Our knowledge of the structure and dispersal of "Plants, seeds and currents" in the Westindies tropical fruits and seeds is very limited up to the and Azores. Van der Pijl with his extensive know present day, though richness of species and variety ledge of tropical plants offers a great selection of of forms is overwhelming in the tropical forests. detailed information on the subject" Principles of Morphology of tropical fruits and seeds has always dispersal in higher plants" (1972, and earlier pa of botanists from many pers). The author who has earned most merits in attracted the curiosity...

The regions of the world which experience a mediterranean type climate, with a cool wet season alternating with a hot dry summer, contain some of the world's most attractive landscapes. In the Old World, the mediterranean landscapes became the cradle of civilization; other mediterranean areas of the world have attracted considerable populations for many centuries. These large human populations have exerted consid erable stress on the fragile ecosystems which developed in these sunny, but droughted, fire-prone land scapes. The mediterranean landscape has thus become one of the most threatened...

Our knowledge of the functional characteristics of the plants of mediterranean-cl imate regions has increased greatly in the past decade. In recent times the possibility of large-scale util ization of biomass for energy from these regions has been proposed. In order to assess the feasibil ity of these proposals we must consider the productive structure of these plant communities and how they vary through time and space. This symposium was an attempt to examine our recently acquired basic knowledge of the environmental I imitations on the productivity of Mediterranean plant communities in...

Information analysis, a popular subject among vegetation ecologists not too many years ago, is revisited in this short monograph. The overview provided and the systematic presentation of ideas and algorithms should interest data analysts with backgrounds in this or other fields of natural science where the question of classifi- cation is addressed. The text gives the detailed descriptions and the listings of the computer programs. The authors were recipients of grant support from the Italian Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche "Gruppo Biologia Naturalistica" (E. Feoli) and the Canadian Na-...

Salinity and water stress limit crop productivity worldwide and generate substantial economic losses each year, yet innovative research on crop and natural resource management can reveal cost-effective ways in which farmers can increase both their productivity and their income.

Presenting recent research findings on salt stress, water stress and stress-adapted plants, this book offers insights into new strategies for increasing the efficiency of crops under stressful environments. The strategies are based on conventional breeding and advanced molecular techniques used by plant...

Following Volume I, released in 2002, this new volume adds to and complements data and information on salt desert ecosystems of numerous West and Central Asian countries, including many of which are located in the Arabian Peninsula. The comprehensive coverage assists the reader gaining a thorough understanding of sabkha geology, hydrology, geomorphology, zoology, botany, ecology and ecosystem functioning, as well as sabkha conservation, utilisation, and development.

The solar radiant energy is in fact the only source of energy for the basic physical processes taking place in the atmosphere and on the earth's surface. When passing through the atmosphere and being reflected by the ground surface, solar radiation undergoes changes and conversions. Some of it is absorbed in the atmosphere and converted into other forms of energy, mainly into heat, and some is scattered by gases, by dust and by water vapour. Because of absorption and scattering in the atmosphere, solar radiation is changed by the time it reaches the earth's surface. That part of it which...

This book is the synthesis of research on the and preparation of the book. Professor J. B. Falinski and his co-workers substantially helped dynamics of vegetation conducted in the Bialo- in organizing the study area and providing finan- wieia Primeval Forest (North-Eastern Poland), following the first book on this subject published cial support in the course of field work. in 1986 by Dr W. Junk Publishers as volume 8 in I gratefully thank Professor K. Zarzycki for his the Geobotany series [Falinski J. B. (with the unfailing support and help in these long-term assistance of K. Faliriska),...