Wetland Carbon and Environmental Management


Book Description

Explores how the management of wetlands can influence carbon storage and fluxes. Wetlands are vital natural assets, including their ability to take-up atmospheric carbon and restrict subsequent carbon loss to facilitate long-term storage. They can be deliberately managed to provide a natural solution to mitigate climate change, as well as to help offset direct losses of wetlands from various land-use changes and natural drivers. Wetland Carbon and Environmental Management presents a collection of wetland research studies from around the world to demonstrate how environmental management can improve carbon sequestration while enhancing wetland health and function. Volume highlights include: Overview of carbon storage in the landscape Introduction to wetland management practices Comparisons of natural, managed, and converted wetlands Impact of wetland management on carbon storage or loss Techniques for scientific assessment of wetland carbon processes Case studies covering tropical, coastal, inland, and northern wetlands Primer for carbon offset trading programs and how wetlands might contribute The American Geophysical Union promotes discovery in Earth and space science for the benefit of humanity.Its publications disseminate scientific knowledge and provide resources for researchers, students, and professionals.







Hurricanes


Book Description

Hurricanes of the North Atlantic Ocean have left their imprint on the landscape and human cultures for thousands of years. In modern times, fewer lifes have been lost due, in part, to the development of modern communication systems, and to improved understanding of the mechanisms of storm formation and movement. However, the immense growth of human populations in coastal areas, which are at risk to hurricanes, has resulted in very large increases in the amount of property damage sustained in the last decade in the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean regions. This book is of interest to climatologists and meteorologists and as source of information for policymakers and emergency management planners.




The Ecology of Mangrove and Related Ecosystems


Book Description

The mangrove, seagrass and coral reef ecosystems are of paramount ecological importance but have already undergone great degradation, which is advancing at an alarming rate. If present trends continue, the natural resource basis of the economy and ecology of tropical coastal regions will soon be ruined. This was the unanimous conclusion of the 110 scientists from 23 countries who gathered in Mombasa, Kenya, for a Symposium on the ecology of these ecosystems. Mangrove forest systems yield large amounts of fish, crabs, prawns and oysters. They are also valuable sources of fuelwood, timber, tannin and other natural products. Their non-marketable value is of equal importance: stabilization of the coastline, an indispensable nursery ground for numerous marine species with commercial value, a natural filter maintaining the clarity of nearshore water, a home for resident and migratory birds and other wildlife. Many of the true mangrove flora and fauna are now endangered by the clearing of the mangroves. It has been shown that in many countries between 25 and 100% of the mangrove forest has been destroyed alraedy in the last twenty years. The international scientific assembly concluded that much can be done to stop the degradation of these damaged ecosystems and to rehabilitate them. But new techniques must be found to use them on a sustainable basis for long-term economic return and for the well-being of coastal human settlements and a healthy environment.







Mangrove Ecosystems: A Global Biogeographic Perspective


Book Description

This book presents a comprehensive overview and analysis of mangrove ecological processes, structure, and function at the local, biogeographic, and global scales and how these properties interact to provide key ecosystem services to society. The analysis is based on an international collaborative effort that focuses on regions and countries holding the largest mangrove resources and encompasses the major biogeographic and socio-economic settings of mangrove distribution. Given the economic and ecological importance of mangrove wetlands at the global scale, the chapters aim to integrate ecological and socio-economic perspectives on mangrove function and management using a system-level hierarchical analysis framework. The book explores the nexus between mangrove ecology and the capacity for ecosystem services, with an emphasis on thresholds, multiple stressors, and local conditions that determine this capacity. The interdisciplinary approach and illustrative study cases included in the book will provide valuable resources in data, information, and knowledge about the current status of one of the most productive coastal ecosystem in the world.




The Environment of South Florida


Book Description

Description of the south Florida ecosystem and changes resulting from man's activities.




Contributions to the ecology of halophytes


Book Description

The ecology of halophytes has a wide scope of interest, appealing to people of many disciplines. It covers widely different fields such as climatology, soil science, phytogeography, adaptive biology and agriculture. Ecologists study these specialized plants in relation to estuarine ecosystems, biology of dominant genera, germination ecology, water relations, salt secretion, and senescence. The present volume is divided into three parts and attempts to elucidate new aspects of the problems faced by this special group of plants. It tries to give the reader an overall view of saline environments and the ecology of plants found therein. In the first chapter of part one Zahran presents the halophytic vegetation of Egypt, which includes the inland and the littoral (Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea) salt marshes. The plants he describes have been classified as succulents, excretives and cumulatives, according to their adaptability to saline soils and according to their different life-forms. The second chapter throws light on the estuarine ecosystem ofIndia. The estuaries are described by Joshi, and Bhosale as being rich in diversity of mangrove species. Making varied use of estuarine ecosystems is not only possible, but also essential because they are the meeting point between terrestrial and marine life.




Dynamic Aquaria


Book Description

In its third edition, this praised book demonstrates how the living systems modeling of aquatic ecosystems for ecological, biological and physiological research, and ecosystem restoration can produce answers to very complex ecological questions. Dynamic Aquaria further offers an understanding developed in 25 years of living ecosystem modeling and discusses how this knowledge has produced methods of efficiently solving many environmental problems. Public education through this methodology is the additional key to the broader ecosystem understanding necessary to allow human society to pass through the next evolutionary bottleneck of our species. Living systems modeling as a wide spectrum educational tool can provide a primary vehicle for that essential step. This third editon covers the many technological and biological developments in the eight plus years since the second edition, providing updated technological advice and describing many new example aquarium environments. - Includes 16 page color insert with 57 color plates and 25% new photographs - Offers 300 figures and 75 tables - New chapter on Biogeography - Over 50% new research in various chapters - Significant updates in chapters include: - The understanding of coral reef function especially the relationship between photosynthesis and calcification - The use of living system models to solve problems of biogeography and the geographic dispersal and interaction of species populations - The development of new techniques for global scale restoration of water and atmosphere - The development of new techniques for closed system, sustainable aquaculture