Books » Outdoors & Nature Books

Nouragues is a tropical forest research station in French Guiana. It was established in 1986 for research on natural mechanisms of forest regeneration. Since then a lot of research has been done on this and related topics. This book provides an overview of the main research results, and focuses on plant communities, vertebrate communities and evolutionary ecology, frugivory and seed dispersal, and forest dynamics and recruitment. The appendices give (annoted) checklists of plants, birds, mammals, herpetofauna and fishes found in the same area.

Natural and constructed wetlands play a very important role within the landscape and their ecological services are highly valuable. Water management, including flood water retention, biomass production, carbon sequestration, wastewater treatment and as a biodiversity source are among the most important ecological services of wetlands. In

In The Wrong Place: Alien Marine Crustaceans - Distribution, Biology And Impacts provides a unique view into the remarkable story of how shrimps, crabs, and lobsters and their many relatives have been distributed around the world by human activity, and the profound implications of this global reorganization of biodiversity for marine conservation biology. Many crustaceans form the base of marine food chains, and are often prominent predators and competitors acting as ecological engineers in marine ecosystems. Commencing in the 1800s global commerce began to move hundreds perhaps thousands of species of marine crustaceans across oceans and between continents, both intentionally and unintentionally. This book tells the story of these invasions from Arctic waters to tropical shores, highlighting not only the importance and impact of all prominent crustacean invasions in the world's oceans, but also the commercial exploitation of invasive crabs and shrimps. Topics explored for the first time in one volume include the historical roots of man's impact on crustacean biogeography, the global dispersal of crabs, barnacle invasions, insights into the potential scale of tropical invasions, the history of the world's most widely cultured shrimp, the invasive history and management of red king crabs in Norway, Chinese mitten crabs in England, and American blue crabs in Europe, the evolutionary ecology of green crabs, and many other subjects as well, touching upon all ocean shores.

Last Stand takes readers from the tallgrass prairies of Kansas to the Arctic tundra of Alaska to the deserts of the Southwest and bears passionate witness to our last wildernesses, reminding us why they must be preserved.

Dedicated conservationist and acclaimed novelist Barbara Kingsolver teams with National Geographic photographer Annie Griffiths Belt to capture the essence of America?s endangered virgin lands. In her moving introduction and int he essays opening each chapter, Kingsolver deftly explores the ways of the wilderness, the threats against it, and what it needs to survive. Griffiths Belt?s accompanying hand-tinted infrared photographs breathtakingly evoke the spirit and beauty of these diverse bioregions.

The Whole Earth Catalog for the next generation. Experts suggest that by 2005, 40 percent of American homes will buy organic, yet a large majority have only a limited knowledge of how to actually make informed, green choices. Green Living, from the editors of E/The Environmental Magazine offers a thorough, step-by-step plan for every aspect of your life, from the laundry room to the kitchen: Maintaining a healthy home Going organic and avoiding genetically modified food Finding a planet-friendly car Making socially responsible investments Using personal-care products free of damaging chemicals With advice on everything from planet-friendly cosmetics to home-based renewable energy, and straight talk on hemp, hybrids and hair coloring, Green Living is the ideal reference for both the neophyte and the experienced environmentalist.

exciting narrative, images, maps, journal entries, plans, and sketches, this is the only firsthand account of what may be the most important adventure of our time.

Learn how the extraordinary impact of the pandafrom obscurity to fameis also the story of China's transition from shy beginnings to center stage. Giant pandas have been causing a stir ever since their formal scientific discovery just over 140 years ago. For almost a century they defied classification; they outwitted hunters and escaped trappers, left the public elbowing and zoo turnstiles spinning, were sent on diplomatic journeys, branded onto products and turned into company logos. Thanks to the World Wide Fund for Nature this species became the face of global conservation. Yet in spite of humankinds evident obsession with the giant panda, it is only in the last few decades that scientific research has begun to show us what this mysterious, frequently misunderstood creature is really like. Henry Nicholls uses the rich and curious history of the giant panda to do several things: to ponder our changing attitudes towards the natural world; to offer a compelling history of the conservation movement; and to chart the rise of modern China on its journey to become the self-sufficient, twenty-first-century superpower it is today. 16 pages of full-color photographs

"No school, public, or academic library could go wrong including the very affordable World Heritage Sites in both reference and circulating collections." -- Booklist In 1959, UNESCO launched an international campaign to safeguard the world's most important sites, which led to the first World Heritage List. This new edition includes the 21 brand-new sites, such as: The first capital of the Saudi dynasty Colonial-period convict sites in Australia Bikini Atoll Important commercial centers on the Silver Route and the Silk Road in Iran Subtropical rain forests and cloud forests in Runion National Park A major reindeer migration route across the Arctic An 18th-century astronomical observation site in India The 911 sites are found in 151 countries across the globe, and strict criteria assures that only the most spectacular and extraordinary sites make it onto the list. Many are familiar, such as the Great Barrier Reef, the Great Wall of China and Mount Kilimanjaro, and many are less known but equally important, including Sweden's Engelsberg ironworks and the Sewell Mining Town in Chile. The United States and Canada together boast 36 sites, including the Statue of Liberty, the Mammoth Caves, Dinosaur Provincial Park, Historic Quebec and Everglades National Park, recently added to the World Heritage List of Sites in Danger. Featuring gorgeous photographs and updated maps, World Heritage Sites is a uniquely comprehensive and valuable resource to the world's most important historical and natural treasures. (20100601)

Many countries experience lack of harmony among economic development, environmental management and human health. As a consequence, public health, the integrity of ecosystems, and the efforts to reach environmental sustainability, have been adversely affected. The complexity, frequency and magnitude of those impacts is increasingly parallel to the technological revolution, rising population, and increasing per capita consumption. The burden of the concerns about how humans inflict natural and man-made enclaves tends to rely in highly industrial societies. However, many of the world environmental alterations are been achieved by non-industrial societies. This book examines and discusses multidisciplinary aspects of the impacts that humans had on the physical environment, the biota, and human health, focusing on the scenario of developing and under-developing countries. Among the areas covered are environmental degradation, pollution, occupational health, risk management, epidemiology and toxicology. This book will help scientists, resource managers, administrators, educators, policy makers and college students to interpret that risk management and the advancement of research in sustainable development is of utmost importance for all parties involved in seeking solutions for the protectionof natural and anthropogenic systems, and human health.

spectacular photographs from Thomas Marent, a self-taught photographer who has dedicated half his life to capturing images of rainforest life, and including captions that present the stories behind the photographs, Rainforest is an extraordinary photographic biography of our planet's most beautiful yet fragile environment. Now in paperback!