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Books in Ecosystems communities and organisms

  • Coral Reefs

    Their Complexity, Fragility and Future
    • 1st Edition
    • Robert Steneck
    • English
    Coral Reefs: Their Complexity, Fragility and Future offers an introduction to tropical coral reef ecosystems. It explores the combined geological, physical, chemical, and biological factors that make coral reefs among the most diverse and productive systems in the world. To unpack these complex systems, this book outlines the major players that create coral reefs, reconsiders how environmental and human forces shape reefs in the Anthropocene and identifies best practices for sustainable tourism and management of reef systems. Written by a leading expert of tropical reef systems, this book covers the biology, taxonomy, and ecological interactions of dominant reef organisms. Chapters systematically discuss the diversity of corals and the reef communities that they support, the key geological and biological factors driving their development, and critical processes of primary productivity, competition, predation, and herbivory. The book ends with a look to the future of coral reefs considering global change in the Anthropocene. Coral Reefs: Their Complexity, Fragility and Future combines fundamental concepts with novel research advances to explore the forces that shape coral reefs and predict the future of these ecosystems in the coming century. In discussing both the successes and failures of modern conservation efforts, this book offers a roadmap to guide stakeholders and industry leaders in developing policies surrounding the sustainable visitation and conservation of coral reef ecosystems. It is an indispensable resource for the next generation of marine scientists, conservationists, and policymakers concerned with the future of these critical ecosystems.

  • Mountain Diversity

    Pattern, Process and Challenges to our World's High-Altitude Areas
    • 1st Edition
    • Robert Marchant
    • English
    Mountain Biodiversity: Pattern, Process and Challenges to our World's High-Altitude Areas explores the highly biodiverse, culturally rich, and often threatened mountain regions that comprise a quarter of the world's continental land surface. These complex areas play a fundamental role in shaping continental-scale climates and have long been recognized as globally important centers of biodiversity. Mountains cover only 25% of global continental land surface yet are home to more than 85% of the world’s amphibians, birds, and mammals, many of which are entirely restricted to mountains. Despite their importance as stores of biodiversity and drivers of global sustainability, high altitude areas are particularly vulnerable to climate change and human interventions.Writte... by a leading expert in tropical mountain ecology, this book explores the processes that define the world's high-altitude areas in an easily digestible manner. Early chapters characterize high-altitude areas according to topography, fire regime, and climate. Dr. Marchant collates palaeoecological, archaeological, and historical insights to synthesize the intersection between mountain societies, ecosystems, and climate. Middle chapters examine the relationship between mountain climates and insect, bird, and mammalian biodiversity. Final chapters describe the future of land use, climate, and biodiversity, and explore opportunities to combine insights from different disciplines to enable pathways for more sustainable futures in sustainable mountain development.High-alt... regions are not adequately protected, and many mountain ranges remain completely unprotected. The status of these important storehouses of biodiversity is under increasing threat via population growth, climatic extremes, and land use change. High-Altitude Biodiversity will present current biodiversity across the world's mountains and use this information to identify priorities for new ways to understand, value, protect, and conserve high altitude areas. By taking a novel interdisciplinary approach that combines temporally and spatially diverse datasets from high altitude areas around the world, this can be used to inform future development.

  • Water Security for Ecosystems

    Metrics and Pathways for a Sustainable Future
    • 1st Edition
    • Amit Kumar + 3 more
    • English
    Water Security for Ecosystems: Metrics and Pathways for a Sustainable Future explores the mechanisms to support sustainable management of aquatic resources in the context of rising global water demand, global change, and population growth. By identifying resource consumption indicators such as fishing load capacity and virtual water trade, this book sets a clear framework for assessing the ecological footprint of extractive industries. It then proposes pathways to establish largescale water security via integrated aquatic resource management, water-efficient technologies, and sustainable policy intervention.Written by a renowned team of water resource managers, early chapters in this book define ecological footprints and explore the global policies, industries, and climate forces driving water insecurity. Central chapters explore novel and innovative water conservation techniques, advances in water resource management, and emerging technologies for sustainable water use. Final chapters explore global water policies and the role of international cooperation and propose a roadmap for minimizing aquatic ecological footprints.Water Security for Ecosystems acknowledges the increased strain placed on global aquatic ecosystems due to unsustainable water use, extractive fisheries and agricultural practices, pollution, and inefficient governance. Addressing these challenges will necessitate a multidisciplinary approach centered on sustainable water management, strengthened transboundary water governance, responsible consumption policies, and global investment to reduce our aquatic ecological footprint. By integrating science, policy, and community engagement in multidisciplinary management recommendations, this book positions itself as an essential resource for water resource managers, researchers, and policymakers alike.

  • Freshwater Ecology

    Concepts and Environmental Applications of Limnology
    • 3rd Edition
    • Walter K. Dodds + 1 more
    • English
    Freshwater Ecology, Third Edition, covers everything from the basic chemical and physical properties of water, to the advanced and unifying concepts of community ecology and ecosystem relationships found in continental waters. Giving students a solid foundation for both courses and future fieldwork, and updated to include key issues, including how to balance ecological and human health needs, GMOs, molecular tools, fracking, and a host of other environmental issues, this book is an ideal resource for both students and practitioners in ecology and related fields.

  • Approaches to Water Sensitive Urban Design

    Potential, Design, Ecological Health, Urban Greening, Economics, Policies, and Community Perceptions
    • 1st Edition
    • Ashok Sharma + 2 more
    • English
    Approaches to Water Sensitive Urban Design: Potential, Design, Ecological Health, Economics, Policies and Community Perceptions covers all aspects on the implementation of sustainable storm water systems for urban and suburban areas whether they are labeled as WSUD, Low Impact Development (LID), Green Infrastructure (GI), Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) or the Sponge City Concept. These systems and approaches are becoming an integral part of developing water sensitive cities as they are considered very capable solutions in addressing issues relating to urbanization, climate change and heat island impacts in dealing with storm water issues. The book is based on research conducted in Australia and around the world, bringing in perspectives in an ecosystems approach, a water quality approach, and a sewer based approach to stormwater, all of which are uniquely covered in this single resource.

  • Thorp and Covich's Freshwater Invertebrates

    Volume 3: Keys to Neotropical Hexapoda
    • 4th Edition
    • Neusa Hamada + 2 more
    • English
    Thorp and Covich’s Freshwater Invertebrates, Fourth Edition: Keys to Neotropical Hexapoda, Volume Three, provides a guide for identifying and evaluating a key subphylum, hexapoda, for Central America, South America and the Antarctic. This book is essential for anyone working in water quality management, conservation, ecology or related fields in this region, and is developed to be the most modern and consistent set of taxonomic keys available. It is part of a series that is designed to provide a highly comprehensive, current set of keys for a given bioregion, with all keys written in a consistent style. This series can be used for a full spectrum of interested readers, from students, to university professors and government agencies.

  • Networks of Invasion: A Synthesis of Concepts

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 56
    • English
    Networks of Invasion bridges a conceptual gap between ecological network studies and invasion biology studies. This book contains chapters detailing pressing concerns regarding invasive species in food webs, but also extends the idea of networks of invasion to other systems, such as mutualistic networks or even the human microbiome. Chapters describe the tools, models, and empirical methods adapted for tackling invasions in ecological networks.

  • Animal Vigilance

    Monitoring Predators and Competitors
    • 1st Edition
    • Guy Beauchamp
    • English
    Animal Vigilance builds on the author’s previous publication with Academic Press (Social Predation: How Group Living Benefits Predators and Prey) by developing several other themes including the development and mechanisms underlying vigilance, as well as developing more fully the evolution and function of vigilance. Animal vigilance has been at the forefront of research on animal behavior for many years, but no comprehensive review of this topic has existed. Students of animal behavior have focused on many aspects of animal vigilance, from models of its adaptive value to empirical research in the laboratory and in the field. The vast literature on vigilance is widely dispersed with often little contact between models and empirical work and between researchers focusing on different taxa such as birds and mammals. Animal Vigilance fills this gap in the available material.

  • Ecosystem Services

    Global Issues, Local Practices
    • 1st Edition
    • Sander Jacobs + 2 more
    • English
    Ecosystem Services: Global Issues, Local Practices covers scientific input, socioeconomic considerations, and governance issues on ecosystem services. This book provides hands-on transdisciplinary reflections by administrators and sector representatives involved in the ecosystem service community. Ecosystem Services develops shared approaches and scientific methods to achieve knowledge-based sustainable planning and management of ecosystem services. Professionals engaged in ecosystem service implementation have two options: de-emphasize the ecological and socioeconomic complexity and advance in the theoretical, abstract field, or try to develop research that is policy relevant and inclusive in an uncertain environment. This book provides a wide overview of issues at stake, of interest for any professional wishing to develop a broader view on ecosystem service science and practice.

  • Fundamentals of Ecosystem Science

    • 1st Edition
    • Kathleen C. Weathers + 2 more
    • English
    Fundamentals of Ecosystem Science provides a compact and comprehensive introduction to modern ecosystem science. This book covers major concepts of ecosystem science, biogeochemistry, and energetics. It addresses, contrasts, and compares both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. It combines general lessons, concepts, frameworks, and challenges in highly accessible synthesis chapters. It presents firsthand case studies, written by leaders in the field, offering personal insights into how adopting an ecosystem approach led to innovations, new understanding, management changes, and policy solutions. This book is ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate students who have had a general biology course, but not further training in ecosystems as well as researchers and professionals in ecology and environmental sciences.