Peter Stiling, co-author of Biology by Brooker et al., has introduced a new ecology text to the market. The main goal of this latest ecology text is to show how ecology is important in understanding global change. The book's main objective is to teach the basic principles of ecology and to relate these principles to many of the Earth's ecological problems. Users who purchase Connect Plus receive access to the full online ebook version of the textbook.
Peter Stiling, co-author of Biology by Brooker et al., has written a new first edition ecology text. The main goal in creating a new ecology text is to show how ecology is important in understanding global change. The book’s main aim is to teach the basic principles of ecology and to relate these principles to many of the Earth’s ecological problems. Users who purchase Connect receive access to the full online ebook version of the textbook.
This edited volume is a compilation of the ‘built environment’ in response to many investigations, analyses and sometimes mere observations of the various dialogues and interactions of the built, in context to its ecology, perception and design. The chapters concentrate on various independent issues, integrated as a holistic approach, both in terms of theoretical perspectives and practical approaches, predominantly focusing on the Global South. The book builds fabric knitting into the generic understanding of environment, perception and design encompassing ‘different’ attitudes and inspirations. This book is an important reference to topics concerning urbanism, urban developments and physical growth, and highlights new methodologies and practices. The book presumes an understanding unearthed from various dimensions and again woven back to a common theme, which emerges as the reader reads through. Various international experts of the respective fields working on the Global South contributed their latest research and insights to the different parts of the book. This trans-disciplinary volume appeals to scientists, students and professionals in the fields of architecture, geography, planning, environmental sciences and many more.
The world is caught in the mesh of a series of environmental crises. So far attempts at resolving the deep basis of these have been superficial and disorganized. Global Political Ecology links the political economy of global capitalism with the political ecology of a series of environmental disasters and failed attempts at environmental policies. This critical volume draws together contributions from twenty-five leading intellectuals in the field. It begins with an introductory chapter that introduces the readers to political ecology and summarizes the books main findings. The following seven sections cover topics on the political ecology of war and the disaster state; fuelling capitalism: energy scarcity and abundance; global governance of health, bodies, and genomics; the contradictions of global food; capital’s marginal product: effluents, waste, and garbage; water as a commodity, a human right, and power; the functions and dysfunctions of the global green economy; political ecology of the global climate, and carbon emissions. This book contains accounts of the main currents of thought in each area that bring the topics completely up-to-date. The individual chapters contain a theoretical introduction linking in with the main themes of political ecology, as well as empirical information and case material. Global Political Ecology serves as a valuable reference for students interested in political ecology, environmental justice, and geography.
"Many of the findings in the book . . . are classics of ecology. . . . A rare and delightful insight into timely science."—Jane Lubchenco, Nature "Estes's refreshing narrative deftly weaves rigorous science with personal reflection to create an absorbing and introspective read that is equal parts memoir, ecological textbook, and motivational guidebook for young ecologists."—Science To newly minted biologist James Estes, the sea otters he was studying in the leafy kelp forests off the coast of Alaska appeared to have an unbalanced relationship with their greater environment. Gorging themselves on the sea urchins that grazed among the kelp, these small charismatic mammals seemed to give little back in return. But as Estes dug deeper, he unearthed a far more complex relationship between the otter and its underwater environment, discovering that otters play a critical role in driving positive ecosystem dynamics. While teasing out the connective threads, he began to question our assumptions about ecological relationships. These questions would ultimately inspire a lifelong quest to better understand the surprising complexity of our natural world and the unexpected ways we discover it. Serendipity tells the story of James Estes’s life as a naturalist and the concepts that have driven his interest in researching the ecological role of top-level predators. Using the relationships between sea otters, kelp, and sea urchins as a touchstone, Estes retraces his investigations of numerous other species, ecosystems, and ecological processes in an attempt to discover why ecologists can learn so many details about the systems in which they work and yet understand so little about the broader processes that influence these systems. Part memoir, part natural history, and deeply inquisitive, Serendipity will entertain and inform readers as it raises thoughtful questions about our relationship with the natural world.
This study explores the increasingly troubled relationship between humankind and the Earth, with the help of a simple example and a complicated interlocutor. The example is a pond, which, it turns out, is not so simple as it seems. The interlocutor is Jean-Paul Sartre, novelist, playwright, biographer, philosopher, and, despite his several disavowals, doyen of twentieth-century existentialism. Standing with the great humanist at the edge of the pond, the author examines contemporary experience in the light of several familiar conceptual pairs: nature and culture, fact and value, reality and imagination, human and nonhuman, society and ecology, Earth and world. The theoretical challenge is to reveal the critical complementarity and experiential unity of this family of ideas. The practical task is to discern the heuristic implications of this lived unity-in-diversity in these times of social and ecological crisis. Interdisciplinary in its aspirations, the study draws upon recent developments in biology and ecology, complexity science and systems theory, ecological and Marxist economics, and environmental history. Comprehensive in its engagement of Sartre’s oeuvre, the study builds upon his best-known existentialist writings, and also his critique of colonialism, voluminous ethical writings, early studies of the imaginary, and mature dialectical philosophy. In addition to overviews of Sartre’s distinctive inflections of phenomenology and dialectics and his unique theories of praxis and imagination, the study also articulates for the first time Sartre’s incipient philosophical ecology. In keeping with Sartre’s lifelong commitment to freedom and liberation, the study concludes with a programmatic look at the relative merits of pragmatist, prefigurative, and revolutionary activism within the burgeoning global struggle for social and ecological justice. We learn much by thinking with Sartre at the water’s edge: surprising lessons about our changing humanity and how we have come to where we are; timely lessons about the shifting relation between us and the broader community of life to which we belong; difficult lessons about our brutal degradation of the planetary system upon which life depends; and auspicious lessons, too, about a participatory path forward as we work to preserve a habitable planet and build a livable world for all earthlings.
Understanding Complex Ecosystem Dynamics: A Systems and Engineering Perspective takes a fresh, interdisciplinary perspective on complex system dynamics, beginning with a discussion of relevant systems and engineering skills and practices, including an explanation of the systems approach and its major elements. From this perspective, the author formulates an ecosystem dynamics functionality-based framework to guide ecological investigations. Next, because complex system theory (across many subject matter areas) is crucial to the work of this book, relevant network theory, nonlinear dynamics theory, cellular automata theory, and roughness (fractal) theory is covered in some detail. This material serves as an important resource as the book proceeds. In the context of all of the foregoing discussion and investigation, a view of the characteristics of ecological network dynamics is constructed. This view, in turn, is the basis for the central hypothesis of the book, i.e., ecological networks are ever-changing networks with propagation dynamics that are punctuated, local-to-global, and perhaps most importantly fractal. To analyze and fully test this hypothesis, an innovative ecological network dynamics model is defined, designed, and developed. The modeling approach, which seeks to emulate features of real-world ecological networks, does not make a priori assumptions about ecological network dynamics, but rather lets the dynamics develop as the model simulation runs. Model analysis results corroborate the central hypothesis. Additional important insights and principles are suggested by the model analysis results and by the other supporting investigations of this book – and can serve as a basis for going-forward complex system dynamics research, not only for ecological systems but for complex systems in general. - Provides a fresh interdisciplinary perspective, offers a broad integrated development, and contains many new ideas - Clearly explains the elements of the systems approach and applies them throughout the book - Takes on the challenging and open issues of complex system network dynamics - Develops and utilizes a new, innovative ecosystem dynamics modeling approach - Contains over 135 graphic illustrations to help the reader visualize and understand important concepts
The fourth edition of Soil Microbiology, Ecology and Biochemistry updates this widely used reference as the study and understanding of soil biota, their function, and the dynamics of soil organic matter has been revolutionized by molecular and instrumental techniques, and information technology. Knowledge of soil microbiology, ecology and biochemistry is central to our understanding of organisms and their processes and interactions with their environment. In a time of great global change and increased emphasis on biodiversity and food security, soil microbiology and ecology has become an increasingly important topic. Revised by a group of world-renowned authors in many institutions and disciplines, this work relates the breakthroughs in knowledge in this important field to its history as well as future applications. The new edition provides readable, practical, impactful information for its many applied and fundamental disciplines. Professionals turn to this text as a reference for fundamental knowledge in their field or to inform management practices. - New section on "Methods in Studying Soil Organic Matter Formation and Nutrient Dynamics" to balance the two successful chapters on microbial and physiological methodology - Includes expanded information on soil interactions with organisms involved in human and plant disease - Improved readability and integration for an ever-widening audience in his field - Integrated concepts related to soil biota, diversity, and function allow readers in multiple disciplines to understand the complex soil biota and their function
