Handbook of Ecological Indicators for Assessment of Ecosystem Health PDF Download

Author: Sven E. Jorgensen
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 9780203490181
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 472

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Book Description
The field of ecosystem health explores the interactions between natural systems, human health, and social organization. As decision makers require a sound, modular approach to environmental management and sustainable development, ecosystem health assessment indicators are increasingly used across any number of applications. The Handbook of Ecologic

Author: Robert H. Armon
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9401794995
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1068

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Book Description
Environmental indicators are the first line of warning against hazards caused by humans or nature catastrophes to prevent diseases and death of living organisms. The present book covers a large variety of environmental indicators from physical-chemistry through economical, bioinformatics, electromagnetic irradiation and health aspects, all dealing with environmental pollution. This volume has been intended to environmentalists, engineers, scientists and policy makers as well to anybody interested in the latest development in the indicator field.

Author: João Carlos Marques
Publisher: WIT Press
ISBN: 1845642090
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
Ecological indicators address ecosystems structure and/or function and are commonly used to provide synoptic information about their state. Through quantitative representations of either the forces that steer ecosystems, responses to forcing functions, or of previous, current, or future states of an ecosystem, indicators are expected to reveal conditions and trends that will help in development planning and decision making processes. Ecological indicators combine numerous environmental factors in a single value, which may be useful in terms of management and in the development of ecological concepts, compliant with the general public's understanding. Nevertheless, their application is not exempt of criticisms, the first of which is that aggregation results in an oversimplification of the ecosystem under observation. Ecological indicators must therefore be handled following the right criteria and in situations that are consistent with its intended use and scope; otherwise they may drive to confusing interpretations of data.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309068452
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 199

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Book Description
Environmental indicators, such as global temperatures and pollutant concentrations, attract scientists' attention and often make the headlines. Equally important to policymaking are indicators of the ecological processes and conditions that yield food, fiber, building materials and ecological "services" such as water purification and recreation. This book identifies ecological indicators that can support U.S. policymaking and also be adapted to decisions at the regional and local levels. The committee describes indicators of land cover and productivity, species diversity, and other key ecological processesâ€"explaining why each indicator is useful, what models support the indicator, what the measured values will mean, how the relevant data are gathered, how data collection might be improved, and what effects emerging technologies are likely to have on the measurements. The committee reviews how it arrived at its recommendations and explores how the indicators can contribute to policymaking. Also included are interesting details on paleoecology, satellite imagery, species diversity, and other aspects of ecological assessment. Federal, state, and local decision-makers, as well as environmental scientists and practitioners, will be especially interested in this new book.

Author: Daniel H. McKenzie
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1461546591
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 858

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Book Description
Today environmental problems of unprecedented magnitude confront planet earth. The sobering fact is that a whole range of human activities is affecting our global environment as profoundly as the billions of years of evolution that preceded our tenure on Earth. The pressure on vital natural resources in the developing world and elsewhere is intense, and the destruction of tropical forests, wildlife habitat, and other irreplaceable resources, is alarming. Climate change, ozone depletion, loss of genetic diversity, and marine pollution are critical global environmental concerns. Their cumulative impact threatens to destroy the planet's natural resources. The need to address this situation is urgent. More than at any previous moment in history, nature and ecological systems are in human hands, dependent on human efforts. The earth is an interconnected and interdependent global ecosystem, and change in one part of the system often causes unexpected change in other parts. Atmospheric, oceanic, wetland, terrestrial and other ecological systems have a finite capacity to absorb the environmental degradation caused by human behavior. The need for an environmentally sound, sustainable economy to ease this degradation is evident and urgent. Policies designed to stimulate economic development by foregoing pollution controls both destroy the long-term economy and ravage the environment. Over the years, we have sometimes drawn artificial distinctions between the health of individuals and the health of ecosystems. But in the real world, those distinctions do not exist.

Author: Sven Jørgensen
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1439858519
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
Continuing in the tradition of its bestselling predecessor, the Handbook of Ecological Indicators for Assessment of Ecosystem Health, Second Edition brings together world-class editors and contributors who have been at the forefront of ecosystem health assessment research for decades, to provide a sound approach to environmental management and sust

Author:
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428901701
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 109

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Book Description

Author: Laura E. Jackson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Ecological risk assessment
Languages : en
Pages : 116

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Book Description

Author: Martin Knura
Publisher: Diplomica Verlag
ISBN: 384287989X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 133

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Book Description
Since scientists have recognised the greenhouse effect that is associated with the global warming, environmental friendly behaviour has become more important, and it is increasingly expected from companies to become more ecofriendly. This study deals with the so-called ?Greenwashing?, a marketing strategy that is discussed by the author. The author examines the company?s motivations to become ?greener?, and the relevance of IT-based environmental performance measurement to corporations. The main purpose of this study is to identify and visualize Key Ecological Indicators. Thus, the contribution of this work is the development of the theoretical foundations of KEIs, and the implementation of a KEI framework for business-processes on the basis of a case study.

Author: Fuensanta Salas
Publisher: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra / Coimbra University Press
ISBN: 9892603516
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 165

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Book Description
Experience demonstrates that none of the available measures regarding biological effects of pollution can be considered ideal, which is due to the complexity inherent in assessing the environmental quality of a system. In fact, it is always preferable to combine a suite of indices providing complementary information. This book aims at helping researchers and students, as well as managers and authorities of coastal areas in selecting the most suitable ecological indicators for each case, taking into account the type of disturbance they want to assess and the data available to do it. A user friendly guide is proposed, accounting different theoretical approaches and discussing the results of its application in different geographical areas. Recommendations are provided regarding the most adequate application of different indices, illustrating for instance in what situations their use is recommendable, or on the contrary not advisable, depending on the characteristics of the disturbance, the type of data, or the level of taxonomic identification of the organisms.