Climate change, visualized. Climate change, shrinking wildlife habitats, rising sea levels, and vanishing species. These are big, important ideas that deserve a proper exploration--just the type of revealing journey you will experience in The Atlas of a Changing Climate. Ecologist Brian Buma helps us envision--both literally and figuratively--the history, present, and possible futures of the imperiled ecosystems directly influencing our lives. By presenting the forces driving Earth's changes through illuminating maps, charts, and infographics, he proves the depth of our connectivity to our planet, revealing both the vulnerability--and hope--intrinsic in that link.

Environmental argument is 'about' far more than meets the eye. How people (mis)under-stand each other during environmental debates is affected by conflicts between values and ways of life which may not be directly connected with the environment at all. This book offers sociological evidence from three contrasting societies - Ireland, Germany and China - to explore how diversity of cultural context affects deliberation about the physical world. What can we discover by examining environmental debates through the lens of interculturality? When people disagree about flood management, building motorways or extracting gas, what difference does it make if they have diverse experiences of neighbourly relations, how to use time or how to imagine a good life? What is going on at intersections between cultures to influence the trajectories of environmental debates? The book disinters taken-for-granted practices, feelings and social relationships which affect environmental arguments, in scientific and artistic debate as well as in politics and policy-making. Importantly, the book makes visible the effects of cultural difference on people's approaches to arguing itself. If public arguing is shaped by specific habits of feeling or imagination, how does that impact on theories of democracy? Do we need new kinds of arguing to cope with environmental crises? What elements of arguing are decisive in the ways people come to see environmental decisions as wise choices?

The book provides basic knowledge in mycorrhizal ecology, knitted with novel conceptual frameworks and contemporary perspectives, especially in the context of global change. In a fast changing world wherein anthropogenic climate change, biological invasions, deforestation, desertification, and frequent droughts have become routine hard realities, the contents of this book urge readers to rethink basic notions of setting and accomplishing objectives in mycorrhizal research to make sense vis-a-vis contemporary challenges. In this book, a global perspective of mycorrhizal diversity and distribution is provided, followed by some insights into the impact of various global change elements such as climate change, plant invasion, and extreme environmental conditions on mycorrhizas and the role of these mutualists in turn to help their host plants to withstand such novel selection pressures. Special attention here is given to the interesting, but largely neglected, topics such as the role of mycorrhizas in ecological restoration of degraded environments and mycorrhizal status of aquatic plants. The basic idea is to unify various topical areas in mycorrhizal science in an integrated framework. This book can be used by the undergraduate and graduate level students studying mycorrhizal symbioses in the context of current ecological applications. The materials in this book will benefit biological scientists actively involved in research on mycorrhizal ecology and global environmental change. Besides, the contents of the book could be of special interest to restoration ecologists and biodiversity managers. "

Get submerged in the amazing world of sharks! Your expert host, award-winning marine biologist Dr. David Shiffman, will show you how-and why-we should protect these mysterious, misunderstood guardians of the ocean. Sharks are some of the most fascinating, most ecologically important, most threatened, and most misunderstood animals on Earth. More often feared than revered, their role as predators of the deep have earned them a reputation as a major threat to humans. But the truth is that sharks are not a danger to us-they're in danger from us. In Why Sharks Matter, marine conservation biologist Dr. David Shiffman explains why it's crucial that we overcome our misconceptions and rise above cinematic jump scares to embrace sharks as the imperiled and elegant ocean guardians they really are. Sharing his own fascinating experiences working with sharks, Shiffman tells us * why healthy shark populations are a must for supporting ocean ecosystems-and the coastal economies that depend on them * why we're in danger of losing many shark species forever * what scientists, conservationists, and readers can do to help save these iconic predators * why so much of what you've heard about sharks and how to save them is wrong Exploring the core tenets of shark conservation science and policy, Shiffman synthesizes decades of scientific research and policymaking, weaving it into a narrative full of humor and adventure. Touching on everything from Shark Week to shark fin soup, overfishing to marine sanctuaries, Shiffman reveals why sharks are in trouble, why we should care, and how we can save them. Perfect for shark enthusiasts, Why Sharks Matter is an approachable, informative guide to the world of shark conservation and the passionate, fascinating, brilliant people who work to understand and protect our oceans. This fun read will have you looking at sharks with a fresh perspective and an understanding that the survival of sharks is crucial to the survival of another apex predator-ourselves.

Genetic erosion is the loss of genetic diversity within a species. It can happen very quickly, due to catastrophic events, or changes in land use leading to habitat loss. But it can also occur more gradually and remain unnoticed for a long time. One of the main causes of genetic erosion is the replacement of local varieties by modern varieties. Other causes include environmental degradation, urbanization, and land clearing through deforestation and brush fires. In order to conserve biodiversity in plants, it is important to targets three independent levels that include ecosystems, species and genes. Genetic diversity is important to a species' fitness, long-term viability, and ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Chapters in this book are written by leading geneticists, molecular biologists and other specialists on relevant topics on genetic erosion and conservation genetic diversity in plants. This divisible set of two volumes deals with a broad spectrum of topics on genetic erosion, and approaches to biodiversity conservation in crop plants and trees. Volume 1 deals with indicators and prevention of genetic erosion, while volume 2 covers genetic diversity and erosion in a number of plants species. These two volumes will also be useful to botanists, biotechnologists, environmentalists, policy makers, conservationists, and NGOs working to manage genetic erosion and biodiversity.

Playing a critical role in both influencing climate change and mitigating its impacts, the world's diverse wetlands have become one of the world's most threatened ecosystems as unsustainable land-use practices coupled with irrational use of water have already resulted in large-scale wetlands loss and degradation. To develop sound management and conservation schemes to assure wetlands sustainability in the long term requires long-term understanding of wetlands ecology. Yet until now, long-term interdisciplinary research into these systems has been limited to only a few systems from tropical or temperate climates (such as the Florida Everglades, and Czech biosphere reserve). This new book adds to the existing wetlands literature, providing a unique reference in basic and applied Mediterranean wetland ecology, based on results from long-term interdisciplinary research at the RAMSAR and UNESCO Biosphere site, of Las Tablas de Daimiel, Spain. Dating back to the early 1990s the research highlights changes in the biotic and abiotic environment in response to cumulative anthropogenic stressors, and provide guidance on applying this understand to sound management and conservation. With particular relevance to researchers dealing with semi-arid wetlands in the Mediterranean and elsewhere, as well as to resource managers, the book discusses the complexity of the interacting abiotic and biotic environment across different spatial and temporal scales and across various levels of biological hierarchy is highlighted, and reveals how management based on poor knowledge causes more damage than repair. The book will be of interest to researchers interested in freshwater ecology, hydrobotany, hydrology, geology, biogeochemistry, landscape ecology and environmental management.

Coast lines have been and still are the centre lines of civilization around the world with still increasing pressure from both sides, the hinterland and the sea, with all its foreseeable and unforeseeable impacts given by nature or mankind. While response of nature to such impacts is flexible in the way that all morphological changes with all the consequences are tolerated as part of the system, man cannot tolerate short-term or long-term changes without being threatened in its physical and economical existence. The objectives of this Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) on Environmentally Friendly Coastal Structures were:

- to contribute to the critical assessment of existing knowledge in the field of coastal and environmental protection;

- to identify directions for future research in that area;

- to promote close working relationships between scientists from different countries and with different professional experience.

Latest trends in research in coastal and environmental protection have been summarized and developed during the meeting. Seventeen papers are presented in this book, attempting to cover as completely as possible all related aspects a" coast, engineering structures, water, sediments, ecosystems in their complicated interaction.

This book addresses issues related to sources of groundwater pollution such as arsenic, uranium, fluoride and their effects on human health. It discusses extensively the removal of heavy metals, arsenic and fluoride from drinking water. Bioremediation and phyto remediation on biomass productivity are treated in several chapters in the book. The volume highlights leachate characteristics analysed both in the laboratory and in field studies assessing the trace metals in rainwater. This book is a study on the judicious management of natural resources and exposes environmental problems particularly those related to pollution and bioremediation.

This is the first full-length biography of a remarkable woman driven to preserve our natural heritage. Rosalie Edge (1877-1962) was the first American woman to achieve national renown as a conservationist. Dyana Z. Furmansky draws on Edge's personal papers and on interviews with family members and associates to portray an implacable, indomitable personality whose activism earned her the names ""Joan of Arc"" and ""hellcat."" A progressive New York socialite and veteran suffragist, Edge did not join the conservation movement until her early fifties. Nonetheless, her legacy of what the New Yorker called ""widespread and monumental"" achievements forms a crucial link between the eras defined by John Muir and Rachel Carson. An early voice against the indiscriminate use of toxins and pesticides, Edge reported evidence about the dangers of DDT fourteen years before Carson's Silent Spring was published. Today, Edge is most widely remembered for establishing Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, the world's first refuge for birds of prey. Founded in 1934 and located in eastern Pennsylvania, Hawk Mountain was cited in ""Silent Spring"" as an 'especially significant' source of data. In 1930, Edge formed the militant Emergency Conservation Committee, which not only railed against the complacency of the Bureau of Biological Survey, Audubon Society, U.S. Forest Service, and other stewardship organizations but also exposed the complicity of some in the squandering of our natural heritage. Edge played key roles in the establishment of Olympic and Kings Canyon National Parks and the expansion of Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. Filled with new insights into a tumultuous period in American conservation, this is the life story of an unforgettable individual whose work influenced the first generation of environmentalists, including the founders of the Wilderness Society, Nature Conservancy, and Environmental Defense Fund.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the thought of the climate emergency? Do you want an eco-friendly lifestyle but don't know where to start? Then dive into this little book, full of simple, achievable ways to help you reduce your carbon footprint. From tips on creating a more eco-friendly home and ways to reduce your plastic use, to advice on shopping sustainably, within these pages you will discover everything you need to know to help you make planet-friendly choices and live a more sustainable life.

A compelling look at the challenges of freshwater conservation and management issues facing the United States at the start of the new millennium. Battles have been fought, lives have been lost, countries divided-and all for one reason-water. Freshwater Issues provides a quick education in the basics and essential issues of freshwater management. From water supply and resource information to the role of water in ecosystems, the coverage also provides global water data, examines uncertainties about future water supplies, and addresses technological advances in the development of water resources and environmental safeguards. Thorough treatment is given to water rights, allocation issues, and U.S. water laws and their many regional variations. This is followed by an explanation of the economics of water, from ownership and pricing to social impact and discussions of often-conflicting public, environmental, and private interests. The war over water has just begun.

The book explores how Darwins legendary and mythologized visit to the Galapagos affected the socioecosystems of the Islands, as well as the cultural and intellectual traditions of Ecuador and Latin America. It highlights in what way the connection between Darwin and the Galapagos has had real, enduring and paradoxical effects in the Archipelago. This Twenty Century construct of the Galapagos as the cradle of Darwin's theory and insights triggered not only the definition of the Galapagos as a living natural laboratory but also the production of a series of conservation practices and the reshaping of the Galapagos as a tourism destination with an increasingly important flow of tourists that potentially threaten its fragile ecosystems. The book argues that the idea of a Darwinian living laboratory has been limited by the success of the very same constructs that promote its conservation. It suggests critical interpretations of this paradox by questioning many of the dichotomies that have been created to understand nature and its conservation. We also explore some possible ways in which Darwin's ideas can be used to better understand the social and natural threats facing the Islands and to develop sustainable and successful management practices.

Part travelogue, part history, and part environmental treatise, "Mekong - The Occluding River" is above all else an urgent warning that factors such as pollution, ecological devastation, and the depletion of natural resources are threatening the very existence of the Mekong River. Author Ngo The Vinh combines his vivid travel notes and collection of photographs with a meticulously researched history of the environmental degradation of the Mekong River. Translated from Vietnamese, the best-selling treatise outlines the myriad threats facing the river today. From oil shipments feeding the industrial cities of southwestern China to gigantic hydroelectric dams known as the Mekong Cascades in Yunnan province, China is the worst environmental offender, though the other nations along Mekong's banks behave no better. From Thailand to Laos to Vietnam, hydroelectric dams that threaten the Mekong and its inhabitants are being built at an alarming rate. To save the Mekong, Ngo The Vinh calls upon all the nations that benefit from its life-giving water to observe the "Spirit of the Mekong" in the implementation of all future development projects. To achieve this end, there must be a concerted and sustained commitment to cooperation and sustainability. At this critical cross-roads, we should remind ourselves of the mantra from Sea World San Diego: "Extinction is forever. Endangered means we still have time."

Hugh P. Possingham Landscape-scale conservation planning is coming of age. In the last couple of decades, conservation practitioners, working at all levels of governance and all spatial scales, have embraced the CARE principles of conservation planning - Comprehensiveness, Adequacy, Representativeness, and Efficiency. Hundreds of papers have been written on this theme, and several different kinds of software program have been developed and used around the world, making conservation planning based on these principles global in its reach and influence. Does this mean that all the science of conservation planning is over - that the discovery phase has been replaced by an engineering phase as we move from defining the rules to implementing them in the landscape? This book and the continuing growth in the literature suggest that the answer to this question is most definitely 'no. ' All of applied conservation can be wrapped up into a single sentence: what should be done (the action), in what place, at what time, using what mechanism, and for what outcome (the objective). It all seems pretty simple - what, where, when, how and why. However stating a problem does not mean it is easy to solve.

This book provides a broad overview of how the promotion of ocean and coastal literacy is being planned, applied and evaluated in Brazil, a country of continental dimensions with a great diversity of cultural, educational and social realities. It discusses a range of target groups, from children to adults; formal and informal strategies; and various promoting players, such as groups/institutions. Researchers representing Brazilian academic institutions and NGOs share their environmental education (EE) experiences in Brazil and describe the main concerns regarding the marine and coastal environments as well as how they are addressing these concerns in their EE projects. This book is of interest to anyone who is looking for ways of designing and implementing EE activities with a robust theoretical background in different socio-cultural scenarios.

This book presents new concepts as well as practical applications and experiences in the field of information technology for environmental engineering. The book has three main focus areas: firstly, it shows how information technologies can be employed to support natural resource management and conservation, environmental engineering, scientific simulation and integrated assessment studies. Secondly, it demonstrates the application of computing in the everyday practices of environmental engineers, natural scientists, economists and social scientists. And thirdly, it demonstrates how the complexity of natural phenomena can be approached using interdisciplinary methods, where computer science offers the infrastructure needed for environmental data collection and management, scientific simulations, decision support documentation and reporting.The book collects selected papers presented at the 7th International Symposium on Environmental Engineering, held in Port Elizabeth, South Africa in July 2015. It discusses recent success stories in eco-informatics, promising ideas and new challenges from the interdisciplinary viewpoints of computer scientists, environmental engineers, economists and social scientists, demonstrating new paradigms for problem-solving and decision-making.

New edition of a NOLS classic; the definitive book on environmental ethics and their relation to managing wildlands An excellent introduction to all relevant federal agencies and legislation Objectively examines various perspectives on difficult ethical questions

Originally published in 1992 as "An Introduction to Wildland Ethics and Management," this fully revised and updated edition is a powerful tool for understanding the challenges facing wilderness in the United States today. Beginning with the premise that land management must be informed by a well-developed wilderness ethic, the authors delve into some of the thorniest problems in environmental ethics, exploring them in clear, straightforward language: What is wilderness? Why should it be protected? Do animals have rights? Do trees? When should wilderness concerns trump individual priorities? The book also provides a fascinating history of the wilderness movement in America and gives a comprehensive survey of the legislation and agency structures that define wildlands management today. Essential reading for land managers, activists, policymakers, or anyone else who cares about the future of wilderness in the United States.