Search results for ""cabi""

Humans have bred dogs for physical and behavioral characteristics for millennia. These efforts can have unintended side effects, however, which may be either advantageous or cause issues - such as a predisposition to certain medical complaints, or, controversially, behavioural issues.The scientific study of domestic dogs is still in its infancy, but public demand for this information is at a record high as more and more pet owners seek to understand their canine family members. Focusing on the behavioral differences and tendencies that have arisen in different breed lines, this book explores, summarizes, and explains the scientific evidence on what breed can tell us about behaviour - and, crucially, what it cannot.This book covers:- the impact of inbreeding, how it contributes to problematic behavioral issues such as anxiety and aggression, and how it potentially affects the future health of the breed;- the limits of predicting a dog's behavior based upon bre

Read more less

Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) are biocontrol agents that are used to control a wide variety of insect pests within agriculture and forestry. In addition to their use as bio-pesticides, EPNs have a fascinating biology and are thus considered model organisms in ecology, symbiosis and pathogenesis.This book presents basic knowledge and diverse applications to illustrate how EPNs play an important role as potent biocontrol solutions. It describes:Fundamental concepts such as biology, taxonomy, symbiosis genomics and behavioural ecology.Aspects of commercialization, including mass production, formulation, safety and regulation, and marketing.Diverse cropping systems e.g. maize, wheat and grains, citrus, orchard systems, berries, vine crops, vegetables and turf.Other applications including urban, nursery, forestry, greenhouse, veterinary and medical.Ecological considerations and applications in conservation biocontrol.This book i

Read more less

Cultivated turfgrass is an assemblage of mown, perennial grasses or prostrate-growing forb plants and a suite of microbes all competing with each other in a common environment. This book approaches turfgrass diseases from an ecological perspective and explains with examples how wild plants and microbes have co-evolved. It addresses the identification, biology and integrated management of both common turfgrass diseases and newly emergent diseases. It includes the common and lesser-known turfgrass species, their surrounding environment and the range of beneficial and pathogenic microbes which in combination explain why disease occurs. For disease identification purposes, fungal diseases are arranged according to their predominantly cool season and warm season occurrence. Turfgrass bacterial and viral diseases, and plant parasitic nematodes are also covered. Written by a team of international authors, it combines technical expertise and practical experience. Essential for a

Read more less

In the 21st century free time is an increasingly precious resource. At the same time, leisure has never been more vital for ensuring individual and social health, wellbeing and quality of life. Around the world, governments and industry have responsibilities and opportunities to ensure provision of facilities for rest and play. To do this they require information on trends in free time and leisure in the community.This book is an expanded and updated edition of a previous work entitled World Leisure Participation: Free Time in the Global Village, by the same editors (CABI, 1996). It brings together the results of the most recent national leisure participation surveys from 15 countries, including three countries not previously covered. The book also includes increased coverage of time-budget surveys and new themes such as public policy dimensions. It also examines the methodological problems and challenges of conducting national surveys in the field, and their future prospects.

Read more less

The genus Pinus is of great ecological and commercial importance and it is notable for its vast geographic range and the sheer area that its various species occupy. Its natural range is almost exclusively in the northern hemisphere, where it often forms the dominant vegetation cover. However, it is also of silvicultural significance in many countries in the southern hemisphere. Pines play an important role in the ecosystems of which they form part, and provide a valuable source of fibre, timber and other secondary products for human use. Worldwide, pines form a large part of the annual wood harvest and the immature plantation forests of the future. This reflects their amenability to cultivation, their broad site tolerances, and the ease of processing their wood for a multitude of end-uses. This book is compiled from 65 datasheets on pine from the Forestry Compendium Global Module (published by CABI on CD-ROM). For each species, there is information on common names, taxonomy, botanical features, natural distribution, latitude range, climate, soil properties, silvicultural characteristics, pests, wood and non-wood products.

Read more less

Current trends in population growth suggest that global food production is unlikely to satisfy future demand under predicted climate change scenarios unless rates of crop improvement are accelerated. In order to maintain food security in the face of these challenges, a holistic approach that includes stress-tolerant germplasm, sustainable crop and natural resource management, and sound policy interventions will be needed. The first volume in the CABI Climate Change Series, this book provides an overview of the essential disciplines required for sustainable crop production in unpredictable environments. Chapters include discussions of adapting to biotic and abiotic stresses, sustainable and resource-conserving technologies and new tools for enhancing crop adaptation. Examples of successful applications as well as future prospects of how each discipline can be expected to evolve over the next 30 years are also presented. Laying out the basic concepts needed to adapt to and mitigate changes in crop environments, this is an essential resource for researchers and students in crop and environmental science as well as policy makers.

Read more less

Biopesticides Series, No. 1During recent decades there has been a steady increase in the use of chemical pesticides in both developed and developing countries. This has caused widespread concern about their impact on human health and on the environment. This is particularly the case in less developed countries which may lack appropriate resources to minimise risks and rectify problems.The purpose of this short book is to provide a review of: Chemical pesticide markets, including global figures, exports from developed countries, and markets in Latin America, Asia and Africa Information on the scale of manufacture, import, export and use of chemical pesticides Examples of direct risks to human welfare in terms of acute poisonings caused by occupational exposure and pesticide residues in food Examples of problems with the storage of obsolete stocks of pesticides in developing countries.The focus is on acute problems in developing countries, particularly in Latin America, Asia and Africa, but some information is also provided about developed countries.This is the first volume in a new "Biopesticides Series" developed by the Biopesticides Programme at CABI Bioscience.

Read more less

Following on from the CGIAR study by Evenson and Gollin (published by CABI in 2003), this volume provides up-to-date estimates of adoption outcomes and productivity impacts of crop variety improvement research in sub-Saharan Africa. The book reports on the results of the DIIVA Project that focussed on the varietal generation, adoption and impact for 20 food crops in 30 countries. It also compares adoption outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa to those in South Asia, and guides future efforts for global agricultural research

Read more less

This authoritative textbook provides an introduction and guide to poultry behaviour and welfare. It describes the origin and biology of the various species of bird that are of agricultural importance, as well as giving a succinct overview of their key behaviour patterns. There is careful discussion of the many factors that influence their welfare, and detailed consideration of the ways in which legislation and commercial interests interact in an attempt to satisfy the many needs involved. The final chapters discuss possible future developments within the subject. The book is in part an update of a previous work, Poultry Production Systems: Behaviour, Management and Welfare (CABI, 1992), completely rewritten and with much new material added.

Read more less

Farmers face ever-changing production systems, markets and regulations. This means they must constantly review their long-term plans to ensure continuing economic and environmental sustainability. The challenge for the future is for farmers to assess opportunities strategically as they appear and overcome the temptation of just meeting the demand of day-to-day tactical decision-making. This long-term view is the world of strategic planning. Farm owners and managers must constantly review the future and systematically assess likely future scenarios in order to make adjustments to suit prevailing needs. Any manager or owner thinking about purchasing a new farm business either to expand, or replace, an existing property must conduct similar assessments. This book addresses these issues and provides methods and procedures that enable the development and assessment of future strategies. This book explains how to be a "strategic farmer" in an unusual way. Rather like a novel, it tells the story of a newly reconstituted farming couple who are searching for a new property on which to carry out their primary production plans following their departure from a family farm which was being assigned to the next generation. In a previous book in this series (Farm Business Management: The Decisive Farmer), this same couple were involved in a team approach to improving decision-making. This book covers the couple's efforts to find a suitable property meeting all their strategic needs having analysed the expected future scenarios. In this process the couple interacts with many of their farmer friends and advisors who also featured as characters in the previous books. Each chapter is devoted to one of the common issues facing the modern farmer when trying to create a long-term strategic plan. To assess each issue, tried-and-tested strategic planning procedures are demonstrated with full explanations of their logic and methods. Each topic is fully referenced to provide further reading and discussion. Lecture guides, case studies and exercises are also provided online on the CABI Digital Library. This book is a valuable resource for all farmers and students of farm management and agribusiness.

Read more less

There is widespread public concern about the effects of nitrate derived from farming on water quality and public health. But research on nitrate during the past decade has revealed wide discrepancies between public perceptions and reality. The main problems from nitrate are ecological changes in coastal and estuarine waters and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere. This gas, largely derived from nitrate, is a threat to the ozone layer in the stratosphere and is also a greenhouse gas. This book builds on Farming, Fertilizers and the Nitrate Problem (CABI, 1991) by Addiscott, Whitmore and Powlson but has been restructured to take account of new developments and to bring out more clearly the role of politicians and economists in the 'nitrate problem'.

Read more less

This new edition is a reprint of the hardback book, first published in 2005. As the pace of life increases and the effects of globalisation invade more and more areas of everyday life, free time becomes an increasingly precious resource. For those who are experiencing a shortage of free time - a 'time-squeeze' - and for the growing numbers looking forward to abundant free time in retirement, leisure has never been more vital for ensuring individual and social health and wellbeing and the enhancement of social capital and the quality of lifeThis book is an expanded and updated edition of a previous work entitled World Leisure Participation: Free Time in the Global Village, by the same editors (CABI, 1996). It brings together the results of the most recent national leisure participation surveys from 15 countries, including three countries not previously covered. The book also includes increased coverage of time-budget surveys and new themes such as public policy dimensions. It also examines the methodological problems and challenges of conducting national surveys in the field, and their future prospects.

Read more less

This book is an essential companion volume to Quarantine Pests for Europe, 2nd Edition and Illustrations of Quarantine Pests for Europe. The three titles are the result of collaboration between CABI and EPPO in the compilation of data on the pests of phytosanitary significance for the European and Mediterranean region. This present publication provides updated geographic distributions of over 350 pests for which data sheets and illustrations are already available. A map is provided for each pest showing the current world distribution graphically. This is supported by a list of the countries and provinces in which the pest has been recorded with a coded indication of its current status. Coverage extends to insects, mites, nematodes, fungi, bacteria, viruses and parasitic plants. The pests concerned are either entirely absent from the European and Mediterranean region (A1 list) or have a restricted distribution (A2 list). Text within the book is provided in both English and French.

Read more less

Current trends in population growth suggest that global food production is unlikely to satisfy future demand under predicted climate change scenarios unless rates of crop improvement are accelerated. In order to maintain food security in the face of these challenges, a holistic approach that includes stress-tolerant germplasm, sustainable crop and natural resource management, and sound policy interventions will be needed. The first volume in the CABI Climate Change Series, this book provides an overview of the essential disciplines required for sustainable crop production in unpredictable environments. Chapters include discussions of adapting to biotic and abiotic stresses, sustainable and resource-conserving technologies and new tools for enhancing crop adaptation. Examples of successful applications as well as future prospects of how each discipline can be expected to evolve over the next 30 years are also presented. Laying out the basic concepts needed to adapt to and mitigate changes in crop environments, this is an essential resource for researchers and students in crop and environmental science as well as policy makers.

Read more less

Agroforestry is a land use system that allows for the concurrent production of trees and agricultural crops and/or animals from the same piece of land. It has a rich history of development and has been practised in some parts of the world for more than 6,000 years. In 1997, CABI published the seminal book on this subject, Temperate Agroforestry Systems, which was a break from the norm as almost all agroforestry texts up to that date were only relevant to tropical areas. The book explored the development of temperate agroforestry and agroforestry systems, concentrating on those areas within temperate zones where the greatest advances, adoptions and modifications had taken place up to that time: North and South America, China, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. This second fully-updated and expanded edition includes additional chapters on India and Chile and, as a result of ongoing advances in the field, separate chapters on the US, Canada, the UK and continental Europe. Today's challenges of climate change, population growth and food security, in concert with the ongoing global requirement for the energy and water needed for a resilient agricultural paradigm, can be met through the wide-scale adoption of agroforestry practices, in both tropical regions and temperate zones. The 2nd edition ofTemperate Agroforestry Systems brings together many examples of temperate agroforestry and will make valuable reading for all those working in this area as researchers, practitioners and policy makers. The book is also of importance to students and teachers of agriculture, ecology, environmental studies and forestry in temperate regions.

Read more less

Management research has shown successful farmers have quite distinct personal characteristics which most farmers have seldom thought about. Farmers who are less successful tend to have processes and systems which are likely to be biased. The aim of this book is to help all farmers discover more about these personal attributes that impinge on the success of their management, and to show how their attitudes and personal resources can be improved. This book is not a straightforward textbook. Rather, it tells the story of a group of farmers who take part in an expert-guided experiment designed to test approaches to improving management skill. The group meet at each other's farms to learn about their issues and develop solutions to improving what is called their 'management style' with the aim of removing any identified decision system biases. The book covers issues like optimal decision rule systems and how they can become second nature. Each chapter is devoted to one of the common issues defining management approaches. One chapter, for example, has the farmers sorting out issues around succession planning, another covers the vexed problem of farmer anxiety, and still another has the farmers learning skills on self-critiquing. Overall, there are fifteen chapters covering both general and specific issues. The book is designed for all farmers but is also a valuable resource for students of farm management and agribusiness. A strong learning feature of the book are the references to formal theories and explanations provided in addenda to each chapter. These cover and list the main teaching points highlighted in each farmer meeting giving details of where the detailed methods of solving each situation can be found. Exercises and case studies can also be accessed both on line and in other CABI books.

Read more less

Veterinarians are increasingly aware of the need to recognise they are working in a business enterprise. From operating as small practices twenty years ago, veterinary businesses are now run along sophisticated models and operate out of multi-million pound hospitals. Drawing together the latest information on practice management, this textbook provides practical and straightforward coverage of major elements, including client relationships and staff management, business and financial procedures, computer systems and project management. This book covers practice management topics as taught in veterinary schools worldwide, providing students with a textbook resource in this increasingly important subject. It is also a valuable source of information for newly qualified veterinarians, veterinarians interested in practice management and veterinary practice managers.

Read more less

This textbook explains the role of hormones in improving and monitoring the production, performance, reproduction, behaviour and health of animals. With its focus on livestock animals: cattle, pigs, sheep and horses as well as poultry and fish; the book uses an integrative approach to cover endocrine concepts across species. This updated edition is expanded to include new topics in each section, with updated references, revised study questions and an expanded subject index. It is an essential text for students in animal and veterinary sciences as well as those in academia and industry that are interested in applications of endocrinology in animal production systems. Praise for the first edition: '…a useful text for teaching purposes and an important reference for those who seek ready access to information on specific aspects of applied endocrinology.' Poultry Science

Read more less

Islands are the most vulnerable and fragile of tourism destinations and will experience even more pressure as the combined impacts of economic, social and environmental change accelerate in the future. In order to understand the process of island tourism development, response to change and challenges and their journey to sustainability, this book provides insights and instruction on topics including social, cultural, environmental and economic aspects of island tourism. It contains essential information for policymakers, planners, researchers, managers and operators within the tourism industry.

Read more less

The glycaemic index (GI) is a measure of the ability of a food to raise blood sugar. The GI has been hitting the headlines recently. While some of what is written is balanced and accurate, there is also much misunderstanding and misinformation promulgated about the GI in both the scientific and popular press. This book aims to provide a credible, complete and accurate source of information about all aspects of the GI. The book's chapters cover the definition of the GI, how to measure the GI, how to apply GI information to meals and diets, the reasons why foods have different GI values and the impact of altering a diet GI on health and disease. This book will be of significant interest to researchers in nutrition, medicine and food science, and to health agencies and the food industry.

Read more less

Plants have evolved both general and highly specialized defence mechanisms that function to prevent diseases caused by the majority of microbial pathogens they encounter. Highly specialized defence is governed by specific interactions between pathogen avr (avirulence) genes' loci and alleles of the corresponding plant disease resistance (R) loci. These defences can be very dynamic as microbes from the same species can act differently in their co-evolution with the specific host plant, which in turn has similarly evolved its response to external threats. There have been major developments in the field of plant-microbe interactions in recent years, due to newly developed techniques and the availability of genomic information. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions explores these new discoveries, focusing primarily on the mechanisms controlling plant disease resistance, the cross-talk among the pathways involved and the strategies used by the pathogens to suppress these defences. By exploring developments in plant defences, pathogen's counter-defences and mutually beneficial plant-microbe interactions, this book will be useful for researchers and students in plant pathology and plant biology-related areas.

Read more less

With the media highlighting the growing obesity epidemic in western society, dieticians, nutritionists, and other health professionals increasingly have to promote healthy eating to the general public. Although nutrition education has been established for decades, health promotion and media communication are now part of the toolkit needed to solve wide ranging nutritional issues that cause major health problems. Nutrition Promotion sets nutrition education firmly in a public health context and provides practical applications in a variety of settings and age groups. It draws on international research and theory, and includes international case studies and examples.

Read more less

In many countries irrigated agriculture consumes a large proportion of the available water resources, often over 70% of the total. There is considerable pressure to release water for other uses, and as a sector irrigated agriculture will have to increase its efficiency and productivity of water use. Drawing on the author's 30 years of experience in some 28 countries, this book offers knowledge for the management of irrigation and drainage systems, including traditional technical areas of systems operation and maintenance, and expanding managerial, institutional and organizational aspects. Chapters provide guidelines to improve management, operation and maintenance processes, which move management thinking out of traditional public-sector mindsets to a more customer-focussed, performance-oriented service delivery. As a practical guide to improve efficiency and productivity in irrigated agriculture, this book is essential reading for irrigation managers and technicians as well as students and policymakers in water management, agriculture and sustainable development.

Read more less

The control of invasive plant species is a global challenge, and effective biological control is a long-term solution which reduces the need for environmentally damaging chemical sprays. Covering the very latest research findings in all aspects of weed biocontrol, this comprehensive volume contains over 250 papers and abstracts across nine key themes presented at the symposium by international experts. It explores weed biology and ecology and the economic impacts, effectiveness and practical implications of weed management strategies, and will be of interest to researchers and students in plant and environmental sciences.

Read more less

Long-distance transport can cause both physical and mental problems in animals and promoting animal welfare will be beneficial to both the animals and the agricultural and processing industries. In conjunction with the World Society for the Protection of Animals, this volume brings together studies from well-known animal scientists and researchers to reviews the implications and necessity of long-distance animal transport for slaughter. Authoritative reports on regional practices are combines with discussions of the science, economics, legislation and procedures involved in this practice.

Read more less

The lack of sufficient access to clean water is a common problem faced by communities, efforts to alleviate poverty and gender inequality and improve economic growth in developing countries. While reforms have been implemented to manage water resources, these have taken little notice of how people use and manage their water and have had limited effect at the ground level. On the other hand, regulations developed within communities are livelihood-oriented and provide incentives for collective action but they can also be hierarchal, enforcing power and gender inequalities. This book shows how bringing together the strengths of community-based laws rooted in user participation and the formalized legal systems of the public sector, water management regimes will be more able to reach their goals.

Read more less

Less-favoured areas with limited agricultural potential or difficult access conditions, support 40 percent of the world's rural population suffering from chronic poverty. While agricultural innovations and rural development programs have begun to be implemented within developing countries, they do not address the specific obstacles faced by this large population. Instead, a targeted approach is needed to identify different resource management strategies for particular types of households and communities as well as creating balanced investments aimed at sustainable intensification of rural livelihoods. Such efforts have been the focus of the research program on Regional Food Security Policies for Natural Resource Management and Sustainable Economies (RESPONSE). Through the study of less-favoured areas in Africa, Latin America, and South and East Asia, development pathways allowing for the careful adjustment of resource use strategies at the field, farm-household and village level are explored.

Read more less

Much hope has been vested in pricing as a means of helping to regulate and rationalize water management, notably in the irrigation sector. The pricing of water has often been applied universally, using general and ideological policies, and not considering regional environmental and economic differences. Almost fifteen years after the emphasis laid at the Dublin and Rio conferences on treating water as an economic good, a comprehensive review of how such policies have helped manage water resources an irrigation use is necessary.The case-studies presented here offer a re-assessment of current policies by evaluating their objectives and constraints and often demonstrating their failure by not considering the regional context. They will therefore contribute to avoiding costly and misplaced reforms and help design water policies that are based on a deeper understanding of the factors which eventually dictate their effectiveness.

Read more less

This book reviews the literature on communication about biotechnology. Other books deal with this topic, however this book with the use of case studies, looks at public opinion data, communication theory, and international examples; to provide a complementary overview of how the public sees this controversial topic.

Read more less

The history of modern tourism records many localized and some international crises characterized by extreme and sudden reduction in demand for specific destination areas or types of tourism product. Managerial responses to such events include both problem solving and market recovery steps, but these vary in effectiveness and recovery may be slow to occur after the initial problems are overcome. With examples drawn from the UK, Europe, America, Australia and Asia, this book brings together a range of expert academic analysis of the latest thinking and practice in this increasingly important area of tourism management.

Read more less

Using case studies from North America, Scandinavia, Scotland, New Zealand and the Polar Regions this book explores the use of tourism as a vehicle for regional development in peripheral areas. Topics covered include tourism management, rights of access, tourism destination communities, tourism impacts and regional development. The book identifies the core obstacles facing tourism in peripheral regions and highlights that tourism development in peripheries is not any easy task.

Read more less

There have been major developments in the field of plant-microbe interactions in recent years, due to newly developed techniques and the availability of genomic information. Molecular Plant-microbe Interactions explores these new discoveries, focusing primarily on the mechanisms controlling plant disease resistance, the cross-talk among the pathways involved and the strategies used by the pathogens to suppress these defences. By exploring developments in plant defences, pathogen's counter-defences and mutually beneficial plant-microbe interactions, this book will be useful for researchers and students in plant pathology and plant biology-related areas.

Read more less

This new edition of an established title examines the determination of grain crop yield from a unique perspective, by concentrating on the influence of the seed itself. As the food supply for an expanding world population is based on grain crops harvested for their seeds, understanding the process of seed growth and its regulation is crucial to our efforts to increase production and meet the needs of that population. Yield of grain crops is determined by their assimilatory processes such as photosynthesis and the biosynthetic processes in the seed, which are partly regulated within the seed itself. Providing a timely update in this field and highlighting the impact of the seed on grain crop yields, this book: · Describes all aspects of seed growth and development, including environmental and genetic effects on growth rate and length of the filling period. · Discusses the role of the seed in determining the two main yield components: individual seed weight and number of seeds per unit area. · Uses the concepts and models that have been developed to understand crop management and yield improvement. Substantially updated with new research and further developments of the practical applications of the concepts explored, this book is essential reading for those concerned with seed science and crop yield, including agronomists, crop physiologists, plant breeders, and extension workers. It is also a valuable source of information for lecturers and graduate students of agronomy and plant physiology.

Read more less

Introgression is the incorporation of a gene from one organism complex into another as a result of hybridization. A major concern with the use of genetically modified plants is the unintentional spread of the new genes from cultivated plants to their wild relatives and the subsequent impacts on the ecology of wild plants and their associated flora and fauna.The book reviews these issues, focusing on the ecological and evolutionary effects of introducing GM cultivars. It presents current knowledge of crop-wild relatives hybridization and introgression, and the measurement and prediction of their consequences. As a result it represents a major contribution to the debate about the risks of GM crops and measures, such as post commercialisation monitoring, required to determine the longer term impacts of GM crops on ecosystems.The book presents edited and revised presentations given at a conference of the same name, organised in January 2003 by the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) and the Robert Koch Institute (Germany), on behalf of the European Science Foundation funded program for Assessment of the Impacts of Genetically Modified Plants (AIGM ).

Read more less

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is at an impasse. While it is said that existing policies are not tenable, all recent reform plans have been condemned as unacceptable. However, a “bond scheme”, as part of reform that pays more attention to society’s aspirations for the environment and rural development, offers a way forward. This book demystifies the bond scheme proposal and explores concerns expressed by farmers and policy makers. Written by economists, a political scientist and a practising politician, it offers rare insights into EU farm policy.

Read more less

Cycads resemble palms, but are taxonomically quite different. They are a significant and irreplaceable component of the planet's biological diversity, having evolved various and often unique morphological, anatomical and biochemical features during their 250-million-year evolutionary history. Many cycad species exist today only as small, poorly-known or isolated populations or as ornamental species in botanic gardens. In order to understand fully, as well as to conserve, this internationally endangered tropical plant group, it is paramount that cycad systematics is studied, documented and refined.This volume presents the current state of our knowledge of the systematics of the approximately 300 species of cycads. It includes contributions from leading researchers from Australia, China, Italy, Mexico, South Africa, Thailand and the USA. It has been developed from papers presented at a workshop held in 2002 at the Montgomery Botanical Center.

Read more less

There are many theoretical approaches to modelling forest systems, but not all of them have valid practical applications. This book reviews current thinking on various models and explores a variety of areas and approaches. The papers in this book have been selected and developed from those presented at a workshop held in Portugal in June 2002. The topics covered include: forest reality and modelling strategies; mathematical approaches and reasoning; estimation processes models; validation and decision under uncertainty and model archives and metadata.The book will be of significant interest to those in areas of forestry, applied ecology, and statistics and economics.

Read more less

Forest ecosystems exist at the interface between the land and the atmosphere. Understanding the properties of this planetary boundary layer is very important for a number of related disciplines. This book presents an overview of topics that are of significance at this interface, starting at the scale of intra-leaf organelles, ranging to higher levels of organisation such as communities and ecosystems. It covers topics such as stomatal functioning, large scale processes, radiation modelling, forest meteorology and carbon sequestration. Based on proceedings of a conference to mark the retirement of Professor Paul Jarvis from the University of Edinburgh, the book contains contributions from leading international scientists. It will be of significant interest to researchers in forestry, ecology, environmental sciences and natural resources.

Read more less

Environmental and climate change is affecting forests and land use in numerous ways, including increasing the risk of geomorphic hazards. Such hazards include surface erosion, desertification and related land degradation. Yet it is often difficult to distinguish between the influences of climate change from those of changing forest land use, on geomorphic hazards.This volume reviews current knowlege on these issues.

Read more less

There is currently great concern among the public in general, and consumers in particular, about the quality of the environment in relation to agriculture. Such concerns focus on issues such as pollution from agriculture, the quality of landscapes, animal welfare and food safety. As a result, many countries have developed a range of standards, codes of good practice and other policy measures.This book reviews these issues and relates them to agricultural trade and competition. Features include chapters on world trade and trade liberalisation as well as individual chapters on the situation in the European Union, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and developing countries.

Read more less

This book presents edited and revised versions of more than 30 papers selected from those presented at a major conference on History and Forest Resources, held in Florence in 1998. The conference was organised by the Italian Academy of Forestry Science and working group on Forest History of the International Union of Forestry Research Organisations (IUFRO). As a whole the papers present detailed analyses of the interrelationships between forest ecosystems and socioeconomic development from thirteen different countries of the world. Main economic and social factors, techniques and local practices, as well as legal and political aspects related to forest changes are discussed, according to the latest achievements in forest history research. The book is a companion volume to Methods and Approaches in Forest History.

Read more less

This book describes current research in modelling nutrient use in farm animals, from cellular to ecosystem level. The chapters are developed from papers presented at a satellite meeting of the 9th International Symposium on Ruminant Physiology, held in South Africa in October 1999. - Excellent papers from a top list of contributors - Editors of great reputation - Covers the current topics of interest

Read more less

This book reviews assessments on the environmental effects of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and assesses the contribution of agricultural policy to environmental quality in the EU. It focuses on the role of agricultural policy in reducing harmful effects and/or creating benefits to the physical environment, landscape and nature. Emphasis is given to comparative studies, rather than any limited to one country. The commodity regimes of the CAP – e.g. the beef, wine and olive oil regimes – are considered in detail.

Read more less

Nematode pests of crops can cause major losses of revenue for producers. It is therefore vital to recognise them and to apply appropriate measures to control them, as early as possible in the production cycle. Adequate nematode control is essential to the success of integrated crop management systems. This book covers control of the most important nematode pests of the world's crops, by all known, effective means. The nematodes and the damage they cause to plant tissues and to cops in situ are fully illustrated by line drawings and by black-and-white and colour photographs. Although the book is arranged by nematode pest species, the information relevant to a particular crop under threat is quickly accessed through a separate crop index. The book is an essential resource for all advanced students, lecturers and research workers in crop protection and plant pathology. Advisors to farmers will also find this book a useful addition to their crop protection libraries.

Read more less

This book offers a coherent perspective on the transition to a market-based agri-food system in the Central and Eastern European Countries and the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union. It provides a formal analysis of the entire food chain from farm inputs to final consumers including imports and exports. Major components of the agribusiness sector (inputs, farm-level marketing, processing, distribution and retailing) are all dealt with in separate chapters. In addition there is coverage of food security, multinationals, commercial law, finance and building market institutions. Theoretical chapters are devoted to problems concerning prices, transactions costs and bilateral monopoly. This theoretical discussion gives an in depth discussion of the difficulties underlying the process of transition to a market-based agri-food system and forms a consistent focus for the book as a whole. Overall, the book makes a highly original contribution to the literature on this topical subject and will be indispensable for agricultural and food economists, as well as general economists and others interested in the topic of economies in transition.

Read more less

This 2nd edition is a complete re-write of the 1st edition in 1993. It reflects developments in knowledge since the 1st edition and includes many new chapters and contributors. Concern over the welfare of confined animals is continuing to increase and extends not only to farm and zoo animals, but also to laboratory and companion animals. This book focuses on environmentally induced stereotypes, rather than drug induced or neurologically based stereotypes and discusses why captive animals perform these stereotypes. It also examines what this behaviour can tell us about animal welfare, options for prevention and cure and assesses future research directions and implications for animal welfare.

Read more less