|
Showing 1 - 5 of
5 matches in All Departments
Does the solution to our energy crisis depend upon the de velopment
of coal, nuclear, solar, or some other energy source? Are we better
off because science and technology have made us less vulnerable to
natural catastrophes? How, in fact, do we see ourselves now in
relation to our natural world? The answers to these questions lie
as much within the humanities as in the sciences. Problems as
seemingly unrelated as our vulnerability to OPEC oil price hikes or
a smog alert in Los Angeles or Tokyo often have common, hidden
causes. One of these causes is simply the way our society sees its
place in nature. There are many reasons for the heavy demand for
oil. Among these we vii viii I PREFACE can include desire for
industrial growth, hopes for improved living standards, mobility
through automobiles and rapid transportation systems, and, not
least, an attempt to loosen the constraints on man imposed by
nature. These constraints and man's concomitant dependence upon
nature are exam ples of the intense and finely interwoven
relationship be tween man and nature, a relationship that
constitutes a pri mordial bond forged long before the era of modem
technology. Similarly, man has explored this primordial bond
through the humanities for all the centuries prior to our present
techno logical age. As we will see in this exploration, the bond un
derlies many of the environmental and technological prob lems we
have come to label the ecological crisis."
Social and natural scientists often are called upon to produce, or
participate, in the pro duction of forecasts. This volume assembles
essays that (a) describe the organizational and political context
of applied forecasting, (b) review the state-of-the-art for many
fore casting models and methods, and (c) discuss issues of
predictability, the implications of forecaSt errors, and model
construction, linkage and verification. The essays should be of
particular interest to social and natural scientists concerned with
forecasting large-scale systems. This project had its origins in
discussions of social forecasts and forecasting method ologies
initiated a few years ago by several social and natural science
members of the Social Science Research Council's Committee on
Social Indicators. It became appar ent in these discussions that
certain similar problems were confronted in forecasting large-scale
systems-be they social or natural. In response, the Committee
hypothesized that much could be learned through more extended and
systematic interchanges among social and natural scientists
focusing on the formal methodologies applied in forecasting. To put
this conjecture to the test, the Committee sponsored a conference
at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder,
Colorado, on June 10-13, 1984, on forecasting in the social and
natural sciences. The conference was co-chaired by Committee
members Kenneth C. Land and Stephen H. Schneider representing,
respectively, the social and natural science mem bership of the
Committee. Support for the conference was provided by a grant to
the Council from the Division of Social and Economic Science of the
National Science Foundation."
"Wildlife Responses to Climate Change" is the culmination of a
three-year project to research and study the impacts of global
climate change on ecosystems and individual wildlife species in
North America. In 1997, the National Wildlife Federation provided
fellowships to eight outstanding graduate students to conduct
research on global climate change, and engaged leading climate
change experts Stephen H. Schneider and Terry L. Root to advise and
guide the project. This book presents the results, with chapters
describing groundbreaking original research by some of the
brightest young scientists in America. The book presents case
studies that examine: ways in which local and regional climate
variables affect butterfly populations and habitat ranges how
variations in ocean temperatures have affected intertidal marine
species the potential effect of reduced snow cover on plants in the
Rocky Mountains the potential effects of climate change on the
distribution of vegetation in the United States how climate change
may increase the susceptibility of ecosystems to invasions of
non-native species the potential for environmental change to alter
interactions between a variety of organisms in whitebark pine
communities of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Also included are
two introductory chapters by Schneider and Root that discuss the
rationale behind the project and offer an overview of climate
change and its implications for wildlife.Each of the eight case
studies provides important information about how biotic systems
respond to climatic variables, and how a changing climate may
affect biotic systems in the future. They also acknowledge the
inherent complexities of problems likely to arise fromchanges in
climate, and demonstrate the types of scientific questions that
need to be explored in order to improve our understanding of how
climate change and other human disturbances affect wildlife and
ecosystems."Wildlife Responses to Climate Change" is an important
addition to the body of knowledge critical to scientists, resource
managers, and policymakers in understanding and shaping solutions
to problems caused by climate change. It provides a useful resource
for students and scientists studying the effects of climate change
on wildlife and will assist resource managers and other wildlife
professionals to better understand factors affecting the species
they are striving to conserve.
|
|