This book explores the relationship between cultural strategies and their biological outcomes, combining for the first time an ecosystems approach with cultural anthropological, archaeological and evolutionary behavioural concepts. Beginning with resource use and food procurement behaviour, the text examines major subsistence modes, the circumstances and dynamics of large-scale subsistence change, the effect of social differentiation on resource use and the effects of subsistence behaviour on population development and regulation.
This book explores the relationship between cultural strategies and their biological outcomes, combining for the first time an ecosystems approach ...
The findings presented in this volume represent a concerted effort to develop a more inclusive form of reindeer management for northernmost Europe. Our guiding principle has been to foster a new paradigm of participatory research. We wish to move beyond the historical reliance on western approaches to basic and applied science. These have been concerned prim- ily with interactions between herded animals and the various components of their biophysical environment, e. g., plants, insects, predators, climate, and others. In our view, sociocultural and economic drivers, along with herders'...
The findings presented in this volume represent a concerted effort to develop a more inclusive form of reindeer management for northernmost Europe. Ou...
Covers the range of natural and managed oak forests in the highlands of tropical America. Providing an understanding of ecological patterns and processes that determine the structure and functioning of these forests, this volume aims to serve as a basis for sustainable forest management and biodiversity conservation.
Covers the range of natural and managed oak forests in the highlands of tropical America. Providing an understanding of ecological patterns and proces...
Man's recent colonization of New Zealand has dramatically altered the resident biota and resulted in the introduction of numerous alien organisms to these once remote islands. In reverse, there is increasing evidence of a lesser known export of species to other regions of the world. This volume presents an in-depth review of the level and rate of such invasions, and investigates what controls the success of invaders and the consequences for ecosystems both on land and offshore. It provides invasion biologists everywhere with tests of current theories about those factors leading to the...
Man's recent colonization of New Zealand has dramatically altered the resident biota and resulted in the introduction of numerous alien organisms t...
The two volumes on "Wetlands as a Natural Resource" in the book series Ecological th Studies (Volumes 190,191) are based on the highlights of the 7 INTECOL International Wetland Conference in Utrecht,25-30 July 2004. This conference brought together about 900 participants from 61 countries, who discussed a very broad range of science-, poli- and management-oriented issues related to wetland ecology and hydrology, wetland conservation and creation, the impact of global change and wetlands as a resource in terms of food, flood protection and water quality enhancement. The participants were from...
The two volumes on "Wetlands as a Natural Resource" in the book series Ecological th Studies (Volumes 190,191) are based on the highlights of the 7 IN...
This new volume on Biological Invasions deals with both plants and animals, differing from previous books by extending from the level of individual species to an ecosystem and global level. Topics of highest societal relevance, such as the impact of genetically modified organisms, are interlinked with more conventional ecological aspects, including biodiversity. The combination of these approaches is new and makes compelling reading for researchers and environmentalists.
This new volume on Biological Invasions deals with both plants and animals, differing from previous books by extending from the level of individual...
The global loss of biodiversity has led to a renewed interest in the underlying mechanisms that explain spatial differences and temporal change of diversity. This book synthesises recent advances in our understanding of interactions that enhance or diminish coexistence among competing species. It features a spatial view of competition and coexistence. The chapters are logically grouped and stitched together by the central organizing principle of spatial distribution and mobility of competing species and their resources. The text also covers ecological modelling and experimental evidence in...
The global loss of biodiversity has led to a renewed interest in the underlying mechanisms that explain spatial differences and temporal change of div...
North and South America share similar human and ecological histories and, increasingly, economic and social linkages. As such, issues of ecosystem functions and disruptions form a common thread among these cultures. This volume synthesizes the perspectives of several disciplines, such as ecology, anthropology, economy, and conservation biology. The chief goal is to gain an understanding of how human and ecological processes interact to affect ecosystem functions and species in the Americas. Throughout the text the emphasis is placed on habitat fragmentation. At the same time, the book...
North and South America share similar human and ecological histories and, increasingly, economic and social linkages. As such, issues of ecosystem fun...
In arid and semiarid lands throughout the world, where the cover of vegetation is sparse or absent, the open spaces between the higher plants are generally not bare of autotrophic life, but covered by a community of highly specialized organisms. This soil-surface community consists of cyanob- teria, algae, lichens, mosses, microfungi, and other bacteria in differing proportions. Cyanobacterial and microfungal filaments, rhizinae and rhi- morphs of lichens, and the rhizinae and protonemata of bryophytes weave throughout the top few millimeters of soil, gluing loose soil particles together....
In arid and semiarid lands throughout the world, where the cover of vegetation is sparse or absent, the open spaces between the higher plants are gene...
Providing a quantitative assessment of threatened plant populations, that holds for varying management scenarios, has become an essential part of conservation planning. Here, renowned plant ecologists provide information on: major threats to plants, when and where to conduct a plant viability assessment (PVA), what type of PVA to conduct, what alternative options to PVA are available, what information is required for which kind of viability assessment, what attributes of the population in question should be considered, and what the limits of the PVA would be. As such, this volume can be...
Providing a quantitative assessment of threatened plant populations, that holds for varying management scenarios, has become an essential part of c...