Environmental Science: Books

"Oxford's fully up-to-date Dictionary of Earth Sciences is authoritative and wide-ranging with coverage of topics including climatology, economic geology, geochemistry, oceanography, palaeontology, petrology, and volcanology.There are entries on planetary science, remote sensing, statistics, and sequence stratigraphy, wind strength scales, material, temporal, and chronostratigraphic units, geologic, lunar, and Martian time scales. This is an essential reference for all Earth Science, geology, geography, meteorology, and related disciplines."

"This is the third edition of the most comprehensive and authoritative dictionary of ecology available. Written in a clear, accessible style, it contains over 6,250 entries on all aspects of ecology and related environmental scientific disciplines such as biogeography, genetics, soil science, geomorphology, atmospheric science, and oceanography. Coverage is wide-ranging and includes plant and animal physiology, animal behaviour, pollution, conservation, habitat management, evolution, environmental pollution, climatology and meteorology."

"A wide ranging, inter-disciplinary resource covering a broad spectrum of environmental concerns, embracing science, politics, economics, philosophy, and history, and containing entries on current hot topics such as Antartica, Gaia hypothosis, genetic engineering, Kyoto Protocol, and the United Nations Conference on Environmental Development."

"A Dictionary of Weather provides a comprehensive body of information about weather, forecasting, and climate terms, along with detailed illustrative examples of specific events and weather extremes. With this resource, you can easily find where and when the world's largest hailstone fell and where the highest temperature was recorded. Using the list of weather records, you can also check climate data for different weather types from around the world. Key terms from the related fields of oceanography, hydrology, and climatology are covered as are the important people in the development of meteorology. An essential dictionary for the professional and amateur meteorologist alike."

Comprised of essays arranged alphabetically from Absorbent Materials to X-Rays in Diagnostic Medicine, most on individual objects, artifacts, techniques, and products, this is an up-to-date reference work for all those involved in teaching or researching the history of twentieth-century technology, as well as the serious general reader. The core of each of the main entries is a technical description, within a historical narrative, of about 1,000 words plus illustrations and further reading. There are also about 30 longer survey entries that that address broad questions of technological systems, such as the context in which the various technologies were developed, discussions of any controversies and schools of thought, comparisons between different political and economics systems, and the various ways in which different nations have attempted to make and apply science and technology policies.

"A compelling, richly illustrated guide to the many large-scale disasters that affect life on Earth, both globally and locally. The guide is vital reading for those interested in the environment, geophysics and current affairs. It provides clear descriptions of all types of hazard and the threats they pose."

"An authoritative and richly illustrated guide to the many facets of the world's oceans and seas. The first five sections describe the genesis and evolution of the oceans, the history of exploration, leisure on the oceans, sealife, and ocean resources. The Atlas section maps the ocean basins, their circulation patterns and unique features. An Encyclopedia of Marine Life catalogues the main groups of flora and fauna."

Comprehensive yet accessible, this key Handbook provides an up-to-date overview of the fast growing and increasingly important area of ‘public communication of science and technology’, from both research and practical perspectives. As well as introducing the main issues, arenas and professional perspectives involved, it presents the findings of earlier research and the conclusions previously drawn. Unlike most existing books on this topic, this unique volume couples an overview of the practical problems faced by practitioners with a thorough review of relevant literature and research.

The Handbook of Vegetable Pests is intended to assist anyone in need of an easy-to-use, comprehensive survey of all pests likely to be encountered in North America. This Handbook provides thorough identification guides, descriptions of pest life history, and pest management recommendations. The text is well illustrated with hundreds of easy-to-use line drawings, is cross-referenced to the professional and scientific literature, and includes color plates for ease of insect pest identification.

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs), devices in which bacteria create electrical power by oxidizing simple compounds such as glucose or complex organic matter in wastewater, represent a new and promising approach for generating power. Not only do MFCs clean wastewater, but they also convert organics in these wastewaters into usable energy. Given the world's limited supply of fossil fuels and fossil fuels' impact on climate change, MFC technology's ability to create renewable, carbon-neutral energy has generated tremendous interest around the world.

Scholars, scientists, and policymakers have hailed ecosystem-based management (EBM) as a remedy for the perceived shortcomings of the centralized, top-down, expert-driven environmental regulatory framework established in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. EBM entails collaborative, landscape-scale planning and flexible, adaptive implementation. But although scholars have analyzed aspects of EBM for more than a decade, until now there has been no systematic empirical study of the overall approach. In "Natural Experiments," Judith Layzer provides a detailed assessment of whether EBM delivers in practice the environmental benefits it promises in theory. She does this by examining four nationally known EBM initiatives (the Balcones Canyonlands Conservation Program in Austin, Texas, the San Diego Multiple Species Program, the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, and the California Bay-Delta Program) and three comparison cases that used more conventional regulatory approaches (Arizona's Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan and efforts to restore Florida's Kissimmee River and California's Mono Basin). Layzer concludes that projects that set goals based on stakeholder collaboration, rather than through conventional politics, are less likely to result in environmental improvement, largely because the pursuit of consensus drives planners to avoid controversy and minimize short-term costs. Layzer's resolutely practical focus cuts through the ideological and theoretical arguments for and against EBM to identify strategies that hold genuine promise for restoring the ecological resilience of our landscapes.

"The Oxford Companion to the Earth is a unique reference work, offering unrivalled coverage of the Earth Sciences, from volcanoes to flood plains, diamonds to meteors, deserts to deep seas. All aspects of geology, including climatology, mineralogy, and oceanography, are covered. In addition, there are many eclectic entries, for example on dinosaur hunters, and fossils and folklore, as well as biographies of the key figures involved."

"Rivers of North America represents the first comprehensive treatment of North America's rivers, from Southern Mexico to the Arctic. Written by professional biologists and river scientists, the text allows readers to compare systems throughout the continent. Each chapter focuses on a specific basin or region and details its physical, chemical, and biological aspects inclusing human impacts, dam building, water diversions and pollution. Within these chapters, many rivers are highlighted in summaries. Extensively illustrated with a large number of color photographs and maps/figures, this book will be a primary reference for students in freshwater biology, stream and river ecology, fish and wildlife biology, as well as for river scientists, managers, conservationists, fishermen, and anyone who recognizes the importance of these freshwater ecosystems."