Bridging the fields of ecosystem science and landscape ecology, this book integrates Dr. Carol Johnston's research on beaver ecosystem alteration at Voyageurs National Park. The findings about the vegetation, soils, and chemistry of beaver impoundments synthesized in the text provide a cohesive reference useful to wetland scientists, ecosystems and landscape ecologysts, wildlife managers, and students. The beaver, Castor canadensis, is an ecosystem engineer unequaled in its capacity to alter landscapes through browsing and dam building, whose population recovery has re-established environmental conditions that probably existed for millenia prior to its near extirpation by trapping in the 1800s and 1900s. Beavers continue to regain much of their natural range throughout North America, changing stream and forest ecosystems in ways that may be lauded or vilified. Interest in beavers by ecologists remains keen as new evidence emerges about the ecological, hydrological, and biogeochemical effects of beaver browsing and construction. There is a critical need for ecologists and land managers to understand the potential magnitude, persistence, and ecosystem services of beaver landscape transformation. The 88-year record of beaver landscape occupation and alteration documented by Dr. Carol Johnston and colleagues from aerial photography and field work provides a unique resource toward understanding the ecosystem effects and sustainability of beaver activity.

Engineering Your Future is an authoritative guide to the academic expectations and professional opportunities in engineering, a field that is both academically rigorous and creatively demanding. Today's engineering students are faced with endless career opportunities. This text clarifies thoseoptions and directs students down the path to a rewarding career in the engineering field.This concise and inexpensive version of the comprehensive edition contains the eleven most popular chapters from its parent text, offering the best option for instructors looking for a solid base from which to work while they incorporate outside projects or assignments.

The Problems of Birds as Pests covers the proceedings of the symposium held at the Royal Geographical Society in London on 28 and 29 September 1967. The text focuses on the problems posed by birds on agriculture and air transport, as well as control of population, scaring techniques, and warning systems. The selection first discusses prospective considerations concerning bio-acoustics in relation to bird-scaring techniques and recent developments in bird scaring on airfields. Topics include system of behavior and hierarchy of signals, informative content of acoustic signals, and signal-noise ratio. The book also ponders on bird recognition by radar and bird warning system for aircrafts in flight. The publication reviews the rook issue in North-East Scotland and the problems brought by the oystercatchers, including availability of field crops and their utilization by rooks, rook population, and food intake of the birds and comparison with stock and fishing levels. The manuscript then surveys predator-prey relationships in bird damage and population control and the quelea problem in Africa. The selection is a valuable source of information for ornithologists and readers interested in the characteristic of birds as pests.

Presents plans for building different kinds of bird houses and squirrel houses.