Fragile Dominion

Fragile Dominion PDF Author: Simon Levin
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 9780738203195
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
We all know that our planet is losing its biological diversity at an alarming rate, with frightening implications for our future. But when does an ecosystem hit the breaking point? In this important book, Princeton biologist Simon Levin offers general readers the first look at how the new science of complexity can help to solve our looming ecological crisis. Levin argues that our biosphere is the classic embodiment of what scientists call complex adaptive systems. By exploring how such systems work, we can determine how they might fail: How much loss can an ecosystem bear before it starts to collapse? How resilient are these systems? Do they in fact hover at the edge of chaos? A deeply original work on one of the most pressing issues of our time, Fragile Dominion is a powerful appeal to understand and protect the global “commons.”

Fragile Dominion

Fragile Dominion PDF Author: Simon Levin
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 9780738203195
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
We all know that our planet is losing its biological diversity at an alarming rate, with frightening implications for our future. But when does an ecosystem hit the breaking point? In this important book, Princeton biologist Simon Levin offers general readers the first look at how the new science of complexity can help to solve our looming ecological crisis. Levin argues that our biosphere is the classic embodiment of what scientists call complex adaptive systems. By exploring how such systems work, we can determine how they might fail: How much loss can an ecosystem bear before it starts to collapse? How resilient are these systems? Do they in fact hover at the edge of chaos? A deeply original work on one of the most pressing issues of our time, Fragile Dominion is a powerful appeal to understand and protect the global “commons.”

Fragile Dominion

Fragile Dominion PDF Author: Simon Levin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
How the science of complexity can help save the natural world from collapse.

G. Evelyn Hutchinson and the Invention of Modern Ecology

G. Evelyn Hutchinson and the Invention of Modern Ecology PDF Author: Nancy G. Slack
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300161387
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 477

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Book Description
Slack enjoyed full access to Hutchinson's archives and conducted extensive interviews both with Hutchinson himself and with his students, colleagues, and friends. She evaluates his contributions to theoretical ecology, limnology (the study of fresh-water ecosystems), biogeochemistry, population ecology, and the creation of the new fields of systems ecology and radiation ecology, and she discusses his profound influence as a mentor. The book also looks into his personal life, which included three very different wives, a refugee baby under his care during World War II, friendships with such contemporaries as Rebecca West, Margaret Mead, and Gregory Bateson, and a host of colleagues and friends on four continents. Filled with information available nowhere else, this book draws a vibrant portrait of a giant in the discipline of twentieth-century ecology who was also a man of remarkable personal appeal. --Book Jacket.

Water for Food Water for Life

Water for Food Water for Life PDF Author: David Molden
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113654853X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 664

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Book Description
Managing water resources is one of the most pressing challenges of our times - fundamental to how we feed 2 billion more people in coming decades, eliminate poverty, and reverse ecosystem degradation. This Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture, involving more than 700 leading specialists, evaluates current thinking on water and its interplay with agriculture to help chart the way forward. It offers actions for water management and water policy - to ensure more equitable and effective use. This assessment describes key water-food-environment trends that influence our lives today and uses scenarios to explore the consequences of a range of potential investments. It aims to inform investors and policymakers about water and food choices in light of such crucial influences as poverty, ecosystems, governance, and productivity. It covers rainfed agriculture, irrigation, groundwater, marginal-quality water, fisheries, livestock, rice, land, and river basins. Ample tables, graphs, and references make this an invaluable work for practitioners, academics, researchers, and policymakers in water management, agriculture, conservation, and development. Published with IWMI.

Food Webs (MPB-50)

Food Webs (MPB-50) PDF Author: Kevin S. McCann
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691134189
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
This book synthesizes and reconciles modern and classical perspectives into a general unified theory.

The Rediscovery of the Wild

The Rediscovery of the Wild PDF Author: Peter H. Kahn, Jr.
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262312832
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
A compelling case for connecting with the wild, for our psychological and physical well-being and to flourish as a species We often enjoy the benefits of connecting with nearby, domesticated nature—a city park, a backyard garden. But this book makes the provocative case for the necessity of connecting with wild nature—untamed, unmanaged, not encompassed, self-organizing, and unencumbered and unmediated by technological artifice. We can love the wild. We can fear it. We are strengthened and nurtured by it. As a species, we came of age in a natural world far wilder than today's, and much of the need for wildness still exists within us, body and mind. The Rediscovery of the Wild considers ways to engage with the wild, protect it, and recover it—for our psychological and physical well-being and to flourish as a species. The contributors offer a range of perspectives on the wild, discussing such topics as the evolutionary underpinnings of our need for the wild; the wild within, including the primal passions of sexuality and aggression; birding as a portal to wildness; children's fascination with wild animals; wildness and psychological healing; the shifting baseline of what we consider wild; and the true work of conservation.

Regenerative Urban Design and Ecosystem Biomimicry

Regenerative Urban Design and Ecosystem Biomimicry PDF Author: Maibritt Pedersen Zari
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351627392
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
It is clear that the climate is changing and ecosystems are becoming severely degraded. Humans must mitigate the causes of, and adapt to, climate change and the loss of biodiversity, as the impacts of these changes become more apparent and demand urgent responses. These pressures, combined with rapid global urbanisation and population growth mean that new ways of designing, retrofitting and living in cities are critically needed. Incorporating an understanding of how the living world works and what ecosystems do into architectural and urban design is a step towards the creation and evolution of cities that are radically more sustainable and potentially regenerative. Can cities produce their own food, energy, and water? Can they be designed to regulate climate, provide habitat, cycle nutrients, and purify water, air and soil? This book examines and defines the field of biomimicry for sustainable built environment design and goes on to translate ecological knowledge into practical methodologies for architectural and urban design that can proactively respond to climate change and biodiversity loss. These methods are tested and exemplified through a series of case studies of existing cities in a variety of climates. Regenerative Urban Design and Ecosystem Biomimicry will be of great interest to students, professionals and researchers of architecture, urban design, ecology, and environmental studies, as well as those interested in the interdisciplinary study of sustainability, ecology and urbanism.

The Skeleton Woman

The Skeleton Woman PDF Author: Ren�e
Publisher: Huia Publishers
ISBN: 1869694651
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
A baby on the doorstep, a skeleton woman biding time before the truth comes out. Rose Anthony�s life has just become much more complicated � Soon-to-be-fifty Rose Anthony finds an abandoned baby outside her kitchen door. Bogged down in the drama of an impending birthday, a serious row with her lover, and the anxiety of waiting to hear how her wall hanging has fared in the Stacy Competition, there�s no room for this dilemma. Scrawled on a card in black felt tip, the words For Rose Anthony leave no doubt that the baby was left for her, but whose baby is it?

The Drama of the Commons

The Drama of the Commons PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309169984
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 533

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Book Description
The "tragedy of the commons" is a central concept in human ecology and the study of the environment. It has had tremendous value for stimulating research, but it only describes the reality of human-environment interactions in special situations. Research over the past thirty years has helped clarify how human motivations, rules governing access to resources, the structure of social organizations, and the resource systems themselves interact to determine whether or not the many dramas of the commons end happily. In this book, leaders in the field review the evidence from several disciplines and many lines of research and present a state-of-the-art assessment. They summarize lessons learned and identify the major challenges facing any system of governance for resource management. They also highlight the major challenges for the next decade: making knowledge development more systematic; understanding institutions dynamically; considering a broader range of resources (such as global and technological commons); and taking into account the effects of social and historical context. This book will be a valuable and accessible introduction to the field for students and a resource for advanced researchers.

Innovative Economic, Social, and Environmental Practices for Progressing Future Sustainability

Innovative Economic, Social, and Environmental Practices for Progressing Future Sustainability PDF Author: Goi, Chai Lee
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1799895920
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 389

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Book Description
The Sustainable Development Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. Sustainable development is a long-term solution to how we plan our indefinite progress in the future, and the concept covers a broad scope of environmental, social, and economic developments. Sustainable development is the ideal vision of the future and requires further study and consideration. Innovative Economic, Social, and Environmental Practices for Progressing Future Sustainability explores the current practices in economic, social, and environmental sustainable development. Covering topics such as digital economies, community development, and equality, this reference work is ideal for academicians, researchers, practitioners, policymakers, government officials, decision makers, instructors, and students.