A Plague Of Rats And Rubbervines

Author : Yvonne Baskin
Publisher : Island Press
Page : 330 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2013-04-15
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9781610911009

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A Plague of Rats and Rubbervines by Yvonne Baskin Pdf

The human love of novelty and desire to make one place look like another, coupled with massive increases in global trade and transport, are creating a growing economic and ecological threat. The same forces that are rapidly "McDonaldizing" the world's diverse cultures are also driving us toward an era of monotonous, weedy, and uniformly impoverished landscapes. Unique plant and animal communities are slowly succumbing to the world's "rats and rubbervines" -- animals like zebra mussels and feral pigs, and plants like kudzu and water hyacinth -- that, once moved into new territory, can disrupt human enterprise and well-being as well as native habitats and biodiversity. From songbird-eating snakes in Guam to cheatgrass in the Great Plains, "invasives" are wreaking havoc around the world. In A Plague of Rats and Rubbervines, widely published science writer Yvonne Baskin draws on extensive research to provide an engaging and authoritative overview of the problem of harmful invasive alien species. She takes the reader on a worldwide tour of grasslands, gardens, waterways, and forests, describing the troubles caused by exotic organisms that run amok in new settings and examining how commerce and travel on an increasingly connected planet are exacerbating this oldest of human-created problems. She offers examples of potential solutions and profiles dedicated individuals worldwide who are working tirelessly to protect the places and creatures they love. While our attention is quick to focus on purposeful attempts to disrupt our lives and economies by releasing harmful biological agents, we often ignore equally serious but much more insidious threats, those that we inadvertently cause by our own seemingly harmless actions. A Plague of Rats and Rubbervines takes a compelling look at this underappreciated problem and sets forth positive suggestions for what we as consumers, gardeners, travelers, nurserymen, fishermen, pet owners, business people -- indeed all of us who by our very local choices drive global commerce -- can do to help. "

Author : Yvonne Baskin
Publisher : Turtleback Books
Page : 377 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2003-11-01
Category : Nature
ISBN : 0613915143

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A Plague of Rats and Rubbervines by Yvonne Baskin Pdf

Explores the issue of bioinvasions, covering the extent and consequences of human rearrangement of the Earth's species and the search for solutions.

Author : Daniel R. Headrick
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 625 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2020
Category : History
ISBN : 9780190864712

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Humans Versus Nature by Daniel R. Headrick Pdf

"This book is about the ongoing conflict between humanity and the natural environment. Over the past 200,000 years, humans have multiplied and populated the Earth. When they domesticated plants and animals and replaced foraging with agriculture and herding, they depleted natural resources, deforested the land, and caused mass extinctions. But nature has agency too, causing pandemics of plague, smallpox, measles, influenza, and other diseases and a climate change called the Little Ice Age. In recent centuries, industrialization has accelerated extinctions, deforestation, and resource depletion, even in the oceans. Twentieth-century developmentalism and mass consumerism have caused global warming and other climate changes. Environmental movements have argued for the need to mitigate the negative consequences of technological and economic change. The future of humanity and the Earth depends on choices between achieving a sustainable balance between humans and nature, carrying on as before, or learning to manage the biosphere. environment, mass extinction, domestication, agriculture, pandemic, industrialization, developmentalism, consumerism, global warming"--

Author : John Scott Watson
Publisher : University of Illinois Press
Page : 232 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2016-01-30
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9780252097973

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Prairie Crossing by John Scott Watson Pdf

Carved out of century-old farmland near Chicago, the Prairie Crossing development is a novel experiment in urban public policy that preserves 69 percent of the land as open space. The for-profit project has set out to do nothing less than use access to nature as a means to challenge America's failed culture of suburban sprawl. The first comprehensive look at an American conservation community, Prairie Crossing goes beyond windmills and nest boxes to examine an effort to connect adults to the land while creating a healthy and humane setting for raising a new generation attuned to nature. John Scott Watson places Prairie Crossing within the wider context of suburban planning, revealing how two first-time developers implemented a visionary new land ethic that saved green space by building on it. The remarkable achievements include a high rate of resident civic participation, the reestablishment of a thriving prairie ecosystem, the reintroduction of endangered and threatened species, and improved water and air quality. Yet, as Watson shows, considerations like economic uncertainty, lack of racial and class diversity, and politics have challenged, and continue to challenge, Prairie Crossing and its residents.

Author : William Stolzenburg
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 218 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2011-06-21
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781608193318

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Rat Island by William Stolzenburg Pdf

Rat Island rises from the icy gray waters of the Bering Sea, a mass of volcanic rock covered with tundra, midway between Alaska and Siberia. Once a remote sanctuary for enormous flocks of seabirds, the island gained a new name when shipwrecked rats colonized, savaging the nesting birds by the thousands. Now, on this and hundreds of other remote islands around the world, a massive-and massively controversial-wildlife rescue mission is under way. Islands, making up just 3 percent of Earth's landmass, harbor more than half of its endangered species. These fragile ecosystems, home to unique species that evolved in peaceful isolation, have been catastrophically disrupted by mainland predators-rats, cats, goats, and pigs ferried by humans to islands around the globe. To save these endangered islanders, academic ecologists have teamed up with professional hunters and semiretired poachers in a radical act of conservation now bent on annihilating the invaders. Sharpshooters are sniping at goat herds from helicopters. Biological SWAT teams are blanketing mountainous isles with rat poison. Rat Island reveals a little-known and much-debated side of today's conservation movement, founded on a cruel-to-be-kind philosophy. Touring exotic locales with a ragtag group of environmental fighters, William Stolzenburg delivers both perilous adventure and intimate portraits of human, beast, hero, and villain. And amid manifold threats to life on Earth, he reveals a new reason to hope.

Author : Benjamin Meiches
Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
Page : 210 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2023-06-27
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9781452969442

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Nonhuman Humanitarians by Benjamin Meiches Pdf

Examining the appearance of nonhuman animals laboring alongside humans in humanitarian operations Both critical and mainstream scholarly work on humanitarianism have largely been framed from anthropocentric perspectives highlighting humanity as the rationale for providing care to others. In Nonhuman Humanitarians, Benjamin Meiches explores the role of animals laboring alongside humans in humanitarian operations, generating new ethical possibilities of care in humanitarian practice. Nonhuman Humanitarians examines how these animals not only improve specific practices of humanitarian aid but have started to transform the basic tenets of humanitarianism. Analyzing case studies of mine-clearance dogs, milk-producing cows and goats, and disease-identifying rats, Nonhuman Humanitarians ultimately argues that nonhuman animal contributions problematize foundational assumptions about the emotional and rational capacities of humanitarian actors as well as the ethical focus on human suffering that defines humanitarianism. Meiches reveals that by integrating nonhuman animals into humanitarian practice, several humanitarian organizations have effectively demonstrated that care, compassion, and creativity are creaturely rather than human and that responses to suffering and injustice do not—and cannot—stop at the boundaries of the human.

Author : Daniel Imhoff,Jo Ann Baumgartner
Publisher : Post Carbon Institute
Page : 552 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2012-07-16
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9780984630424

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Farming and the Fate of Wild Nature by Daniel Imhoff,Jo Ann Baumgartner Pdf

Farming and the Fate of Wild Nature addresses an urgent and complex issue facing communities and cultures throughout the world: the need for heightened land stewardship and conservation in an era of diminishing natural resources. Agricultural lands in rural areas are being purchased for development. Water scarcities are pitting urban and development expansion against agriculture and conservation needs. The farming population is ageing and retiring, while those who remain struggle against low commodity prices, international competition, rising production costs, and the threat of disappearing subsidies. We are living amidst a major extinction crisis--much of it driven by agriculture--as well as an increasing shift toward a global urban populace. The modern diet, driven by a grain-fed livestock industry, is no longer connected with the ecosystems that support it. In international circles, experts are arguing that further intensification of agriculture (through industrialization and genetic modification) will be necessary to both feed an exploding human population and to save what is left of wild biodiversity. This book takes up where its predecessor, the award-winning Farming with the Wild, left off. Featuring a wide range of in-depth essays, articles, and other materials by such authors as Aldo Leopold, Wendell Berry, Michael Pollan, Fred Kirschenmann, and Daniel Imhoff, this book persuasively demonstrates that farm and ranch operations which coexist with wild nature are necessary to sustain biodiversity and beauty on the landscape. In fact, as this invaluable educational resource demonstrates, they are essential in the challenge of building sane, healthy, and hopeful human societies.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 468 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : National parks and reserves
ISBN : NYPL:33433078224411

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Park Science by Anonim Pdf

Author : Godfrey Baldacchino
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 460 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2018-06-13
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781317027249

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The Routledge International Handbook of Island Studies by Godfrey Baldacchino Pdf

From tourist paradises to immigrant detention camps, from offshore finance centres to strategic military bases, islands offer distinct identities and spaces in an increasingly homogenous and placeless world. The study of islands is important, for its own sake and on its own terms. But so is the notion that the island is a laboratory, a place for developing and testing ideas, and from which lessons can be learned and applied elsewhere. The Routledge International Handbook of Island Studies is a global, research-based and pluri-disciplinary overview of the study of islands. Its chapters deal with the contribution of islands to literature, social science and natural science, as well as other applied areas of inquiry. The collated expertise of interdisciplinary and international scholars offers unique insights: individual chapters dwell on geomorphology, zoology and evolutionary biology; the history, sociology, economics and politics of island communities; tourism, wellbeing and migration; as well as island branding, resilience and ‘commoning’. The text also offers pioneering forays into the study of islands that are cities, along rivers or artificial constructions. This insightful Handbook will appeal to geographers, environmentalists, sociologists, political scientists and, one hopes, some of the 600 million or so people who live on islands or are interested in the rich dynamics of islands and island life.

Author : Kate Messner
Publisher : Millbrook Press
Page : 67 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2020-03-03
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN : 9781541595606

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Tracking Pythons by Kate Messner Pdf

Burmese pythons are invading Florida. These enormous snakes are native to Southeast Asia, so when one showed up dead along the side of a Florida highway in 1979, scientists wondered where it came from. No one knew the snakes had launched a full-scale invasion. Pet pythons that escaped or were released by their owners started breeding in the wild, and these enormous predators began eating every animal in their path. Today a group of scientists at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida is tracking Burmese pythons to find ways to stop their spread. Page Plus QR code links lead to video clips and photos of the scientists working in the field. Delve into the science of pythons and their role as invasive predators. "[A] fascinating example of field biology . . . Who knew that snake science could be so adventurous?"—starred, Kirkus Reviews

Author : Dr. Daniel Simberloff,Dr. Marcel Rejmanek
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 1580 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2011-01-02
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9780520948433

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Encyclopedia of Biological Invasions by Dr. Daniel Simberloff,Dr. Marcel Rejmanek Pdf

This pioneering encyclopedia illuminates a topic at the forefront of global ecology—biological invasions, or organisms that come to live in the wrong place. Written by leading scientists from around the world, Encyclopedia of Biological Invasions addresses all aspects of this subject at a global level—including invasions by animals, plants, fungi, and bacteria—in succinct, alphabetically arranged articles. Scientifically uncompromising, yet clearly written and free of jargon, the volume encompasses fields of study including biology, demography, geography, ecology, evolution, sociology, and natural history. Featuring many cross-references, suggestions for further reading, illustrations, an appendix of the world’s worst 100 invasive species, a glossary, and more, this is an essential reference for anyone who needs up-to-date information on this important topic. Encyclopedia of Biological Invasions features articles on: • Well-known invasive species such the zebra mussel, chestnut blight, cheatgrass, gypsy moth, Nile perch, giant African snail, and Norway rat • Regions with especially large numbers of introduced species including the Great Lakes, Mediterranean Sea, Hawaiian Islands, Australia, and New Zealand. • Conservation, ecological, economic, and human and animal health impacts of invasions around the world • The processes and pathways involved in invasion • Management of introduced species

Author : Paul R. Ehrlich,Anne H. Ehrlich
Publisher : Island Press
Page : 464 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2013-04-10
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9781610910521

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One With Nineveh by Paul R. Ehrlich,Anne H. Ehrlich Pdf

Named a Notable Book for 2005 by the American Library Association, One with Nineveh is a fresh synthesis of the major issues of our time, now brought up to date with an afterword for the paperback edition. Through lucid explanations, telling anecdotes, and incisive analysis, the book spotlights the three elephants in our global living room-rising consumption, still-growing world population, and unchecked political and economic inequity-that together are increasingly shaping today's politics and humankind's future. One with Nineveh brilliantly puts today's political and environmental debates in a larger context and offers some bold proposals for improving our future prospect.

Author : Daniel Simberloff
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2013-07-01
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780199344284

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Invasive Species by Daniel Simberloff Pdf

Of the 7,000 estimated non-native species present in North America, approximately 1,000 are invasive. Clearly, invasive species are in the minority, but their small numbers don't keep them from causing billions of dollars in economic and ecological harm each year. Policymakers and ecologists continue to try to figure out which species might be harmful, which invasive species are doing the most damage, and which of these might respond best to eradication efforts. Invasive species reports and case studies are prevalent in political, environmental, and scientific news cycles, and a significant portion of the public is concerned about the issue. In Invasive Species: What Everyone Needs to Know®, Simberloff will first cover basic topics such as how non-native species are introduced, which areas have incurred the most biological invasions, and how the rates of biological invasions have shifted in recent years. He then moves on to the direct and indirect impacts of the impacts of invasive species on various ecosystems, such as habitat and resource competition, how invasive species transmit pathogens, and how introduced plants and animals can modify a habitat to favor other non-native species. Simberloff's final chapters will discuss the evolution of invasive species, the policies we currently have in place to manage them, and future prospects for controlling their spread. The book will also contain a section dedicated to the more controversial topics surrounding invasive species: invasive natives, useful non-native species, animal rights versus species rights, and non-native species' impacts on the biodiversity of an ecosystem. What Everyone Needs to Know® is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press. is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press.

Author : Navjot S. Sodhi,Paul R. Ehrlich
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 369 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9780199554232

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Conservation Biology for All by Navjot S. Sodhi,Paul R. Ehrlich Pdf

Conservation Biology for All provides cutting-edge but basic conservation science to a global readership. A series of authoritative chapters have been written by the top names in conservation biology with the principal aim of disseminating cutting-edge conservation knowledge as widely as possible. Important topics such as balancing conversion and human needs, climate change, conservation planning, designing and analyzing conservation research, ecosystem services, endangered species management, extinctions, fire, habitat loss, and invasive species are covered. Numerous textboxes describing additional relevant material or case studies are also included. The global biodiversity crisis is now unstoppable; what can be saved in the developing world will require an educated constituency in both the developing and developed world. Habitat loss is particularly acute in developing countries, which is of special concern because it tends to be these locations where the greatest species diversity and richest centres of endemism are to be found. Sadly, developing world conservation scientists have found it difficult to access an authoritative textbook, which is particularly ironic since it is these countries where the potential benefits of knowledge application are greatest. There is now an urgent need to educate the next generation of scientists in developing countries, so that they are in a better position to protect their natural resources.

Author : Vaclav Smil
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 323 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2012-09-21
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780262291620

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Global Catastrophes and Trends by Vaclav Smil Pdf

A wide-ranging, interdisciplinary look at global changes that may occur over the next fifty years—whether sudden and cataclysmic world-changing events or gradually unfolding trends. Fundamental change occurs most often in one of two ways: as a “fatal discontinuity,” a sudden catastrophic event that is potentially world changing, or as a persistent, gradual trend. Global catastrophes include volcanic eruptions, viral pandemics, wars, and large-scale terrorist attacks; trends are demographic, environmental, economic, and political shifts that unfold over time. In this provocative book, scientist Vaclav Smil takes a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary look at the catastrophes and trends the next fifty years may bring. Smil first looks at rare but cataclysmic events, both natural and human-produced, then at trends of global importance, including the transition from fossil fuels to other energy sources and growing economic and social inequality. He also considers environmental change—in some ways an amalgam of sudden discontinuities and gradual change—and assesses the often misunderstood complexities of global warming. Global Catastrophes and Trends does not come down on the side of either doom-and-gloom scenarios or techno-euphoria. Instead, Smil argues that understanding change will help us reverse negative trends and minimize the risk of catastrophe.