Recent developments in physical geography have demonstrated the need for and advantages of an approach to physical environment based on energy and power as the rate of doing work. This energetic approach has been used in meteorology and climatology, in biogeography, soil geography, geomorphology and hydrology. The book contains six essays which demonstrate the importance of energetics in these major branches of physical geography and how it has gained prominence in the last few years. Because the approach is a feature of all branches of physical geography, energetics provides a unifying theme for the study of the physical environment. Although this book is not a proceedings volume, much of the material was presented at the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Bristol in September 1986.

Howard T. Odum possessed one of the most innovative minds of the twentieth century. He pioneered the fields of ecological engineering, ecological economics, and environmental accounting, working throughout his life to better understand the interrelationships of energy, environment, and society and their importance to the well-being of humanity and the planet. This volume is a major modernization of Odum's classic work on the significance of power and its role in society, bringing his approach and insight to a whole new generation of students and scholars. For this edition Odum refines his original theories and introduces two new measures: emergy and transformity. These concepts can be used to evaluate and compare systems and their transformation and use of resources by accounting for all the energies and materials that flow in and out and expressing them in equivalent ability to do work. Natural energies such as solar radiation and the cycling of water, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen are diagrammed in terms of energy and emergy flow. Through this method Odum reveals the similarities between human economic and social systems and the ecosystems of the natural world. In the process, we discover that our survival and prosperity are regulated as much by the laws of energetics as are systems of the physical and chemical world.

Elegant, novel explanation of climate change, emphasizing physical understanding and concepts, while avoiding complex mathematics, supported by excellent color illustrations.

Referred to in the Bible, pictured on the wall-friezes of ancient Egyptian tombs, and a subject of fascination for generations of scientists, the tilapias (Cichlidae: Tilapiini) have featured in the diet and culture of humankind for thousands of years. The present century has seen their spread from Africa throughout the tropics and sub-tropics, largely for food and fisheries purposes. This book attempts to pull together our knowledge of this important group - their biology and fisheries and aquaculture - in a single volume, something that has not been done comprehensively for nearly two decades. A succession of chapters by acknowledged authorities covers evolution, phylogenetic relationships and biogeography, reproductive biology, mating systems and parental care, diet, feeding and digestive physiology, environmental physiology and energetics, the role of tilapias in ecosystems, population dynamics and management, genetics, seed production, nutrition, farming, economics and marketing. The book is aimed at biologists, fisheries scientists, aquaculturists, and all interested in aquatic ecology.

Emphasizing the physical and technological aspects of plant energetics, this comprehensive book covers a significant interdisciplinary research area for a broad range of investigators. Plant Energetics presentsthe thermodynamics of energy processes in plants, their interconnection and arrangement, and the estimation of intrinsic energy needs of the plant connected with performing various physiological functions. The book also demonstrates the role of electrical and electrochemical processes in the plants life cycle. Plant Energetics incorporates such diverse themes as thermodynamics, biophysics, and bioelectrochemistry with applications in horticulture and ecology. It also discusses the roles and mechanisms of both quantum and thermophysical processes of theconversion of solar energy by plants, including photosynthesis and long distance transport. Comprehensive details of value to basic and applied researchers dealing with photosynthesis, agriculture, horticulture, bioenergetics, biophysics, photobiology, and plant physiology make Plant Energetics an informative, one-stop resource that willsave time and energy in your search for the latest information. - Plant Energetics incorporates such diverse themes as thermodynamics, biophysics, and bioelectrochemistry with applications in horticulture and ecology. It also discusses the roles and mechanisms of both quantum and thermophysical processes of the conversion of solar energy by plants, including photosynthesis and long-distance transport - Extensive details of value to basic and applied researchers dealing with photosynthesis, agriculture, horticulture, bioenergetics, biophysics, photobiology, and plant physiology make Plant Energetics an informative, one-stop resource that will save you time and energy in your search for the latest information

Accessibly written by a team of international authors, the Encyclopedia of Environmental Change provides a gateway to the complex facts, concepts, techniques, methodology and philosophy of environmental change. This three-volume set illustrates and examines topics within this dynamic and rapidly changing interdisciplinary field. The encyclopedia includes all of the following aspects of environmental change: Diverse evidence of environmental change, including climate change and changes on land and in the oceans Underlying natural and anthropogenic causes and mechanisms Wide-ranging local, regional and global impacts from the polar regions to the tropics Responses of geo-ecosystems and human-environmental systems in the face of past, present and future environmental change Approaches, methodologies and techniques used for reconstructing, dating, monitoring, modelling, projecting and predicting change Social, economic and political dimensions of environmental issues, environmental conservation and management and environmental policy Over 4,000 entries explore the following key themes and more: Conservation Demographic change Environmental management Environmental policy Environmental security Food security Glaciation Green Revolution Human impact on environment Industrialization Landuse change Military impacts on environment Mining and mining impacts Nuclear energy Pollution Renewable resources Solar energy Sustainability Tourism Trade Water resources Water security Wildlife conservation The comprehensive coverage of terminology includes layers of entries ranging from one-line definitions to short essays, making this an invaluable companion for any student of physical geography, environmental geography or environmental sciences.

Based on the authors' combined teaching and research experience over many years, this is an integrated and unified account of systems on all scales from planetary to molecular.