Author: Fernando Álvarez
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030112624
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240
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Book Description
This volume investigates the contemporary fauna that inhabit the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin. Divided into 15 chapters, it addresses and describes their diversity, taxonomic and biogeogaphic affinities, and ecological characteristics. The Cuatro Ciénegas Valley is a unique oasis in the south-central region of the State of Coahuila, part of the Sonoran Desert, in Mexico. Several clues, specially derived from the study of the microbiota, suggest a very ancient origin of the valley and its permanence through time. This condition had promoted a high level of endemism and led to unique interactions between the resident species.
Author: Robert W. Jones
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031172779
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 593
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Book Description
This contributed volume presents an analysis of the current conservation status of major faunal groups in Mexico. The chapters describe a prognosis of future challenges, and also explore the expanding threats inherent in the Anthropocene within the context of the unique physical, biological and cultural aspects of the nation. Covering 27 chapters, and written by Mexican and international authors, this book analyzes a wide range of vertebrate and invertebrate animal taxa, their ecosystems and the critical processes related to their present conservation status. This volume is an important reference material for researchers, conservationists and students interested in the biological and ecological processes shaping the Mexican fauna.
Author: Jorge L. León-Cortés
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031492552
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 310
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Author: Felipe García-Oliva
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319958550
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 169
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Book Description
Carbon (C), Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorus (P) are three of the most important elements used to build living beings, and their uptake from the environment is consequently essential for all organisms. Photosynthesis is the process in which plants absorb atmospheric C as they grow and convert it to biomass. However, plants acquire N and P only when these are available in the soil solution, which makes these elements the most limiting nutrients in plant growth and productivity in most ecosystems. When plant residues and roots decompose, the C, N and P they contain is transformed primarily into soil organic matter (SOM) or C and N can release to the atmosphere. Recent interest on the global C, N and P cycles has focused attention on the different proportion of terrestrial C, N and P stored in different ecosystem pools. Cuatro Cienegas represents an exceptional place, since the plants are not the base of the food web, they are the microbial community, that recycle the elements essential for life. In this book we describe how this is an analog of early Earth.
Author: E.V. Balian
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402082592
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 622
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Book Description
This book offers a comprehensive study of species- and genus-level diversity and chorology of the global freshwater fauna to date. It gives a state of the art assessment of the diversity and distribution of Metazoa in the continental waters of the world.
Author: Brian Groombridge
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520236684
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 362
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Book Description
Global biological diversity, ecosystem diversity.
Author: Valeria Souza
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030460878
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 237
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Book Description
Astrobiology not only investigates how early life took hold of our planet but also life on other planets – both in our Solar System and beyond – and their potential for habitability. The book take readers from the scars on planetary surfaces made by space rocks to the history of the Solar System narrated by those space rocks as well as exoplanets in other planetary systems. But the true question is how life arose here or elsewhere. Modern comparative genomics has revealed that Darwin was correct; a set of highly conserved genes and cellular functions indicate that all life is related by common ancestry. The Last Universal Common Ancestor or LUCA sits at the base of the Tree of Life. However, once that life took hold, it started to diversify and form complex microbial communities that are known as microbial mats and stromatolites. Due to their long evolutionary history and abundance on modern Earth, research on the biological, chemical and geological processes of stromatolite formation has provided important insights into the field of astrobiology. Many of these microbialite-containing ecosystems have been used as models for astrobiology, and NASA mission analogs including Shark Bay, Pavilion and Kelly Lakes. Modern microbialites represent natural laboratories to study primordial ecosystems and provide proxies for how life could evolve on other planets. However, few viral metagenomic studies (i.e., viromes) have been conducted in microbialites, which are not only an important part of the community but also mirror its biodiversity. This book focuses on particularly interesting sites such as Andean lake microbialites, a proxy of early life since they are characterized by very high UV light, while Alchichica and Bacalar lakes are characterized by high-salt and oligotrophic waters that nurture stromatolites. However, it is only the oasis of Cuatro Ciénegas Basin in México that stored past life in its marine sediments of the Sierra de San Marcos. This particular Sierra has a magmatic pouch that moves the deep aquifer to the surface in a cycle of sun drenched life and back to the depths of the magmatic life in an ancient cycle that now is broken by the overexploitation of the surface water as well as the deep aquifer in order to irrigate alfalfa in the desert. The anthropocene, the era of human folly, is killing this unique time machine and with it the memory of the planet.
Author: Sue Wells
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 696
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Book Description
Author: Vinod Tewari
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 940070397X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 739
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Book Description
STROMATOLITES: Interaction of Microbes with Sediments provides an overview and latest information about the formation of Stromatolites as a result of interaction of microbes with sediments. Eighty-three expert scientists from twenty-seven countries present the chapters in this volume which have been reviewed by thirty four referees. The volume deals with ancient to modern examples of stromatolites and microorganisms which are observed in various diverse environments, such as: marine, nonmarine, lacustrine and extreme geographical areas covering almost the whole earth. The reviews are original articles written by leading experienced experts, some chapters deal with latest instrumental techniques used for the study of microbes and Stromatolites. Other chapters have been contributed by young researchers who revealed updated data on Stromatolites. The astrobiological implications of early microbiota, sulfur isotopic ratios, microbialites in extreme conditions on earth has opened up new vistas in the search of extraterrestrial life.
Author: IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group
Publisher: IUCN
ISBN: 2880329868
Category : Nature conservation
Languages : en
Pages : 210
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Book Description
