Økologi, biosfæren

This book provides the latest information on fish lectins from the perspective of inflammation and presents new ideas on the complicated mechanisms of lectin biochemistry and associated interactions. Key features include discussion of mechanisms recently identified to be involving lectin family types, presentation of the latest evidence regarding the molecular approaches in fish lectins, and thorough explanation of the concept of antimicrobial and immunological roles and current understanding of the significance of its disease resistance related studies. Gene expression studies is another important element of the book, and it is proposed that gene editing technology provides gaining attention in the biological role of fish lectin research. Examples of the many lastest molecular approaches, applications and future perspectives in fish lectin specific topics covered in this book include the information right from the basics to the advancements in this area. The book will be a valuable update and resource for both experienced and younger researchers working in the field of lectins and immunology.

"From trilobites near the Idaho border and primitive horses on the Columbia Plateau to giant bird tracks near Bellingham and curious bear-like beasts on the Olympic Peninsula, fossils across Washington State are filled with clues of past life on Earth. With abundant and well-exposed rock layers, the state has fossils dating from Ice Age mammals only 12,000 years old back to marine invertebrates more than 500 million years old. In Spirit Whales and Sloth Tales, paleontologist Elizabeth A. Nesbitt teams up with popular science writer David B. Williams to offer a tour through more than a half billion years of natural history. Following an introduction to key concepts, twenty-four profiles-each featuring a unique plant, animal, or environment-tell stories of individual fossils, many of which are on display in Washington museums. The paleontology of Washington is brought to life with details of the fossils' discovery and extraction, their place in geological time, and the insights they provide into contemporary issues like climate change and species extinction"--

Dieses Lehrbuch zur Kreislaufwirtschaft (in den Vorauflagen unter dem Titel Einführung in die Abfallwirtschaft erschienen) bietet eine Einführung und Vertiefung für alle studienrelevanten Inhalte zur Kreislaufwirtschaft. Unter Mitwirkung von kompetenten Fachleuten und Experten, die in Lehre und Forschung auf dem Gebiet der Kreislauf- und Abfallwirtschaft tätig sind, berücksichtigt die 6. Auflage die aktuellen technischen und gesetzlichen Entwicklungen, aber auch die Anforderungen an Abfallwirtschaftsbetriebe, Kommunikation an Konsumenten und ökonomische Aspekte. Zahlreiche Abbildungen helfen dabei, das Themengebiet der Kreislaufwirtschaft besser zu verstehen. Am Ende eines jeden Kapitels unterstützen die bewährten Kontroll- und Übungsaufgaben das Lernen. Ein umfassendes Glossar mit Erläuterungen zu den Fachbegriffen sowie ergänzende Tabellen runden dieses Buch ab.

Urban expansion beyond the city¿s administrative boundaries has altered villages to a great extent. These peri-urban villages are experiencing unforeseen changes in demographic, economic, land-use, and environmental characteristics. The concept of peri-urbanization is grabbing the attention of urban planners and policymakers globally. To understand the dynamics of the peri-urban region it is crucial to examine multiple rural and urban characteristics. This book studies major changes in population, land and development with the integration of remotely sensed data and census data for 615 peri-urban villages surrounding Ahmedabad city of India. The chapters of the book are designed to cover key aspects of peri-urban change with geospatial methods. This book offers a comprehensive understanding and importance of analyzing peri-urban dynamics at the smallest spatial unit. It provides a detailed conceptual and methodological framework for the students and researchers to study peri-urbanization as well as for the policymakers to redefine the urban policies.

This book describes the fauna of the Pernambuco Endemism Center in Brazil's Northern Atlantic Forest, an understudied global biodiversity hotspot. Through fifteen curated chapters, it provides the latest information about the fauna of the northern portion of the Atlantic Forest, gathering important information about the faunal composition of the region for the first time. The chapters address animal biodiversity including terrestrial and aquatic vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) and invertebrates (ants, butterflies, dung beetles, hervestmen, spiders, and termites). All chapters provide species lists, taxonomic aspects and richness analysis. Conservation of specific animal groups is also discussed. Finally, the book discusses human impacts on the forest and its biodiversity, emphasizing the need for conservation of this highly impacted ecosystem.

This book addresses the effectiveness of existing protected areas at conserving the diversity of genes, species and ecosystems on land and at sea. The book synthetizes the main biodiversity conservation outcomes of protected areas in the 2010-2019 decade, drawing on a systematic literature review of scientific publications and case studies from around the world demonstrating successes and failures. It provides region-specific results for land and sea ecosystems as well as for developed and developing countries. It also reviews current methodological approaches used to assess protected area effectiveness. The work is timely, since there is growing concern on the global biodiversity crisis among researchers, government organizations and the general public, as demonstrated by the 2030 targets established by the UN Sustainable Development Goals for Life Below Water (SDG 14) and Life On land (SDG15). The book is written in an easy and enjoyable style using numerous pictures, tables and graphs to make the content more engaging and understandable. The main intended audiences of the book are academics, from post-graduate students to university lecturers, and senior researchers in the fields of biodiversity conservation, sustainable development and environmental policy, as well as protected area managers and practitioners.

Environmental pollution refers to the presence or introduction into the environment of harmful substances or contaminants that can cause adverse effects on living organisms and the natural world. These pollutants can originate from various sources, including industrial activities, transportation, agriculture and human activities such as littering.Air pollution is the presence of harmful substances and contaminants in the air, primarily caused by industrial activities, transportation and burning of fossil fuels. Air pollution can cause respiratory problems, heart disease, and even cancer.Water pollution, on the other hand, is the presence of harmful substances and contaminants in bodies of water such as oceans, lakes, rivers and groundwater. It can result from both natural and human activities such as industrial waste disposal, agricultural runoff, and sewage discharge. Water pollution can harm aquatic life, lead to the degradation of ecosystems, and also contaminate drinking water sources, posing a risk to human health. Prevention and reduction of air and water pollution are critical for protecting human health and preserving the natural world.

Reservoir construction is the key strategy for water resource management. In recent years, the migration of pollutants and their transformation into the reservoir ecosystem has become a global problem. Intensified anthropogenic activities and unsustainable practices have amplified the pollutant levels in the reservoir. Therefore, this book intends to highlight environmental characteristics of the reservoir, study methods of ecotoxicology, and mechanistic toxicogenetic pathways of pollutants in the reservoir. Adverse outcome pathway (AOPs) model is used to elucidate toxicological effects of reservoir pollutants. Moreover, ecological and human health risks of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR), the largest power generation reservoir on earth, and its pollution status are also discussed.

This monograph discusses fire hazard and fire resistance in wooden structures with a long duration of operation. Aside from its increasing importance for modern architecture, wood has been the most important building material in the past. It has a distinct aesthetic, high mechanical strength, and resistance against many environmental changes. These properties are evident in structures like the still standing Grinstead Chuch, which has been built in 1045.Readers will however learn about the decreasing fire resistance in wooden buildings with a long service live. Considering the cultural value of medieval wood buildings, this topic becomes increasingly relevant. The chapters discuss the mechanical, physico-chemical and thermophysical properties of wooden structures over different lifespans. Many factors contributing to the changing fire resistance in the ageing process of wooden structures, are explained.This book is a valuable resource for students, teachers and scientists in the areas of wood science, fire research and forestry.

This book examines the impacts that the COVID-19 lockdown has had on environmental and ecological health, with a focus on coastal ecosystems in the Lower Gangetic Delta. The book begins with an overview of COVID-19's spread and impact before and after the lockdown in the focus region, then addresses the specific impacts that the lockdown period had and continues to have on air quality, marine and estuarine water quality, coastal biodiversity, and the livelihoods of the region's inhabitants, especially those who live below the poverty line. The decrease in human activity combined with the complete closure of various sectors, including air travel, oil and gas drilling, and construction, has had a pronounced effect on biodiversity and overall environmental health that is yet to be fully realized. The book sheds light on these changes and assesses how biodiversity, ambient air quality, and ecosystem functioning will progress as COVID-19 remains a threat and the lockdown persists. The studywill be of interest to researchers, government officials and professionals dealing with disaster management, environmental science, biological science, and health.

This is the first anthology that conveys in detail the actual situation of population geographies in Japan, a country facing some of the world's most serious demographic trends such as low fertility, population aging, and depopulation. The anthology consists of two volumes with the common title Japanese Population Geographies. All of the included entries are based on original Japanese papers written by leading geographers and published within the past few years, useful for understanding Japan¿s current population geographies. The first volume analyzes the postwar transition of internal migration, examining the structural changes of population in urban areas, and proposes a new measure different from the traditional resident population. This volume also presents an investigation of the retirement migration of baby boomers as well as displacement migration due to the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. The second volume¿s contents examine the residential choicesof minority populations such as foreign residents and sexual minorities. It also discusses future prospects associated with mono-polar concentration into Tokyo, regional forecasting using population projections based on small-area units, and the importance of a politicöeconomic perspective in future research. Taken as a whole, this anthology offers the following two significant contributions. First, the excellent achievements obtained in Japan, which is experiencing serious demographic trends, reflect key developments within the context of the world's population geography. The second contribution is that the publication brings the latest insights and important policy implications to countries that are facing various issues associated with decreasing fertility, aging population, and declining population.

This book provides unique perspectives into newly changed political and socioeconomic urban landscapes due to COVID-19 in diverse cities and aims to provide ways to improve the resilience of cities using a global perspective, especially in a post-pandemic era. This book is divided into three sections with seventeen chapters overall. It explores the impacts of the COVID-19 on city planning, building, and maintenance; it considers city resilience and what urban risks cities are facing; and it examines urban development from diverse socioeconomic and political perspectives. The book contains multidisciplinary work by authors from China, African nations (Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria), Canada, Italy, Poland, and France. This manuscript provides a global perspective as cities from Africa, China, as well as some developed countries, such as France and South Korea, were used to collect data and information concerning urban development and risks, past, present, and future responses to COVID-19 as well as any other pandemics and cities' resilience. This book is a valuable asset to urban researchers, urban city planners, urban policymakers, public officials, undergraduates, and postgraduates interested in a comprehensive comparison between diverse socioeconomic and political cities with a unique global and post-pandemic perspective in order to improve urban city resilience.

This is the first anthology that conveys in detail the actual situation of population geographies in Japan, a country facing some of the world's most serious demographic trends such as low fertility, population aging, and depopulation. The anthology consists of two volumes with the common title Japanese Population Geographies. All of the included entries are based on original Japanese papers written by leading geographers and published within the past few years, useful for understanding Japan¿s current population geographies. The first volume analyzes the postwar transition of internal migration, examining the structural changes of population in urban areas, and proposes a new measure different from the traditional resident population. This volume also presents an investigation of the retirement migration of baby boomers as well as displacement migration due to the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. The second volume¿s contents examine the residential choicesof minority populations such as foreign residents and sexual minorities. It also discusses future prospects associated with mono-polar concentration into Tokyo, regional forecasting using population projections based on small-area units, and the importance of a politicöeconomic perspective in the future research. Taken as a whole, this anthology offers the following two significant contributions. First, the excellent achievements obtained in Japan, which is experiencing serious demographic trends, reflect key developments within the context of the world's population geography. The second contribution is that the book brings the latest insights and important policy implications to countries that are facing various issues associated with decreasing fertility, aging population, and declining population.

This volume explores the diversity of distributed eyes and other unusual visual systems in nature. It compares the unique themes of optics, neural processing, and behavioral control that emerge from these visual systems with more-canonical eyes. This volume attempts to answer a number of questions about distributed visual systems. What are distributed visual systems good for, how do they function, and why have they arisen independently in so many phyla? Why are eye designs and visual system arrangements much more diverse in invertebrates? Each chapter includes an overview of the visual systems that exist in their group of animals, relates vision to ecology, and takes a comparative approach.

Notes on the Mammals of Gogebic and Ontonagon Counties, Michigan, 1920 ; Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, Number 109, has been regarded as significant work throughout human history, and in order to ensure that this work is never lost, we have taken steps to ensure its preservation by republishing this book in a contemporary format for both current and future generations. This entire book has been retyped, redesigned, and reformatted. Since these books are not made from scanned copies, the text is readable and clear.

Plant mycobiome represents a diverse array of plant-associated communities of endophytic and epiphytic fungi. These communities fundamentally affect plant health, development, adaptation, and communication with the surrounding ecosystem. Furthermore, they have key roles in the establishment, diversification, productivity, and sustainability of different natural ecosystems. However, some of these communities are pathogenic for the plant itself or dangerous for the consumers, due to the production of mycotoxins. In other words, plant mycobiome represents two faces of a coin.This book aimed to explore contributions of the plant mycobiome in plant-environment interactions from different perspectives. Chapters of this book address numerous themes covering the recent advances in roles, diversity, and dynamics of these fungi as biocontrol agents, biofertilizers, growth promoters, and their secondary metabolites in the area of crop improvement for sustainability and biotechnology, aswell as the plant pathogenic and toxigenic fungi. This book will be useful to postgraduate students, botanists, mycologists, ecologists, plant pathologists, and physiologists.

This book is a focussed and up-to-date review about the key challenges, trends, implications, strategies, and ways of overcoming, that dynamic and competitive organizations are facing now and increasingly in future by climate change. The book creates a better understanding of the impacts that climate transition will have on organizations and how they are responding to find opportunities while overcoming the risks. What corporate governance models can and are organizations developing? What climate transition strategies are organizations creating? Who should be involved in the decision-making processes? To what extent are principles of transparency, equity, participation, inclusion, effectiveness, and efficiency present in corporate governance for climate transitions? These and other issues are just a few of the challenges that organizations by the climate change transition.International experts from a wide range of disciplines and perspectiveshave been invited to contribute to this book in order for providing a comprehensive and informed perspective for researchers, corporate leaders and students of business and management as well as environmental studies.

The importance of the Neotropics to the world's climate, biogeochemical cycling and biodiversity cannot be questioned. This book suggests that gradients are key to understanding both these issues and Neotropical ecosystem structure, function and dynamics in general. Those gradients are either spatial, temporal or spatio-temporal, where many temporal and spatio-temporal gradients are initiated by disturbances (e.g., tree-fall, landslide, cultivation). And in particular for the Neotropics, three large spatial gradients - latitude, longitude, altitude (elevation) - are of critical importance. The editor has over 30 years of experience investigating Neotropical gradients in Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Peru and Ecuador, and has published 5 previous books on different aspects of the Neotropics. Once again he has assembled top-shelf Neotropical scientists and researchers, here to focus on gradients: their nature, interactions and how they structure ecosystems.

This book presents an inclusive approach to deal with plant stresses in light of recent technological advances. As we have entered into a new decade, researchers and scientists should review and evaluate the recent findings in the field of plant stress management and visualize what we need to focus upon in the near future to increase crop yield. Above all, global climate changes present the greatest challenges of all time for plant scientists. In this context, the book highlights the recent findings and future perspectives in crop improvement to the faculties, scientists, research scholars, and postgraduate students.  Major features of the book include an inclusive approach in understanding the mechanism of stress tolerance; recent advances and innovations in the field of allied disciplines like microbiology, molecular biology, biotechnology, plant breeding, nanobiotechnology, etc., for improving plant stress tolerance; and illustrative sketches to convey the mechanism and strategies of stress alleviation.

This book is a compilation of diverse, yet homogenic, research papers that discuss current advances in Earth Observation and Geospatial Information Technologies to tackle new horizons concerning the digitization and information management in smart cities¿ infrastructures. The book also tackles the challenges faced by urban planners by the new mega-cities and proposes a series of solutions to resolve complex urban issues. It suggests enhancing the integration of disciplines, thus, bringing together architects, urban planners, civil engineers, landscape designers and computer scientists to address the problems that our cities are facing. This book is a culmination of selected research papers from IEREK¿s fourth edition of the International Conference on Future Smart Cities (FSC) and the fourth edition of the International Conference on Resilient and Responsible Architecture and Urbanism (RRAU) held online in collaboration with the XMUM, Selangor, Malaysia (2021).