Author: Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Status and Trends of the Nation's Biological Resources, U.S. Geological Survey, 1998
Author: Status and Trends of the Nation's Biological Resources
Author: Preview of Status and Trends of the Nation's Biological Resources
Author: Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biodiversity
Languages : en
Pages : 48
Book Description
Lists the contents of the full two-volume report, and gives the text of the chapter on the Mississippi River from vol. 1.
Status and Trends of the Nation's Biological Resources
Author: Catherine E. Puckett HaeckerPublisher: Geological Survey (USGS)
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 482
Book Description
Assesses the health of the United States plants, animals, and ecosystems.
The American West at Risk
Author: Howard G. WilshirePublisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780199722617
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 640
Book Description
The American West at Risk summarizes the dominant human-generated environmental challenges in the 11 contiguous arid western United States - America's legendary, even mythical, frontier. When discovered by European explorers and later settlers, the west boasted rich soils, bountiful fisheries, immense, dense forests, sparkling streams, untapped ore deposits, and oil bonanzas. It now faces depletion of many of these resources, and potentially serious threats to its few "renewable" resources. The importance of this story is that preserving lands has a central role for protecting air and water quality, and water supplies--and all support a healthy living environment. The idea that all life on earth is connected in a great chain of being, and that all life is connected to the physical earth in many obvious and subtle ways, is not some new-age fad, it is scientifically demonstrable. An understanding of earth processes, and the significance of their biological connections, is critical in shaping societal values so that national land use policies will conserve the earth and avoid the worst impacts of natural processes. These connections inevitably lead science into the murkier realms of political controversy and bureaucratic stasis. Most of the chapters in The American West at Risk focus on a human land use or activity that depletes resources and degrades environmental integrity of this resource-rich, but tender and slow-to-heal, western U.S. The activities include forest clearing for many purposes; farming and grazing; mining for aggregate, metals, and other materials; energy extraction and use; military training and weapons manufacturing and testing; road and utility transmission corridors; recreation; urbanization; and disposing of the wastes generated by everything that we do. We focus on how our land-degrading activities are connected to natural earth processes, which act to accelerate and spread the damages we inflict on the land. Visit www.theamericanwestatrisk.com to learn more about the book and its authors.
Future Roles and Opportunities for the U.S. Geological Survey
Author: National Research CouncilPublisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309072646
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 189
Book Description
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has adapted to the changing political, economic, and technical state of the nation and the world since it was established in the late nineteenth century. Over a period of more than 120 years, the USGS has evolved from a small group of scientists who collected data and provided guidance on how to parcel, manage, and use the public lands of the West to an agency comprised of thousands of scientists who conduct research and assessment activities on complex scientific issues at scales ranging from the local to the global. The USGS will no doubt continue to evolve and adapt to meet changing national needs. In fact, the recent integration of the National Biological Service and parts of the U.S. Bureau of Mines into the USGS presents an ideal opportunity to examine the agency's vision, mission, role, and scientific opportunities as the organization begins the early years of the twenty-first century. The USGS recognized the need to adapt to changing demands when it asked the National Research Council (NRC) to undertake this study. The NRC formed a multidisciplinary committee of 16 experts to address issues related to the future roles, challenges, and opportunities of the agency.
River Science at the U.S. Geological Survey
Author: National Research CouncilPublisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309103576
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 206
Book Description
Rivers provide about 60 percent of the nation's drinking water and irrigation water and 10 percent of the nation's electric power needs. The multiple and sometimes incompatible services demanded of rivers often lead to policy and management conflicts that require the integration of science-based information. This report advises the U.S. Geological Survey on how it can best address river science challenges by effectively using its resources and coordinating its activities with other agencies. The report identifies the highest priority river science issues for the USGS, including environmental flows and river restoration, sediment transport and geomorphology, and groundwater surface-water interactions. It also recommends two cross-cutting science activities including surveying and mapping the nation's river systems according to key physical and landscape features, and expanding work on predictive models, especially those that simulate interactions between physical-biological processes. The report identifies key variables to be monitored and data-managed. It proposes enhancements in streamflow, biological, and sediment monitoring; these include establishing multidisciplinary, integrated reach-scale monitoring sites and developing a comprehensive national sediment monitoring program. Finally, it encourages the USGS to be at the forefront of new technology application, including airborne lidar and embedded, networked, wireless sensors.
Strategic Plan for the U.S. Geological Survey Status and Trends of Biological Resources Program
Author: U.S. Geological Survey Circular
Author: Invasive Plants
Author: Sylvan Ramsey KaufmanPublisher: Stackpole Books
ISBN: 0811733653
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 466
Book Description
Full-color illustrated photographs of over 175 species of invasive plants in North America that describes their environmental and economic impact.