Times are tough for shrimpers and fishers in the Gulf of Mexico. The animals they rely on for their livelihood are harder to find. Every summer a dead zone—a region of low oxygen—emerges in the waters along the Gulf Coast. Where oxygen is low, fish and others animals cannot survive. Currently the world has more than 400 identified dead zones, up dramatically from the 49 dead zones identified in the 1960s. The good news is that people can eliminate dead zones by changing agricultural practices and reducing pollution. Using real-world examples, this book looks at the impact of pollution on global water resources, and discusses the interconnectedness of ecosystems and organisms.
Dead zones are on the rise... Human activity has caused an increase in uninhabitable, oxygen-poor zones--also known as "dead zones"--in our waters. Oxygen is the third most abundant element in the universe, and it is a necessity for nearly all life on Earth. Yet many rivers, estuaries, coastal waters, and parts of the open ocean lack enough of it. In this book, David L. Kirchman explains the impacts of dead zones and provides an in-depth history of oxygen loss in water. He details the role the agricultural industry plays in water pollution, showcasing how fertilizers contaminate water supplies and kickstart harmful algal blooms in local lakes, reservoirs, and coastal oceans. Algae decomposition requires so much oxygen that levels drop low enough to kill fish, destroy bottom-dwelling biota, reduce biological diversity, and rearrange food webs. We can't undo the damage completely, but we can work together to reduce the size and intensity of dead zones in places like the Gulf of Mexico, Chesapeake Bay, and the Baltic Sea. Not only does Kirchman clearly outline what dead zones mean for humanity, he also supplies ways we can reduce their deadly impact on human and aquatic life. Nutrient pollution in some regions has already begun to decline because of wastewater treatment, buffer zones, cover crops, and precision agriculture. More needs to be done, though, to reduce the harmful impact of existing dead zones and to stop the thousands of new ones from cropping up in our waters. Kirchman provides insight into the ways changing our diet can reduce nutrient pollution while also lowering greenhouse gasses emitted by the agricultural industry. Individuals can do something positive for their health and the world around them. The resulting book allows readers interested in the environment--whether students, policymakers, ecosystem managers, or science buffs--to dive into these deadly zones and discover how they can help mitigate the harmful effects of oxygen-poor waters today.
The #1 New York Times bestseller and “compulsive page-turner” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) about a reluctant clairvoyant man who must weigh his options when he suddenly sees the terrible future awaiting mankind—from master storyteller Stephen King. When Johnny Smith was six years old, head trauma caused by a bad ice-skating accident left him with a nasty bruise on his forehead and, from time to time, those hunches…infrequent but accurate snippets of things to come. But it isn’t until Johnny’s a grown man—now having survived a horrifying auto injury that plunged him into a coma lasting four-and-a-half years—that his special abilities really push to the fore. Johnny Smith comes back from the void with an extraordinary gift that becomes his life’s curse…presenting visions of what was and what will be for the innocent and guilty alike. But when he encounters a ruthlessly ambitious and amoral man who promises a terrifying fate for all humanity, Johnny must find a way to prevent a harrowing predestination from becoming reality.
Dead zones are on the rise... Human activity has caused an increase in uninhabitable, oxygen-poor zones--also known as "dead zones"--in our waters. Oxygen is the third most abundant element in the universe, and it is a necessity for nearly all life on Earth. Yet many rivers, estuaries, coastal waters, and parts of the open ocean lack enough of it. In this book, David L. Kirchman explains the impacts of dead zones and provides an in-depth history of oxygen loss in water. He details the role the agricultural industry plays in water pollution, showcasing how fertilizers contaminate water supplies and kickstart harmful algal blooms in local lakes, reservoirs, and coastal oceans. Algae decomposition requires so much oxygen that levels drop low enough to kill fish, destroy bottom-dwelling biota, reduce biological diversity, and rearrange food webs. We can't undo the damage completely, but we can work together to reduce the size and intensity of dead zones in places like the Gulf of Mexico, Chesapeake Bay, and the Baltic Sea. Not only does Kirchman clearly outline what dead zones mean for humanity, he also supplies ways we can reduce their deadly impact on human and aquatic life. Nutrient pollution in some regions has already begun to decline because of wastewater treatment, buffer zones, cover crops, and precision agriculture. More needs to be done, though, to reduce the harmful impact of existing dead zones and to stop the thousands of new ones from cropping up in our waters. Kirchman provides insight into the ways changing our diet can reduce nutrient pollution while also lowering greenhouse gasses emitted by the agricultural industry. Individuals can do something positive for their health and the world around them. The resulting book allows readers interested in the environment--whether students, policymakers, ecosystem managers, or science buffs--to dive into these deadly zones and discover how they can help mitigate the harmful effects of oxygen-poor waters today.
Rampant industrialization, urbanization, and population growth have resulted in increased global environmental contamination. The productivity of agricultural soil is drastically deteriorated and requires a high dose of fertilizers to cultivate crops. To ensure food security, farmers are compelled to apply excess chemical fertilizers and insecticides that contaminate soil, air, and water. Heavy loads of chemical fertilizers not only degrade the quality of agricultural land but also pollute water and air. Use of chemical fertilizers also accelerate the release of greenhouse gases like nitrous oxide and methane along with nutrient runoff from the watershed in to lower elevation rivers and lakes, resulting in cultural eutrophication. Farming practices globally in developed, developing, and under-developing countries should utilize and promote sustainable methods through viable combined environmental, social, and economic means that improve rather than harm future generations. This can include use of non-synthetic fertilizers like compost, vermicompost, slow-release fertilizers, farmyard manures, crop rotations that include nitrogen-fixing legumes. Organic fertilizers like compost and vermicompost improve soil properties like texture, porosity, water-holding capacity, organic matter, as well as nutrient availability. The purpose of this book is to document the available alternatives of synthetic fertilizers, their mode of action, efficiency, preparation methodology, practical suggestions for sustainable practices, and needed research focus. The book will cover major disciplines like plant science, environmental science, agricultural science, agricultural biotechnology and microbiology, horticulture, soil science, atmospheric science, agro-forestry, agronomy, and ecology. This book is helpful for farmers, scientists, industrialists, research scholars, masters and graduate students, non-governmental organizations, financial advisers, and policy makers.
This book demonstrates how delay differential equations (DDEs) can be used to compliment the laboratory investigation of human balancing tasks. This approach is made accessible to non-specialists by comparing mathematical predictions and experimental observations. For example, the observation that a longer pole is easier to balance on a fingertip than a shorter one demonstrates the essential role played by a time delay in the balance control mechanism. Another balancing task considered is postural sway during quiet standing. With the inverted pendulum as the driver and the feedback control depending on state variables or on an internal model, the feedback can be identified by determining a critical pendulum length and/or a critical delay. This approach is used to identify the nature of the feedback for the pole balancing and postural sway examples. Motivated by the question of how the nervous system deals with these feedback control challenges, there is a discussion of ‘’microchaotic’’ fluctuations in balance control and how robust control can be achieved in the face of uncertainties in the estimation of control parameters. The final chapter suggests some topics for future research. Each chapter includes an abstract and a point-by-point summary of the main concepts that have been established. A particularly useful numerical integration method for the DDEs that arise in balance control is semi-discretization. This method is described and a MATLAB template is provided. This book will be a useful source for anyone studying balance in humans, other bipedal organisms and humanoid robots. Much of the material has been used by the authors to teach senior undergraduates in computational neuroscience and students in bio-systems, biomedical, mechanical and neural engineering.
Environmental problems in coastal ecosystems can sometimes be attributed to excess nutrients flowing from upstream watersheds into estuarine settings. This nutrient over-enrichment can result in toxic algal blooms, shellfish poisoning, coral reef destruction, and other harmful outcomes. All U.S. coasts show signs of nutrient over-enrichment, and scientists predict worsening problems in the years ahead. Clean Coastal Waters explains technical aspects of nutrient over-enrichment and proposes both immediate local action by coastal managers and a longer-term national strategy incorporating policy design, classification of affected sites, law and regulation, coordination, and communication. Highlighting the Gulf of Mexico's "Dead Zone," the Pfiesteria outbreak in a tributary of Chesapeake Bay, and other cases, the book explains how nutrients work in the environment, why nitrogen is important, how enrichment turns into over-enrichment, and why some environments are especially susceptible. Economic as well as ecological impacts are examined. In addressing abatement strategies, the committee discusses the importance of monitoring sites, developing useful models of over-enrichment, and setting water quality goals. The book also reviews voluntary programs, mandatory controls, tax incentives, and other policy options for reducing the flow of nutrients from agricultural operations and other sources.
All life — whether on land or in the sea — depends on the oceans for two things: • Oxygen. Most of Earth’s oxygen is produced by phytoplankton in the sea. These humble, one-celled organisms, rather than the spectacular rain forests, are the true lungs of the planet. • Climate control. Our climate is regulated by the ocean’s currents, winds, and water-cycle activity. Sea Sick is the first book to examine the current state of the world’s oceans — the great unexamined ecological crisis of the planet — and the fact that we are altering everything about them; temperature, salinity, acidity, ice cover, volume, circulation, and, of course, the life within them. Alanna Mitchell joins the crews of leading scientists in nine of the global ocean’s hotspots to see firsthand what is really happening around the world. Whether it’s the impact of coral reef bleaching, the puzzle of the oxygen-less dead zones such as the one in the Gulf of Mexico, or the shocking implications of the changing Ph balance of the sea, Mitchell explains the science behind the story to create an engaging, accessible yet authoritative account.
After the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear explosion in Ukraine, scientists believed radiation had created a vast and barren wasteland in which life could never resurface. But the Dead Zone, as the contaminated area is known, doesn't look dead at all. In fact, wildlife seems to be thriving there. The Zone is home to beetles, swallows, catfish, mice, voles, otters, beavers, wild boar, foxes, lynx, deer, moose?even brown bears and wolves. Yet the animals in the Zone are not quite what you'd expect. Every single one of them is radioactive. In Chernobyl's Wild Kingdom, you'll meet the international scientists investigating the Zone's wildlife and trying to answer difficult questions: Have some animals adapted to living with radiation? Or is the radioactive environment harming them in ways we can't see or that will only show up in future generations? Learn more about the fascinating ongoing research?and the debates that surround the findings?in one of the most dangerous places on Earth.
The 5th Edition of Visualizing Environmental Science provides students with a valuable opportunity to identify and connect the central issues of environmental science through a visual approach. Beautifully illustrated, this fifth edition shows students what the discipline is all about—its main concepts and applications—while also instilling an appreciation and excitement about the richness of the subject. This edition is thoroughly refined and expanded; the visuals utilize insights from research on student learning and feedback from users.
