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In the course of evolution, a great variety of root systems have learned to overcome the many physical, biochemical and biological problems brought about by soil. This development has made them a fascinating object of scientific study. This volume gives an overview of how roots have adapted to the soil environment and which roles they play in the soil ecosystem. The text describes the form and function of roots, their temporal and spatial distribution, and their turnover rate in various ecosystems. Subsequently, a physiological background is provided for basic functions, such as carbon acquisition, water and solute movement, and for their responses to three major abiotic stresses, i.e. hard soil structure, drought and flooding. The volume concludes with the interactions of roots with other organisms of the complex soil ecosystem, including symbiosis, competition, and the function of roots as a food source.
In the course of evolution, a great variety of root systems have learned to overcome the many physical, biochemical and biological problems brought about by soil. This development has made them a fascinating object of scientific study. This volume gives an overview of how roots have adapted to the soil environment and which roles they play in the soil ecosystem. The text describes the form and function of roots, their temporal and spatial distribution, and their turnover rate in various ecosystems. Subsequently, a physiological background is provided for basic functions, such as carbon acquisition, water and solute movement, and for their responses to three major abiotic stresses, i.e. hard soil structure, drought and flooding. The volume concludes with the interactions of roots with other organisms of the complex soil ecosystem, including symbiosis, competition, and the function of roots as a food source.
"A bold and successful attempt to illustrate the theoretical foundations of all of the subdisciplines of ecology, including basic and applied, and extending through biophysical, population, community, and ecosystem ecology. Encyclopedia of Theoretical Ecology is a compendium of clear and concise essays by the intellectual leaders across this vast breadth of knowledge."--Harold Mooney, Stanford University "A remarkable and indispensable reference work that also is flexible enough to provide essential readings for a wide variety of courses. A masterful collection of authoritative papers that convey the rich and fundamental nature of modern theoretical ecology."--Simon A. Levin, Princeton Unive...
Forest canopies not only support high terrestrial biodiversity but also represent a critical interface between the atmosphere and the earth. They provide goods and services to support diverse human communities and offer opportunities to explore sustainable use of these resources for many generations of local livelihoods. Forest canopies are important carbon sequestration units, and in this sense, serve as climate control for the planet. Canopies are important energy production centers for the planet, and serve as the basis for many food chains. The canopy can also act as a hook for education outreach and conservation, inspiring ecotourism through recreation and other sustainable uses such as...
Bees, that have inhabited the Planet for over 100 million years, are the common thread that tells the story of various ecological challenges such as the reduction of biodiversity, climate change, soil degradation, and energy transition. Paradoxically, agriculture is one of the major causes of irreversible and, therefore, unsustainable changes such as global warming and the extinction of pollinators from which it derives its benefits and wealth. The massive use of fossil fuels, the distribution of poisons such as pesticides (persistent, toxic, and bioaccumulative), the loss of fertility in monocultures of plants selected to satisfy economic needs, are some of the main causes of an ecologically unsustainable food production system. The book tries to show a different vision of the World we are building, a story of backstories and underestimated dangers. This book received two prizes: "Steli di Pace" (Stems of Peace) by the Union of European Journalists and Communicators in 2023 and it was the winner of the "Concorso Nazionale per la divulgazione scientifica Kerit-LC Edizioni" (National Competition for science dissemination) in 2024.
Creative writing is a responsive human activity. We use it to respond to the world, to our feelings, to ideas, to observations, to other people, to historical and cultural events, and to the wonders created in our imaginations. This book shows how we go about doing this responding. Contributors discuss practice-led research in creative writing. They look at the ways a writer can use language or employ genre and consider how we each define themes and subjects and use writing techniques to explore to these themes and subjects. In examining creative writing teaching, the contributions gathered here suggest that teaching can be more responsive, more engaged with student interests, and more successful. This book shows that exploring creative writing, through a variety of means, can produce inventive, energetic results that can improve our own creative writing, as well as substantially contribute to our critical understanding of creative writing.
This book presents a multidisciplinary perspective on chance, with contributions from distinguished researchers in the areas of biology, cognitive neuroscience, economics, genetics, general history, law, linguistics, logic, mathematical physics, statistics, theology and philosophy. The individual chapters are bound together by a general introduction followed by an opening chapter that surveys 2500 years of linguistic, philosophical, and scientific reflections on chance, coincidence, fortune, randomness, luck and related concepts. A main conclusion that can be drawn is that, even after all this time, we still cannot be sure whether chance is a truly fundamental and irreducible phenomenon, in ...
Thousands of ravenous tiny shorebirds race along the water’s edge of Delaware Bay, feasting on pin-sized horseshoe-crab eggs. Fueled by millions of eggs, the migrating red knots fly on. When they arrive at last in their arctic breeding grounds, they will have completed a near-miraculous 9,000-mile journey that began in Tierra del Fuego. Deborah Cramer followed these knots, whose numbers have declined by 75 percent, on their extraordinary odyssey from one end of the earth to the other—from an isolated beach at the tip of South America all the way to the icy tundra. In her firsthand account, she explores how diminishing a single stopover can compromise the birds' entire journey, and how th...
Plant Resource Allocation is an exploration of the latest insights into the theory and functioning of plant resource allocation. An international team of physiological ecologists has prepared chapters devoted to the fundamental topics of resource allocation. - Comprehensive coverage of all aspects of resource allocation in plants - All contributors are leaders in their respective fields