You may have to register before you can download all our books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
This is the first truly ecosystem-oriented book on peatlands. It adopts an ecosystems approach to understanding the world's boreal peatlands. The focus is on biogeochemical patterns and processes, production, decomposition, and peat accumulation, and it provides additional information on animal and fungal diversity. A recurring theme is the legacy of boreal peatlands as impressive accumulators of carbon as peat over millennia.
This unique book shares the knowledge and experience of experts and scientists who apply high-quality findings and input from their research to issues concerning the management of water resources and their quality in Baltic countries including Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany and Russia. It summarizes the latest results of several systematic investigations, and assesses the occurrence and quality of surface and underground waters within the Baltic countries to help decision-makers plan for sustainable development. The book addresses a range of water resources management issues, especially those that are relevant to the water quality in these Baltic countries. It presents cutting-edge information and findings that can be effectively used to solve a variety of problems in integrated water resources management. Accordingly, it will be of interest to graduate students, researchers, water scientists, professionals, experts and practitioners working in water resources management.
Soil Carbon in Sensitive European Ecosystems - From Science to Land Management is a comprehensive overview of the latest research in this field drawn together by a network of scientists from across Europe. Soil carbon assessments are crucial at present to our understanding of the dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems and our ability to assess implications for the global carbon exchange and its consequences on the future climate. This book focuses primarily on ecosystems and their soil carbon stocks. The book identifies three key sensitive ecosystems within Europe: Mediterranean Forest and Agricultural Systems; Mountains; and Peatland. Contributors include those currently working for the European research programme, COST Action 639 BurnOut (www.cost639.net; 2006-2010). COST Action 639 emerged from a demand from policy makers in Europe for more detailed information on soil carbon dynamics. The cooperation between experts for reporting and experts for soil dynamics is the focus of the book. This book seeks to provide an up-to-date account on the state-of-the-art research within this topical field.
Global warming is expected to change fire regimes, likely increasing the severity and extent of wildfires in many ecosystems around the world. What will be the landscape-scale effects of these altered fire regimes? Within what theoretical contexts can we accurately assess these effects? We explore the possible effects of altered fire regimes on landscape patch dynamics, dominant species (tree, shrub, or herbaceous) and succession, sensitive and invasive plant and animal species and communities, and ecosystem function. Ultimately, we must consider the human dimension: what are the policy and management implications of increased fire disturbance, and what are the implications for human communities?
Despite our growing awareness of the vital role they play in the global environment, wetlands remain among the most endangered ecosystems on Earth and are still being destroyed and degraded at an alarming rate. This much-needed publication, which includes contributions from leading researchers and practitioners, presents a holistic perspective on the restoration of wetland ecosystems such as shallow lakes, streams, floodplains and bogs. Through the use of carefully chosen case studies, the authors examine European wetland restoration projects from Scandinavia to Bulgaria and from Ireland to Belarus, focusing on the lessons they can teach to a new generation of conservationists. As well as re...
description not available right now.
The First Edition of the Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change provided a multi-authored, academic yet non-technical resource for students and teachers to understand the importance of global warming, to appreciate the effects of human activity and greenhouse gases around the world, and to learn the history of climate change and the research enterprise examining it. This edition was well received, with notable reviews. Since its publication, the debate over the advent of global warming at least partially brought on by human enterprise has continued to ebb and flow, depending literally on the weather, politics, and media coverage of climate summits and debates. Advances in research also change the discourse as new data is collected and new scientific projects continue to explore and explain global warming and climate change. Thus, a new, Second Edition updates more than half of the original entries and adds new perspectives and content to keep students and researchers up-to-date in a field that has proven provocatively lively.
description not available right now.