This commemorative volume of invited papers in vegetation science covers a full range of topics, objectives, methods and applications, including conservation and management tasks. These require study at different temporal and spatial scales, often simultaneously. Methodology is important in science, since it responds to particular questions and raises others. It is also closely related to the scale of investigation. Chapters in this book illustrate this interdependence, even in basic tasks such as vegetation sampling and description, measurements and mapping. Individual chapters present globally applicable systems, regional syntheses and local analyses and applications, plus conceptual methodologies, including currently debated hot topics. Vegetation types treated include tropical rainforests, temperate forests, dry steppes and scrub and local turf, sedge and moss communities. There are also chapters on re-vegetation, woodlot management, ecology of an invasive species, and trajectory planning in conservation. This book will be useful to both students and practitioners, for its reviews and examples and as a potential textbook suitable for graduate-level courses and seminars.
This book contains the papers presented at the conferences of the International Association Vegetation Science of Pirenopolis (2016) on Applied Mapping for Conservation and Management: from Plant and of Palermo (2017) on Vegetation Patterns in relation to multi-scale levels of ecological complexity: from associations to geoseries. The reports refer to general themes (semiological bases of mapping, dynamic-catenal mapping, nature conservation, plant biodiversity, biogeography, and geosynphytosociology) and their application to vegetation in different parts of the world (Andes of Bolivia, California, Kaga Coast in Japan, Southeastern USA, Morocco, Europe: Carpathians mountains, Swiss Alps, Sicily, Southern Portugal, Spain, and French Atlantic coastal). One of the benefits of the book is that it offers the possibility of comparing the different methodologies used in very different types of vegetation in the world (Boreal, Mediterranean, Tropical, Neotropical, etc.). The book is intended for researchers, Ph.D. students, and university professors.
This book presents studies on current vegetation topics, from polar to tropical regions. It is a festschrift to mark the 70th birthday of Prof. Elgene O. Box, who has studied vegetation all over the world, both through fieldwork and modeling. It reflects a number of his interests, including basic ecological plant forms (cf ‘plant functional types’), temperate-zone forests, and evergreen versus seasonal patterns. Section 1 discusses the concept of vegetation series, while Section 2 has two global-scale chapters on plant functional traits and whether they are related more to climate or phylogeny. Section 3 has nine chapters focusing on vegetation history, regional vegetation, and how these have influenced current species organizations and distributions. Regions treated include Russia, China, the USA, Mexico and Mediterranean areas. Lastly, Section 4 addresses aspects of vegetation change and plant ecology. Every chapter in this unique book offers original ideas on the topic of vegetation, as the authors are assembled from a world-wide population of leading vegetational ecologists, whose interests range from local communities to global theoretical questions.
This is the first comprehensive and critical evaluation of the biome (large-scale, functional biotic communities) patterns in the Southern Hemisphere. Revising the Heinrich Walter's zonobiome system for the Southern Hemisphere appeared as necessary because of the bioclimatic imbalance between the Hemispheres. This revision resulted in formulation of a new zonobiome system, considering the geographic peculiarities of both Hemispheres, hence creating a new, powerful tool of global nature-resource survey and conservation. The system has a potential to attract the interest of the global climate modeling community as the concept of biome (and associated hierarchical system) has a strong functional focus. All zonal biomes of the Southern Hemisphere are featured, and the major challenges we face in understanding their origins, structure, and functioning are discussed. The book contains a wealth of original data resulting from collation of bioclimatic data and vegetation mapping.
The floristic studies carried out during the 19th and 20th centuries in the Retezat Massif identified 1,152 plant species and 104 subspecies within the Cormobionta sub-regnum. Of these, about 12% are endemic Carpathian and Dacian-Balkan taxa that induce a regional specificity to the hosting communities. The phytocoenological research led to the description of 67 plant associations, grouped in 28 alliances, 19 orders and 13 vegetation classes. These classes are: Asplenietea trichomanis, Thlaspietea rotundifolii, Salicetea herbaceae, Montio-Cardaminetea, Scheuchzerio-Caricetea fuscae, Oxycocco-Sphagnetea, Molinio-Arrhenatheretea, Caricetea curvulae, Loisleurio-Vaccinietea, Elyno-Seslerietea, Mulgedio-Aconitetea, Carpino-Fagetea and Vaccinio-Piceetea. The following plant associations herein described are new syntaxa: Phyteumo confusi-Junicetum trifidi, Salici kitaibelianae-Dryadetum octopetalae and Aconito taurici-Rumicetum alpine. For the protection of some rare plant species and vulnerable plant associations, two natural reserves are proposed to be created within the “Limestone Retezat” area.
The research category of the landscape ecology, which researches the structure, functions, and the spatio-temporal changes of the ecological landscapes, has now been contributing to the human life and the shifts of the socio-economic paradigm. Global warming has been influencing the universal life patterns of the mankind which have been maintained in the past several hundreds of years. And it has been having the influences on the international social problems and economic problems. Although the diverse plans for adapting to the climate changes have been the topics of the conservations among the ecologists internationally, it is the reality that the speed of the changes of the environment has been quicker than the time it takes to complete the solutions. In order to maintain the sustainable earth and the sustainable society, the role of the landscape ecology has been coming to the fore. Especially, the theories and the methodologies of the landscape ecology have been applied to the multidisciplinary researches by going beyond the research category of ecology, including the maximization of the efficiencies of the land spaces, the management of the ecological space (habitats) in which the biological diversity can be maintained, the utilization of the resources that are absolutely needed by the human beings (Here, it is compressed to water, energy, and food), etc. and until reaching the human society. It is considered that, to that extent, the utilizations and the applications of the landscape ecology are very much needed for the diagnoses and the evaluations of the global environmental problems which have been proceeded with rapidly in the modernity. This book is not comprised of any general remarks that explain the theories and the methods of the landscape ecology. Already, based on the basic theories of the landscape ecology, the writers have conducted the investigations on the farm villages, the cities, and the coastal ecosystems. And, through the space analyses and interpretations, the structure and functions of the landscapes were analyzed. Of course, in this book, too, the diverse ecosystems and the landscape ecological methodologies regarding the land use have been presented. However, the core of this book focuses more on what role the landscape ecology must play for the materialization of a sustainable society in the future. At the farm villages, the sustainable agriculture will be presented, and, at the cities, the discussions on the green networks and the energies will be proceeded with. Also, regarding the coasts and the seas, a thesis on the safety of the life zones of the residents adjacent to the sea and on the conservation of the island ecosystems will be presented. The sustainable society is a system that is formed by having the sustainable development as a basis. It is considered to be one aspect within a kind of a sustainable process with regard to which the natural world and the human world coexist and are in a symbiotic relationship harmoniously. In order to maintain the biodiversity, the reasonable adjustments of the human activities, like the use of the resources, are absolutely needed. Without the biological resources, the cultural diversity of the human beings, too, cannot exist. Consequentially, recently and internationally, there are a lot of the case examples that express the biocultural diversity by linking the biological diversity with the cultural diversity. In this book, the role of the landscape ecology as an academic link which can connect the two possible, if possible, is highly expected. It is, indeed, the biocultural landscape. It can be said that this concept, also, is the interconnection of the multidisciplinary spaces that must be dealt with in the modern landscape ecology. Through this book, it is intended to present a new directionality which can contribute to the sustainable society at the same time as the organization of the theories and the methods of the landscape ecology.
This new volume 2, like the first, is a user-friendly, pictorially based guide providing all you need to know to start genuinely enjoying wild foods. It helps readers successfully identify plants, develop gathering strategies, and learn preparation and cooking techniques. The unparalleled photographs and depth of understanding will knock your socks off. All books in this series are designed to teach you things you can actually apply, help you identify edible plants at any stage of growth, give you close up full color photographs of the edible parts at the optimal stages of growth, and show you fun and tasty things to do with them. It lays a foundation and covers plants you are likely to come across on a daily basis no matter where you are in North America or Europe. It covers those plants in the kind of detail that you need to genuinely know and understand them. It clarifies and explains concepts poorly understood and commonly mis-represented in the wild food literature. Once you receive it, compare its coverage of any plant side-by-side to that same plant in any other book ever written. That comparison will reveal the value of this book, and represents what I will continue to do in future books. Following volume 1’s success, volume 2 continues to help you understand the value and potential of wild foods. This book has 460 photographs and illustrations, fun and authoritative text, focused attention on plant details, nutrient tables, range maps, recipes, and a plethora of additional preparation and cooking tips. In this substantial 416 page book, author John Kallas gives you the knowledge and confidence needed to enjoy edible wild plants as a part of your regular diet. This second volume of Edible Wild Plants adds 18 additional plants, their relatives, and look-a-likes, in 15 plant chapters, to the overall collection of plants covered between the two volumes in The Wild Food Adventure Series. This book makes it delightfully exciting to learn about and experiment with known wild foods that will be useful to all, from beginners to advanced foragers. This book features plants in five flavor categories?foundation, tart, pungent or peppery, bitter, and distinctive & sweet. Organizing this way helps readers use the plants in pleasing and predictable ways. Imagine frequently including cattail, nettles, pokeweed, marsh mallow, daylily, wild radish, and everlasting pea in your meal planning knowing that you acquired these plants from your own foraging adventures. There is also a section devoted to identifying and knowing poison hemlock, often confused with wild carrot in certain stages of development. John Kallas and his Wild Food Adventure book series are here to help you learn quickly, process intelligently, and genuinely enjoy what you are eating.
The Routledge Handbook of Latin America and the Environment provides an in-depth and accessible analysis and theorization of environmental issues in the region. It will help readers make connections between Latin American and other regions’ perspectives, experiences, and environmental concerns. Latin America has seen an acceleration of environmental degradation due to the expansion of resource extraction and urban areas. This Handbook addresses Latin America not only as an object of study, but also as a region with a long and profound history of critical thinking on these themes. Furthermore, the Handbook departs from most treatments on the topic by studying the environment as a social issue inextricably linked to politics, economy, and culture. The Handbook will be an invaluable resource for those wanting not only to understand the issues, but also to engage with ideas about environmental politics and social-ecological transformation. The Handbook covers a broad range of topics organized according to three areas: physical geography, ecology, and crucial environmental problems of the region. These are key theoretical and methodological issues used to understand Latin America’s ecosocial contexts, and institutional and grassroots practices related to more just and ecologically sustainable worlds. The Handbook will set a research agenda for the near future and provide comprehensive research on most subregions relative to environmental transformations, challenges, struggles and political processes. It stands as a fresh and much needed state of the art introduction for researchers, scholars, post-graduates and academic audiences on Latin American contributions to theorization, empirical research and environmental practices.
This volume gathers case studies on plant diversity from selected, representative mountain systems of Italy (Mediterranean and temperate zones), while also addressing the biodiversity of avian fauna. For the Alps, Wilhalm and Prosser examine the species biodiversity (also with the help of highly detailed location maps) of the sector of the central Alps that corresponds to the basin of the Adige, including some nearby valleys, between the watershed to the north and the Prealps to the south (Alto Adige and Trentino). In turn, Pedrotti investigates the vegetation series of the same territory in relation to the three climatic sectors identified: prealpine, alpine and endoalpine. Aleffi then explores the relationships between the distribution of a number of species of bryophytes and the main mesoclimatic gradients along a transect through the Valle dell’ Adige between 46°40'N and 45°42'N. Lastly, Siniscalco studies the ways in which alien species are now invading the western Alps, which to date have remained largely unaffected by this phenomenon, unlike the plains and hills. For the Apennines, Ferrari studies the tree line and the biodiversity of the vegetation of the northern Apennines; for the mountains of Sicily, Bazan conducts a diachronic analysis of the beech forests of the Monti Nebrodi. The contribution by Venanzoni interprets the chorology of associations of the Magnocaricetalia order throughout Italy, relating it to the climatic and geographic gradients. He describes a total of 55 associations, reporting on the distribution in the temperate zone (differentiating between the alpine and continental) and the Mediterranean zone for each of them. Cianfaglione presents the Signal Project Italian site. This project investigates the effects of extreme weather events on secondary grassland and the role of selected alien species, mowing, biodiversity, productivity and functional traits, in Italy and along a European gradient. For the Marches Region, Forconi describes the biodiversity of the avian fauna in relation to the altitudinal gradient and the potential vegetation.
