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Ecostacking is a new concept and approach which aims to maximize the benefits of ecosystem service providers in cropping systems to help achieve the goal of long-term sustainable agriculture and food production. The term "ecostacking" means combining synergistically the beneficial services of functional biodiversity from all levels and types. It is a comprehensive approach, where the various ecosystem service providers are fully integrated with the rest of the cropping system including agronomic practices. It is an approach which goes beyond conventional Integrated Pest Management practises, and attempts to take advantage of all the functional biodiversity of a system. The Concept of Ecostac...
Modern thought is characterized by a dichotomy of meaningful culture and unmeaning nature. Signs in the Dust uses medieval semiotics to develop a new theory of nature and culture that resists this familiar picture of things. Through readings of Thomas Aquinas, Nicholas of Cusa, and John Poinsot (John of St. Thomas), it offers a semiotic analysis of human culture in both its anthropological breadth as an enterprise of creaturely sign-making, and its theological height as a finite participation in the Trinity, which can be understood as an absolute 'cultural nature'. Signs in the Dust then extends this account of human culture backwards into the natural depth of biological and physical nature....
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Biological systems are an emerging discipline that may provide integrative tools by assembling the hierarchy of interactions among genes, proteins and molecular networks involved in sensory systems. The aim of this volume is to provide a picture, as complete as possible, of the current state of knowledge of sensory systems in nature. The presentation in this book lies at the intersection of evolutionary biology, cell and molecular biology, physiology and genetics. Sensing in Nature is written by a distinguished panel of specialists and is intended to be read by biologists, students, scientific investigators and the medical community.
From Nancy Lawson, author of The Humane Gardener, a first-of-its-kind guide that takes readers on an insightful and personal exploration of the secret lives of animals and plants. Master naturalist Nancy Lawson takes readers on a fascinating tour of the vibrant web of nature outside our back door—where animals and plants perceive and communicate using marvelous sensory abilities we are only beginning to understand. Organized into chapters investigating each of their five senses, Lawson's exploration reveals a remarkable world of interdependent creatures with amazing capabilities You'll learn of ultrasound clicks humans can't hear, and ultraviolet colors humans can't see. You'll cross paths...
This book comprehensively reviews current pest management practices and explores novel integrated pest management strategies in Brassica oilseed crops. It is essential reading for pest management practitioners and researchers working on pest management in canola and other Brassica crops worldwide. Canola, mustard, camelina and crambe are the most important oilseed crops in the world. Canola is the second largest oilseed crop in the world providing 13% of the world's supply. Seeds of these species commonly contain 40% or more oil and produce meals with 35 to 40% protein. However, its production has declined significantly in recent years due to insect pest problems. The canola pest complexes a...
Plants are members of complex communities and interact both with antagonists and beneficial organisms. An important question in plant defense-signaling research is how plants integrate signals induced by pathogens, insect herbivores and beneficial microbes into the most appropriate adaptive response. Molecular and genomic tools are now being used to uncover the complexity of the induced defense signaling networks that have evolved during the arms races between plants and the other organisms with which they intimately interact. To understand the functioning of the complex defense signaling network in nature, molecular biologists and ecologists have joined forces to place molecular mechanisms of induced plant defenses in an ecological perspective. In this Research Topic, we aim to provide an on-line, open-access snapshot of the current state of the art of the field of induced plant responses to microbes and insects, with a special focus on the translation of molecular mechanisms to ecology and vice versa.
The Indigenous Canela inhabit a vibrant multispecies community of nearly 3,000 people and over 300 types of cultivated and wild plants living together in Maranhão State in the Brazilian Cerrado (savannah), a biome threatened with deforestation and climate change. In the face of these environmental threats, Canela women and men work to maintain riverbank and forest gardens and care for their growing crops, whom they consider to be, literally, children. This nurturing, loving relationship between people and plants—which offers a thought-provoking model for supporting multispecies survival and well-being throughout the world—is the focus of Plant Kin. Theresa L. Miller shows how kinship de...
This book presents research on volatiles produced by microbes and plants along with their biotechnological implications for sustainable agriculture. A greater understanding of how plants and microbes live together and benefit each other can provide new strategies to improve plant productivity, while at the same time helping to protect the environment and maintain global biodiversity. To date, the use of chemicals to enhance plant growth or induced resistance in plants has been limited due to the negative effects and the difficulty in determining the optimal concentrations to benefit the plant. The book discusses extensive studies on biological alternatives that avoid these problems, and the ...
Phytoremediation is the process that uses plants to remove pollutants from soils. These pollutants are stored in the edible parts of plants and, if they are consumed above a certain level, they become a health risk for humans and animals. This book is a critical review of phytoremediation, its direct or indirect effects on food products, and the risks posed by this cost-effective technology in food safety. It shows how different plants are suited for phytoremediation, explains the role of toxicants in the environment, and analyses their effects and risks in the food chain at a global level. It also reviews the extraction methods of toxicants from plants after they are exposed to phytoremedia...