الصفحة 1
الصفحة 1
Neural Networks and Sea Time Series : Reconstruction and Extreme-Event Analysis
This book, a careful blend of theory and applications, is an excellent introduction to the use of ANN, which may encourage readers to try analogous approaches in other important application areas. Researchers, practitioners, and advanced graduate students in neural networks, hydraulic and marine engineering, prediction theory, and data analysis will benefit from the results and novel ideas presented in this useful resource.
Increasing climate variability and change : Reducing the vulnerability of agriculture and forestry
One of the major challenges facing humankind is to provide an equitable standard of living for this and future generations: adequate food, water and energy, safe shelter and a healthy environment. Human-induced climate change, and increasing climate variability, as well as other global environmental issues such as land degradation and loss of biological diversity, threaten our ability to meet these basic human needs. It is undisputed that the last two decades have been the warmest this century, and likely to be the warmest for the last 1000 years, sea level is rising, rain and snowfall patterns are changing.
First floridians and last mastodons : The Page-Ladson Site in the Aucilla River
Over the last 20 years the Aucilla River Prehistory Project has been one of the most f- cinating stories unfolding in Florida. This project, uncovering the remains of plants and animals from the end of the last Ice Age and the beginning of Florida’s human oc- pation, is answering questions important to the entire western hemisphere. Questions such as when did people first arrive in the Americas? Were these newcomer scavengers or skillful hunters? Could they have contributed to the extinction of the great Ice Age beasts – animals such as elephants – that were creatures native to Florida for the pre- ous million or so years? And how did these first Florida people survive 12,000 years ago at a time when sea level was so low that this peninsula was double its present size, sprawling hugely into the warm waters of the Caribbean? Much of Florida at that time was almost desert.
Environmental History of the Rhine-Meuse Delta : An ecological story on evolving human–environmental relations coping with climate change and sea-level rise
This book presents the environmental history of the Delta of the lowland rivers Rhine and Meuse, an ecological story on evolving human–environmental relations coping with climate change and sea-level rise. It offers a combination of in-depth ecology and environmental history, dealing with exploitation of land and water, the use of everything nature provided, the development of fisheries and agriculture, changes in biodiversity of higher plants, fish, birds, mammals and invasive exotics. It is the first comprehensive book written in English on the integrated environmental history of the Delta, from prehistoric times up to the present day. It covers the l- acy of human intervention, the inescapable fate of reclaimed, nevertheless subs- ing and sinking polders, ‘bathtubs’ attacked by numerous floods, reclaimed in the Middle Ages and unwittingly exposed to the rising sea level and the increasing amplitude between high and low water in the rivers. The river channels, constricted and regulated between embankments, lost their flood plains, silted up, degraded and incised. Cultivation of raised bog deposits led to oxidation and compacting of peat and clay, resulting in progressive subsidence and flooding; arable land had to be changed into grassland and wetland. For millennia muscular strength and wind and water powers moulded the country into its basic form. From 1800 onwards, acceleration and scaling up by steam power and electricity, and exponential popu- tion growth, resulted in the erection of human structures ‘fixed forever’, and severe pressure on the environment.
Environmental Governance of the Baltic Sea
This edited volume presents a comprehensive and coherent interdisciplinary analysis of challenges and possibilities for sustainable governance of the Baltic Sea ecosystem by combining knowledge and approaches from natural and social sciences. Focusing on the Ecosystem Approach to Management (EAM) and associated multi-level, multi-sector and multi-actor challenges, the book provides up-to-date descriptions and analyses of environmental governance structures and processes at the macro-regional Baltic Sea level.
Marine, Freshwater, and Wetlands Biodiversity
Marine, coastal and wetland habitats are threatened, not only through exploitation, but also by the prospect of climate change – as ocean currents change course, sea levels rise, and rainfall patterns change. Even the once-common cod is now under threat from the combined effects of over-fishing and a dramatic change-induced decrease in the plankton that cod larvae feed on. Meanwhile, coral reefs remain especially vulnerable to rapid sea-level changes exacerbated by the effects of tourism and disease. This book gathers together a wide range of papers reporting on key research into the biodiversity conservation of these critical and increasingly threatened habitats. Collectively these papers provide a snap-shot of the types of problems they are experiencing, and offer a wealth of topical examples which render this volume especially valuable to teachers of courses in marine, freshwater and wetlands ecology, biological conservation and ecological restoration.
Managing European Coasts : Past, Present and Future
Many coastal areas and human activities are subject to increasing risks from natural and man-induced hazards such as flooding resulting from major changes in hydrology of river systems that has reached a global scale. Changes in the hydrological cycle coupled with changes in land and water management alter fluxes of materials transmitted from river catchments to the coastal zone, which have a major effect on coastal ecosystems. The increasing complexity of underlying processes and forcing functions that drive changes on coastal systems are witnessed at a multiplicity of temporal and spatial scales.
Macro-Engineering : A Challenge for the Future
Macro-engineering involves the large-scale modification and manipulation of natural systems for the benefit of mankind. The primary goals of some Earth-based macroprojects described in this book are power production, land reclamation, food production, climate change, environment, water, transport and coastal protection. Other Earth or space projects considered here have a more futuristic ring, but our present-day technical skill makes their realization possible. Earth-based macroprojects usually combine different aspects and aims. They have a major impact on the ecology of a region and the inhabitants' means of living (like tourism, fishing, shipping). Its effects may be felt worldwide, like the rise in global sea level after the damming and evaporation of large ocean gulfs for power production, or the change in climate following the regional reduction of solar insolation.
Asian-Pacific coasts and their management : States of environment
The Asia-Pacific region is home to the world’s largest region of coral reefs and mangroves. It accommodates two-thirds of the world’s human population and its economic activities have the highest growth rate in the world. Ongoing degradation of the environment, resulting from coastal development, deforestation, desertification and over-harvesting, are becoming a matter of great concern, as floods and droughts occur as a result of this degradation. Threats of global environmental change, such as climate change and sea-level rise, will exacerbate such problems. Therefore, appropriate policies and measures are needed for coastal management, to address both the local and global trends. This book gives an overview of the state-of-the-art understanding on the drivers, state, and responses to coastal environmental changes in the Asia-Pacific region. It provides excellent perspectives on current and anticipated environmental changes in the region’s coastal areas, to researchers, students, policy makers, coastal managers and other stakeholders.
