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Books > Professional & Technical > Agriculture & farming > Forestry & silviculture: practice & techniques
Part A and Part B of the fifth of twelve volumes of The Mycota deal
with the mechanisms of interactions between fungi and plants and
consider pathogenic as well as mutualistic associations.
The floricultural industry has been undergoing an unprecedented revolu tion in terms of the type of commodity produced and the production and marketing technology in both developed and developing countries. As a result of this revolution, as we know today, there is a flower for every purpose and for every person in the world, as is evident from the slogan of the Society for American Florists: "say it with flowers." In re cent years, the Latin American and European countries have become sizeable competitors for the North American fresh flower markets and the trend continues growing. Like any other crop production, floricultural production can be divided into three basic factors: (1) production costs (2) quality (3) transportation costs. All these must be optimum for this area or industry to be safe from competition. With increasing consumer awareness and the current recession, the pressure from the artificial floral products in dustry and also of neighbouring countries on the American fresh flower industry, and continued competition even amongst the growers, whole salers and retailers, quality in floricultural industry is becoming increas ingly important to all those concerned with handling these products. The visual quality aspects of the product are the sole determiner of consumer acceptability in this industry and, unlike fruits and vegetables, flowers cannot be marketed by just discarding the damaged portion."
Forest decline became a matter of public and scientific concern in France in 1983 when conifers in the Vosges mountains were found to exhibit unusual crown deterioration. An impassioned controversy on a supposedly large scale forest health problem was then in full swing in Central Europe. A co-ordinated research programme entitled DEFORPA ("Deperissement des For ts et Pollution AtmospMrique") was launched in 1984. This programme ran from 1984 to 1991 and a number of projects are still in progress. The Programme was sponsored by three French ministries (Enviroument, Agriculture and Forestry, Research and Technologyl), several state agencies, various regional authorities and the Commission of the European Communities (DO xn and DG VI). Initially, emphasis was solely laid on the understanding of forest decline in the mountainous areas - because damage was most obvious there - in relation to natural and man-made factors. Air pollution was given high but not overwhelming priority. Thus, the DEFORPA Programme was not in its essence a nation-wide assessment of air pollution effects, unlike a number of national acidification research programmes in Europe and North America. During. the programme, however, the areas of concern expanded. In particular, research into water acidification in the Vosges mountains was developed in parallel with the DEFORPA Programme, and possible eutrophication of the ground flora in northeastern France became the subject of new research.
This seris keeps scientists and advanced students specialized on a particular subject informed of the latest developments and results in all different areas of botany. The present volume includes reviews on structuralbotany, physiology, genetics, taxonomy, geobotanic, as well as a contribution treating seed dispersal.
Hydroponics, the method of growing plants without soil, presents a
feasible alternative to conventional farming in areas which are
short on water supply and limited in agricultural soil.
Photochemical oxidants are secondary air pollutants formed under the influence of sunlight by complex photochemical reactions in air which contains nitrogen oxides and reactive hydrocarbons as precursors. The most adverse components formed by photochemical reactions in polluted air are ozone (0 ) 3 and peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN), among many other products such as aldehydes, ketones, organic and inorganic acids, nitrates, sulfates etc. An analysis and evaluation of the available knowledge has been used to characterize the relationships among emissions, ambient air concentrations, and effects, and to identify the important controlling influences on the formation and effects of photochemical oxidants. The biological activity of photochemical oxidants was first clearly manifested during the early 1940's, when vegetation injury was observed in the Los Angeles Basin in the United States. Since that time, as a consequence of the increasing emissions of photochemical oxidant precursors, the photochemical oxidants have become the most important air pollutants in North America. In other parts of the world, for example South and Central America, Asia, and Australia, photo chemical oxidants threaten vegetation, particularly the economic and ecological performance of plant life. According to my knowledge, the first observations of ozone and PAN injury to vegetation in Europe were made by Dr. Ellis F. Darley (Statewide Air Pollution Research Center, University of California, Riverside, California) during a study visit (1963/64) to the Federal Republic of Germany."
Forest damage, forest decline, forest dieback - not related to biotic agents - is occurring in the Atlantic and Pacific regions. In Europe and Eastern North America this serious problem is considered to be, at least to some part, related to industrial air pollutants and their atmospheric conversion products, such as acid rain or ozone. Forest declines in the Pacific region have been attributed largely to natural causes involving forest dynamics, since air pollution and other negative anthropogenic influences are practically absent. Presented here are typical decline phenomena in the Pacific and Atlantic region, potential causes, effects and mitigation strategies, and the question whether there are any similarities on a functional or structural basis is addressed.
of metal interactions with subcellular biochemical systems usually either are metabolites of the system affected (porphyrinurias) or represent some specific function of a cellular system being impaired (proteinurias). One typically finds a continuum of symptoms, from the subtle or so-called "no effect" bio chemical and physiological indicators of exposure to severe clinical disease and death. This continuum is the basis of much of the controversy since many health officials follow the traditional practice of applying the "threshold health-effect" concept in evaluating the problems of environmental exposure to metals. The past decade or so, however, has seen a vast increase in our understanding of the effects of elevated concentrations of toxic metals in local populations and ecosystems. At the same time, there is a growing awareness that the effects of the metals which occur naturally in the environment must be distinguished from those imposed by the pollutant fraction. This point was amply document ed in a recent study of cadmium intake and cadmium in a number of human tissues in Sweden, Japan, and the United States, which showed fairly conclu sively that the background exposure in Japan was about threefold higher than in the other two countries (2). One immediate implication is that any health ef fect studies of cadmium in Japan using control groups within that country are liable to underestimate the difference between the exposed and the control groups simply because of the the high "background" intake."
John Sculley In the short history of personal computing, the task of the software programmer has been one of the least recognized-but one of the most significant-in the industry. In addition to defining the prob lems, and presenting the solutions, the software programmer is con fronted with the challenge of having to predict what combination of ideas and technologies will move the industry forward in the most compelling way. Even though we've seen the development of tremendous applications in a surprisingly short period of time, the most difficult problems often surface when we try to elevate a suc cessful local idea to the international arena. In the case of Apple Computer, these challenges become especially profound when you consider that Apple sells Macintosh not just in the United States, but in Japan, China, the Middle East, Africa, East ern Europe, and even to the United Nations itself. Of course, this means that the personal computer must work everywhere around the world. But more significantly, it also means that the software must reflect the uniqueness of a given culture, its language, morals, and even its sense of humor. To step away from a narrowly-defined, nationally-based paradigm for software development, programmers, management, and entire corporations must learn to recognize what elements of an interface, problem solving technique, documentation illustration, package de sign, and advertisement are local, and which elements are appro priate for global markets."
Neurochemical Techniques in Insect Research properly emphasizes the insect. It only scratches the surface of the exploding repertoire of general neuro chemical techniques that can be applied to insect research in 1985. But it al so presents the advantages of using insects for studying certain biological questions that are approachable by neurochemical techniques. Even more so, it summarizes the long list of unique problems encountered in attempting to study insects by neurochemical techniques. As in other volumes of this series, the contributors to this volume are the authorities in the field. They themselves have developed much of the material presented. Thus the sum effort provides a true description of the state of the art; and, pleasantly, it does so in a very complete and clear manner. Readers of this series will not need to be reminded that, despite the fact that vertebrates make up only about 3% of all animal species, research in in vertebrates such as insects has lagged behind that on vertebrates, at least in the neurochemistry area; the relative simplicity and large cell size of the in sect nervous system has always provided incentive for work in neurophysiol ogy and neuroanatomy. Toxicology interests will always stimulate a certain amount of work on insect neuropharmacology, and insects are extremely suitable for several areas of toxin research. Last but not least, the insects are beautiful organisms for which the applications of genetics can be made to the study of nervous system function."
In order to provide meaningful information for evaluating environmental consequences of alternative control strategies of air pollutant emissions, scientists have recently initiated numerous studies aiming at collecting and making use of regional data. New kinds of mathematical models have been developed that no longer are calibrated just for individual stands or catchments but can be applied on a large regional scale. Such regional models and data were reviewed at a meeting" Models to describe the geographic extent and time evolution of acidification and air pollution damage", organized by the Finnjsh Research Project on Acidification (HAPRO), and held in Aulanko, Hiimeenlinna, Finland, July 5-8, 1988. This volume is based on the outcome of that meeting. The chapters of the volume are written by leading scientists in the field. The main objective of this volume is to discuss the potential of regional models to analyze the geographic extent of acidification as well as the environmental damage and the time evolution of:the responses of the environment. First, in Part I of the volume, sensitivity distributions of ecosystems, forest soils and surface waters are described. The focus of interest is therefore extended from the most sensitive ecosystems to sensitive and moderately sensitive parts of the environment. When formulating national and interna tional targets, it is of crucial importance to know the whole distribution of critical loads within the area, and not only the level the most sensitive ecosystem can tolerate.
The rapid increase in environmental measurements during the past few decades is associated with (1) increasing awareness of the complex relations linking biological responses to atmospheric variables, (2) development of improved data acquisition and handling equipment, (3) the application of modeling to environmental problems, and (4) the implementation of large, cooperative studies of international scope. The consequences of man's possible alteration of the environment have increased our interest in the complex nature of biological responses to meteorological variables. This has generated activity in both measurements and in the application of modeling techniques. The virtual explosion of modeling activity is also associated with the development oflarge computers. The testing of these models has demonstrated the need for more, different, and better environmental data. In addition, technological developments, such as integrated circuits, have reduced the cost, power consumption, and complexity of data acquisition systems, thus promoting more environmental measurements. The emergence of scientific cooperation on a global scale has increased measurement activities markedly. The International Geophysical Year (1958) has been followed by the International Hydrologic Decade, the Inter national Biological Program, the Global Atmospheric Research Program, and a host of environmental studies of a regional nature that have all emphasized field data collection."
The Daniel S. Lehrman Memorial Symposia Series will publish the proceedings of symposia devoted to the evolution, development, and organization of behavior. These various symposia will bring together at intervals scientists studying problems from each of these view points. The aim is to attempt to integrate our knowledge derived from these different sources and to familiarize scientists working on similar behavior patterns with the work of their colleagues in related fields of study. Each volume, therefore, will be devoted to a specific topic in the field of animal behavior, which will be explored with respect to its evolutionary aspects, including the adaptive nature of the behav ior; with respect to its developmental aspects, including neural, hor monal, and experiential influences; and with respect to the analysis of features of organization, including motivational, perceptual, and motor aspects and their physiological bases. It is our feeling that the most appropriate memorial to our colleague and close friend, Daniel S. Lehrman, is the continuation of his valuable contributions toward integrating these approaches to the study of animal behavior, which he pursued so effectively during his own life. Daniel S. Lehrman's lifelong love and study of animal behavior gave us a wealth of new insights into reproductive behavior and evolution. It is therefore appropriate that the first symposium of this series is devoted to recent advances in this field.
Forest land managers face the challenges of preparing their forests for the impacts of climate change. However, climate change adds a new dimension to the task of developing and testing science-based management options to deal with the effects of stressors on forest ecosystems in the southern United States. The large spatial scale and complex interactions make traditional experimental approaches difficult. Yet, the current progression of climate change science offers new insights from recent syntheses, models, and experiments, providing enough information to start planning now for a future that will likely include an increase in disturbances and rapid changes in forest conditions. Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Management Options: A Guide for Natural Resource Managers in Southern Forest Ecosystems provides a comprehensive analysis of forest management options to guide natural resource management in the face of future climate change. Topics include potential climate change impacts on wildfire, insects, diseases, and invasives, and how these in turn might affect the values of southern forests that include timber, fiber, and carbon; water quality and quantity; species and habitats; and recreation. The book also considers southern forest carbon sequestration, vulnerability to biological threats, and migration of native tree populations due to climate change. This book utilizes the most relevant science and brings together science experts and land managers from various disciplines and regions throughout the south to combine science, models, and on-the-ground experience to develop management options. Providing a link between current management actions and future management options that would anticipate a changing climate, the authors hope to ensure a broader range of options for managing southern forests and protecting their values in the future.
Changes in production, demand, supply, and trade patterns; the impact of green building and bioenergy on industry practices and policy infrastructure; and new economies with production advantages and large consumption bases all present challenges and opportunities in the forest sector. With contributions from leading experts in academia and professional organizations, The Global Forest Sector: Changes, Practices, and Prospects fills a gap in the literature that is preventing students, scholars, and policy makers from developing a timely, structured, big-picture view of forest sector business. In addition, the book reviews current thinking on a wide variety of business management issues in the forest sector. The book covers managing change in the global forest sector and the impact of globalization on forest users. It discusses markets and market forces, new products and product categories, and the influence of China and Russia. The book then examines the environmental paradigm, including environmental activism, sustainability, and the impact of green building and bioenergy. The book concludes with coverage of the role of information technology, corporate social responsibility, innovation, and next steps. Overall, this book helps readers both develop a bird s eye view of the changes surrounding the forest sector as well as have a magnified view of numerous managerial issues associated with these changes. The content paints a picture of the current and changing forest sector including the state of forests, the nature of markets, the newly emerged patterns of stakeholder impact, and evolution of key business practices. It provides the foundation needed to develop the conservation-based economy required for future success in the global forest sector."
Der vorliegende 6. Band konnte die Oberschrift "Pflanzenschutzforschung auf neuen Wegen" tragen. Trotz der verbreiteten, meist aufmangelndem Informations- stand beruhenden Voreingenommenheit gegen den chemischen Pflanzenschutz, nimmt dessen Bedeutung sHindig zu. Das beruht auf der Notwendigkeit einer sicheren und rationellen landwirtschaftlichen Produktionssteigerung, die durch das rapide Wachstum der WeItbevolkerung erzwungen wird. Zwar ist die land- wirtschaftliche Produktivitat auch in einigen Entwicklungslandern wahrend der letzten 15 Jahre merklich gestiegen, sie haIt aber vielfach mit der Vermehrung der Bevolkerung nicht Schritt. Der Pflanzenschutz ist nicht einseitig auf bestimmte Methoden festgelegt, sondern bedient sich unvoreingenommen aller wirtschaftlich und okologisch vertretbaren Wege und Verfahren. Hierbei wird auch die Forschung nach neuen Wirkstoffen und chemischen Verfahren auf sehr breiter Grundlage weiterbetrieben, wenn auch unter merklicher Steigerung der Forschungskosten. Jeder neue Wirk- stoff muB einen Fortschritt gegeniiber einem eingefUhrten Handelsprodukt dar- stellen. Wichtige Kriterien sind hierbei neben der Wirksamkeit die Umwelt- vertraglichkeit, unter anderem giinstigere toxikologische Eigenschaften, Sicher- heit in der Anwendung und Wirtschaftlichkeit. Wie schon in Band 3 (Beitrag Haug) dargestelIt, sind gerade auch diejenigen Kosten fUr Forschung und Ent- wick lung, die der langfristigen Unbedenklichkeit und Sicherheit der Produkte dienen, iiberproportional gestiegen.
The public's attitude toward air pollution in the United States evolved substantially during the 1960s. One of the results of the nation's emerging environmental ethic was the creation of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in December of 1970. Prior to this time, research was focused on the impacts of air pollution on human health and welfare and was largely conducted by several federal research agencies, which included the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and the U. S. Department of Agricul ture. After the creation of the EPA, much of this work was consolidated in one regulatory agency, which resulted in periodic evaluations of the various effects of atmospheric pollution on human health, materials, agriculture, and forest ecosystems. At the same time that environmental interest was growing in the United States, concern increased in the European scientific community and public over the ecological impacts of acidic deposition. As the magnitude of the damage to European lakes and streams and the widespread decline in Norway spruce and silver fir was reported, concern that similar problems were occurring in the United States increased substantially. This concern was heightened by press reports of high elevation spruce-fir forest declines in the Adirondack and Appalachian Mountains and the decline and death of sugar maples in the northeastern United States and Canada.
Environmental stresses, such as high and low temperature, salinity, and drought, represent limiting factors to agricultural productivity worldwide. Their impact is not only on crops that are presently being cultivated, but they are also significant barriers to the introduction of crop plants into noncultivated areas. The book describes the cellular, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms in plants that regulate tolerance to stresses. Also discussed are prospects of engineering stress-tolerant plants through the modification of germplasm.
This volume is dedicated to understanding the political economy obstacles to trade reform, especially global agricultural trade reform, and how these obstacles can be surmounted. The focus is on the trade reform under the GATT negotiations. New political-economic methodologies are used to assess and evaluate the obstacles and original scholarly analyses have been designed to explain why agriculture - among so many topics - became such a significant problem in the most recent Uruguay Round of the GATT.
In a very real sense, much of North American physiological plant ecol ogy began in the Basin and Range and has been researched there over the last four decades. However, we believe that this book may be the first attempt to bring together the full range of contemporary research into the fascinating plant biology of the Basin and Range Province. We have invited contributions from researchers presently working in and around the Province and asked them to review the major vegetation zones and distinctive environmental issues from a predominantly plant ecophysiological perspective. As researchers interested in plant physi ological and ecological processes, and in atmospheric processes affect ing vegetation, we have tended to emphasize the atmosphere, plant, soil continuum in structuring this book. After an introduction to the geography of the region, we deal with atmospheric processes and climates of the Great Basin, follow with chapters on the different vegetational zones, treated from ecophysiological perspectives, and then place emphasis on plant-soil relations. We have not treated plant animal interactions in the detail that the impacts of man and his domesticated animals on the desert ecosystem deserve. However we have included a review of a very promising technique (analysis of stable isotopes at natural abundance) for integration of these processes. We close with a compelling statement of the case for the Great Basin as a laboratory for climatic change research, prepared by a multidisciplinary team from the Desert Research Institute.
The importance of irrigation in the world's agriculture is rapidly increasing. Although it is practised on a large scale mainly in arid and semi-arid zones, supplementary irrigation is becoming popular in semi-humid regions as well. The record of irrigation speaks for itself in terms of increased crop production. However, the question remains as to how permanent the achievement may be. Judging from history, it seems that irrigation eventually failed in many regions because the knowledge and technology available to society at the time were incapable of coping with the problems created. Undoubtedly soil salinity is the most prevalent and widespread problem limiting crop productivity in irrigated agriculture. It has, therefore, attracted the attention of the scientific community since the advent of modern agronomic research. Through the past six to seven decades a considerable body of information has been accumulated, which has promoted the understanding of the principles involved and helped to develop the technology for coping with the problems. Our present knowledge, if judiciously applied, is adequate for coping with many of the salinity problems resulting from mismanagement of irrigation and drainage. But for this knowledge to be used, it has to be generally known and understood and be re-examined from time to time.
Metal Speciation in the Environment is a multidiscipliary treatment of the occurrence, mobility and detection of metal compounds within different environments as well as their interaction with life. Special emphasis is given to the complexation of metals, to the state of the art of trace analytical methodology available for metal speciation (including atomic absorption spectrometry, plasma emission and mass spectrometry, neutron activation analysis, electrochemical methods, chemical sen- soring, a.o.), and environmental chemistry of elements such as the actinides and heavy metals (e.g. chromium, arsenic, tin, and copper).
Herbicides are part of modern agricultural production systems and therefore contribute significantly to the economy of agricultural products. At the same time, herbicides are potent and specific inhibitors of plant metabolism and may therefore be used as valuable tools in basic plant physiological research. A well-known example is the photosynthesis-inhibiting herbicide diuron, known to plant physiologists as DCMU, which has become one of the essentials in modern photosynthesis research. Similarly, knowledge in other areas of plant metabolism may be advanced by the use of herbicides as specific inhibitors. This book describes the effects of herbicides on the metabolism of higher plants from the viewpoint of the plant physiologist. The material of this book is therefore, as far as possible, divided into areas of metabolism. This book intends (1) to present the reader with current knowledge and views in the area of herbicide modes of action and (2) to promote the future use of herbicides as metabolic inhibitors in plant physiological research to the advantage of both, the pesticide and the plant sciences. I wish to express my thanks to my colleagues and friends Prof. N. Amrhein, Prof. E. Elstner, Dr. L. Eue, Dr. J. Konze, Dr. K. Liirssen, Dr. W.Oettmeier, Dr. H. Quader, Dr. R. R. Schmidt, Dr. R. H. Shimabukuro, Dr. J. Stetter, Prof.
The information presented in this book is the result of combined research efforts of scientists at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, the Institute of Northern Forestry, USDA Forest Service, and the Systems Ecology Research Group, San Diego State University. The objective of the volume is to present a synthetic overview of structure and function of taiga forest ecosystems in interior Alaska. The data base for this work has appeared in earlier published articles including the special issue of the Canadian Journal of Forest Research Volume 13:5 (1983). Stimulus for this book was a conference held in Fairbanks from June 10-14, 1983. The papers presented at the conference were fore runners of the chapters in this book. We invited 19 scientists from North America and England to critique our research and synthesis efforts. Six of these people were asked to write introductory chapters for each section of the book. Formal presentation sessions, combined with field trips to research sites, introduced the invitees to the primary and secondary successional ecosystems with which we were dealing. A major wildfire, only 24 km from the University campus, was contained the week prior to the conference and one field trip provided graphic evidence of fire impact in subarctic forests. The conference conveners regretted that it was not possible to host a similar meeting during synthesis efforts in mid-January." |
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