This book presents various approaches to the resolution of the severe water resource issues of the Middle East, with particular emphasis on the Israeli-Palestinian water conflicts. The authors include leading Palestinian and Israeli water experts who have worked together on joint research projects aimed at building up mutual understanding and respect. The studies consider the various approaches that could be used to improve cooperation and solve the problems arising from conflicting interests.

by Peter J. Roussopoulos, Director, Southern Research Station The world and its ecosystems are repeatedly punctuated by natural disturbances, and human societies must learn to manage this reality Often severe and unp- dictable, dynamic natural forces disrupt human welfare and alter the structure and composition of natural systems Over the past century, land management ag- cies within the United States have relied on science to improve the sustainable management of natural resources Forest economics research can help advance this scientifc basis by integrating knowledge of forest disturbance processes with their economic causes and consequences As the twenty-frst century unfolds, people increasingly seek the goods and services provided by forest ecosystems, not only for wood supply, clean water, and leisure pursuits, but also to establish residential communities that are removed from the hustle and bustle of urban life As vividly demonstrated during the past few years, Santa Ana winds can blow wildfres down from the mountains of California, incinerating homes as readily as vegetation in the canyons below Hurricanes can fatten large swaths of forest land, while associated foods create havoc for urban and rural residents alike Less dramatic, but more insidious, trees and forest stands are succumbing to exotic insects and diseases, causing economic losses to private property values (including timber) as well as scenic and recreation values As human demands on public and private forests expand, science-based solutions need to be identifed so that social needs can be balanced with the vagaries of forest disturbance processes

Arising initially from a conference, the papers published here have been integrated into book form to provide information on human activities and the tropical rainforest in the past and present, and on the possible future of the rainforest, in a unique way. Other books have considered some, but not all, of these themes; however, none has stressed the continuity of change over time and its possible outcome for the people of the forest as well as for the forest itself. Because of the approach taken, this book should appeal across traditional disciplinary boundaries. Indeed a prime aim has been to suggest that rainforest, because of its complexity and the complexity of people-rainforest relationships throughout time, deserves study from a broad perspective. This book poses more questions than answers about the rainforest and it is hoped that it will encourage readers to think about the rainforest in a wider way than hitherto. This book is aimed at geographers (physical and human), social anthropologists, archaeologists, pedologists, foresters and tropical botanists and will be of value to graduates of various disciplines setting out to research the rainforest.

This volume presents peer-reviewed papers from the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Atmospheric Boundary Layers held in April 2006. The papers are divided into thematic sessions: nature and theory of turbulent boundary layers; boundary-layer flows: modeling and applications to environmental security; nature, theory and modeling of boundary-layer flows; air flows within and above urban and other complex canopies: air-sea-ice interaction.

For more than 40 years I have been engaged in timberline research. Thus, one could suppose that writing this book should not have been too difficult. It was harder, however, than expected, and in the end I felt that more questions had arisen than could be answered within its pages. Perhaps it would have been easier to write the book 30 years ago and then leave the subject to mature. Lastly it was the late Prof. Heinz Ellenberg who had convinced me to portray a much needed and complete picture of what we know of the timberline with special respect to its great physiognomic, structural and ecological variety. The first version of this book was p- lished in the German language (Holtmeier, 2000). Nevertheless, I was very delighted when Prof. Martin Beniston encouraged me to prepare an English edition for the series 'Advances in Global Change Research', which guaranteed a wider circulation. Timberline is a worldwide and very heterogeneous phenomenon, which can only be presented by way of examples. My own field experience is necessarily limited to certain timberline areas, such as the Alps, northern Scandinavia, northern Finland and many high mountain ranges in the western United States and Canada. However, my own observations and the results of my and my previous collaborators research were essential for developing the concept of the book and became integrated into the picture of timberline that is presented in the following chapters.

The ''Aral Sea Encyclopedia'' is the first one in the new series of encyclopedias about the seas of the former Soviet Union. Preparing it we faced certain difficulties. The thing is that this encyclopedia is a monument to the sea that is disappearing during our lifetime. The world community considers the situation with the Aral Sea and all changes that occurred in its whereabouts in the recent decades as one of the most serious, if not disastrous anthropogenic environmental crises of the 20th century. Before 1960, this was a water-abundant sea-lake that was fourth among world lakes after the Caspian Sea (USSR, Iran), the Great Lakes (USA, Canada) and Victoria Lake (Africa). This was a real ''pearl'' among the sands of the largest deserts, the Karakums and the Kyzylkums. Navigation between the sea ports Muinak and Aralsk and fisheries famous for the Aral breams, barbells, sturgeons, shemaya, and others were developed here. One could find beautiful recreational zones and beaches here. The deltas of the Amudarya, the major river of Central Asia, and the Syrdarya bringing their waters into the Aral Sea were famous for their biodiversity, fishery, muskrat rearing, reed prod- tion. The local population found occupations related to the water infrastructure.

Despite their importance in sustaining livelihoods for many people living along some of the world s most populous coastlines, tropical mangrove forests are disappearing at an alarming rate. Occupying a crucial place between land and sea, these tidal ecosystems provide a valuable ecological and economic resource as important nursery grounds and breeding sites for many organisms, and as a renewable source of wood and traditional foods and medicines. Perhaps most importantly, they are accumulation sites for sediment, contaminants, carbon and nutrients, and offer significant protection against coastal erosion.

This book presents a functional overview of mangrove forest ecosystems; how they live and grow at the edge of tropical seas, how they play a critical role along most of the world s tropical coasts, and how their future might look in a world affected by climate change. Such a process-oriented approach is necessary in order to further understand the role of these dynamic forests in ecosystem function, and as a first step towards developing adequate strategies for their conservation and sustainable use and management. The book will provide a valuable resource for researchers in mangrove ecology as well as reference for resource managers."

This book describes the interdisciplinary work of USAID's Famine Early Warning System (FEWS NET) and its influence on methodological and development policies in the US. This book describes FEWS NET's systems, methods and presents several illustrative case studies that will demonstrate the integration of both physical and social science disciplines in its work. The aim of this book is to bring the work of USAID's Famine Early warning System Network into the public domain.

At present, constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment are a widely used technology for treatment of various types of wastewaters. The International Water Association (then International Association on Water Pollution Research and Control) recognized wetlands as useful tools for wastewater treatment and est- lished the series of biennial conferences on the use of wetland systems for water pollution control in 1988. In about 1993, we decided to organize a workshop on nutrient cycling in natural and constructed wetlands with the major idea to bring together researchers working on constructed and also natural wetlands. It was not our intention to compete with IWA conferences, but the workshop should rather complement the series on treatment wetlands by IWA. We believed that the exchange of information obtained from natural and constructed wetlands would be beneficial for all participants. And the time showed that we were correct. The first workshop took place in 1995 at T?ebo? in South Bohemia and most of the papers dealt with constructed wetlands. Over the years we extended the topics on natural wetlands (such as role of wetlands in the landscape or wetland restoration and creation) and during the 6th workshop held at T?ebo? from May 30 to June 3, 2006, nearly half of 38 papers presented during the workshop dealt with natural wetlands. This workshop was attended by 39 participants from 19 countries from Europe, Asia, North and South Americas and Australia. The volume contains 29 peer-reviewed papers out of 38 papers which were presented during the workshop.

Fire Ecology of Tropical Ecosystems gives an extensive explanation of historic and current fire situations in the tropics, describing the fire ecology of tropical ecosystems from around the globe. Eighteen groups of leading researchers explain the many different aspects and roles of fire in tropical ecosystems. Regional chapters address a set of common subjects including the causes of fire, typical fire behavior, and elements of the fire regime. In addition, they study the impacts of human land use, landscape fragmentation and climate change on the fire environment and the challenges of fire management in these ecosystems. The common set of topics provides consistency among the chapters and facilitates comprehensive understanding of fire s place in tropical ecology. This cohesive book covers unique aspects of fire in each ecosystem and includes a discussion of common elements to enable comparisons and syntheses of fire effects in disparate tropical ecosystems. Current scientific literature is too fragmented: it hampers the understanding of tropical fire ecology and degrades all global studies of land cover change and global carbon emissions. Fire

Ecology of Tropical Ecosystems fills a large void in our current understanding of how fire affects terrestrial biota.

The book opens with a general explanation of fire in the tropics, giving the examples of Oazaca, Mexico in 1998 and Roraima, Brazil in 1997-1998. It follows with the concepts and principles of wildland fire, including heat transfer, fire behavior, fuels, weather and climate.

Chapters 3-19 cover the implications of fire in Asia, Africa, Australia, Central and South America, Pacifica and Pantropical, addressing the causes, fire behavior, severity, fire and land use, fire and landscapes (fragmentation and connectivity), fire, climate and climate change, fire regimes (why frequency matters), issues for fire management and regional issues of specific importance or interest. An overview at the end of the book considers the global fire regime conditions, threats, and opportunities for fire management in the tropics."

This book presents decade-long advances in atmospheric research in the Mackenzie River Basin in northern Canada, which encompasses environments representative of the coldest areas on Earth. Collaborative efforts by a team of about 100 scientists and engineers have yielded knowledge entirely transferable to other high latitude regions in America, Europe and Asia.

There are many reasons why strategic intelligence is required to support policy decisions. These primarily stem from the nature of today's kno- edge society with two contrasting trends. On the one hand, there is a trend of increasing human intelligence in the economic, social and political s- tems. On the other hand, there is a trend towards dissolving certainties about the problems and solutions of today's society. Clearly, more inf- mation does not necessary imply more certainties on how to act. What is more, the same facts are often interpreted in markedly different ways: the same policy relevant information can - and often does - results in confli- ing framing of a problem by different stakeholders. This is mainly due to competing assumptions, rather then because of inconsistent facts. The- fore, it is not surprising that policy-makers are calling for strategic intel- gence to support their understanding of today's challenges, including the relevant aspects of science and technology, their impact and their possible future developments. Over the last 15 years, Europe has rapidly adopted the practice of dev- oping and using Impact Assessment (IA) tools to support decision-making. Formal procedures and guidance for IA are well established within the European Commission and in most EU Member States. The adoption of IA procedures alone, however, does not guarantee that every policy domain is actually using the full potential of these assessment tools in the preparation of policies and legislation.

With detailed data from nine sites around the world, the authors examine how the so-called 'fragmentation' of these fragile landscapes occurs and the consequences of this break-up for ecosystems and the people who depend on them. 'Rangelands' make up a quarter of the world's landscape, and here, the case is developed that while fragmentation arises from different natural, social and economic conditions worldwide, it creates similar outcomes for human and natural systems.

This book covers fundamental aspects of spatial data modelling specifically on the aspect of three-dimensional (3D) modelling and structuring. Realisation of "true" 3D GIS spatial system needs a lot of effort, and the process is taking place in various research centres and universities in some countries. The development of spatial data modelling for 3D objects is the focus of this book.

Estuaries occur along many of the world s coastlines irrespective of geologic setting, energy regime, and depositional environment. They represent the interface between fluvial, coastal and marine environments and they contain the sedimentary record of geological changes among these systems. However, detailed case studies on the morphodynamics and sedimentary evolution of different estuarine environments are notably lacking.

This book focuses on the use of high-resolution geophysical techniques, field observations and modeling to investigate the morphodynamics of estuaries on both glaciated and non-glaciated coasts and on different time scales. Papers in this book offer a new approach to nearshore and estuary studies, with an emphasis on multidisciplinary techniques and data integration. Results of these studies have important implications for estuary resource management and shoreline stability. This book will be of interest to sedimentologists, coastal and Quaternary geologists, environmental scientists, and coastal managers."

This original book describes the behavior of tropical cyclones in the South Pacific. It investigates the broad range of disturbance effects these violent storms have on the physical environments of the islands that lie in their path and the people who live on them. It is the first book to link these two themes - the characteristics of cyclones and their landscape impacts. Examples and illustrations are drawn widely from across the region, resulting in a highly readable volume.

Drawing on ethnographic and archival research, Changing Forests explores how the indigenous Lenca community of La Campa, Honduras, has conserved and transformed their communal forests through the experiences of colonialism, opposition to state-controlled logging, and the recent adoption of export-oriented coffee production. It merges political ecology, collective-action theories, and institutional analysis to study how the people and forests have changed through socioeconomic and political transitions encompassed in three broad phases: (1) the premodern period, which considers historic perturbations in western Honduras from the period of colonialism into the middle of the twentieth century; (2) the period of state-led logging and intervention in La Campa, which caused major degradation in forest cover; and (3) the recent period in which export coffee production transformed property rights, and people s perceptions of the forest gained new conservationist and economic dimensions. Each phase entails perspectives and experiences that influenced human use of forests, and shaped subsequent transformations.

Growing social heterogeneity, population growth, and market integration present challenges for sustainable forest management, but satellite images show that forest cover has expanded since the community prohibited logging in 1987. The indigenous people have created a watershed reserve and agroforestry cooperatives, and maintain forests as part of a resilient livelihood strategy."

The Middle Paran river is one of the largest in the world. Exceptionally rich in fauna and flora, it provides researchers with a glimpse into an ecosystem yet undisturbed by human civilization. This fascinating book covers all the key aspects of the Paran 's fluvial limnology and ecology, arranged in discrete and easily navigable sections. First, the physical and chemical environment is explained, then the river 's plant life, followed by its invertebrate life, and finally the vertebrates that inhabit the river.

Why do some animals migrate? How does migration affect the gene pool? This book discusses these questions and more, in light of the high evolutionary costs and risks of mass movement. The editor presents a collection of topics explaining the migration of organisms through many examples of different groups of marine and non-marine organisms, from micro-invertebrates to large mammals.

Dust storms are a vital component of the environment. This book explores and summarises recent research on where dust storms originate, why dust storms are generated, where dust is transported and deposited, the nature of dust deposits and the changing frequency of dust storms over a range of time-scales. It is the first global study of causes and effects of dust storms, which are one of the increasing nature catastrophes.

Although numerous books have been written on both monitoring and modelling of coastal oceans, there is a practical need for an introductory multi-disciplinary volume to non-specialists in this field. The articles commisioned for this book, organized into four major themes, are written by experts in their disciplines while the text is intended for scientists who do not have extensive training in marine sciences and coastal zone management. As such, the articles in this monograph can be a valuable reference for practicing professionals. The first section introduces the complex physical processes with main emphasis on waste disposal in the coastal ocean. Following this, examples of instrumentation techniques that are commonly used for measuring different properties of oceans are discribed. Coastal and estuarine transport and dispersion modelling is introduced in the next section with examples from different parts of the world. The last section provides an overview of coastal disasters such as tropical cyclones, storm surges and oil spills.

Presented in an accessible, user-friendly format, this atlas sets out all the major features revealed during one of the largest ever deep-sea mapping campaigns. A unique insight into the morphology of the seabed along the continental margin of the North-East Atlantic, it reveals for the first time many features that have hitherto been hidden beneath the waves. It is organised both thematically and by region, with the sea floor and its biological hotspots - areas of high biodiversity such as seamounts - shown at a resolution not possible before. The atlas presents everything from submarine canyons to coral carbonate mounds, using digital terrain models generated from multibeam data and photographs taken from unmanned deep-water vehicles (ROVs).

The full-colour imagery includes digital three-dimensional seabed maps as well as the photographs, with concise text descriptions and topic boxes used to highlight and explain the geological, biological and hydrographical features, in addition to their importance and context in the deep-sea realm. Alongside the wealth of background information and topic boxes on special highlights, extensive on-line resources link the reader to full data sets and GIS locations, while suggestions for further reading point to ongoing research highlights. This is a fascinating resource that will be of use to anyone involved in off-shore and underwater activities, whether scientific or commercial.

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

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

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

Hurricanes are nature's most destructive agents. Widespread interest surrounds the possibility that they might get even more destructive in the future. Policy makers consider it a call for action. Answers about when and by how much hurricanes will change are sought by financial institutions especially industry. And scientists are challenged by the range and interactions of the processes involved. This book, arising from the 2nd International Summit on Hurricanes and Climate Change, contains new research on topics related to hurricanes and climate change since the 1st Summit. Chapters are grouped into research studies using global climate models and those taking empirical and statistical approaches. The latter include investigations of basin-wide and regional hurricane activity.

Oceanic Migration studies the prehistoric peopling of the Pacific. It uses science and mathematics to expand the research base of Pacific prehistory and casts new light on this final human expansion. It explores the fundamental roles of oceanography and of global climate change in determining the paths, sequence, timing and range of Spice Island-based maritime migrations ranging across a quarter of the globe. The book is of interest to Pacific prehistorians, oceanographers and American anthropologists concerned with the diffusionist debate. For oceanographers it presents the new idea of the role of the West Pacific Warm Pool and of three of its four major currents in determining the evolution of voyaging in two oceans. For diffusionists it provides new chronological and technological contexts in which the issue of diffusionism needs to be reconsidered. For prehistorians it creates a paradigmatic shift by establishing a new time depth and mechanism for Polynesian exploration, offers a new view of voyaging and exploration strategies and of economic imperatives and adds a new dimension to the debate on Polynesian origins.