Author: M. Bonell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781139443845
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 970
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Book Description
Forests, Water and People in the Humid Tropics is a comprehensive review of the hydrological and physiological functioning of tropical rain forests, the environmental impacts of their disturbance and conversion to other land uses, and optimum strategies for managing them. The book brings together leading specialists in such diverse fields as tropical anthropology and human geography, environmental economics, climatology and meteorology, hydrology, geomorphology, plant and aquatic ecology, forestry and conservation agronomy. The editors have supplemented the individual contributions with invaluable overviews of the main sections and provide key pointers for future research. Specialists will find authenticated detail in chapters written by experts on a whole range of people-water-land use issues, managers and practitioners will learn more about the implications of ongoing and planned forest conversion, while scientists and students will appreciate a unique review of the literature.
Author: Lawrence S. Hamilton
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461225000
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 425
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Book Description
Until relatively recently the valuable tropical montane cloud forests (hereaf ter usually referred to as TMCFs) of the world had scarcely come under the assaults experienced by the downslope montane and lowland forests. TMCFs are not hospitable environments for human occupation, and their remoteness (except in places near Andean high mountain settlements and in the Ethiopian Highlands) and difficult terrain have given them de facto protection. The ad jacent upper montane rain forests have indeed been under assault for timber, fuelwood, and for conversion to grazing and agriculture for many decades, even centuries in the Andes, but true cloud forest has only come under ex ploitation as these lower elevational resources have disappeared. They have also been "nibbled" at from above where there have been alpine grasslands under grazing pressure. Increasingly now, however, these cloud forest eco systems are being fragmented, reduced, and disturbed at an alarming rate. It is now becoming recognized that steps must be taken rapidly to increase our understanding of TMCF and to achieve their conservation, because: their water-capture function is extremely important to society; • their species endemism is high; they serve as refugia for endangered species being marginalized in these environments by increasingly transformed lower elevation ecosystems; they are relatively little studied; yet, their value to science is extremely high; they have low resilience to disturbance; vii viii Preface and many other reasons, which will be discussed subsequently in this publi cation.
Author: L. Stephen Lau
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824829484
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 310
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Book Description
Why is groundwater the predominant drinking water source in Hawaii? Why are groundwater sources susceptible to pesticide contamination? How long does it take for water in the mountains to journey by land and underground passages to reach the coast? Answers to questions such as these are essential to understanding the principles of hydrology—the science of the movement, distribution, and quality of water—in Hawaii. Due to the humid tropical climate, surrounding ocean, volcanic earth, and high mountains, many hydrologic processes in the Islands are profoundly different from those of large continents and other climatic zones. Management of water, land, and environment must be informed by appropriate analyses, or communities and ecosystems face great uncertainty and may be at risk. The protection of groundwater, coastal waters, and streams from pollution and the management of flood hazards are also significant. This volume presents applications of hydrology to these critical issues. The authors begin by outlining fundamental hydrologic theories and the current general knowledge then expand into a formal discussion specific to Hawaii and the distinctive elements and their interrelations under natural and human-influenced conditions. They include chapters on rainfall and climate, evaporation, groundwater, and surface runoff. Details on the quantification of hydrologic processes are available to those with more technical knowledge, but general readers with an interest in the topic—one of singular importance for the Hawaiian Islands—will find much in the volume that is timely and accessible.
Author: World Meteorological Organization
Publisher: Secretariat to World Meteorological Organization
ISBN:
Category : Hydrology
Languages : en
Pages : 92
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Book Description
Author: Devendra Amatya
Publisher: CABI
ISBN: 1780646607
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 309
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Book Description
Forests cover approximately 26% of the world's land surface area and represent a distinct biotic community. They interact with water and soil in a variety of ways, providing canopy surfaces which trap precipitation and allow evaporation back into the atmosphere, thus regulating how much water reaches the forest floor as through fall, as well as pull water from the soil for transpiration. The discipline "forest hydrology" has been developed throughout the 20th century. During that time human intervention in natural landscapes has increased, and land use and management practices have intensified. The book will be useful for graduate students, professionals, land managers, practitioners, and researchers with a good understanding of the basic principles of hydrology and hydrologic processes.
Author: Ning Lu
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139619853
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 463
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Book Description
Landslides are caused by a failure of the mechanical balance within hillslopes. This balance is governed by two coupled physical processes: hydrological or subsurface flow and stress. The stabilizing strength of hillslope materials depends on effective stress, which is diminished by rainfall. This book presents a cutting-edge quantitative approach to understanding hydro-mechanical processes across variably saturated hillslope environments and to the study and prediction of rainfall-induced landslides. Topics covered include historic synthesis of hillslope geomorphology and hydrology, total and effective stress distributions, critical reviews of shear strength of hillslope materials and different bases for stability analysis. Exercises and homework problems are provided for students to engage with the theory in practice. This is an invaluable resource for graduate students and researchers in hydrology, geomorphology, engineering geology, geotechnical engineering and geomechanics and for professionals in the fields of civil and environmental engineering and natural hazard analysis.
Author: I. Simmers
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401577803
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 503
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Book Description
In view of the rapidly expanding urban, industrial and agri cultural water requirements in many areas and the normally associated critical unreliability of surface water supplies in arid and semi-arid zones, groundwater exploration and use is of fundamental importance for logical economic development. Two interrelated facets should be evident in all such groundwater projects : (a) definition of groundwater recharge mechanisms and characteristics for identified geological formations, in order to determine whether exploitation in the long-term involves 'mining' of an es sentially 'fossil' resource or withdrawal from a dynamic supply. A solution to this aspect is essential for development of a re source management policy: (b) determination of recharge variability in time and space to thus enable determination of total aquifer input and to quantify such practical aspects as 'minimum risk' waste disposal locations and artificial recharge potential via (e.g.) devegetation or engi neering works. However, current international developments relating to natural recharge indicate the following 'problems' ; no single comprehensive estimation technique can yet be iden tified from the spectrum of methods available; all are reported to give suspect results.
Author: Pedro A. Sanchez
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107176050
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 685
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Book Description
Long-awaited second edition of classic textbook, brought completely up to date, for courses on tropical soils, and reference for scientists and professionals.
Author: Avijit Gupta
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139498703
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 409
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Book Description
Although similar geomorphic processes take place in other regions, in the tropics these processes operate at different rates and with varying intensities. Tropical geomorphology therefore provides many new discoveries regarding geomorphic processes. This textbook describes both the humid and arid tropics. It provides thoroughly up-to-date concepts and relevant case studies, and emphasises the importance of geomorphology in the management and sustainable development of the tropical environment, including climate change scenarios. The text is supported by a large number of illustrations, including satellite images. Student exercises accompany each chapter. Tropical Geomorphology is an ideal textbook for any course on tropical geomorphology or the tropical environment, and is also invaluable as a reference text for researchers and environmental managers in the tropics.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Hydrology
Languages : en
Pages : 806
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Book Description
