Plants play a key role in purifying the biosphere of the toxic effects of industrial activity. This book shows how systematic application of the results of investigations into the metabolism of xenobiotics (foreign, often toxic substances) in plants could make a vastly increased contribution to planetary well-being. Deep physiological knowledge gained from an accumulation of experimental data enables the great differences between the detoxifying abilities of different plants for compounds of different chemical nature to be optimally exploited. Hence planting could be far more systematically adapted to actual environmental needs than is actually the case at present.

The book could form the basis of specialist courses in universities and polytechnics devoted to environmental management, and advanced courses in plant physiology and biochemistry, for botany and integrative biology students. Fundamental plant physiology and biochemistry from the molecular level to whole plants and ecosystems are interwoven in a powerful and natural way, making this a unique contribution to the field.

Tropical rainforests are disappearing at an alarming rate, causing unprecedented losses in biodiversity and ecosystem services. This book contributes to an improved understanding of the processes that have destabilizing effects on ecological and socio-economic systems of tropical rain forest margins, as well as striving to integrate environmental, technological and socio-economic issues in their solution.

Landscape Research has been established as an interdisciplinary field dealing with complex environmental processes at multiple spatial and temporal scales. During the course of its history, various societal, technological and philosophical stimuli have shaped Landscape Research, e.g. the declaration of Landscape Ecology in the 1930s and contemporary global technological and societal developments.

Modern landscape research presently uses mathematics, statistics and advanced simulation techniques to combine empirical observations with known theories from ecology, physics, geography, social science and so on. Knowledge is thus updated and quantified via models that are used for estimation, hypothesis testing, prediction and assessment of scenarios. Advances in the computational sciences (e.g. fast computers and vast array of software), space science (e.g. remote sensing) and biological sciences (e.g. genetics) as well as new perspectives in the social sciences play important roles. Research findings are implemented in conservation management, urban planning and global change mitigation strategies.

This book identifies emerging fields and new challenges that are discussed within the framework of the driving forces of Landscape Development. Rather than offering a comprehensive overview of all fields of Landscape Research, the book addresses hot topics emphasizing major contemporary trends in these fields."

Interactions matter. To understand the distributions of plants and animals in a landscape you need to understand how they interact with each other, and with their environment. The resulting networks of interactions make ecosystems highly complex. Recent research on complexity and artificial life provides many new insights about patterns and processes in landscapes and ecosystems. This book provides the first overview of that work for general readers. It covers such topics as connectivity, criticality, feedback, and networks, as well as their impact on the stability and predictability of ecosystem dynamics. With over 60 years of research experience of both ecology and complexity, the authors are uniquely qualified to provide a new perspective on traditional ecology. They argue that understanding ecological complexity is crucial in today's globalized and interconnected world. Successful management of the world's ecosystems needs to combine models of ecosystem complexity with biodiversity, environmental, geographic and socioeconomic information.

This impressive work is the first comprehensive account of the vegetation of southern Africa. The region contains a remarkable juxtaposition of different ecosystems, yet it forms a cohesive ecological unit with exceptionally high endemism. The book is divided into three major parts: Part I provides the physiographic, climatic, biogeographic and historical background essential for understanding contemporary vegetation patterns and processes. Part II includes systematic descriptions of the characteristics and determinants of major vegetation units (the major terrestrial biomes, coastal vegetation, freshwater wetlands and marine vegetation). Part III elaborates on selected ecological themes of particular importance including grazing, fire, alien plant invasions, conservation and human use of plants. These are discussed in the context of prevailing paradigms in the international literature.

Remediation of contaminants caused by growing human civilization and industrialization is a serious environmental issue. Recent research has shown that soil microorganisms play an important role in remediating and improving disturbed ecosystems. This approach is eco-friendly and relatively less expensive. The present book covers the investigations carried out using microbes for restoration of degraded eco-systems. Please note: This volume is Co-published with New India Publishing Agency, New Delhi. Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

Since the last century of ecological history, landscape ecologists have played a role in solving many hot issues linking development and conservation of landscape. Recently, cause and consequences of landscape change are significantly related to rapid urbanization and land transformation in populated area. Therefore, ecological applications on the man-influenced area are a worldwide issue and challenge in landscape ecology.

The aim of Landscape Ecological Applications in Man-Influenced Areas is not only to expand concept of landscape ecology, but also to apply its principle to man-influenced ecosystems. New dimensions of landscape ecological research in a global change such as urbanization, biodiversity, and land transformation are explored in this book. This book also includes several case studies concerning landscape analysis and evaluation using spatial analysis and landscape modelling for establishing sustainable management strategy in urban and agricultural landscapes.

The subtitle of the book suggests the integrative and ubiquitous landscape planning considering harmony of man and nature systems in the socio-economic and cultural background. Such key issues and technology of landscape research will provide implements and guidebook for decision makers and land planners as well as teachers and students at universities.

Box 9E. 1 Continued FIGURE 2. The C-S-R triangle model (Grime 1979). The strategies at the three corners are C, competiti- winning species; S, stress-tolerating s- cies; R,ruderalspecies. Particular species can engage in any mixture of these three primary strategies, and the m- ture is described by their position within the triangle. comment briefly on some other dimensions that Grime's (1977) triangle (Fig. 2) (see also Sects. 6. 1 are not yet so well understood. and 6. 3 of Chapter 7 on growth and allocation) is a two-dimensional scheme. A C-S axis (Com- tition-winning species to Stress-tolerating spe- Leaf Economics Spectrum cies) reflects adaptation to favorable vs. unfavorable sites for plant growth, and an R- Five traits that are coordinated across species are axis (Ruderal species) reflects adaptation to leaf mass per area (LMA), leaf life-span, leaf N disturbance. concentration, and potential photosynthesis and dark respiration on a mass basis. In the five-trait Trait-Dimensions space,79%ofallvariation worldwideliesalonga single main axis (Fig. 33 of Chapter 2A on photo- A recent trend in plant strategy thinking has synthesis; Wright et al. 2004). Species with low been trait-dimensions, that is, spectra of varia- LMA tend to have short leaf life-spans, high leaf tion with respect to measurable traits. Compared nutrient concentrations, and high potential rates of mass-based photosynthesis. These species with category schemes, such as Raunkiaer's, trait occur at the ''quick-return'' end of the leaf e- dimensions have the merit of capturing cont- nomics spectrum.

The science of botany underwent a dramatic change in the late nineteenth century. A reform movement originating in Germany took the traditionally destructive approach to the study of plant structure and physiology and transformed it into a study of plant adaptation. The young scientists who initiated this approach were influenced by factors both scientific and political. Darwin's natural selection theory and the German Reich's interest in colonial expansion provided the background for a new botanical methodology, which treated Nature as the Laboratory. The work of these botanists, including Gottlieb Haberlandt, Georg Volkens, A. F. W. Schimper, and Ernst Stahl, influenced the subsequent development of botanical science in the twentieth century and contributed significantly to the emergence of the new science of ecology. In this 1990 book, Eugene Cittadino describes in detail their early careers, their zeal for Darwinian selection theory, and their sometimes hazardous expeditions into exotic environments from Africa to the East Indies.

Harmful algal can cause a variety of deleterious effects, including the poisoning of fish and shellfish, habitat disruptions for many organisms, water discoloration, beach fouling, and even toxic effects for humans. In this volume, international experts provide an in-depth analysis of harmful algae topics and offer a comprehensive synthesis of the latest research in the field.

This book provides a comprehensive review on the status of iron nutrition in plants. It contains updated reviews of most relevant issues involving Fe in plants and combines research on molecular biology with physiological studies of plant-iron nutrition. It also covers molecular aspects of iron uptake and storage in Arabidopsis and transmembrane movement and translocation of iron in plants. This book should serve to stimulate continued exploration in the field.

Monitoring Nature Conservation in Cultural Habitats presents monitoring as an integral component of responsible conservation management and as a catalyst for decision making. The early sections of the book cover key areas in the development of a monitoring project, including:

- The roles of survey and surveillance
- Incorporating knowledge from existing research
- Identifying the conservation priority on sites
- Minimising observer error
- Identifying site-specific condition indicators for habitats
- Collecting monitoring data.

The later sections of the book comprise a series of case studies covering a wide range of habitats and species. These case studies focus mostly, though not exclusively, on sites that form part of the Natura 2000 series in Europe.

Seagrasses occur in coastal zones throughout the world in the areas of marine habitats that are most heavily influenced by humans. Despite a growing awareness of the importance of these plants, a full appreciation of their role in coastal ecosystems has yet to be reached. This book provides an entry point for those wishing to learn about seagrass ecology and provides a broad overview of the present state of knowledge. The volume discusses the recent progress in research and current research foci, complemented by extensive literature references to guide the reader to more detailed studies. This book will be valuable to students of marine biology wishing to specialize in this area and to established researchers wanting to enter the field. In addition, it will provide an excellent reference for those involved in the management and conservation of coastal areas that harbor seagrasses.

Fundamental Processes in Ecology presents a way to study ecosystems that is not yet available in ecology textbooks but is resonant with current thinking in the emerging fields of geobiology and Earth System Science. It provides an alternative, process-based classification of ecology and proposes a truly planetary view of ecological science. To achieve this, it asks (and endeavours to answer) the question, "what are the fundamental ecological processes which would be found on any planet with Earth-like, carbon based, life?" The author demonstrates how the idea of fundamental ecological processes can be developed at the systems level, specifically their involvement in control and feedback mechanisms. This approach allows us to reconsider basic ecological ideas such as energy flow, guilds, trade-offs, carbon cycling and photosynthesis; and to put these in a global context. In doing so, the book puts a much stronger emphasis on microorganisms than has traditionally been the case.
The integration of Earth System Science with ecology is vitally important if ecological science is to successfully contribute to the massive problems and future challenges associated with global change. Although the approach is heavily influenced by Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis, this is not a popular science book about Gaian theory. Instead it is written as an accessible text for graduate student seminar courses and researchers in the fields of ecology, earth system science, evolutionary biology, palaeontology, history of life, astrobiology, geology and physical geography.

Internationally, the wetlands of headwater and upland regions provide many valuable environmental services. They influence flood flows, sediment loads and aquifer recharge; biochemical water qualities and biodiversity. They affect the livelihoods of many communities providing water, peat, timber, grazing, crops and, locally, aesthetic, cultural, recreational, nature conservation and educational benefits. Previously, many of these lands were valued only for their capacity to be converted to other uses through drainage and forestation. Today, their benefits are better appreciated. Better environmental management highlights ways of bringing enhanced benefits from these lands to all stakeholders and of minimising their potentially negative impacts due to climatic emissions of greenhouse gases, hydrological changes (especially flooding, water chemistry) and sediment release. This book moves towards a more comprehensive inventory of the benefits and costs of headwater wetlands. It evaluates the research that tries to understand the tolerances, exchanges, checks and balances within headwater landscapes and the downstream impacts of changes in wetlands. It employs case studies and reviews from 21 nations spanning Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. It explores the new policy frameworks, changes in land husbandry, new systems for community education, participatory processes and technological interventions required for the effective management of headwater wetlands and the full integration of wetlands (including newly constructed wetlands) into environmental management and planning. In the past, most research dealt with wetlands as isolated features, this book examines wetlands in theirwatershed management context.

British Plant Communities is the first systematic and comprehensive account of the vegetation types of this country. It covers all natural, semi-natural and major artificial habitats in Great Britain (but not Northern Ireland), representing the fruits of fifteen years of research by leading plant ecologists. The book breaks new ground in wedding the rigorous interest in the classification of plant communities that has characterized Continental phytosociology with the deep concern traditional in Great Britain to understand how vegetation works. The published volumes have been greeted with universal acclaim, and the series has become firmly established as a framework for a wide variety of teaching, research and management activities in ecology, conservation and land-use planning.

The state of the art in the area of security related civil science and technology concerning energetic materials and munitions is of pressing importance at the present time, because 10 years after the end of the cold war, in many countries in east and west, huge stockpiles of munitions still await destruction. The safety behavior of munitions and their energetic material is the determining factor for all precautionary measures for the protection of environment and population. The probability of a catastrophic reaction of munitions and their energetic components will be so more likely, the closer the munitions are to the end of their life time. Residues and undetected ordnance, recycling, destruction of ammunition and depletion or reuse of energetic materials will either cause more or less damage to environment. Scientific research and development have the aim to increase performance of munitions on one side and to improve safety in relation to unpredictable events on the other side. The impact on the environment by the production and normal use of munitions and their residues after use will acquire an increasing importance in environmental awareness. The excellent technical presentations were classified in five Groups, according to the technical programme. The "Introduction to the subject; Methods, tests and application; Insensitive and "green" munitions; Storage and transportation; and Demilitarisation and recycling" sessions, were closed by a final and general interesting discussion among participants.

British Plant Communities is the first systematic and comprehensive account of the vegetation types of Great Britain. It covers all natural, semi-natural and major artificial habitats in Great Britain (but not Northern Ireland), representing the fruits of fifteen years' research by leading plant ecologists. The book breaks new ground in wedding the rigorous interest in the classification of plant communities that has characterized continental phytosociology with the deep concern traditional in Britain to understand how vegetation works. The three volumes already published have been greeted with universal acclaim and the series has become firmly established as a framework for a wide variety of teaching, research and management activities in ecology, conservation and land-use planning. The present book covers aquatic and swamp vegetation and will be a useful reference for professionals in botany, ecology, conservation, and natural history.

British Plant Communities is the first systematic and comprehensive account of the vegetation types of this country. It covers all natural, semi-natural and major artificial habitats in Great Britain (but not Northern Ireland), representing the fruits of fifteen years of research by leading plant ecologists. The book breaks new ground in wedding the rigorous interest in the classification of plant communities that has characterized Continental phytosociology with the deep concern traditional in Great Britain to understand how vegetation works. The published volumes have been greeted with universal acclaim, and the series has become firmly established as a framework for a wide variety of teaching, research and management activities in ecology, conservation and land-use planning.

British Plant Communities is the first systematic and comprehensive account of natural vegetation types of Great Britain. It covers all natural, semi-natural and major artificial habitats in Great Britain (excluding Northern Ireland), representing the fruits of fifteen years research by leading plant ecologists. Over 250 plant communities are described in the five volumes, with summaries of their vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens. There are full details in the text of the composition and structure of the vegetation, its relationships to habitat factors and its occurence in characteristic spatial patterns and successions. Numerous maps show the distribution of the communities through Britain and all the vegetation types are related to their closest equivalents in mainland Europe. For each major group of communities an introduction outlines the range of floristic variation and relates it to important environmental influences. A key provides the reader with a means of identifying vegetation types encountered in the field. There are indices to the communities and to their existing synonyms, and to all the plant species encountered in the survey. An extensive bibliography gives full details of the numerous literature references cited. British Plant Communities breaks new ground in wedding traditional Continental phytosociology with the deep concern in Britain to understand how vegetation works. It is intended as a working tool, offering a reliable framework for a wide variety of teaching, research, and management activities in ecology, conservation, and land use planning.

British Plant Communities is the first systematic and comprehensive account of the vegetation types of this country. It covers all natural, semi-natural and major artificial habitats in Great Britain (but not Northern Ireland), representing the fruits of fifteen years of research by leading plant ecologists. The book breaks new ground in wedding the rigorous interest in the classification of plant communities that has characterized Continental phytosociology with the deep concern traditional in Great Britain to understand how vegetation works. The published volumes have been greeted with universal acclaim, and the series has become firmly established as a framework for a wide variety of teaching, research and management activities in ecology, conservation and land-use planning.

When predicting the effects of changing climate and carbon dioxide on plants at the global scale there is a major stumbling block--we have very little information, in many cases none, about how plants will respond in the future. In order to circumvent this problem, and until more information on species accumulates, we reduce the diversity of species to a diversity of functions and structures. The structures may be trees, shrubs, herbs and grasses. The functions may be types of photosynthetic processes, the capacity to minimize water loss and varying the timing of growth. This book describes approaches and methods for defining these functional types in ways that maximize our potential to predict accurately the responses of real vegetation with real species diversity. This book will be useful to those interested in botany, ecology, and environmental science.

What are the ecological attributes of weeds that confer the ability to interfere with human activities? Roger Cousens and Martin Mortimer place weed management within an ecological context, with the focus on the manipulation of population size. The dynamics of abundance and spatial distribution are considered at both geographic and local scales. The basic processes of dispersal, reproduction and mortality are described, together with the factors that influence them. Management is shown to modify patterns of behaviour that are intrinsic to populations. Attention is given to the evolution and management of resistance to herbicides. This book provides weed science with the conceptual basis that has previously been lacking. It also gives ecologists access to the extensive database on the population ecology of weeds.

Vegetation, soil and climate are the most important components of ecological systems. This long-awaited fourth edition of the well-established textbook by Heinrich Walter summarizes our knowledge of the earth's ecology and constitutes the basis for a deeper understanding of the larger interrelations on a global scale.While Walter's general concept remains unchanged, the individual chapters have been completely revised, enlarged and updated. The author's intimate knowledge of practically all classes of plants and climatic zones allows him to describe the various ecological systems in close detail.This richly illustrated textbook is a must for every student in the plant sciences.

This volume provides a detailed account of the increase in forest resources in Europe over the past 40 years. The author discusses the implications of this expansion for the future health and vitality of the forests, for forest policy management and silviculture, and for the economic viability and environmental sustainability of the resource. An increase in thinnings and regeneration cuttings is advocated, replacing currently unstable tree species by true climatic climax species, and shortening rotation ages. The author concludes that preserving the sustainability and biodiversity of Europe's forest ecosystems can be achieved by maintaining the genetic diversity, density, age and health stability of forests, protecting biotopes of endangered species and establishing cultural biotopes and strictly protected natural reserves.