Advances in Ecological Research, Volume 62, the latest release in this ongoing series, covers a long list of topics, including Monitoring tropical insects in the 21st Century, The distribution and structure of long-term and large-scale fire manipulation experiments, The Agua Salud Project: Basic and applied research informing management of tropical landscapes for the 21st century, Conservation strategies and principles for tropical forests, Assessing forest quality using satellite remote sensing data: A test case using the Sabah Biodiversity Experiment, eDNA approaches to understand the current state and future of biodiversity of the Amazonian biome: pitfalls, improvements and challenges, and much more. - Provides information that relates to a thorough understanding of the field of ecology - Deals with topical and important reviews on the physiologies, populations and communities of plants and animals

An expansive and detailed review of the biology of Caribbean amphibians, considering their threats, conservation and outlook in a changing world. Amphibians are the group of vertebrates undergoing the fastest rate of extinction; it is urgent that we understand the causes of this and find means of protecting them. This landmark illustrated volume brings together the leading experts in the field. As well as offering an overview of the region as a whole, individual chapters are devoted to each island or island-group and the measures used to protect their amphibians through legislation or nature reserves. The biological background of insular biogeography, including its methods, analysis and results, is reviewed and applied specifically to the problems of Caribbean amphibians – this includes a re-examination of patterns and general ideas about the status of amphibians in the Anthropocene. The Conservation and Biogeography of Amphibians in the Caribbean offers an important baseline against which future amphibian conservation can be measured in the face of climate change, rising sea level and a burgeoning human population. Covers over 300 species.

National forest inventories (NFIs) are one of the main sources of forest information. This book describes the importance and history of NFIs in Latin America and the Caribbean, a region that is particularly relevant due to the extension and biodiversity of its forests. Methodologies for data collection and measurement of the most relevant indicators in 21 countries are addressed. In addition, similarities and differences in IFN designs, challenges and opportunities, and prospects for the future are examined. This analysis demonstrates that the information generated by the countries is diverse and must be harmonized to meet the commitments and opportunities for sustainable forest management in the 21st century. This publication represents a milestone in the beginning of the harmonization process towards data transparency within the forestry sector in Latin America and the Caribbean and constitutes the first collaborative effort of a network of NFI experts and collaborators in the region.

Puerto Rico is experiencing its deepest economic crisis since the first half of the twentieth century. The unique political and economic relationship between the US and Puerto Rico arguably plays a fundamental role in this crisis. With these in mind and given the imposition of the Financial Oversight Management Board by the US government, this book presents policy recommendations to help Puerto Rico achieve sustainable development. A set of partial equilibrium models are employed to study important industrial policy options and trade issues. This book also discusses the potential role of market-based environmental policies as well as issues of income convergence. The method of analysis to study the Puerto Rico–US relationship presented in this book is entirely new to the literature and the analysis of market-based environmental policy. The overarching result is that it is in the best interest of Puerto Rico and the US to set economic policies consistent with an equilibrium characterized by political independence (i.e., national sovereignty) for Puerto Rico. The potential for sustainable economic growth and development is latent in Puerto Rico’s economy. But for factors of production to be used effectively and efficiently, Puerto Rico’s economy requires access to international markets at sufficiently lower transaction costs, a condition consistent primarily in an equilibrium characterized by political independence. Access to international markets at sufficiently lower costs would help, inter alia, restore market credibility, regain access to credit markets at bearable costs and achieve important efficiency gains. This book argues that international trade ought to be at the center of development and growth policy. Importantly, it argues on the grounds of efficiency that not only is it in the best interest of the US to help Puerto Rico move gradually towards an equilibrium consistent with political independence, but that a statehood-like equilibrium is inefficient, particularly if a higher degree of access to global markets is at the center of policy formulation. I hope the discussion presented in this book signifies an important contribution to the policy debate in order to address Puerto Rico’s economic challenges.

Varieties and Landraces: Cultural Practices and Traditional Uses, Volume Two in the Underground Starchy Crops of South American Origin series, brings information on the applied level of producing and using starch from a range of plants grown in tropical and subtropical areas of South American origin. The book presents the economic and social importance of these crops that store starch in underground organs. The title also explores bioactive compounds as a way for the valorization of these crops, along with commercial and traditional cultivation in South America (Colombia/Venezuela/Andean highlands, Mexico, Brazilian savannah and Pantanal, besides the Amazon forest), bringing botanical information, too. Edited by a team of experts with a solid background in starch extraction research, this book is ideal for anyone involved in research and development, as well as anyone in cultivation, quality control and legislation in the field of starch. - Presents a summary view of how agricultural production and cultivation of starchy crops occur in their countries of origin, highlighting their strengths and challenges - Covers the possibilities for local development by valuing products obtained from natural crops in more distant and scarcer markets of variability - Evaluates landraces that are found in small-scale agriculture where traditions are maintained, including tubers, rhizomes and roots as carbohydrate sources used as stable foods in South American countries

This volume explores the global history of natural dyes from the Americas and asks how their production and trade have shaped globalisation since early modern times. From their extraction and processing to their overseas trade, it shows how this commodity contributed to the rise of the textile industry and consumption in Europe, the United States and Latin America. In doing so, it sheds new light on the emergence of a global economy. Spanning several centuries, Colours, Commodities and the Birth of Globalization takes the reader from 1500 through the industrial revolutions of Europe and the United States and culminates in the synthetic age of the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Ranging from the indigo trade in the Atlantic to the secrets of the Indian production of cochineal, the chapters in this collection transcend nationally bounded historical narratives and explore transoceanic dynamics, imperial ambitions and the cross-cultural exchange of knowledge and techniques to better understand the birth of globalization.

This Non-timber Forest Products' assessment serves as a baseline science synthesis and provides information for managing non-timber forest resources in the United States. This report provides technical input to the 2017 National Climate Assessment and closely follows the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) process. You will find an overview of the findings and interrelated discussions covering aspects of biophysical, social, cultural, economic, and policy dimensions of non-timber forest products and the implications of the effects of climatic variabilities and change for them. Appendix information summarizes non-timber forest products relative to geographic regions across the country. Related products: Other products produced by the U.S. Forest Service (Department of Agriculture/USDA) can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/agency/us-forest-service Find more Federal documents relating to Climate & Weather resources here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/weather-climate