During its existence the Ecosciences Panel of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was constantly concerned with (i) the communic- ation gap between the generators of ecological/environmental infor- mation and those who use it and (ii) the narrow interpretation of 'environmental' which too frequently was taken as being synonymous with pollution. Because of this concern, and because the panel recognised that land-use is perhaps the overriding facet of environmental policy it was decided to arrange the Seminar recorded in this volume: - Land and its Uses: Actual and Potential An Environmental...

This volume contains papers presented at a NATO Advanced Research Institute, sponsored by their Eco-Sciences Panel, on "The effects of acid precipitation on vegetation and soils," held at Toronto, Canada from May 22-26, 1978. The organizing expenses and greater part of the expenses of the speakers and chair en were provided by N.A.T.O. The scientific programme was planned by T. C. Hutchinson together with an international planning committee of G. Abrahamsen (Norway), G. Likens (U.S.A.), F.E. Last (U.K.), C.O. Tamm (Sweden) and B. Ulrich (W. Germany). Many of the dimensions of the 'acid rain'...

This volume contains the papers presented at a conference on "The rehabilitation of severely damaged land and freshwater eco systems in temperate zones," held at Reykjavik, Iceland, from 4th to 11th July, 1976. The meeting was held under the auspices of the Ecosciences Panel of the N.A.T.O. Science Committee, and the organising expenses and greater part of the expenses of the speakers and chairmen were provided by N.A.T.O. The scientific programme was planned by M. W. Holdgate and M. J. Woodman, in consultation with numerous colleagues, and especially with the Administrative Director of the...

Dr. Hueck explains in the "History and Development of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop" some ideas on the genesis of the Workshop. The reader should understand that this volume is a preliminary analysis of a problem that has not received much attention. The case histories, for example, are illustrative because one volume cannot include all histories, or even those in Europe. Consequently, case histories are lacking on many parts of the world, including central Europe and North America, not because these are unimportant or less disastrous ecologically than the case histories covered, but...

During the last hlO hundred years man has changed from living in equilibrium with the natural world which sustained him, to a new position in which he is now its undisputed ruler - and very often out of equilibrium - able in a matter of hours to reduce miles of forest to devastated, potential desert. This destructive and wasteful ability has increas d dramatically over recent years. At the same time however the need for conservation, particularly of plants as a resource for the future, has also become apparent, along with the realisation that advanced technologies can produce more from...

Is ecology at a crossroad? After three decades of rapid, though somewhat anarchic development, many ecologists now are beginning to ask this question. They have the feeling of no longer belonging to a unified and mature scientific discipline. Many of them claim to be mere empiricists, whereas others are proud to be considered theoreticians. Each side has its own journals and holds its own specialists' meetings, tending to disregard the achievements of the other. The communication gap between the two schools is quickly widening, to the detriment of both. To make things worse, the word...

This book contains the papers presented at a Nato Advanced Re- search Workshop entitled "DENITRIFICATION IN THE N-CYCLE," held in Braunschweig (W-Germany) from 24 to 27 Mai 1983. All expenses were provided by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The scientific programme was in the first instance planned by some members of the Eco-Science Panel under the stimulating organization of Dr. Oscar Ravera and the final programme was prepared in co-operation between Ravera and myself. However, even during the meeting important con- tributions were added. The meeting was hosted by the Microbiologi-...

This book contains the papers presented at a NATO Advanced Research Institute on "Mediterranean Marine Ecosystems," held at Heraklion-Crete, Greece, from September 23-27, 1983. A workshop rather than a conference, it was sponsored by the Eco-Sciences Special Programme Panel, in cooperation with the Marine Science Panel. The third of its kind, it was scheduled in the framework of a project on a multidisciplinary integrated approach to the study of the Mediterranean. This Sea and the surrounding land was not only the cradle of many civilizations but is, up to the present time, one of the major...