Evolutionary biology has long sought to explain how new traits and new species arise. Darwin maintained that competition is key to understanding this biodiversity and held that selection acting to minimize competition causes competitors to become increasingly different, thereby…
This book provides a synthesis of plant-soil-plant interactions from the plot to landscape scale. It focuses on the process level, which is relevant to many types of multispecies agroecosystems (agroforestry, intercropping and others). It also links basic research to practical a…
Rangelands are those parts of the world where pastoral people graze native and domestic herbivores on native vegetation. Here the natural and fossil resources are utilized by other people for a host of purposes, including fuels and minerals, water catchment, ecotourism and recre…
This book aims to build on and extend the wealth of information presented in a previous book, Agrobiodiversity: Characterization, Utilization and Management (Wood and Lenné, 1999), to show how agrobiodiversity can effectively and efficiently be managed for food security. Chapte…
The first book of its kind to address the issues of global change from a true Earth systems perspective, The Earth System offers a solid emphasis on lessons from Earth's history that may guide decision-making in the future. The authors' systems theory approach looks holisticall…
The first book of its kind to address the issues of global change from a true Earth systems perspective, The Earth System offers a solid emphasis on lessons from Earth's history that may guide decision-making in the future. The authors' systems theory approach looks holisticall…
In the face of accelerating extinctions across the globe, what ought we to do? Amid this sea of losses, what is our responsibility? How do we assess the value of nonhuman species? In this book, the author explores urgent questions about the destruction of species and provides a …
Unprecedented habitat loss, species declines, climate warming, and pollution are culminating in an environmental crisis that needs to be addressed with innovative and radical solutions. The crisis runs deep in the tropics, where two-thirds of the biodiversity exists in the backd…
The origin of species, or speciation, the "mystery of mysteries", as Charles Darwin called it, is an issue at the very heart of evolutionary biology, critical to understanding the mechanisms behind the great diversity of life around us. This book is centered around three major r…
"The world's species, genes, and ecosystems are going extinct at an alarming and unprecedented rate, largely as a result of human activities." "In Biodiversity and Democracy, Paul M. Wood looks at this dilemma from another perspective. He argues that the problem can be traced ba…
"The second edition of Biodiversity and Conservation continues to offer an introductory guide through the maze of interdisciplinary themes that combine under the concept of 'biodiversity'. Using examples throughout, the text combines biological sciences with its insights into th…
Updated to reflect new research and developments, and with original international case studies, this introductory text brings together the theory and practice that make up 'biodiversity' and 'conservation'.
The birds, animals, insects, trees and plants encountered by the majority of the world’s people are those that survive in, adapt to, or are introduced to, urban areas. Some of these organisms give great pleasure; others invade, colonise and occupy neglected and hidden areas suc…
Key Topics in Conservation Biology 2 adds to the still topical foundations laid in the first volume (published in 2007) by exploring a further 25 cutting-edge issues in modern biodiversity conservation, including controversial subjects such as setting conservation priorities, ba…
"Ecosystems today are dynamic and complex, leaving conservationists faced with the paradox of conserving moving targets. New approaches to conservation are now required that aim to conserve ecological function and process, rather than attempt to protect static snapshots of biodi…
This volume provides various examples and dimensions, chemical, biological, climatic, or related to extreme (hazards). It describes, by reciprocity, the vulnerability of ecosystems, resources, heritage, human health and, consequently, economic and social sectors. it considers cl…
"We are living in an age where biodiversity is being lost at an unprecedented rate, with the well-documented problems of habitat destruction being compounded by the largely unknown future effects of Climate Change. High quality, accurate and reliable biodiversity data are needed…
