This is the first book to comprehensively discuss Ecuadorian soils. Richly illustrated, it provides information on the unique characteristics and distribution of these soils. Due to the influence of the Andes, which vastly modified the climate and parental materials, a relative small country like Ecuador has a wide variety of soil orders, rarely found in other countries. The country is divided into three distinctive regions by the Andes: The Coastal Plain, the Andean Highlands, and the Amazonia Region each with different soil development, influenced by the varying conditions in that region. It is also necessary to consider the Galapagos Islands as a separate region with a particular climate and parental material.
A fascinating work that provides a wealth of information on one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems. This is the result of investigations by almost 30 groups of researchers from various disciplines. They performed ecosystem analyses following two gradients: an altitudinal gradient and a gradient of land use intensity and ecosystem regeneration following human use. Based on these analyses, this volume discusses these findings in a huge variety of subject areas.
An interdisciplinary research unit consisting of 30 teams in the natural, economic and social sciences analyzed biodiversity and ecosystem services of a mountain rainforest ecosystem in the hotspot of the tropical Andes, with special reference to past, current and future environmental changes. The group assessed ecosystem services using data from ecological field and scenario-driven model experiments, and with the help of comparative field surveys of the natural forest and its anthropogenic replacement system for agriculture. The book offers insights into the impacts of environmental change on various service categories mentioned in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005): cultural, regulating, supporting and provisioning ecosystem services. Examples focus on biodiversity of plants and animals including trophic networks, and abiotic/biotic parameters such as soils, regional climate, water, nutrient and sediment cycles. The types of threats considered include land use and climate changes, as well as atmospheric fertilization. In terms of regulating and provisioning services, the emphasis is primarily on water regulation and supply as well as climate regulation and carbon sequestration. With regard to provisioning services, the synthesis of the book provides science-based recommendations for a sustainable land use portfolio including several options such as forestry, pasture management and the practices of indigenous peoples. In closing, the authors show how they integrated the local society by pursuing capacity building in compliance with the CBD-ABS (Convention on Biological Diversity - Access and Benefit Sharing), in the form of education and knowledge transfer for application.
The first soil survey in the Philippines was done by Mr. Clarence Dorsey, an American soil scientist in the province of Batangas in 1903. The Soils of the Philippines, however, is the first comprehensive summary of more than a century of soil-survey work in this country. It integrates the soil concepts of the reconnaissance soil-survey results, which commenced as early as 1934 and continued until the mid 1960s, with the semi-detailed soil surveys that continue to this day. The result is the first-ever genetic key for classifying Philippine soils at soil series level; thus, making it possible for any newcomers to the soil survey field to confidently produce their own soil map, at a more detailed map scale, to suit the project requirements. This book brings together discussions on soils and soil mapping units and up-to-date international techniques and technologies. It makes soils relevant to current political realities and national issues. As soil survey moves from a reductionist agricultural-development planning tool to a more holistic and integrated approach, to enable us to understand our dynamic and complex environment, The Soils of the Philippines will be the only source of authoritative and updated data on soil resources for macro-level resource management planning for decades to come. With a vanishing breed of experienced soil surveyors, not only in the Philippines but also worldwide, it may remain the only book on Philippine soils for the next hundred years or more. Since soils follow a geological and not a human time frame, the contents of this volume will stay relevant for soil surveyors even in a fast changing world. As the country leaps from an agricultural economy towards modernization and a more diversified economic base, some of the soil series in the Philippines, for example the Guadalupe series underlying the skyscrapers of Makati City, are becoming extinct as a result of urban development. Therefore, this book serves as the repository for the soils that we possess, the soils that have been lost through decades of urbanization while, at the same time, it creates a soil classification system for the soils we are yet to discover.
This book presents the proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Water Energy Food and Sustainability – ICoWEFS 2021, a major forum to foster innovation and exchange knowledge in the water-energy-food nexus, embracing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, bringing together leading academics, researchers and industrial experts. It contains the work of authors from 33 countries.
The oil palm is the world's most valuable oil crop. Its production has increased over the decades, reaching 56 million tons in 2013, and it gives the highest yields per hectare of all oil crops. Remarkably, oil palm has remained profitable through periods of low prices. Demand for palm oil is also expanding, with the edible demand now complemented by added demand from biodiesel producers. The Oil Palm is the definitive reference work on this important crop. This fifth edition features new topics - including the conversion of palm oil to biodiesel, and discussions about the impacts of palm oil production on the environment and effects of climate change alongside comprehensively revised chapters, with updated references throughout. The Oil Palm, Fifth Edition will be useful to researchers, plantation and mill managers who wish to understand the science underlying recommended practices. It is an indispensable reference for agriculture students and all those working in the oil palm industry worldwide.
Reading the Soil Archives: Unraveling the Geoecological Code of Palaeosols and Sediment Cores, Volume 19, provides details of new techniques for understanding geological history in the form of quantitative pollen analyses, soil micromorphology, OSL (Optically Stimulated Luminescence) dating, phytolith analysis and biomarker analysis. The book presents the genesis of a cultural landscape, based on multi-proxy analysis of paleosoils and integration of geomorphological, pedological and archaeological research results, which can be a model for geoecological landscape studies. Beginning with analytical methods for interpreting soil archives, the book examines methods for reconstructing the landscape genesis. The book presents strengths and weaknesses of applications, especially in relation to the data from case studies in the Netherlands. The final chapter of the book addresses landscape evolution in different cultural periods. This book offers an integrated approach to geoecological knowledge that is valuable to students and professionals in quaternary science, physical geography, soil science, archaeology, historical geography, and land planning and restructuring. - Covers techniques including soil pollen analysis, radiocarbon dating, OSL-dating, phytolith analysis, biomarker analysis, archaeological analysis and GIS - Provides a case study of results applied in the reconstruction of landscape evolution of SE-Netherlands - Includes color illustrations, such as microscopic pictures, pictures of landscapes and soil profiles, pollen diagrams and dating graph
Throughout Latin America, indigenous peoples are demanding that development must address localpriorities, including ethnic identity. Simultaneously, sustainability scientists need to conduct place-basedresearch on the interaction between environment and society that will have global relevance.This book reports on a 6 year interdisciplinary research project on natural resource management inCotacachi, Ecuador, where scientists and indigenous groups learnt to seek common ground. The bookdiscusses how local people and the environment have engaged each other over time to createcontemporary Andean landscapes. It also explores human-environment interaction in relation tobiodiversity, soils and water, and equitable development. This book will be of significant interest tosociologists, anthropologists, economists and sustainability scientists researching environment andagriculture in rural communities.
