Kategoria BISAC: Nature >> Plants - Trees

The passionate response of the British public to the Newbury Bypass is a revealing measure of how strongly people feel about trees and the environment. Similarly, in the United States, the giant sequoia of California is an enduring national symbol that inspires intense feelings. As rainforests are sacrificed to the interests of multi-national corporations and traditional ways of life disappear, the status of forests, the cultural significance of trees, and the impact of conservation policies are subjects that have inspired intense engagement. Why do people feel so strongly about trees?...

Homegardens are integrated tree crop animal production systems, often in small parcels of land surrounding homesteads, and primarily found in tropical environments. These agroforestry systems, developed and nurtured by farmers through generations of innovation and experiment, are often cited as the epitome of sustainability, yet have been long neglected by the scientific community. Today, however, these age-old systems are receiving increasing attention owing to their perceived potential to mitigate environmental problems such as loss of biodiversity and rising levels of atmospheric...

Simply put, allelopathy refers to an ecological phenomenon of plant-plant interference through release of organic chemicals (allelochemicals) in the environment. These chemicals can be directly and continuously released by the donor plants in their immediate environment as volatiles in the air or root exudates in soil or they can be the microbial degradation products of plant residues. The chemicals may interfere with survival and growth of neighboring or succeeding plants. Black walnut, eucalyptus, sunflower, sorghum, sesame and alfalfa are common examples of plants with allelopathic...

• Maintaining forest biodiversity by combining protection, management and restoration of forest and woodland landscapes is a central component of sustainable development.
• Evidence that there are threshold levels for how much habitat loss may be tolerated for viable populations of specialised species to be maintained.
• Policy-makers, businesses and managers pose questions about how to balance use of renewable forest resources and conserve biodiversity.
• Examples are presented on how biodiversity assessments can be made.
• Proposes how the critical gaps in...

Trees are one of the dominant features of our existence on earth and play a fundamental role in the environment. This book gives the reader an overview and understanding of trees. Subject areas covered include ecology and conservation, tree anatomy and evolution, pathology, silviculture, propagation, and surgery. The different chapters cover trees from various world habitats, from northern boreal and montane coniferous forests to tropical and subtropical rainforests. The book is fully illustrated throughout with the highest quality color photos and is invaluable to professionals and...

Biodiversity is decreasing at the fastest rate in the history of the earth, largely as a result of human activity. The sustainable use of ecosystems allowing maintenance of biological diversity is an urgent problem that must be solved. Among terrestrial ecosystems, forests support the richest biological diversity. The interaction of humans and forests has a long history, but recent changes have been the most drastic ever. The rapid decrease and deterioration of forest ecosystems has been caused by social, economic, and ecological factors, which may vary locally but are common globally. The...

A fascinating work that provides a wealth of information on one of the world's most biodiverse ecosystems. This is the result of investigations by almost 30 groups of researchers from various disciplines. They performed ecosystem analyses following two gradients: an altitudinal gradient and a gradient of land use intensity and ecosystem regeneration following human use. Based on these analyses, this volume discusses these findings in a huge variety of subject areas.