In this interdisciplinary textbook, which bridges the gap between the natural and social sciences both, the scientific principles of restoration ecology and practical aspects of ecosystem restoration are comprehensively presented. The diversity of land-use types with a focus on Central Europe is highlighted and case studies of practical restoration projects are presented. The textbook offers students who deal with the environment as well as scientists and practitioners a profound and up-to...

This book offers perspectives on how to develop a sustainable global balance of urbanization, land-use intensification, land abandonment, and multifunctional cultural landscapes. The focus is on the latter by describing the large variety of traditional cultural landscapes having evolved through centuries or even millennia by the use of the natural, terrestrial and aquatic resources. Those cultural landscapes encompass pasture, agroforestry, terraced, irrigation, coastal, monastic, and sacr...

This volume of Managing Forest Ecosystems addresses the urgent challenge of managing temperate forests under accelerating climate change. It adopts a comparative, transhemispheric perspective by examining forest ecosystems in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres, with a particular focus on the trans-Andean gradient in Northern Patagonian Nothofagus forests and Central European Fagus (beech) forests.Through an interdisciplinary and evidence-based app...

This open access book surveys the frontier of scientific river research and provides examples to guide management towards a sustainable future of riverine ecosystems. Principal structures and functions of the biogeosphere of rivers are explained; key threats are identified, and effective solutions for restoration and mitigation are provided.Rivers are among the most threatened ecosystems of the world. They increasingly suffer from pollution, water abstraction, river channelisation ...

Understanding how ecosystems are assembled -- how the species that make up a particular biological community arrive in an area, survive, and interact with other species -- is key to successfully restoring degraded ecosystems. Yet little attention has been paid to the idea of assembly rules in ecological restoration,in both the scientific literature and in on-the-ground restoration efforts.Assembly Rules and Restoration Ecology, edited by Vicky M. Temperton, Richard ...

This open access volume presents a comprehensive account of all aspects of biological invasions in South Africa, where research has been conducted over more than three decades, and where bold initiatives have been implemented in attempts to control invasions and to reduce their ecological, economic and social effects. It covers a broad range of themes, including history, policy development and implementation, the status of invasions of animals and plants in terrestrial, marine and freshwat...

This open access book synthesizes leading-edge science and management information about forest and rangeland soils of the United States. It offers ways to better understand changing conditions and their impacts on soils, and explores directions that positively affect the future of forest and rangeland soil health. This book outlines soil processes and identifies the research needed to manage forest and rangeland soils in the United States. Chapters give an overview of the state of forest a...

Sustaining Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Soils and Sediments brings together the world's leading ecologists, systematists, and evolutionary biologists to present scientific information that integrates soil and sediment disciplines across terrestrial, marine, and freshwater ecosystems. It offers a framework for a new discipline, one that will allow future scientists to consider the linkages of biodiversity below-surface, and how biota interact to provide the essential ecosystemserv...

This book considers a number of problems posed by ungulates and their management in Europe. Through a synthesis of the underlying biology and a comparison of the management techniques adopted in different countries, the book explores which management approaches seem effective - and in which circumstances. Experts in a number of different areas of applied wildlife biology review various management problems and alternative solutions, including the impact of large ungulates on agriculture, fo...

Invasive non-native species are a major threat to global biodiversity. Often introduced accidentally through international travel or trade, they invade and colonize new habitats, often with devastating consequences for the local flora and fauna. Their environmental impacts can range from damage to resource production (e.g. agriculture and forestry) and infrastructure (e.g. buildings, road and water supply), to human health. They consequently can have major economic impacts. It is a priorit...

Advances in Quaternary Entomology addresses the science of fossil insects by demonstrating their immense contribution to our knowledge of the paleoenvironmental and climatological record of the past 2.6 million years. In this comprehensive survey of the field, Scott A. Elias recounts development of scholarship, reviews the fossil insect record from Quaternary deposits throughout the world, and points to rewarding areas for future research. The study of Quaternary entomology is becoming an ...

The key to North American (north of Mexico) Daphnia (Crustacea, Cladocera), along with the information about species ecology, distribution and recent taxonomic progress of the field, constructed in such a way that should be easy to use by unexperienced person.