Almost 20 years after the first MEDPINE book "Ecology, biogeography and management of Pinus halepensis and P. brutia forest ecosystems in the Mediterranean basin "(Ne'eman and Trabaud, 2000) was published, this new book presents up-to-date and state of the art information, covering a wide range of topics concerning Mediterranean pine trees growing in native and planted forests, their ecosystems and management. This will be an essential source of scientific information for learning, exploring planning and managing mediterranean pine and mixed forests. We focus on: genetics, adaptation, distribution and evolution; ecophysiology and drought resistance; pine and mixed forest ecosystems; forest dynamics biodiversity and biotic interactions; fire ecology; ecosystem services and policy; afforestation and management; all under the effect of global climate change. While forests are studied mainly in temperate and tropical zones, in the light of current climate change, focusing on Mediterranean forests growing in semi-humid to semi-arid zones is more important than ever. This book will include mostly review chapters (and two outstanding case studies) contributed by leading scientists, foresters and managers, and will serve as a scientific textbook for students of biology, agriculture and forestry, researchers of ecology forestry and related fields, forest managers, policy and decision makers.

Regions with Mediterranean-type climates include parts of California, South America, Australia, and of course, Europe. The effect of global climate change on these heavily populated areas will have major social and political ramifications. This volume addresses issues in these areas, from processes at the leaf level to the individual, ecosystem, and landscape levels. This book will serve to raise awareness on the significance of these types of ecosystems, and on their sensitivity to the threat that global change represents.

Human impact on natural landscapes through urbanization and agricultural expansion are becoming more and more dramatic and are the cause of serious environmental problems. This volume examines the effect of landscape disturbance on plant and animal diversity in the five mediterranean-climate regions of the world. It begins with three introductory chapters broadly reviewing the issues of landscape degradation. Further contributions describe regional land use conflicts in each of the five regions. Landscape disturbance and plant diversity, and landscape disturbance and animal diversity are treated in separate chapters. Four contributions deal with demography and ecophysiology in vegetation succession following disturbance. The volume closes with a consideration of the future addressing aspects of environmental politics.

Jorgensen's Ecosystem Ecology provides a thorough and comprehensive overview of the world's aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. This derivative volume based on the best-selling Encyclopedia of Ecology (published 2008) is the only book currently published that provides an overview of the world's ecosystems in a concise format. - Provides an overview of the world's ecosystems in a concise format - Covers aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems - Based on the best-selling Encyclopedia of Ecology - Full-color figures and tables support the text and aid in understanding

This volume presents a representative sample of contributions to the 41st European Marine Biology Symposium held in September 2005 in Cork, Ireland. The theme of the symposium was ‘Challenges to Marine Ecosystems’ and this was divided into four sub themes; Genetics, Marine Protected Areas, Global Climate Change and Marine Ecosystems, Sustainable Fisheries and Agriculture. The world’s marine ecosystems face multiple challenges, some natural, but many resulting from humankind’s activities. Global climate change, driven by influences of energy usage and industrial practices, is a reality now accepted by most of the world’s scientists, media and political establishments. Warming seas and rising sea levels are regarded as threats, while visionaries consider deep ocean carbon disposal as a technological opportunity. Exploitation of the seas continues apace, with repeated concerns over the impact of over-fishing, plus reservations about the environmental effects of marine aquaculture. We need to understand how resilient organisms and ecosystems are to these challenges, while responding by protecting biologically-meaningful areas of the oceans. The subthemes of the 41st European Marine Biology Symposium address all of these matters.

The Alboran Sea represents a regional Mediterranean space where North and South worlds merges, creating a geopolitical region where marine resources and maritime activities should be managed from a national and international perspectives. It is widely known, that currently the planet is suffering a global change, and it is also affecting the Alboran Sea, its ecosystems and populations. An important first step to update a paramount vision on this region is to understand the climatic, geologic and oceanographic, including biochemical cycles, process which shapes the rich geodiversity, biodiversity, the productivity, and the sustainable use of the marine resources from Alboran Sea. The fisheries management system should take into account marine environmental variability to achieve biological sustainability of marine resources. Well-funded policy-makers’ decisions require a sound science based knowledge of the interaction between the marine environment and commercial stocks. This is because the role of marine environment in the evolution of fish stocks is sometimes even more important than the one played by fishers in the commercial exploitation of them. Finally, we should analyze the different aspects of political context that could affect the management of the resources from Alboran Sea in the context of climate change. This book reviews different aspects of the Alboran Sea to help understand the current situation from the original Tethis Ocean. The book is divided into four blocks: (i) Oceanographic, geological and ecological context (chapters 2 to 7), (ii) biodiversity and ecosystems distribution (chapters 8 to 12), (iii) fisheries resources and aquaculture (chapters 13 to 20), and (iv) conservation, management and marine polices (chapters 21 to 25).

This book aims to identify, present and discuss key driving forces and pressures on ecosystem services. Ecosystem services are the contributions that ecosystems provide to human well-being. The scope of this atlas is on identifying solutions and lessons to be applied across science, policy and practice. The atlas will address different components of ecosystem services, assess risks and vulnerabilities, and outline governance and management opportunities. The atlas will therefore attract a wide audience, both from policy and practice and from different scientific disciplines. The emphasis will be on ecosystems in Europe, as the available data on service provision is best developed for this region and recognizes the strengths of the contributing authors. Ecosystems of regions outside Europe will be covered where possible.

This book presents an in-depth discussion of the biological and ecological geography of the oceans. It synthesizes locally restricted studies of the ocean to generate a global geography of the vast marine world.Based on patterns of algal ecology, the book divides the ocean into four primary compartments, which are then subdivided into secondary compartments.*Includes color insert of the latest in satellite imagery showing the world's oceans, their similarities and differences*Revised and updated to reflect the latest in oceanographic research*Ideal for anyone interested in understanding ocean ecology -- accessible and informative

The idea that nature provides services to people is one of the most powerful concepts to have emerged over the last two decades. It is shaping our understanding of the role that biodiverse ecosystems play in the environment and their benefits for humankind. As a result, there is a growing interest in operational and methodological issues surrounding ecosystem services amongst environmental managers, and many institutions are now developing teaching programmes to equip the next generation with the skills needed to apply the concepts more effectively. This handbook provides a comprehensive reference text on ecosystem services, integrating natural and social science (including economics). Collectively the chapters, written by the world's leading authorities, demonstrate the importance of biodiversity for people, policy and practice. They also show how the value of ecosystems to society can be expressed in monetary and non-monetary terms, so that the environment can be better taken into account in decision making. The significance of the ecosystem service paradigm is that it helps us redefine and better communicate the relationships between people and nature. It is shown how these are essential to resolving challenges such as sustainable development and poverty reduction, and the creation of a green economy in developing and developed world contexts.

The marine environment is one of our most precious yet fragile natural resources. It provides a wide range of essential goods and services, including food, regulation of climate and nutrient cycling, as well as a setting for transport, recreation and tourism. This environment is however extremely complex and very sensitive to development pressures and other forms of human influence. Planning and management of the sea are similarly complicated, reflecting intricate legal, institutional and ownerships patterns. This creates a situation where marine ecosystems are vulnerable to over-exploitation or neglect. The Ecosystem Approach to Marine Planning and Management describes how growing concern about the state of our seas is resulting in the development of new approaches to marine planning and management. For example, the United Nations Environment Programme has called for the widespread introduction of Marine Spatial Planning (MSP), and the European Union has recently been consulting on a new European Maritime Policy designed to stimulate economic growth but at the same time protect the resource base. Within the United Kingdom, the 2010 Marine Act draws upon the experience of town and country planning and brings into being a new system of Marine Spatial Planning. The authors show that a common feature of all these developments is an appreciation that more integrated forms of planning and management are required for our seas and that new arrangements must draw together understanding from natural science, social science and many other perspectives. Adopting such a trans-disciplinary and holistic (or 'ecosystems') approach, the book distils the expertise of these different disciplines and seeks to promote a broader understanding of the origins and practicalities of new approaches to marine planning and management.