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Spatio-Temporal Models for Ecologists (Chapman & Hall/CRC Applied Environmental Statistics)
Par James Thorson, Kasper Kristensen. 2024
Ecological dynamics are tremendously complicated and are studied at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. Ecologists often simplify analysis…
by describing changes in density of individuals across a landscape, and statistical methods are advancing rapidly for studying spatio-temporal dynamics. However, spatio-temporal statistics is often presented using a set of principles that may seem very distant from ecological theory or practice. This book seeks to introduce a minimal set of principles and numerical techniques for spatio-temporal statistics that can be used to implement a wide range of real-world ecological analyses regarding animal movement, population dynamics, community composition, causal attribution, and spatial dynamics. We provide a step-by-step illustration of techniques that combine core spatial-analysis packages in R with low-level computation using Template Model Builder. Techniques are showcased using real-world data from varied ecological systems, providing a toolset for hierarchical modelling of spatio-temporal processes. Spatio-Temporal Models for Ecologists is meant for graduate level students, alongside applied and academic ecologists.Key Features: Foundational ecological principles and analyses Thoughtful and thorough ecological examples Analyses conducted using a minimal toolbox and fast computation Code using R and TMB included in the book and available onlineHearsay Is Not Excluded: A History of Natural History (Yale Agrarian Studies Series)
Par Michael R. Dove. 1964
This chronicle of natural history argues that the modern environmental crisis and rise in science skepticism codeveloped with the rise…
of ever narrower scientific disciplines For millennia, the field of natural history promoted a knowledgeable and unifying view of the world. In contrast, the modern rise of narrow scientific disciplines has promoted a dichotomy between nature and culture on the one hand and between scientific and folk knowledge on the other. Drawing on the fields of anthropology, history, and environmental science, Michael R. Dove argues that the loss of this historic holistic vision of the world is partly to blame for contemporary environmental degradation and science skepticism. Dove bases this thesis on a study of four pioneering natural historians across four centuries: Georg Eberhard Rumphius (seventeenth century), Carl Linnaeus (eighteenth century), Alfred Russel Wallace (nineteenth century), and Harold C. Conklin (twentieth century). Dove studies their field craft and writing; the political, cultural, and environmental circumstances in which they worked; the sources of their insight; and the implications of their work for modern society. Most of all, the book seeks to discover what enabled those natural historians to straddle boundaries that today seem impassable and to distill that wisdom for a modern world greatly in need of a holistic vision of people and environment.An unflinching investigation of the false promises of land sparing, exposing how its illusory successes mask the failures of green…
capitalism For two decades, the concept of land sparing, the claim that agricultural intensification can spare land by preventing forest clearing for agricultural expansion, has dominated tropical forest conservation. Land sparing policies transform landscapes and livelihoods with the promise of reconciling agricultural development with environmental conservation. But that land sparing promise is false. Based on six years of research on agrarian frontiers in Indonesia, Brazil, and Bolivia, this book traces where and how land sparing becomes policy and charts the social and ecological effects of these political contests. Gregory M. Thaler explains why land sparing appears successful in some places but not in others and reveals that success as an illusion achieved by displacing deforestation to new frontiers. The failure of land sparing exposes a harsh truth behind assurances of green capitalism: capitalist development is ecocide.Liberalism and the Challenge of Climate Change
Par Christopher Shaw. 2024
In this book Christopher Shaw analyses how liberalism has shaped our understanding of climate change and how liberalism is legitimated…
in the face of a crisis for which liberalism has no answers.The language and symbolism we use to make sense of climate change arose in the post-World War II liberal institutions of the West. This language and symbolism, in neutralising the philosophical and ideological challenge climate change poses to the legitimacy of free market liberalism, has also closed off the possibility of imagining a different kind of future for humanity. The book is structured around a repurposing of the ‘guardrail’ concept, commonly used in climate science narratives to communicate the boundary between safe and dangerous climate change. Five discursive ‘guardrails’ are identified, which define a boundary between safe and dangerous ideas about how to respond to climate change. The theoretical treatment of these issues is complemented with data from interviews with opinion-formers, decision-makers and campaigners, exploring what models of human nature and political possibilities guide their approach to the politics of climate change governance.This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate change, liberal politics, environmental communication and environmental politics and philosophy, in general.Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places shows readers how to find and…
prepare more than five hundred different plants for nutrition and better health. It includes information on common plants such as mullein (a tea made from the leaves and flowers suppresses a cough), stinging nettle (steam the leaves and you have a tasty dish rich in iron), cattail (cooked stalks taste similar to corn and are rich in protein), and wild apricots (an infusion made with the leaves is good for stomach aches and digestive disorders). More than 260 detailed line drawings help readers identify a wide range of plants -- many of which are suited for cooking by following the more than thirty recipes included in this book. There are literally hundreds of plants readily available underfoot waiting to be harvested and used either as food or as a potential therapeutic. This book is both a field guide to nature's bounty and a source of intriguing information about the plants that surround us.Home Waters: A Chronicle of Family and a River
Par John N. Maclean. 2021
“Beautiful. ... A lyrical companion to his father’s classic, A River Runs through It, chronicling their family’s history and bond…
with Montana’s Blackfoot River.” —Washington PostA "poetic" and "captivating" (Publishers Weekly) memoir about the power of place to shape generations, Home Waters is John N. Maclean's remarkable chronicle of his family's century-long love affair with Montana's majestic Blackfoot River, the setting for his father's classic novella, A River Runs through It. Maclean returns annually to the simple family cabin that his grandfather built by hand, still in search of the trout of a lifetime. When he hooks it at last, decades of longing promise to be fulfilled, inspiring John, reporter and author, to finally write the story he was born to tell. A book that will resonate with everyone who feels deeply rooted to a landscape, Home Waters is a portrait of a family who claimed a river, from one generation to the next, of how this family came of age in the 20th century and later as they scattered across the country, faced tragedy and success, yet were always drawn back to the waters that bound them together. Here are the true stories behind the beloved characters fictionalized in A River Runs through It, including the Reverend Maclean, the patriarch who introduced the family to fishing; Norman, who balanced a life divided between literature and the tug of the rugged West; and tragic yet luminous Paul (played by Brad Pitt in Robert Redford’s film adaptation), whose mysterious death has haunted the family and led John to investigate his uncle’s murder and reveal new details in these pages.A universal story about nature, family, and the art of fly fishing, Maclean’s memoir beautifully captures the inextricable ways our personal histories are linked to the places we come from—our home waters. Featuring twelve wood engravings by Wesley W. Bates and a map of the Blackfoot River region.The Sense of Wonder: A Celebration of Nature for Parents and Children
Par Rachel Carson. 1998
First published a half-century ago, Rachel Carson's award-winning The Sense of Wonder remains the classic guide to introducing children to…
the marvels of natureIn 1955, acclaimed conservationist Rachel Carson—author of Silent Spring—began work on an essay that she would come to consider one of her life’s most important projects. Her grandnephew, Roger Christie, had visited Carson that summer at her cottage in Maine, and together they had wandered the surrounding woods and tide pools. Teaching Roger about the natural wonders around them, Carson began to see them anew herself, and wanted to relate that same magical feeling to others who might hope to introduce a child to the beauty of nature. “If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder,” writes Carson, “he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.”Now available in paperback, The Sense of Wonder is a timeless volume that will be passed on from generation to generation, as treasured as the memory of an early-morning walk when the song of a whippoorwill was heard as if for the first time. Featuring serene color photographs from renowned photographer Nick Kelsh, “this beautifully illustrated edition makes a fine gift for new and prospective mothers and fathers” (Gregory McNamee), and helps us all to tap into the extraordinary power of the natural world.Harmony: A New Way of Looking at Our World
Par The Prince of Wales, Tony Juniper, Ian Skelly. 2010
For the first time, His Royal Highness Charles, the Prince of Wales, shares his views on how mankind’s most pressing…
modern challenges are rooted in our disharmony with nature. In the vein of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and Van Jones’ Green Collar Economy, Prince Charles presents the compelling case that solutions to our most dire crises—from climate change to poverty—lie in regaining a balance with the world around us.Air Pollution: Health and Environmental Impacts
Par Bhola R. Gurjar, Luisa T. Molina, Chandra S. P. Ojha. 2010
Air pollution is recognized as one of the leading contributors to the global environmental burden of disease, even in countries…
with relatively low concentrations of air pollution. Air Pollution: Health and Environmental Impacts examines the effect of this complex problem on human health and the environment in different settings around the world. IOceanographic Processes of Coral Reefs: Physical and Biological Links in the Great Barrier Reef
Par Eric Wolanski, Michael J. Kingsford. 2024
In the last two decades since publication of the first edition, substantial advancements have been made in the science, the…
need for transdisciplinary approaches to coral reef protection greater than ever before. This new edition, now in full color throughout with accompanying animations, goes beyond identifying foundational information and current problems to pinpoint science-based solutions for managers, stakeholders and policy makers. Coral reefs are connected by currents that carry plankton and the larvae of many reef-based organisms. Further, they supply food to reefs. Currents also bring pollutants from the land and, together with the atmosphere, affect the surrounding ocean. The chapters in this book provide a much-needed review of the biophysics of reefs with an emphasis on the Great Barrier Reef as an ecosystem. The focus is on interactions between currents, waves, sediment and the dynamics of coastal and reef-based ecosystems. The topographic complexity of reefs redirects mainstream currents, creates tidal eddies, mushroom jets, boundary layers, stagnation zones, and this turbulence is enhanced by the oceanographic chaos in the adjoining Coral Sea. This is the environment in which particles and organisms, of a range of sizes live, from tiny plankton to megafauna. This generates faunal connectivity at scales of meters to thousands of km within the Great Barrier Reef and with the adjoining ocean. Pollution from land-use is increasing and remedial measures are described both on land and on coral cays. The impact of climate change is quantified in case studies about mangroves and corals. Modelling this biophysical complexity is increasing in sophistication, and the authors suggest how the field can advance further.Critical Realism and the Objective Value of Sustainability contributes to the growing discussion surrounding the concept of sustainability, using a…
critical realist approach within a transdisciplinary theoretical framework to examine how sustainability objectively occurs in the natural world and in society. The book develops an ethical theory of sustainability as an objective value, rooted not in humans’ subjective preferences but in the holistic web of relationships, interdependencies, and obligations existing among living things on Earth, a web believed to have maintained life on Earth over the last 3.7 billion years. It proposes three pillars of sustainability ethics: contentment for the human existence given to us; justice (beyond distributive justice); and meaningful freedom (within ecological and moral limits). Using abductive reasoning, the book infers that there is an out-of-this-world Sustainer behind the Earth’s sustainability acting as a metaphysical source of all being and value. It argues that sustainability value, accepted as a shared understanding of the common good, must guide individual decisions and socio-economic development efforts as a matter of deliberate choice, as well as be built on the awareness that there are non-negotiable, pre-established conditions for our planet’s sustainability. This book will be of interest to students and scholars across fields of inquiry, including sustainability, sustainable development, environmental philosophy and ethics, philosophy of science, and ecological economics, and to whoever may wonder why seasons exists and why humans have creative minds.Wisdom of the Last Farmer: Harvesting Legacies from the Land
Par David Mas Masumoto. 2009
It was when David Mas Masumoto's father had a stroke on the sprawling fields of their farm that the son…
looked with new eyes on the land where he and generations of his family have toiled for decades. Masumoto -- an organic farmer working the land in California's Central Valley -- farms stories as he farms peaches. In Wisdom of the Last Farmer, an impassioned memoir of revitalization and redemption, he finds the natural connections between generation and succession, fathers and children, booms and declines as he tells the story of his family and their farm. He brings us to the rich earth of America's Fruit Basket, under the vine trellises and canes where grapes are grown, and to the fruit orchards flush with green before harvest, where he uncovers and preserves the age-old wisdom that is fast disappearing in our modern, information-driven world -- and that is urgently needed in this time of food crises and social disruption. Masumoto sees the price the family has paid to grow complex heirloom peaches -- when the market rewards tasteless, big, and red fruits -- and the challenges of maintaining traditions and integrity while working in the modern, high-pressure agricultural marketplace. As his father's health declines along with the profitability of the family farm, Masumoto has the further hard work of nursing his father back to health -- becoming master to the teacher who once schooled him -- and is driven beyond economic concerns to even larger questions of life, death, and renewal. In his gorgeous, lyrical prose, Masumoto conjures the realities of farming life while weaving in the history of American agriculture over the past century, encapsulating universal themes of work along with wisdom that could be gleaned only from the earth. By the end of the workday, he understands the feeling of accomplishment when you've done your best...and discovers that it's when he lets go -- of both his father and control of nature -- that wisdom manifests itself. And, when Masumoto's daughter intends to return to the family farm, hope is found in the generations. In the quiet eloquence of Wisdom of the Last Farmer, you will see how your own destiny is involved in the future of your food, the land, and the farm.Tropical Nature: Life and Death in the Rain Forests of Central and South America (Zona Tropical Publications)
Par Adrian Forsyth, Ken Miyata. 1987
Seventeen marvelous essays introducing the habitats, ecology, plants, and animals of the Central and South American rainforest.A lively, lucid portrait…
of the tropics as seen by two uncommonly observant and thoughtful field biologists. Its seventeen marvelous essays introduce the habitats, ecology, plants, and animals of the Central and South American rainforest. Includes a lengthy appendix of practical advice for the tropical traveler.Catalysis for Sustainability: Goals, Challenges, and Impacts (ISSN)
Par Thomas P. Umile. 2016
Catalysis for Sustainability: Goals, Challenges, and Impacts explores the intersection between catalytic science and sustainable technologies as a means to…
addressing current economic, social, and environmental problems. These problems include harnessing alternative energy sources, pollution prevention and remediation, and the manufacturing of commFrom Josh Tickell, one of America&’s most celebrated documentary filmmakers, comes a &“fascinating, easy-to-follow blueprint for how eating in ways…
that nourish and regenerate the soil can not only help reverse global warming, but also bring greater vitality to our lives&” (Wolfgang Puck). &“A must read for anyone committed to healing our bodies and our Earth&” (Deepak Chopra), Kiss the Ground explains an incredible truth: by changing our diets to a soil-nourishing, regenerative agriculture diet, we can reverse global warming, harvest healthy, abundant food, and eliminate the poisonous substances that are harming our children, pets, bodies, and ultimately our planet. This &“richly visual&” (KirkusReviews) look at the impact of an underappreciated but essential resource—the very ground that feeds us—features fascinating and accessible interviews with celebrity chefs, ranchers, farmers, and top scientists. Kiss the Ground teaches you how to become an agent in humanity&’s single most important and time-sensitive mission: reverse climate change and effectively save the world—all through the choices you make in how and what to eat. Also a full-length documentary executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and narrated by Woody Harrelson, &“Kiss the Ground both informs and inspires&” (Marianne Williamson, #1 New York Times bestselling author).The Flight of the Iguana: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature
Par David Quammen. 1986
The award-winning author of The Song of the Dodo examines weird and wonderful aspects of nature in this collection of…
wise, witty, and insightful essays.From tales of vegetarian piranha fish and voiceless dogs to the scientific search for the genes that threaten to destroy the cheetah, David Quammen captures the natural world with precision. Throughout, he illuminates the surprising intricacies of the natural world, and our human attitudes towards those intricacies. A distinguished essayist, Quammen’s reporting is masterful and thought provoking and his curiosity and fascination with the world of living things is infectious.The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water
Par Charles Fishman. 2011
Praised as &“an entertaining and torrential flow of a book&” by Nature magazine, The Big Thirstis a startling examination of…
the passing of the golden age of water and the shocking facts about how water scarcity will soon be a major factor in our lives.The water coming out of your kitchen tap is four billion years old and might well have been sipped by a Tyrannosaurus rex. Rather than only three states of water—liquid, ice, and vapor—there is a fourth, &“molecular water,&” fused into rock 400 miles deep in the Earth, and that&’s where most of the planet&’s water is found. Unlike most precious resources, water cannot be used up; it can always be made clean enough again to drink—indeed, water can be made so clean that it&’s toxic. Water is the most vital substance in our lives but also more amazing and mysterious than we appreciate. As Charles Fishman brings vibrantly to life in this surprising and mind-changing narrative, water runs our world in a host of awe-inspiring ways, yet we take it completely for granted. But the era of easy water is over.Bringing readers on a lively and fascinating journey—from the wet moons of Saturn to the water-obsessed hotels of Las Vegas, where dolphins swim in the desert, and from a rice farm in the parched Australian outback to a high-tech IBM plant that makes an exotic breed of pure water found nowhere in nature—Fishman vividly shows that we&’ve already left behind a century-long golden age when water was thoughtlessly abundant, free, and safe and entered a new era of high-stakes water. In 2008, Atlanta came within ninety days of running entirely out of clean water. California is in a desperate battle to hold off a water catastrophe. And in the last five years Australia nearly ran out of water—and had to scramble to reinvent the country&’s entire water system. But as dramatic as the challenges are, the deeper truth Fishman reveals is that there is no good reason for us to be overtaken by a global water crisis. We have more than enough water. We just don&’t think about it, or use it, smartly.The Big Thirst brilliantly explores our strange and complex relationship to water. We delight in watching waves roll in from the ocean; we take great comfort from sliding into a hot bath; and we will pay a thousand times the price of tap water to drink our preferred brand of the bottled version. We love water—but at the moment, we don&’t appreciate it or respect it. Just as we&’ve begun to reimagine our relationship to food, a change that is driving the growth of the organic and local food movements, we must also rethink how we approach and use water. The good news is that we can. As Fishman shows, a host of advances are under way, from the simplicity of harvesting rainwater to the brilliant innovations devised by companies such as IBM, GE, and Royal Caribbean that are making impressive breakthroughs in water productivity. Knowing what to do is not the problem. Ultimately, the hardest part is changing our water consciousness.As Charles Fishman writes, &“Many civilizations have been crippled or destroyed by an inability to understand water or manage it. We have a huge advantage over the generations of people who have come before us, because we can understand water and we can use it smartly.&” The Big Thirst will forever change the way we think about water, about our essential relationship to it, and about the creativity we can bring to ensuring that we&’ll always have plenty of it.Blueprint for Going Green: How a Small Foundation Changed the Model for Environmental Conservation
Par Gerald P. McCarthy. 2024
How one organization took on industrial pollution—and the lessons for our new century In 1977, one forward-thinking judge took an…
ecological disaster—the poisoning of the James River by Allied Chemical—and turned it into a great environmental-protection legacy. The $8 million payment made by Allied would go on to fund the game-changing Virginia Environmental Endowment.Blueprint for Going Green provides an insider&’s account of the remarkable results of this landmark ruling and the foundation it spawned. Over the following decades, the VEE helped to grow the fledgling environmental movement in Virginia into a powerful force for protecting the state&’s water quality and conserving its landscape. This inspiring story reveals how a small group can make a profound difference by engaging in public policy work, funding science to advance public policy, and helping to build a lasting and effective citizen-led environmental movement.Carbon Footprint Analysis: Concepts, Methods, Implementation, and Case Studies (Systems Innovation Book Series)
Par Matthew John Franchetti, Defne Apul. 2013
The negative impacts of carbon emissions from human activities continue to dramatically reshape the environmental, political, and social landscape. These…
impacts coupled with cap and trade schemes iterate the importance and need to properly measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon Footprint Analysis: Concepts, Methods, Implementation, anThe House on an Irish Hillside: A Memoir
Par Felicity Hayes-McCoy. 2012
&“A lovely writer, far superior to the average memoirist. . . . A curious mind, a perceptive observer with an artist&’s eye, a…
seeker of truth and beauty.&” —Irish IndependentFrom the moment I crossed the mountain, I fell in love with the place, which was more beautiful than any I&’d ever seen. And with a way of looking at life that was deeper, richer and wiser than any I&’d known before. . . . From the first day I came here I always knew I&’d come back. Sometimes we have to go back to our beginnings to become the person we want to be. More than a decade ago, USA Today–bestselling author Felicity Hayes-McCoy left the hectic pace of London and returned to her home country of Ireland to forge a new life in a remarkable house on the stunning Dingle peninsula. Gorgeously written, this is a life-affirming tale of rediscovering lost values and remembering the things that matter most. &“Wise, funny and touching, this book is a portrait of friendships, customs and folklore of Ireland; but what stays with you is harder to catch, like smoke or running water. It is the taste of something we all once knew, ever-present if only you look for it.&” ―Joanna Lumley, actress and author of Absolutely: A Memoir &“The book glowed . . . when I finished reading, I felt a sense of well-being, wonder and delight.&” —Alice Taylor, bestselling author of To School Through the FieldsPraise for Felicity Hayes-McCoy &“A pitch-perfect delight.&” —Marian Keyes, international bestselling author of Grown Ups on The Transatlantic Book Club &“The spot-on descriptions of Ireland&’s country roads and expansive sky all but leap off the page. . . . Maeve Binchy and Patrick Taylor fans will find much to enjoy.&” —Booklist on The Library at the Edge of the World &“Sunshine on the page.&” —Cathy Kelly, bestselling author of Between Sisters on The Month of Borrowed Dreams