective before addressing conservation issues at large. This book offers a valuable resource for all zoologists, entomologists, ecologists, conservation biologists, policy makers, teachers and students interested in the conservation of biological resources.

International concern in scientific, industrial, and governmental communi ties over traces of xenobiotics in foods and in both abiotic and biotic envi ronments has justified the present triumvirate of specialized publications in and this field: comprehensive reviews, rapidly published research papers progress reports, and archival documentations. These three international publications are integrated and scheduled to provide the coherency essential for nonduplicative and current progress in a field as dynamic and complex as environmental contamination and toxicology. This series is reserved ex clusively for the diversified literature on "toxic" chemicals in our food, our feeds, our homes, recreational and working surroundings, our domestic animals, our wildlife and ourselves. Tremendous efforts worldwide have been mobilized to evaluate the nature, presence, magnitude, fate, and toxi cology of the chemicals loosed upon the earth. Among the sequelae of this broad new emphasis is an undeniable need for an articulated set of authoritative publications, where one can find the latest important world literature produced by these emerging areas of science together with docu mentation of pertinent ancillary legislation. Research directors and legislative or administrative advisers do not have the time to scan the escalating number of technical publications that may contain articles important to current responsibility. Rather, these individu als need the background provided by detailed reviews and the assurance that the latest information is made available to them, all with minimal literature searching.

Decomposition of organic matter is a major ecosystem process involving an array of different organisms, including bacteria, fungi and invertebrates. The main objective of this book is to provide students and laboratory instructors at universities and professional ecologists with a broad range of established methods to study plant litter decomposition. Detailed protocols for direct use in the field or laboratory are presented in an easy to follow step-by-step format. A short introduction to each protocol reviews the ecological significance and principles of the technique and points to key references. Although most methods are described for freshwater ecosystems, many will work equally well in the presented or slightly modified form for studies in marine and terrestrial environments.

This book discusses the dynamics and resource management qualities of the peri-urban interface to address climate change consequences, focusing on the peri-urban region of the global city of Bengalaru. In 5 chapters, the authors document the unique challenges experienced in peri-urban areas, including soil-water vegetation dynamics, local and regional impacts on water bodies (surface and groundwater), food production issues, and the inhibited adaptive capacity of local communities. The book also provides knowledge on implementations of environmental management by local institutions, government interventions that have acted as catalysts in promoting community based adaptation strategies, and the physical, social and economic aspects of rural-urban dynamics. The book not only adds to the scarce existing literature on peri-urban contexts, but also addresses the role of culture in protecting ecological landscapes and how traditions play an important role in coping with climate change. Furthermore, the authors expand on these climate change coping mechanisms in peri-urban areas, taking into account local cultural factors and interesting governance interventions in the context of health. The book will be of interest to planners, policy makers, and students and researchers engaged in rural-urban dynamics and climate change adaptation.

This book provides a fresh analysis of the demography, health and well-being of a major African city. It brings a range of disciplinary approaches to bear on the pressing topics of urban poverty, urban health inequalities and urban growth. The approach is primarily spatial and includes the integration of environmental information from satellites and other geospatial sources with social science and health survey data. The authors Ghanaians and outsiders, have worked to understand the urban dynamics in this burgeoning West African metropolis, with an emphasis on urban disparities in health and living standards. Few cities in the global South have been examined from so many different perspectives. Our analysis employs a wide range of GIScience methods, including analysis of remotely sensed imagery and spatial statistical analysis, applied to a wide range of data, including census, survey and health clinic data, all of which are supplemented by field work, including systematic social observation, focus groups, and key informant interviews. This book aims to explain and highlight the mix of methods, and the important findings that have been emerging from this research, with the goal of providing guidance and inspiration for others doing similar work in cities of other developing nations.

Over the past twenty-five years, the effects of the spatial distribution and scaling of resources on animal populations have been increasingly studied in wildlife biology, landscape ecology, conservation biology, and related fields. However, spatial patterns change over time. In Temporal Dimensions of Landscape Ecology: Wildlife Responses to Variable Resources, the authors discuss the effects that temporal changes in resources have on animal populations. Resource availability and quality are not distributed homogeneously over time, depending for example on predictable changes in seasons, mating and birthing cycles, unpredictable resource pulses and weather-related phenomena, ecological disturbances, and historical legacies. Temporal Dimensions of Landscape Ecology brings together chapters that address the idea of current as well as historical temporal influences on resource availability, quality, and distribution. The authors draw attention to the neglected temporal issues so important to understanding species and community responses. This book will be of interest to both wildlife and conservation students and practitioners working with temporal and spatial scale issues.

This volume is a collection of the some of the most significant lectures that well-known experts presented at our two international summits on evolution (2005, 2009) as updated and revised chapters. The meetings took place on one of the large islands of the Galapagos archipelago (San Cristobal) at GAIAS (Galapagos Institute for the Arts and Sciences) of the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), Ecuador. The main goal of the two Galapagos Summits on Evolution has been to bring together scientists and graduate students engaged in the study of evolution, from life s origin to its current diversity. Because of their historical significance, the Galapagos are a unique venue for promoting comprehensive research on evolution and ecology and to make the research results available to students and teachers everywhere, but especially from developing countries. As shown by the enthusiastic attendance at both summits and the many suggestions to keep them continuing, the meetings have opened new opportunities for students from Ecuador and other Latin American countries to be inspired by some of the most brilliant minds in evolutionary science.

This book pursues a multidisciplinary approach in order to evaluate the socio-ecological dimensions of infectious diseases in Southeast Asia. It includes 18 chapters written by respected researchers in the fields of history, sociology, ecology, epidemiology, veterinary sciences, medicine and the environmental sciences on six major topics: (1) Infectious diseases and societies, (2) Health, infectious diseases and socio-ecosystems; (3) Global changes, land use changes and vector-borne diseases; (4) Monitoring and data acquisition; (5) Managing health risks; and (6) Developing strategies. The book offers a valuable guide for students and researchers in the fields of development and environmental studies, animal and human health (veterinarians, physicians), ecology and conservation biology, especially those with a focus on Southeast Asia.

This volume gathers together a representative set of examples from the many varied spatial techniques and analytical approaches being used by geographers, ecologists, and biogeographers to study plant and animal distributions, to assess processes affecting the observed patterns at selected spatial and temporal scales, and to discuss these examples within a strong conceptual spatial and/or temporal framework. Therefore, the aims of this volume are to: Identify the key spatial concepts that underpin Geographic Information Science (GISc) in biogeography and ecology; Review the development of these spatial concepts within geography and how they have been taken up in ecology and biogeography; Exemplify the use of the key spatial concepts underpinning GISc in biogeography and ecology using case studies from both vegetation science and animal ecology/biogeography that cover a wide range of spatial scales (from global to micro-scale) and different geographical regions (from arctic to humid tropical); and Develop an agenda for future research in GISc, which takes into account developments in biogeography and ecology, and their applications in GISc including remote sensing, geographic information systems, quantitative methods, spatial analysis, and data visualisation. B#/LISTB# The idea for GIS and Remote Sensing Applications in Biogeography and Ecology arose from two joint symposia organized by the Biogeography Study Group of the International Geographical Union; the Biogeography, Remote Sensing, and GIS Specialty Groups of the Association of American Geographers, and the Biogeography Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers and held in Leicester andHonolulu in 1999. These groups represent the majority of geographers conducting research in biogeography and ecology and teaching this material to geographers. While this material is increasingly being covered in a variety of disciplines and sub-disciplines (e.g., large-area ecology, landscape ecology, remote sensing and GIS), many researchers in these fields lack the training in spatial concepts behind the techniques that they utilize. The spatial concepts that are covered in this book are richer than those found within landscape ecology at the present time, and GIS and Remote Sensing Applications in Biogeography and Ecology will promote the use of many of these concepts among landscape ecologists.GIS and Remote Sensing Applications in Biogeography and Ecology is suitable as a secondary text for a graduate level course, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry.

This will be the first textbook on the integration of food, energy and water systems (FEWS). In recent years, the world has seen a dramatic rise in interdisciplinary energy and environmental courses and degrees at the undergraduate and graduate levels. In the US for instance, the number and variety of such programs has increased significantly over the past decade, Simultaneously, national and international initiatives that integrate food, energy and water systems have been launched. This textbook provides a substantive introduction to the food-energy-water nexus suitable for use in higher level undergraduate and graduate level courses and for scholars moving into the field of nexus studies without a strong background in all three areas and the many aspects of nexus studies.

Secondary Metabolites in Soil Ecology focuses on the role of bacterial, fungal and plant secondary metabolites in soil ecosystems. Our understanding of the biological function of secondary metabolites is surprisingly limited, considering our knowledge of their structural diversity and pharmaceutically relevant activities. This volume reviews functional aspects of secondary metabolite production, with a focus on interactions among soil organisms.

Topics such as truffle metabolites and burnt phenomenon, ecology of mycotoxins in soil, root exudates, and chemical interactions between Streptomyces and mycorrhiza fungi are treated. Further aspects are the role of microbial metabolites as quorum sensing signals, their role in protecting plants against pathogens and the effect of volatiles on soil invertebrates. Chapters describing techniques for the detection of antibiotics in soil and the application of metabolomics to rhizosphere research, which has advanced rapidly in recent years, complement the book.

The book presents an integration of existing ecosystem theories in such a comprehensive way as to enable a full ecological and theoretical pattern to be presented. It shows that ecosystems and their reactions may be understood, provided that all basic systems ecology is applied to different aspects of the properties of ecosystems. Since the publication of the previous two editions of this book, ongoing research and discussions on an international scale have greatly clarified and enhanced this pattern. This progress is presented as Chapter 16 in this new, third edition. It is shown that the integrated ecosystem theory presented can be applied to explain various ecological observations and rules.
Audience: Researchers and decision makers whose work involves the study of ecosystems and ecology. This book is also recommended for use in graduate courses.