Biomass obtained from agricultural residues or forest can be used to produce different materials and bioenergy required in a modern society. As compared to other resources available, biomass is one of the most common and widespread resources in the world. Thus, biomass has the potential to provide a renewable energy source, both locally and across large areas of the world. It is estimated that the total investment in the biomass sector between 2008 and 2021 will reach the large sum of $104 billion. Presently bioenergy is the most important renewable energy option and will remain so the near and medium-term future. Previously several countries try to explore the utilization of biomass in bioenergy and composite sector. Biomass has the potential to become the world’s largest and most sustainable energy source and will be very much in demand. Bioenergy is based on resources that can be utilized on a sustainable basis all around the world and can thus serve as an effective option for the provision of energy services. In addition, the benefits accrued go beyond energy provision, creating unique opportunities for regional development. The present book will provide an up-to-date account of non-wood, forest residues, agricultural biomass (natural fibers), and energy crops together with processing, properties and its applications to ensure biomass utilization and reuse. All aspects of biomass and bioenergy and their properties and applications will be critically re-examined. The book consists of three sections, presenting Non wood and forest products from forestry, arboriculture activities or from wood processing, agricultural biomass (natural fibers) from agricultural harvesting or processing and finally energy crops: high yield crops and grasses grown especially for energy production.

The purpose of this book is to assess the potential effects of biotechnological approaches particularly genetic modification on biodiversity and the environment. All aspects of biodiversity such as ecological diversity, species diversity and genetic diversity are considered. Higher organisms contain a specific set of linear DNA molecules called chromosomes and a complete set of chromosomes in an organism comprises its genome. The collection of traits displayed by any organism (phenotype) depends on the genes present in its genome (genotype). The appearance of any specific trait also will depend on many other factors, including whether the gene(s) responsible for the trait is/are turned on (expressed) or off, the specific cells within which the genes are expressed and how the genes, their expression and the gene products interact with environmental factors. The primary biotechnology which concerns us is that of genetic manipulation, which has a direct impact on biodiversity at the genetic level. By these manipulations, novel genes or gene fragments can be introduced into organisms (creating transgenics) or existing genes within an organism can be altered. Transgenics are a major area of concern, combining genes from different species to effectively create novel organisms. Current rates of disappearance of biological and cultural diversity in the world are unprecedented. Intensive resource exploitation due to social and economic factors has led to the destruction, conversion or degradation of ecosystems. Reversing these trends requires time to time assessment to integrate conservation and development.

This book delivers current state-of-the-science knowledge of tree ecophysiology, with particular emphasis on adaptation to a novel future physical and chemical environment. Unlike the focus of most books on the topic, this considers air chemistry changes (O3, NOx, and N deposition) in addition to elevated CO2 effects and its secondary effects of elevated temperature. The authors have addressed two systems essential for plant life: water handling capacity from the perspective of water transport; the coupling of xylem and phloem water potential and flow; water and nutrition uptake via likely changes in mycorrhizal relationships; control of water loss via stomata and its retention via cellular regulation; and within plant carbon dynamics from the perspective of environmental limitations to growth, allocation to defences, and changes in partitioning to respiration. The authors offer expert knowledge and insight to develop likely outcomes within the context of many unknowns. We offer this comprehensive analysis of tree responses and their capacity to respond to environmental changes to provide a better insight in understanding likelihood for survival, as well as planning for the future with long-lived, stationary organisms adapted to the past: trees.

This unique book provides the first comprehensive overview of wood based bioenergy in the northern hardwood forests of the Eastern United States. This includes a holistic look at the topic of wood based bioenergy, as well as focused analyses of key topics. This book is relevant to engineers, project developers, foresters, economists, sociologists, environmental scientists and natural resource managers. Most chapters also provide practical hands-on advice for the practitioner, and provide a valuable resource for anyone who is considering developing a woody bioenergy project.

The book is a fundamental reference source on reaction wood for wood scientists and technologists, plant biologists, silviculturists, forest ecologists, and anyone involved in the growing of trees and the processing of wood. It brings together our current understanding of all aspects of reaction wood, and is the first book to discuss both compression wood and tension wood. Trees produce reaction wood to maintain the vertical orientation of their stems and the optimum angle of each branch. They achieve this by laying down fibre cell walls in which differences in physical and chemical structure from those of normal fibres are expressed as differential stresses across the stem or branch. This process, while of obvious value for the survival of the tree, causes serious problems for the utilisation of timber. Timber derived from trees containing significant amounts of reaction wood is subject to dimensional instability on drying, causing twisting, bending and splitting. It is also difficult to work as timber, and for the pulp and paper industry the cost of removing the increased amount of lignin in compression wood is substantial. This has both practical and economic consequences for industry. Understanding the factors controlling reaction wood formation and its effect on wood structure is therefore fundamental to our understanding of the adaptation of trees to their environment and to the sustainable use of wood. The topics covered include: -Morphology, anatomy and ultrastructure of reaction wood -Cell-wall polymers in reaction wood and their biosynthesis -Changes in tree proteomes during reaction wood formation -The biomechanical action and biological functions of reaction wood - Physical and mechanical properties of reaction wood from the scale of cell walls to planks -The detection and characterisation of compression wood -Effects of reaction wood on the performance of wood and wood-based products - Commercial implications of reaction wood and the influence of forest management on its formation

On a Sustainable Future of the Earth's Natural Resources is divided into three sections, with individual chapters contributed by experts on diff erent facets of the earth sciences, natural resources management and related issues. The first section focuses on the status of Earth's resources; land, water, biota and atmosphere. Reviews on the rate of exploitation and the need to conserve these resources for future sustenance are also covered in this section. Th e following section includes chapters elucidating environmental, ecological, climatological and anthropological pressures on sustained nourishment with the Earth's resources. The last section describes management practices, issues and perspectives on sociological, legal, administrative, ICT and strategic efforts that need to be implemented in order to sustain our natural resources. This book covers a broad spectrum of the Earth's resources and sustenance, offering a comprehensive perspective on their past, present and future.

Sustainable development and rural policies have pursued strategies where farming has been often regarded as a factor deteriorating the ecosystem. But the current economic, social and environmental problems of the Earth probably call for examples of a positive integration between human society and nature. This research work presents more than a hundred case studies where the historical relationships between man and nature have generated, not deterioration, but cultural, environmental, social and economic values. The results show that is not only the economic face of globalization that is negatively affecting the landscape, but also inappropriate environmental policies. The CBD-UNESCO program on biocultural diversity, the FAO Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems and several projects of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations, as well as European rural policies acknowledge the importance of cultural values associated to landscape. This research intends to support these efforts.

While restoration ecology has traditionally aimed to re-create some putative more 'natural' ecological state, forest landscape restoration (FLR) has emerged over the last decade as an approach aimed more at restoring natural functions, while focusing on meeting human needs. With a view to exploring the practical potential of this approach, this book draws together a team of experts from the natural and social sciences to discuss its success so far in addressing critical issues such as biodiversity, ecological function, and human livelihoods. Applying principles of landscape ecology, restoration ecology, planning theory and conflict management, the book presents a series of case studies which document the approach, and discusses how the approach can help with priority setting for the future. The book will provide a valuable reference to graduate students and researchers interested in ecological restoration, forest ecology and management, as well as to professionals in environmental restoration, natural resource management, conservation, and environmental policy.

For decades, conservation and research initiatives in tropical forests have focused almost exclusively on old-growth forests because scientists believed that these "pristine" ecosystems housed superior levels of biodiversity. With Second Growth, Robin L. Chazdon reveals those assumptions to be largely false, bringing to the fore the previously overlooked counterpart to old-growth forest: second growth. Even as human activities result in extensive fragmentation and deforestation, tropical forests demonstrate a great capacity for natural and human-aided regeneration. Although these damaged landscapes can take centuries to regain the characteristics of old growth, Chazdon shows here that regenerating-or second-growth-forests are vital, dynamic reservoirs of biodiversity and enviornmental services. What is more, they always have been. With chapters on the roles these forests play in carbon and nutrient cycling, sustaining biodiversity, providing timber and non-timber products, and integrated agriculture, Second Growth not only offers a thorough and wide-ranging overview of successional and restoration pathways, but also underscores the need to conserve, and further study, regenerating tropical forests in an attempt to inspire a new age of local and global stewardship.

Completing the primary genomic sequence of Arabidopsis thaliana was a major milestone, being the first plant genome and well established as the premiere model species in plant biology. Since working drafts of rice (Oryza sativa L.) genome became available (Yu et al. 2002), it has become the s- ond-best model organism in plants representing monocotyledons. Understanding how the genome sequence comprehensively encodes de- lopmental programs and environmental responses is the next major ch- lenge for all plant genome projects. This requires functional characterization of genes, including identification of regulatory sequences. Several functional genomics approaches were initiated to decode the linear sequence of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, including full-length cDNA collections, microarrays, natural variation, knockout collections, and comparative sequence analysis (Borevitz and Ecker 2004). Genomics provides the ess- tial tools to speed up the research work of the traditional molecular gene- cist, and is now a scientific discipline in its own right (Borevitz and Ecker 2004).

Restoration ecology, as a scientific discipline, developed from practitioners' efforts to restore degraded land, with interest also coming from applied ecologists attracted by the potential for restoration projects to apply and/or test developing theories on ecosystem development. Since then, forest landscape restoration (FLR) has emerged as a practical approach to forest restoration particularly in developing countries, where an approach which is both large-scale and focuses on meeting human needs is required. Yet despite increased investigation into both the biological and social aspects of FLR, there has so far been little success in systematically integrating these two complementary strands. Bringing experts in landscape studies, natural resource management and forest restoration, together with those experienced in conflict management, environmental economics and urban studies, this book bridges that gap to define the nature and potential of FLR as a truly multidisciplinary approach to a global environmental problem. The book will provide a valuable reference to graduate students and researchers interested in ecological restoration, forest ecology and management, as well as to professionals in environmental restoration, natural resource management, conservation, and environmental policy.

This book takes a multi-disciplinary and critical look at what has changed over the last ten years in one of the world's most important and dynamic ecosystems, the Amazon floodplain or varzea. It also looks forward, assessing the trends that will determine the fate of environments and people of the varzea over the next ten years and providing crucial information that is needed to formulate strategies for confronting these looming realities.

The plant fossil record indicates that the genus Metasequoia was widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere from the early Late Cretaceous to the Plio-Pleistocene. Today the genus has shrunk to one species with approximately 5,000 mature individuals in southeastern China's Xiahoe Valley. This book distills the current understanding of the biology, ecology and physiology of fossil and living Metasequoia, current research directions and problems that remain unresolved.

In the last half century, because of the raising world population and because of the many environmental issues posed by the industrialization, the amount of arable land per person has declined from 0.32 ha in 1961-1963 to 0.21 ha in 1997-1999 and is expected to drop further to 0.16 ha by 2030 and therefore is a severe menace to food security (FAO 2006). At the same time, about 12 million ha of irrigated land in the developing world has lost its productivity due to waterlogging and salinity. Waterlogging is a major problem for plant cultivation in many regions of the world. The reasons are in part due to climatic change that leads to the increased number of precipitations of great intensity, in part to land degradation. Considering India alone, the total area suffering from waterlogging is estimated to be about 3.3 million ha (Bhattacharya 1992), the major causes of waterlogging include super- ous irrigation supplies, seepage losses from canal, impeded sub-surface drainage, and lack of proper land development. In addition, many irrigated areas are s- jected to yield decline because of waterlogging due to inadequate drainage systems. Worldwide, it has been estimated that at least one-tenth of the irrigated cropland suffers from waterlogging.

Forest inventories throughout the world have evolved gradually over time. The content as well as the concepts and de?nitions employed are constantly adapted to the users' needs. Advanced inventory systems have been established in many countries within Europe, as well as outside Europe, as a result of development work spanning several decades, in some cases more than 100 years. With continuously increasing international agreements and commitments, the need for information has also grown drastically, and reporting requests have become more frequent and the content of the reports wider. Some of the agreements made at the international level have direct impacts on national economies and international decisions, e. g. , the Kyoto Protocol. Thus it is of utmost importance that the forest information supplied is collected and analysed using sound scienti?c principles and that the information from different countries is comparable. European National Forest Inventory (NFI) teams gathered in Vienna in 2003 to discuss the new challenges and the measures needed to get data users to take full advantage of existing NFIs. As a result, the European National Forest Inventory Network (ENFIN), a network of NFIs, was established. The ENFIN members decided to apply for funding for meetings and collaborative activities. COST- European Cooperation in Science and Technology - provided the necessary ?n- cial means for the realization of the program.

Research and publications on the potato crop have burgeoned since the first edition of this book was published in 1978. However, the warm reception of the first edition suggested that it had a useful part to play in promoting the scientific basis for understanding and improving the yield and quality of the crop. Since the first edition was out of print and a second reprint would not have taken into account the contributions made by research over the intervening years, it became obvious that a complete revision was necessary. There was, in particular, a need to take account of the rapid extension of interest in the crop into climates and farming systems with which it has not been traditionally associa,ted. Those involved with the crop will be sadly aware that a number of contributors to the first edition are no longer with us. Their contribution to our knowledge of the crop will however be a permanent legacy of their achievement. I would like to thank all those who have contributed to the book for their willingness to cooperate in the difficult task of bringing their particular subject up to date. This is even more noteworthy for the pressure of time appears to be almost an order of magnitude higher than it was when the first edition was tackled.

Plants use resources, i.e. carbon, nutrients, water and energy, either for growth or to defend themselves from biotic and abiotic stresses. This volume provides a timely understanding of resource allocation and its regulation in plants, linking the molecular with biochemical and physiological-level processes. Ecological scenarios covered include competitors, pathogens, herbivores, mycorrhizae, soil microorganisms, carbon dioxide/ozone regimes, nitrogen and light availabilities. The validity of the "Growth-Differentiation Balance Hypothesis" is examined and novel theoretical concepts and approaches to modelling plant resource allocation are discussed. The results presented can be applied in plant breeding and engineering, as well as in resource-efficient stand management in agriculture and forestry.

This work assesses the issues facing biodiversity maintenance on tropical islands, and the impacts of biodiversity loss. The emphasis is on the Indo-West Pacific region, which includes many small islands where the biodiversity is under threat as a result of not only climate change and habitat destruction, but invasions by organisms previously absent from an island. The contributors are distinguished biodiversity scientists from inside and outside the region, and cover topics ranging from the state of conservation action in South-East Asia, the role of parks, and the status and threat to endemics, to impacts of oil and gas exploration and forest fragmentation. Issues needing still to be addressed, especially in relation to implications of biodiversity loss or change for the maintenance of ecosystem processes, are highlighted. The conclusions and case studies have lessons for all involved in the conservation of the biotas and ecosystems of islands. Previously published in Biodiversity and Conservation 19:2 2010

China has been undertaking unprecedented ecological restoration efforts to deal with its problems of soil erosion, flooding, dust storms, and habitat loss. While there have been studies of these efforts, questions remain concerning whether they have been effectively implemented, what their induced socioeconomic and ecological impacts are, and how their performance can be improved. Tackling these important questions in an integrated manner, "An Integrated Assessment of China's Ecological Restoration Programs" is extraordinary for its broad coverage and methodological rigor. It provides a substantial improvement over the conventional approach of simply reporting projects undertaken and accepting uncritically the government assessment, and thus fills an important knowledge gap of the restoration efforts being implemented upon a variety of ecosystems in China.

Plant-driven volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions play a major role in atmospheric chemistry, including ozone and photochemical smog formation in the troposphere, and they extend the atmospheric lifetime of the key greenhouse gas, methane. Furthermore, condensation of photo-oxidation products of BVOCs leads to formation of secondary organic aerosols with profound implications for the earth's solar radiation budget and climate. Trees represent the plant life form that most contributes to BVOC emissions, which gives global forests a unique role in regulating atmospheric chemistry. Written by leading experts in the field, the focus is on recent advancements in understanding the controls on plant-driven BVOC emissions, including efforts to quantitatively predict emissions using computer models, particularly on elicitation of emissions under biotic and abiotic stresses, molecular mechanisms of volatile synthesis and emission and the role of emissions in plant stress tolerance.

Offers basic data on more than 3,600 radionuclides. Emphasizes practical application such as basic research, acheo0logy and dating, medical radiology and industrial. Balanced and informative details on the biological effects of radiation and resultant controversy. Trimmed down student version of a product that costs many times the price.

This monograph has been written in the hope that it will prove of value to medical students and clinicians, to Honours undergradu ates in appropriate branches of the natural sciences, and to repro ductive biologists in general. It would be pleasing if the text also caught the attention of veterinary undergraduates, since there is much information bearing on reproduction in domestic animals. First and foremost, however, the intended audience is a medical one, for scientific studies of human reproduction have been cata lyzed by the intense interest in procedures of fertilization in vitro. Some would judge that this very activity has narrowed our view of physiological events occurring within the Fallopian tubes. The pre sent work may therefore serve as a useful counterbalance to the overwhelming series of publications on procedures of in vitro fer tilization, and offer opportunities to those in the clinical field for extending their knowledge of the scientific background to much of the current work.

The past two decades have seen rapid advances in the technology used to produce pot plants. Glasshouses designed and orientated to give maxi mum light transmission, fully automatic heating and ventilating systems, carbon dioxide enrichment of the atmosphere, controlled photoperiods using automatic blackouts and incandescent lamps which enable plants such as chrysanthemum to be flowered at any time of the year, mist propagation techniques, chemical growth regulators which control the height of plants, automatic watering and feeding systems, etc.: these are only some of the developments which have transformed pot plant culture. There have also been many changes in the composts and systems used to grow the plants. Mineral soils, which formed the basis of the John Innes composts, are now either too expensive or too difficult to obtain in suitable quality and sufficient quantity. Consequently the grower has been forced to seek other materials such as peat, perlite, vermiculite, plastic foam, shredded bark, etc. New types of fertilizers, new methods of heat sterilization and new chemical sterilizing agents are also being used.

Thisbookisconcernedwiththewaysinwhichcropsmightbedevelopedfor soilsthatare,atthepresent,agriculturallyunproductivebecauseofexcesses and/ordeficienciesofcertainminerals. Wehaveconcentratedonsoils,rather thanonenvironmentalconditionsthatlimitproductivity,sincetherehavebeen anumberofrecenttextsdealingwithtopicssuchasdroughtandtemperature. Theaimisthatthoseworkingtoderivecropsforgrowthonthese"problem" soilsshouldbeawareofthemanydiverseavenuesthatareavailable. These comefromthedisciplinesofplantbreeding,geneticsandphysiology,andthe interfacesthataredevelopingbetweenthem. Thebackground,therequirementstofeedtheprojectedincreaseinhuman population,issetoutintheintroductorychapter. Thenextfivechaptersthen dealwiththeapproachestocropimprovement:themeritsofaconventional breedingprogramme,theimportanceofphysiologicalcharactersinmaking selections,theuseofinvitrotechniques,ofcytogenetics,andthevalueof developingnativeplantsintocropsintheirownright. Althoughsalinityisoften usedasanexample,reflectingtheresearchinterestsofmanyoftheauthors,the methodsandapproachesdescribedhavemuchwiderapplicability. Twochap- tersarethenconcernedmorespecificallywithbreedingfortolerancetoother metaltoxicitiesandwithdeficienciesandtoxicitiesofmicronutrients. Finally,in theconcludingchapter,wesummariseandfindcommongroundbetweenthe differentapproachesandpointsofview. Brighton,April1994 ANTHONYR. YEO TIMOTHY J. FLOWERS Contents Chapter1 Introduction:WorldPopulationandAgriculturalProductivity T. 1. Flowers 1. 1 HowManyPeopleAreThere? . 1 1. 2 AgriculturalRequirements. . 2 1. 2. 1 FoodRequirements...2 1. 2. 2 FoodSupply...4 1. 3 Population-CarryingCapacity...5 1. 4 HowMuchLandIsThere? . 6 1. 5 IncreasingFoodProduction . 7 References...9 Chapter2 ConventionalPlantBreedingforTolerancetoProblemSoils C. N. ChaubeyandD. Senadhira 2. 1 ScreeningTechniques . 11 2. 2 VariabilityinToleranceforSoilStresses . 14 Rice . 15 2. 2. 1 2. 3 GeneticsofToleranceforSoilStresses...16 19 2. 3. 1 GeneLocationandLinkages...CorrelatedChanges...20 2. 3. 2 2. 4 Crop-Improvement . 21 2. 4. 1 Introduction...21 2. 4. 2 PureLineandMassSelection...21 2. 4. 3 HybridisationandSelection. 23 2. 4. 3. 1 PedigreeMethod...23 2. 4. 3. 2 BulkMethod...23 BackcrossBreeding...2. 4. 3. 3 26 2. 4. 3. 4 RecurrentSelection...26 2. 4. 3. 5 RapidGenerationAdvanceProcedures...27 2. 4. 4 MutationBreeding...28 2. 4. 5 PolyploidBreeding. 28 2. 4. 6 HeterosisBreeding. 29 2. 5 Summary...29 References...29 VIII Contents Chapter3 PhysiologicalCriteriainScreeningandBreeding A. R. Yeo 3. 1 Introduction...37 3. 2 ReasonsfortheUseofPhysiologicalSelection . 38 3. 2. 1 TheComplexityofTolerance...38 3. 2. 2 ImportingTolerancefromWildRelatives . 39 3. 2. 3 MeasuringStressTolerance . 40 3. 2. 4 InteractionBetweenEnvironmentalStresses...42 3. 2. 5 LimitationstotheUseofYieldasaSelectionCriterion...42 3. 3 Salinity . 43 3. 3. 1 BasicProblems...43 SaltExclusion...44 3. 3. 2 3. 3. 3 ConditionsRequiringOsmoticAdjustment. . 45 3. 3. 4 CharacteristicsNeededinSalt-TolerantPlants . 46 3. 3. 4. 1 ControlofSaltUptake...

Forest fIres are considered a major environmental problem in many European Union Member States as well as in other parts of the world. According to a recent report of the European Commission, forest fues are a dominant feature of the landscapes of the fIve Southern European Member States - Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece, and almost a half of the Community's forests have been classed as fue-risk areas. Protection from forest fues is an interdisciplinary endeavour, which needs to be addressed from both the technological and methodological point of view, and which necessitates a wide spectrum of various scientifIc disciplines. It also implies the solution of numerous practical problems (both of a generic nature and of a specifIc one) and the consideration of the characteristics of the specifIc areas in which fue fIghting is carried out. ScientifIc research is offering a major contribution to forest fIre fIghting. The European Commission (DG XII, Directorate General for Science, Research and Development) has supported since the 1980s a number of multinational research projects through its successive RTD programmes in the fIeld of the Environment.