Past and Future Rapid Environmental Changes
Past and Future Rapid Environmental Changes

Author: Brian Huntley

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-06-29

Total Pages: 520

ISBN-13: 3642605990

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Numerous experts including ecologists, geneticists, paleontologists and climatologists, investigate the response of terrestrial organisms to changes in their environment. The volume comprises an introductory and a final chapter by the editors as well as another 35 contributions. These are divided into six sections: 1. past environmental changes - the late-Quaternary; 2. spatial responses to past changes; 3. mechanisms enabling spatial responses; 4. evolutionary responses to past changes; 5. mechanisms enabling evolutionary responses; 6. predicted future environmental changes and simulated responses. The overwhelming and unanimous conclusion of all contributors is that forecasted global environmental changes pose a severe threat to the integrity of ecosystems worldwide and to the survival of at least some species.

Climate Change Biology
Climate Change Biology

Author: Lee Hannah

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2017-02-17

Total Pages: 415

ISBN-13: 0080921108

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Climate Change Biology is a new textbook which examines this emerging discipline of human-induced climate change and the resulting shifts in the distributions of species and the timing of biological events. The text focuses on understanding the impacts of human-induced climate change, but draws on multiple lines of evidence, including paleoecology, modelling and current observation. Climate Change Biology lays out the scope and depth of understanding of this new discipline in terms that are accessible to students, managers and professional biologists. The only advanced student text on the biological aspects of climate change Examines recent and deep past climate change effects to better understand the impacts of recent human-induced changes Discusses the conservation and other ecological implications of climate change in detail Presents recipes for coping with accelerating climate change in the future Includes extensive illustrations with maps diagrams and color photographs

Paleoclimate, Global Change and the Future
Paleoclimate, Global Change and the Future

Author: Keith D. Alverson

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-04-17

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 3642558283

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book provides a synthesis of the past decade of research into global changes that occurred in the earth system in the past. Focus is achieved by concentrating on those changes in the Earth's past environment that best inform our evaluation of current and future global changes and their consequences for human populations. The book stands as a ten year milestone in the operation of the Past Global Changes (PAGES) Project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP). It seeks to provide a quantitative understanding of the Earth’s environment in the geologically recent past and to define the envelope of natural environmental variability against which anthropogenic impacts on the Earth System may be assessed. A set of color overhead transparencies based on the figures in the book is available free on the PAGES website (www.pages-igbp.org) for use in teaching and lecturing.

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster
How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

Author: Bill Gates

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2021-02-16

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 0385546149

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

Climate Change and Biodiversity
Climate Change and Biodiversity

Author: Chris Turner

Publisher: Scientific e-Resources

Published: 2018-10-04

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 1839472480

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Change in climate has consequences on the biophysical environment such as changes in the start and length of the seasons, glacial retreat, decrease in Arctic sea ice extent and a rise in sea level. These changes have already had an observable impact on biodiversity at the species level, in term of phenology, distribution & populations, and ecosystem level in terms of distribution, composition & function. From a human perspective, the rapid climate change and accelerating biodiversity loss risks human security (e.g. a major change in the food chain upon which we depend, water sources may change, recede or disappear, medicines and other resources we rely on may be harder to obtain as the plants and forna they are derived from may reduce or disappear, etc.). Environmental conditions play a key role in defining the function and distribution of plants, in combination with other factors. Changes in long term environmental conditions that can be collectively coined climate change are known to have had enormous impacts on current plant diversity patterns; further impacts are expected in the future. It is predicted that climate change will remain one of the major drivers of biodiversity patterns in the future. This book is written for the specialist as well as the concerned citizen, this important book presents a comprehensive view of the newest research and thinking on climate change and biological diversity.

Tropical Rainforest Responses to Climatic Change
Tropical Rainforest Responses to Climatic Change

Author: Mark Bush

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2011-08-17

Total Pages: 483

ISBN-13: 3642053831

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This updated and expanded second edition of a much lauded work provides a current overview of the impacts of climate change on tropical forests. The authors also investigate past, present and future climatic influences on the ecosystems with the highest biodiversity on the planet. Tropical Rainforest Responses to Climatic Change, Second Edition, looks at how tropical rain forest ecology is altered by climate change, rather than simply seeing how plant communities were altered. Shifting the emphasis on to ecological processes, e.g. how diversity is structured by climate and the subsequent impact on tropical forest ecology, provides the reader with a more comprehensive coverage. A major theme of the book is the interaction between humans, climate and forest ecology. The authors, all foremost experts in their fields, explore the long term occupation of tropical systems, the influence of fire and the future climatic effects of deforestation, together with anthropogenic emissions. Incorporating modelling of past and future systems paves the way for a discussion of conservation from a climatic perspective, rather than the usual plea to stop logging. This second edition provides an updated text in this rapidly evolving field. The existing chapters are revised and updated and two entirely new chapters deal with Central America and the effect of fire on wet forest systems. In the first new chapter, the paleoclimate and ecological record from Central America (Lozano, Correa, Bush) is discussed, while the other deals with the impact of fire on tropical ecosystems. It is hoped that Jonathon Overpeck, who has been centrally involved in the 2007 and 2010 IPCC reports, will provide a Foreword to the book.

Cultural Landscapes and Environmental Change
Cultural Landscapes and Environmental Change

Author: Lesley Head

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-25

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 1317835972

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Cultural landscapes are usually understood within physical geography as those transformed by human action. As human influence on the earth increases, advances in palaeocological reconstruction have also allowed for new interpretations of the evidence for the earliest human impacts on the environment. It is essential that such evidence is examined in the context of modern trends in social sciences and humanities. This stimulating new book argues that convergence of the two approaches can provide a more holistic understanding of long-term physical and human processes. Split into two major sections, this book attempts to bridge the gap between the sciences and humanities. The first section, provides an analysis of the methodological tools employed in examining processes of environmental change. Empirical research in the fields of palaecology and Quaternary studies is combined with the latest theoretical views of nature and landscape occurring in cultural geography, archaeology and anthropology. The author examines the way in which environmental management decisions are made. The book then moves on to discuss the relevance of this perspective to contemporary issues through a wide variety of international case studies, including World Heritage protection, landscape preservation, indigenous people and cultural tourism.

Evolution on Planet Earth
Evolution on Planet Earth

Author: Lynn Rothschild

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2003-06-19

Total Pages: 469

ISBN-13: 0080494854

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Driving evolution forward, the Earth's physical environment has challenged the very survival of organisms and ecosystems throughout the ages. With a fresh new perspective, Evolution on Planet Earth shows how these physical realities and hurdles shaped the primary phases of life on the planet. The book's thorough coverage also includes chapters on more proximate factors and paleoenvironmental events that influenced the diversity of life. A team of notable ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and paleontologists join forces to describe drifting continents, extinction events, and climate change -- important topics that continue to shape Earth's inhabitants to this very day. In a world where global change has become an international issue, this book provides a several billion-year evolutionary perspective on what the environment and environmental change means to life. * Provides thorough background information on each topic while introducing cutting-edge research* Features original material solicited from the leading minds in evolutionary biology and geology today* Emphasizes the influence of massive geological forces - continental drift, volcanic activity, sea and tides

Environmental Change
Environmental Change

Author: Frank Oldfield

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2005-08-25

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 9780521829366

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Advanced non-specialist textbook explaining the significance of past and contemporary environmental and climatic change.