Ecology of Sumatra
Ecology of Sumatra

Author: Tony Whitten

Publisher: Tuttle Publishing

Published: 2012-06-26

Total Pages: 556

ISBN-13: 1462905080

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The Ecology of Sumatra distills for the first time the information found in nearly 1,500 scholarly works relevant to an understanding of the full range of natural and man-made ecosystems on the island—many of them available only in Dutch, German or Indonesian. It was originally prepared by a team working at the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies (CRES) at the University of North Sumatra to supplement existing documents. This new version is aimed at general readers and includes a section on recent development on Sumatra, as well as an additional bibliography of recent publications. It contains hundreds of line drawings, tables, maps and photographs. It is hoped that The Ecology of Sumatra will prove useful to resource managers, ecologists, environmental scientists and local government personnel, and be enlightening to Sumatra’s inhabitants and visitors. It should also be of great interest to anyone wanting to learn about Southeast Asian biology.

The Fourth Circle
The Fourth Circle

Author: John Fitzgerald McCarthy

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 9780804752121

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This book analyzes the political, legal, and economic dynamics shaping environmental outcomes across two districts in Aceh, one of the richest and most expansive areas of tropical rainforest in Southeast Asia. Its central theme is that the present cycle of ecological decline can best be understood in terms of the way political, economic and social forces operate at the district level.

The Vegetation and Physiography of Sumatra
The Vegetation and Physiography of Sumatra

Author: Yves Laumonier

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 9400900317

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Fifteen years ago, approximately half the world population was estimated to live in continental and insular South-East Asia (Burma, Thailand, Kampuchea, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, Philippines). Then the region had a population growth of four million people every month, and the problem of malnutrition was acute for the rural population. International agricultural development organisations decided that their primary aim would be to double existing levels of agricultural production and, taking account of population growth, to double it again by the end of the century (Whyte 1976). Today, while global issues have greatly affected the parameters of the problem, the situation remains both serious and difficult. Despite impressive efforts in education and health, Indonesia for example, where population (179 millions) growth eased off only slightly between 1980 and 1990 (from 2. 3 percent to 1. 9 percent), is having to cope with increasing difficulties in managing natural resources and particularly its evanescent forest assets which, until 1986, were the second largest source of national revenue. Indonesia has the second largest surface area of tropical rain forests in the world (after Brazil) and thus all the problems linked with management and disappearance of those forests. The latest estimate gives a figure of 109 million hectares of forest in 1990, of which 40. 8 million hectares are production forests (Anon. -F AO 1990).

Catastrophe and Regeneration in Indonesia’s Peatlands
Catastrophe and Regeneration in Indonesia’s Peatlands

Author: Kosuke Mizuno

Publisher: NUS Press

Published: 2016-02-26

Total Pages: 510

ISBN-13: 981472209X

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The serious degradation of the vast peatlands of Indonesia since the 1990s is the proximate cause of the haze that endangers public health in Indonesian Sumatra and Borneo, and also in neighbouring Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Moreover peatlands that have been drained and cleared for plantations are a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. This new book explains the degradation of peat soils and outlines a potential course of action to deal with the catastrophe looming over the region. Concerted action will be required to reduce peatland fires, and a successful policy needs to enhance social welfare and economic survival, support natural conservation and provide a return on investment if there is to be a sustainable society in the peatlands. This book argues that regeneration is possible through a new policy of people’s forestry that includes reforestation and rewetting peat soils. The data come from a major long-term research effort—the humanosphere project—that coordinates work done by researchers from the physical, natural and human or social sciences.

Environmental ScienceBites
Environmental ScienceBites

Author: Kylienne A. Clark

Publisher: The Ohio State University

Published: 2015-09-15

Total Pages: 594

ISBN-13:

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This book was written by undergraduate students at The Ohio State University (OSU) who were enrolled in the class Introduction to Environmental Science. The chapters describe some of Earth's major environmental challenges and discuss ways that humans are using cutting-edge science and engineering to provide sustainable solutions to these problems. Topics are as diverse as the students, who represent virtually every department, school and college at OSU. The environmental issue that is described in each chapter is particularly important to the author, who hopes that their story will serve as inspiration to protect Earth for all life.

Orangutans
Orangutans

Author: Serge A. Wich

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2010-01-07

Total Pages: 440

ISBN-13: 0191574597

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This book describes one of our closest relatives, the orangutan, and the only extant great ape in Asia. It is increasingly clear that orangutan populations show extensive variation in behavioural ecology, morphology, life history, and genes. Indeed, on the strength of the latest genetic and morphological evidence, it has been proposed that orangutans actually constitute two species which diverged more than a million years ago - one on the island of Sumatra the other on Borneo, with the latter comprising three subspecies. This book has two main aims. The first is to carefully compare data from every orangutan research site, examining the differences and similarities between orangutan species, subspecies and populations. The second is to develop a theoretical framework in which these differences and similarities can be explained. To achieve these goals the editors have assembled the world's leading orangutan experts to rigorously synthesize and compare the data, quantify the similarities or differences, and seek to explain them. Orangutans is the first synthesis of orangutan biology to adopt this novel, comparative approach. It analyses and compares the latest data, developing a theoretical framework to explain morphological, life history, and behavioural variation. Intriguingly, not all behavioural differences can be attributed to ecological variation between and within the two islands; relative rates of social learning also appear to have been influential. The book also emphasizes the crucial impact of human settlement on orangutans and looks ahead to the future prospects for the survival of critically endangered natural populations.