Биология
Различные книги в жанре БиологияTangled Roots
The Appalachian Trail, a thin ribbon of wilderness running through the densely populated eastern United States, offers a refuge from modern society and a place apart from human ideas and institutions. But as environmental historian�and thru-hiker�Sarah Mittlefehldt argues, the trail is also a conduit for community engagement and a model for public-private cooperation and environmental stewardship.In Tangled Roots, Mittlefehldt tells the story of the trail�s creation. The project was one of the first in which the National Park Service attempted to create public wilderness space within heavily populated, privately owned lands. Originally a regional grassroots endeavor, under federal leadership the trail project retained unprecedented levels of community involvement. As citizen volunteers came together and entered into conversation with the National Parks Service, boundaries between �local� and �nonlocal,� �public� and �private,� �amateur� and �expert� frequently broke down. Today, as Mittlefehldt tells us, the Appalachian Trail remains an unusual hybrid of public and private efforts and an inspiring success story of environmental protection.Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFyhuGqbCGc
Narwhals
Among all the large whales on Earth, the most unusual and least studied is the narwhal, the northernmost whale on the planet and the one most threatened by global warming. Narwhals thrive in the fjords and inlets of northern Canada and Greenland. These elusive whales, whose long tusks were the stuff of medieval European myths and Inuit legends, are uniquely adapted to the Arctic ecosystem and are able to dive below thick sheets of ice to depths of up to 1,500 meters in search of their prey-halibut, cod, and squid.Join Todd McLeish as he travels high above the Arctic circle to meet:Teams of scientific researchers studying the narwhal's life cycle and the mysteries of its tuskInuit storytellers and huntersAnimals that share the narwhals' habitat: walruses, polar bears, bowhead and beluga whales, ivory gulls, and two kinds of sealsMcLeish consults logbooks kept by whalers and explorers and interviews folklorists and historians to tease out the relationship between the real narwhal and the mythical unicorn. In Colorado, he visits climatologists studying changes in the seasonal cycles of the Arctic ice. From a history of the trade in narwhal tusks to descriptions of narwhals' vocalizations as heard through hydrophones, Narwhals reveals the beauty and thrill of the narwhal and its habitat, and the threat it faces from a rapidly changing world.Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHwaqdKyLCQ&list=UUge4MONgLFncQ1w1C_BnHcw&index=9&feature=plcp
Car Country
For most people in the United States, going almost anywhere begins with reaching for the car keys. This is true, Christopher Wells argues, because the United States is Car Country�a nation dominated by landscapes that are difficult, inconvenient, and often unsafe to navigate by those who are not sitting behind the wheel of a car.The prevalence of car-dependent landscapes seems perfectly natural to us today, but it is, in fact, a relatively new historical development. In Car Country, Wells rejects the idea that the nation's automotive status quo can be explained as a simple byproduct of an ardent love affair with the automobile. Instead, he takes readers on a tour of the evolving American landscape, charting the ways that transportation policies and land-use practices have combined to reshape nearly every element of the built environment around the easy movement of automobiles. Wells untangles the complicated relationships between automobiles and the environment, allowing readers to see the everyday world in a completely new way. The result is a history that is essential for understanding American transportation and land-use issues today.Watch the book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48LTKOxxrXQ
Wilderburbs
Since the 1950s, the housing developments in the West that historian Lincoln Bramwell calls �wilderburbs� have offered residents both the pleasures of living in nature and the creature comforts of the suburbs. Remote from cities but still within commuting distance, nestled next to lakes and rivers or in forests and deserts, and often featuring spectacular views of public lands, wilderburbs celebrate the natural beauty of the American West and pose a vital threat to it. Wilderburbs tells the story of how roads and houses and water development have transformed the rural landscape in the West. Bramwell introduces readers to developers, homeowners, and government regulators, all of whom have faced unexpected environmental problems in designing and building wilderburb communities, including unpredictable water supplies, threats from wildfires, and encounters with wildlife. By looking at wilderburbs in the West, especially those in Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico, Bramwell uncovers the profound environmental consequences of Americans� desire to live in the wilderness.
North Pacific Temperate Rainforests
The North Pacific temperate rainforest, stretching from southern Alaska to northern California, is the largest temperate rainforest on earth. This book provides a multidisciplinary overview of key issues important for the management and conservation of the northern portion of this rainforest, located in northern British Columbia and southeastern Alaska.This region encompasses thousands of islands and millions of acres of relatively pristine rainforest, providing an opportunity to compare the ecological functioning of a largely intact forest ecosystem with the highly modified ecosystems that typify most of the world's temperate zone. The book examines the basic processes that drive the dynamic behavior of such ecosystems and considers how managers can use that knowledge to sustainably manage the rainforest and balance ecosystem integrity with human use. Together, the contributors offer a broad understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by scientists, managers, and conservationists in the northern portion of the North Pacific rainforest that will be of interest to conservation practitioners seeking to balance economic sustainability and biodiversity conservation across the globe.
Penguins
Penguins, among the most delightful creatures in the world, are also among the most vulnerable. The fragile status of most penguin populations today mirrors the troubled condition of the southern oceans, as well as larger marine conservation problems: climate change, pollution, and fisheries mismanagement. This timely book presents the most current knowledge on each of the eighteen penguin species-from the majestic emperor penguins of the Antarctic to the tiny blue penguins of New Zealand and Australia, from the northern rockhopper penguins of the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans to the Galapagos penguins of the equator-written by the leading experts in the field.Included for each species:o Life historyo Distribution, population sizes and trendso International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) statuso Threats to survivalo Legal protectionThe book also provides information on current conservation efforts, outlines the most important actions to be taken to increase each population's resilience, and recommends further research needed to protect penguins and the living creatures that share their environment.Beautifully illustrated with full-color photographs of each species in their natural habitat and detailed charts and graphs, Penguins will be an invaluable tool for researchers, conservation groups, and policy makers. It will also enchant anyone interested in the lives or the plight of these fascinating animals.Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s0BbIU6cqE&feature=plcp
DDT, Silent Spring, and the Rise of Environmentalism
No single event played a greater role in the birth of modern environmentalism than the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and its assault on insecticides. The documents collected by Thomas Dunlap trace shifting attitudes toward DDT and pesticides in general through a variety of sources: excerpts from scientific studies and government reports, advertisements from industry journals, articles from popular magazines, and the famous �Fable for Tomorrow� from Silent Spring. Beginning with attitudes toward nature at the turn of the twentieth century, the book moves through the use and early regulation of pesticides; the introduction and early success of DDT; the discovery of its environmental effects; and the uproar over Silent Spring. It ends with recent debates about DDT as a potential solution to malaria in Africa.
The Vision Revolution
In The Vision Revolution, Mark Changizi, prominent neuroscientist and vision expert, addresses four areas of human vision and provides explanations for why we have those particular abilities, complete with a number of full-color illustrations to demonstrate his conclusions and to engage the reader. Written for both the casual reader and the science buff hungry for new information, The Vision Revolution is a resource that dispels commonly believed perceptions about sight and offers answers drawn from the field’s most recent research.Changizi focuses on four “why” questions:1. Why do we see in color?2. Why do our eyes face forward?3. Why do we see illusions?4. Why does reading come so naturally to us?The Vision Revolution explores phenomena such as cyclopses, peeking and many more you hadn’t even thought to wonder about. Changizi shows how deeply involved these evolutionary aspects of our vision are in why we see the way we do—and what the future holds for us.The Vision Revolution is a book that finally gives attention to what before has been largely neglected by other works on human vision—a book that looks at the “why.”
Evolution 2.0
In the ongoing debate about evolution, science and faith face off. But the truth is both sides are right and wrong.In one corner: Atheists like Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Jerry Coyne. They insist evolution happens by blind random accident. Their devout adherence to Neo-Darwinism omits the latest science, glossing over crucial questions and fascinating details.In the other corner: Intelligent Design advocates like William Dembski, Stephen Meyer, and Michael Behe. Many defy scientific consensus, maintaining that evolution is a fraud and rejecting common ancestry outright.There is a third way. Evolution 2.0 proves that, while evolution is not a hoax, neither is it random nor accidental. Changes are targeted, adaptive, and aware. You’ll discover:How organisms re-engineer their genetic destiny in real timeAmazing systems living things use to re-design themselvesEvery cell is armed with machinery for editing its own DNAThe five amazing tools organisms use to alter their genetics70 years of scientific discoveries—of which the public has heard virtually nothing!Perry Marshall approached evolution with skepticism for religious reasons. As an engineer, he rejected the concept of organisms randomly evolving. But an epiphany—that DNA is code, much like data in our digital age—sparked a 10-year journey of in-depth research into more than 70 years of under-reported evolutionary science. This led to a new understanding of evolution—an evolution 2.0 that not only furthers technology and medicine, but fuels our sense of wonder at life itself.This book will open your eyes and transform your thinking about evolution and God. You’ll gain a deeper appreciation for our place in the universe. You’ll see the world around you as you’ve never seen it before.Evolution 2.0 pinpoints the central mystery of biology, offering a multimillion dollar technology prize at naturalcode.org to the first person who can solve it.
Chemistry for Sustainable Technologies
The importance of reconciling the continuing needs of humankind with the protection of the environment and the earth's ability to provide for those needs is now better recognised. Chemistry and chemical technology play an important role in this, though not on their own. Interdisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity are, therefore, critically important concepts. This book, the first of its kind, provides an interdisciplinary introduction to sustainability issues in the context of chemistry and chemical technology. The prime objective of this book is to equip young chemists (and others) to better appreciate, defend and promote the role that chemistry and its practitioners play in moving towards a society better able to control, manage and ameliorate its impact on the ecosphere. To do this, it is necessary to set the ideas, concepts, achievements and challenges of chemistry and its application in the context of its environmental impact, past, present and future, and the changes needed to bring about a more sustainable yet equitable world. Covering aspects assumed, barely addressed or neglected in previous publications – it puts Green Chemistry in a much wider (historic, scientific, technological, intellectual and societal) context and addresses complexities and challenges associated with attitudes to science and technology, media treatment of scientific and technological controversies and difficulties in reconciling environmental protection and global development. While the book stresses the central importance of rigour in the collection and treatment of evidence and reason in decision-making, to ensure that it meets the needs of a wide community of students, it is broad in scope, rather than deep. It is, therefore, appropriate to a wide audience including practising scientists and technologists.