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Book Description







Spiny Lobsters


Book Description

Spiny lobsters are among the world's most valuable and highly prized seafoods, captured and marketed in over 90 countries. Demand for spiny lobsters has escalated in the past two decades, spurring the need both for better management and for research on which to base that management. Spiny lobster aquaculture, however, now appears to be a real possibility, some countries have already approved the legislation, and it may be only a few years before this becomes the major source. The book opens with a brief review of the general biology, distribution, fishing techniques etc. but the major emphasis is on the latest management strategies, developments in aquaculture, marketing and economics. A special feature of the book will be detailed reviews of the spiny lobster fishery, research activities and marketing process in Japan, where customers are willing to pay more than US$50 per pound for live lobsters.







Boletim


Book Description




Clusia


Book Description

This richly illustrated book presents the most recent up-to-date knowledge on Clusia with a wealth of data in tables and figures and comprehensive referencing. Clusia’s unique features as well as its extreme flexibility have put it in the limelight of international research. Covering all aspects of tree biology, this richly illustrated volume is an invaluable source of information for any plant scientist.




Cave Ecology


Book Description

Cave organisms are the ‘monsters’ of the underground world and studying them invariably raises interesting questions about the ways evolution has equipped them to survive in permanent darkness and low-energy environments. Undertaking ecological studies in caves and other subterranean habitats is not only challenging because they are difficult to access, but also because the domain is so different from what we know from the surface, with no plants at the base of food chains and with a nearly constant microclimate year-round. The research presented here answers key questions such as how a constant environment can produce the enormous biodiversity seen below ground, what adaptations and peculiarities allow subterranean organisms to thrive, and how they are affected by the constraints of their environment. This book is divided into six main parts, which address: the habitats of cave animals; their complex diversity; the environmental factors that support that diversity; individual case studies of cave ecosystems; and of the conservation challenges they face; all of which culminate in proposals for future research directions. Given its breadth of coverage, it offers an essential reference guide for graduate students and established researchers alike.




Individualidade Biológica Em Perspectiva Filosófica


Book Description

Human reality, they taught me, is built by perception and its processing. We perceive individuals. Living individuality seems simple. Understanding it proved to be very difficult. This study tries to discover what figure appears when scientific biological individuality is projected in the secular and modern perspective of the paradoxical - philosophic theories of the one and the multiple. It became: not absoulte, intensely relative and holistic: perhaps a better model for human individuals and social wellbeing.




Biodiversity and Wind Farms in Portugal


Book Description

This book presents a review of the state-of-the-art knowledge on the interactions between biodiversity and wind energy development, focused on the Portuguese reality. The volume addresses the particularities of the impact assessment procedures in Portugal, contrasting it with the international practices and presenting its main findings by covering the following broader themes: i) evaluation of spatial and temporal dynamics of wildlife affected by wind farms, including birds, bats and terrestrial mammals (in particularly Portuguese wolf population); ii) the methodologies used to assess impacts caused by this type of developments in biodiversity; iii) the best practice methodologies to implement an adaptive management approach to reconcile biodiversity and wind farms. The knowledge presented in this book was gathered through the research and development activities developed by Bioinsight company (former Bio3 company) during the last 13 years and partially funded by a R&D project designated as “Integrated solutions for biodiversity management at wind farms: reduce and compensate bird and bat mortality” (acronym: Wind & Biodiversity), co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), under the Regional Operational Programme of Centre (Mais Centro). This volume fills a void in the literature as a book giving insights on the best practices to install and manage a wind farm from a biodiversity management point of view, while establishing a commitment between economic sustainability and biodiversity conservation.




Brazilian Estuaries


Book Description

This book presents the main drivers of benthic structure and processes in estuaries from the 8,000 km-Brazilian coast, assesses the influence of natural and human disturbance, and discusses their ecological importance and management needs. Estuaries are unique coastal ecosystems often with low biodiversity that sustain and provide essential ecological services to mankind. These ecosystems include a variety of habitats with their own sediment and fauna dynamics, all of them globally altered or threatened by human activities. Mangroves, saltmarshes, tidal flats and other confined estuarine systems are under increasing stress by overfishing and other human activities leading to habitat and species loss. Combined changes in estuarine hydromorphology and in climate pose severe threats to estuarine ecosystems at a global scale.