This book provides a conceptually organized framework to understand the phenomenon of biological invasions at the Anthropocene global scale. Most advances toward that aim have been provided from North American and European researchers, with fewer contributions from Australia and South Africa. Here we fill the void from the Neotropics, focusing on the research experience in South American countries, with a strong emphasis on Argentina and Chile. The text is divided into two parts: The first half comprises self-contained chapters, providing a conceptual, bibliographic and empirical foundation in the field of invasion biology, from an Anthropocene perspective. The second half reviews the ecology, biogeography, and local impacts in South America of exotic species groups (European rabbit, Eurasian wild boar, Canadian beaver, North American mink, and Holarctic freshwater fishes), which are shown to be useful models for case studies of global relevance.

The results of a probe initiated by the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) into the ecological implications of invasions of animals, plants and micro-organisms, focusing primarily on those species which have been successful invaders of non-agricultural regions.

Nautical travel and shipboard living have evolved to be both safer and more comfortable for passengers and crewmembers. While some of these improvements have come about through sheer trial and error, others are the result of a careful analysis of problems, followed by finding and implementing scientific solutions. This book, with a unique problem-solution format, examines the challenges of life at sea and how they have been ameliorated. It covers topics such as ventilation, healthy food and drink, sleeping quarters, sanitation facilities, internal and external lighting, seaworthiness, and survival of maritime disasters (man overboard, shipwreck, fire, and contagious disease). The text traces the history of the various attempts to address the difficulties of life on the water from a scientific, engineering and legal perspective.

This contributed volume presents an analysis of the current conservation status of major faunal groups in Mexico. The chapters describe a prognosis of future challenges, and also explore the expanding threats inherent in the Anthropocene within the context of the unique physical, biological and cultural aspects of the nation. Covering 27 chapters, and written by Mexican and international authors, this book analyzes a wide range of vertebrate and invertebrate animal taxa, their ecosystems and the critical processes related to their present conservation status. This volume is an important reference material for researchers, conservationists and students interested in the biological and ecological processes shaping the Mexican fauna.

In this era of climate crisis, in which our very futures are at stake, sustainability is a global imperative. Yet we tend to associate sustainability, nature, and the environment with distant places, science, and policy. The truth is that everything is environmental, from transportation to taxes, work to love, cities to cuisine. This book is the first to examine contemporary Singapore from an ecocultural lens, looking at the ways that Singaporean life and culture is deeply entangled with the nonhuman lives that flourish all around us. The authors represent a new generation of cultural critics and environmental thinkers, who will inherit the future we are creating today. From chilli crab to Tiger Beer, Changi Airport to Pulau Semakau, O-levels to orang minyak films, these essays offer fresh perspectives on familiar subjects, prompting us to recognise the incredible urgency of climate change and the need to transform our ways of thinking, acting, learning, living, and governing so as to maintain a stable planet and a decent future.

The Anthropocene, with the ongoing global changes in climate, land use, acidity, and content of toxins, represents the greatest recent challenges for plants. Clonal plants mainly reproduce vegetatively/asexually, and offspring remain attached to the parent at least until establishment. Despite limited gene recombination and genetic diversity, clonal plants are widely distributed and play significant roles in various ecosystems worldwide. Clonal traits, such as resource sharing and signaling between connected ramets, selective positioning of ramets, reallocation of stored energy/nutrients between connected ramets, initiation of meristem banks in response to clonal integration, and trade-offs between clonal and sexual reproduction, might help clonal plants adapt to different environmental conditions. The expression, fitness effects, and evolution of clonal traits can be influenced by environmental changes, which can be efficiently inherited and affects offspring performance, i.e., clonal parental effect. These adaptations may contribute to the survival, competition, invasiveness, and spread of clonal species in response to global climate change in the Anthropocene, from individuals to ecosystems. Understanding the capacity of clonal species to survive and adjust to changing environments is requisite but limited. Specifically, the unique traits of clonal plants have been underestimated, and their contribution to population, community, and ecosystem dynamics is unclear. The roles of clonality in ecosystem functioning (e.g., carbon storage, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling, water and soil conservation, and water purification) need to be further explored. The contribution of clonal growth in plant invasiveness and community invisibility also needs to be addressed. Hence, there is an urgent need for more in-depth studies investigating the adaptation and evolution, mechanisms, functioning, and approaches of plant clonality to global change and invasiveness at different levels.

Reviews the evidence underpinning the Anthropocene as a geological epoch written by the Anthropocene Working Group investigating it. The book discusses ongoing changes to the Earth system within the context of deep geological time, allowing a comparison between the global transition taking place today with major transitions in Earth history.