Invasive species have come to dominate 3% of the Earth 's ice-free surface, constituting one of the most serious ecological and economic threats of the new millennium, and freshwater systems are particularly vulnerable. This book examines the identity, distribution, and impact of freshwater non-indigenous species and the dynamics of their invasion. It focuses on old and new invaders and provides a starting point for further research.

Coral reefs have shaped the surface of our planet far more than has any other ecosystem. They are dynamic systems, producing limestone at the rate of 400-2,000 tons per hectare per year, and influencing the chemical balance of the world's oceans. Coral reefs have been around since before the prairies or other ecosystems of flowering plants existed, yet they vanish about a million years before other groups of organisms each time there is a global mass extinction. They return after each catastrophe, however, following a long period of absence. Although coral reefs are the most productive communities in the sea, the fisheries of coral reefs are among the most vulnerable to overexploitation. Despite having the power to create the most massive structures in the world made by living creatures (including man), the thin veneer of living tissue of coral reef is particularly sensitive to natural disturbances and effects of human activities. Coral reefs are the first to go during periods of climate change, but they have always come back. This combination of attributes, creative power and fragility, resilience and sensitivity, makes management of coral-reef systems a challenge to science. Over 70% of the coral reefs in the Caribbean and Asian waters have been degraded, and perhaps a third of the 400 species of corals in Japanese waters are in danger of local extinction unless effective coastal management practices are established. This book presents what is known about factors that shift the balance between accretion and erosion, recruitment and mortality, stony corals and filamentous algae, recovery and degradation--the life and death of coral reefs. Insight into the factors controlling thedirection of these processes is essential for appropriate management decisions.

This set comprises 40 volumes covering nineteenth and twentieth century European and American authors. Available as a complete set, mini boxed sets (by theme) or as individual volumes.

Living Marine Resources provides a thorough, up-to-date introduction to all aspects of fisheries science. This clearly written text offers insight into a topic of increasing importance--the wise utilization and management of sea fisheries to maximize production without exceeding their carrying capacity. Adoption of the approaches presented will improve the conservation and management of the many world fisheries that are suffering from years of inefficient practices. The book is divided into five sections, beginning with an introduction to the ocean environment and the various resource species. Part two examines fisheries biology, including age, growth, fecundity, and mortality, enabling readers to appreciate yield models designed to give estimates of maximum sustainable yield and maximum economic yield. The third part covers gear, methods, and landings and includes material on the handling and processing of seafood as well as aquaculture. In part four, yield models are presented to introduce students to theories on population dynamics, stock assessment, and management. The book concludes with coverage of recreational fisheries, including socioeconomic importance, catch and effort research, management techniques, and their interface with commercial fisheries. Living Marine Resources is an invaluable introduction to the subject for advanced undergraduate and graduate students of fisheries science. In addition, the material presented will be valuable to fishery and social scientists, fishery officers and administrators, and students in biology, engineering, economics, and law.

The future of the human posture is in the spotlight. The 200-year-old locomotion paradigm can no longer resist the advancement of knowledge, yet 2,500 years of thinking on the place of verticalized human anatomy and its reflexive consciousness in the natural history of life and the Earth, is more relevant than ever. This book retraces these reflections from pre-Socratic philosophers, focusing on the link between verticality and the most complex and consciously reflexive nervous system on the top rung of the ladder of living beings. The origin of animated forms, or animals, was considered metaphysical until the 19th century but reflection on their inception, from fertilization, paved the way for mathematics of infinitesimal geometry and dynamics. The simian filiation was inconceivable until Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck bridged the gap in 1802 with the locomotion postulate to explain the transition from quadrupedal to bipedal posture, sustained by the hypothesis of inheritance of acquired characteristics. This doctrine was overturned in 1987 by the discovery of the embryonic origins of the straightening - specific dynamics linked to neurogenesis - confirming the natural place of human verticality and nervous system complexity with its psychomotor and cognitive consequences. Sapiens find themselves at the physical limit of the straightening while mechanisms of gametogenesis have never ceased in making neurogenesis exponentially more complex. Is the future exclusively terrestrial or does intrauterine hominization open up new perspectives for space exploration? Posturologists, occlusodontics, osteopaths, cognisciences - all anthropological sciences exposed to human verticality are concerned with this discovery, which allows Sapiens to face their natural destiny

The effects of isolation, area size, and habitat quality on the survival of animal and plant populations in the cultural landscape are central aspects of a research project started in Germany in 1993 (, Forschungsverbund, Isolation, FHichengroBe und BiotopquaIiHit', abbreviated to 'FIFB'). After a long period of preparation, scientists from seven univer sities and one research institution started to work within the frame of this project. Fund ing for four years was provided by the former German Federal Ministry of Research and Technology (BMFT), now the Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). A strong focus of the project has been the improvement of the methodology for environmental impact assessments and the implementation of results into environmental planning. As there is a certain risk that national projects develop some kind of 'mental in breeding', it was decided to discuss concepts, methods, and first results with scientists of international reputation at a rather early stage of the project. For this purpose, an inter national workshop was held in the small village of Lubast, north of Leipzig (state of Saxony) in March 1995. 130 scientists from 10 nations met to discuss and debate issues surrounding habitat fragmentation for three days. Papers presented there formed the basis for this book. As discussions included general reviews as well as particular case studies, we decided to structure this book in a similar way. Consequently, a combination of broad and more general, review-like papers as well as original papers are presented."

Makes connections between diseases, drugs and signaling in those chapters not specifically devoted to pathogens.

Reviews background in first 5 chapters then offers chapters on cancers and apoptosis and on bacteria and viruses.

Signaling in the immune, endocrine (hormonal) and nervous systems covered along with cancer, apoptosis and gene regulation.

Each chapter ends with a problem section to facilitate discussion.

In rural and sparsely populated countries, telemedicine can be a vital and life-saving link to health care, and in those regions where demands on hospitals are ever increasing, it can provide a safe and comfortable alternative to hospital-based therapy. The second edition of this introductory guide to telemedicine and telecare services is invaluable to new practitioners in this growing field of medicine. The book describes the benefits of telemedicine and highlights the potential problems. The authors provide numerous examples of how telemedicine is used in the United States, Australia, and Scandinavia.

This book brings together aspects of statistics and machine learning to provide a comprehensive guide to evaluating, interpreting and understanding biometric data. It naturally leads to topics including data mining and prediction to be examined in detail. The book places an emphasis on the various performance measures available for biometric systems, what they mean, and when they should and should not be applied. The evaluation techniques are presented rigorously, however they are always accompanied by intuitive explanations. This is important for the increased acceptance of biometrics among non-technical decision makers, and ultimately the general public.

The value of planet Earth's biodiversity has been estimated at US $16-54 trillion per year. Trillions of dollars of food, raw materials, pharmaceuticals, oxygen production, soil nutrient enrichment, climate regulation and sheer aesthetic delight and wonder. We are reliant on biodiversity to keep the plant healthy and resilient.
The 2nd edition of "Biodiversity and Conservation" continues offers an introductory guide through the maze of interdisciplinary themes that combine under the concept of 'biodiversity.' Using engaging examples throughout the text combines biological sciences with its insights into the origins, variety and distribution of biodiversity, with the analysis of the social and political context, the threats to and opportunities for the survival of natural systems. Whilst retaining its existing structure the new edition reflects advances that have demonstrated the importance of living systems as drivers of environmental services vital to human health and security. The processes driving the creation and distribution of biodiversity have been updated to reflect new research. The final chapter has been revised to tackle more explicitly the contrasting approaches to conservation.
The text remains the only introductory book bringing together the full range of science and social sciences, theory and practice that goes to make up biodiversity and conservation.

Over the past three decades, the philosophy of biology has emerged from the shadow of the philosophy of physics to become a respectable and thriving philosophical subdiscipline. The authors take a fresh look at the life sciences and the philosophy of biology from a strictly realist and emergentist-naturalist perspective. They outline a unified and science-oriented philosophical framework that enables the clarification of many foundational and philosophical issues in biology. This book will be of interest both to life scientists and philosophers.

This is a one-of-a-kind introduction to the science of biology and its impact on the way we live. Two experienced educators and a science journalist explore the core ideas of biology through chapters written and illustrated in the style of a Scientific American article. Chapters don't just feature compelling stories of real people-each chapter is a newsworthy story that serves as a context for covering the standard curriculum for the non-majors biology course. Scientific American Biology for a Changing World is available with LaunchPad. LaunchPad combines an interactive ebook with high-quality multimedia content and ready-made assessment options, including LearningCurve adaptive quizzing. See 'Instructor Resources' and 'Student Resources' for further information.

This book uses the terminology and best practices recommended by the Scientific Working Group for Forensic Anthropology (SWGANTH). The sixth edition has been fully updated in light of recent developments, incorporating new and improved methods as well as global data. This accessible and engaging text offers an array of features to support teaching and learning, including: boxed case studies extensive figures and photographs chapter summaries and student exercises a glossary of terms further resources via a companion website.

This volume contains invited and refereed papers based upon presentations given in the IMA workshop on Computational Modeling in Biological Fluid Dynamics during January of 1999, which was part of the year-long program "Mathematics in Biology." This workshop brought together biologists, zoologists, engineers, and mathematicians working on a variety of issues in biological fluid dynamics. A unifying theme in biological fluid dynamics is the interaction of elastic boundaries with a surrounding fluid. These moving boundary problems, coupled with the equations of incompressible, viscuous fluid dynamics, pose formidable challenges to the computational scientist. In this volume, a variety of computational methods are presented, both in general terms and within the context of applications including ciliary beating, blood flow, and insect flight. Our hope is that this collection will allow others to become aware of and interested in the exciting accomplishments and challenges uncovered during this workshop.

Maximizing the potential of RNA interference in functional genomics - as well as in the development of therapeutics - continues to be at the forefront of biomedical research. Unlike journal articles, Gene Silencing by RNA Interference: Technology and Application combines essential background to the RNAi field with practical techniques designed by renowned researchers to provide the most diverse and in-depth examination of the subject yet. This book describes methods and protocols for gene silencing and RNA interference. Each chapter provides necessary background to the subject and then gives detailed methods in easy-to-follow steps, along with troubleshooting hints and tips. Following a general and historical introduction, chapters two through eight focus on technical details of the various methods of siRNA design, chemical and enzymatic production, plasmid- and virus-mediated intracellular expression, and other RNAi tools. Chapter nine discusses the exogenous delivery of siRNAs into cells, and the final chapters of the book detail the application of RNAi to dissect gene function in a number of biological systems, including cell-free systems, cultured cells, and whole organisms. From the design and production of RNAi tools to their applications, Gene Silencing by RNA Interference: Technology and Application is the first to present the entire spectrum of activity, design, production, and delivery of RNAi reagents, providing a welcome guide for both academic and commercial use.

Contents:
Part 1. Fundamental Aspects 1. Principles of Cryobiology Peter Mazur 2. The Water to Ice Transition. Implications for Living Cells Ken Muldrew, Jason Acker, Gloria Elliott, Locksley Mcgann Part 2. Life and Death at Low Temperatures 3. Life in the Polar Terrestrial Environment with a Focus on Algae and Cyanobacteria Josef Elster, Erica Benson 4. Microbial Life in Permafrost. Extended Times in Extreme Conditions Monica Ponder, Tatiana Vishnivetskaya, John Mcgrath and James Tiedje 5. Adaptation of Higher Plants to Freezing Roger Pearce 6. Oxidative Stress in the Frozen Plant. A Free Radical Point of View Erica Benson, David Bremner 7. Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Vertebrate Freeze Tolerance. The Wood Frog Kenneth B. Storey, Janet M. Storey Part 3. Freezing and Banking of Living Resources 8. Preservation of Fungi and Yeasts C. Shuhui Tan, Cor Van Ingen 9. Cryo-Conserving Algal and Plant Diversity. Historical Perspectives and Future Challenges Erica E. Benson 10. Plant Cryopreservation Akira Sakai 11. The Early History of Gamete Cryobiology Stanley P. Leibo 12. Cryobiology of Gametes and the Breeding of Domestic Animals Alban Massip, Stanley P. Leibo, Elizabeth Blesbois 13. Cryopreservation as a Supporting Measure in Species Conservation; "Not The Frozen Zoo!" Amanda R. Pickard, William V. Holt 14. Cryopreservation of Gametes and Embryos of Aquatic Species Tiantian Zhang 15. Fundamental Issues for Cell-Line Banks in Biotechnology and Regulatory Affairs Glyn Stacey Part 4. Medical Applications 16. Mechanisms of Injury Caused by In Vivo Freezing Nathan E Hoffman, John C. Bischof 17. Cryopreservation in Transfusion Medicine and Haematology Andreas Sputtek, Rebekka Sputtek 18. Cryopreservation of Human Gametes and Embryos Barry Fuller, Sharon Paynter, Paul Watson 19. The Scientific Basis for Tissue Banking Monica Wusteman Charles J. Hunt 20. Engineering Desiccation Tolerance in Mammalian Cells. Tools and Techniques Jason P. Acker, Tani Chen, Alex Fowler, Mehmet Toner 21. Stabilization of Cells During Freeze-Drying. The Trehalose Myth John H. Crowe, Lois M. Crowe, Fern Tablin, Willem Wolkers, Ann E. Oliver, Nelly M. Tsvetkova 22. Vitrification in Tissue Preservation. New Developments Mike J. Taylor, Yin C. Song and Kelvin G.M. Brockbank Part 5. The Future of Cryobiology 23. The Future of Cryobiology Nick Lane