Waste Composting for Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture: Closing the Rural-Urban Nutrient Cycle in Sub-Saharan Africa. P. Drechsel and D. Kunze, editors. International Water Management Institute, Colombo; FAO, Rome; and CABI Publishing, Wallingford and New York, 2001, xviii + 229 p. ISBN 92-5-104591-7 (FAO); and 0-85199-548-9 (CABI). Hardcover.
Rapid urbanization has created a major challenge with regard to waste management and environmental protection. However, turning organic waste into compost for use as an agricultural fertilizer in peri-urban areas can ameliorate the problem. This is especially significant in less developed countries, where food security is also a key issue. This book is based on papers presented at a workshop held in Accra, Ghana, from 2 to 6 August 1999 to address these issues. Special reference is given to Sub-Saharan Africa, with acknowledgement to experiences in other parts of the world.
After an introductory chapter, the following themes are addressed: (1) The potential use of waste-stream products for soil amelioration in peril-urban interface agricultural production systems (1 paper); (2) Economic, sociocultural and environmental considerations ((3 papers); (3) Turning urban waste into fertilizers: case studies from East and West Africa (9 papers); (4) Modelling biomass and nutrient flows (5 papers); (5) Urban agriculture: international support and capacity building in Africa (1 paper). The book closes with a chapter about research and development priorities.
Price: GBP 45.00; USD 80.00.
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Securing the Harvest. Biotechnology, Breeding and Seed Systems for African Crops. J. DeVries and G. Toenniessen. CABI Publishing, Wallingford and New York, 2001, xvi + 208 p. ISBN 0-85199-564-0.
Softcover.
As the one remaining major world region where agriculture has yet to be transformed from subsistence, low-yield systems dependent on shifting cultivation to efficient modern systems capable of producing regular surpluses, the question of crop improvement is especially important to Africa. This continent is also the sole world region where many indices of food security have shown a serious decline in recent years. In the context of high population growth and an increased emphasis on keeping Africa s unique natural environment intact, it is clear that crop yields must be substantially and sustainably increased. More efficient, better-performing crop varieties can play a significant role in achieving this goal. Improved food security, led by increased productivity among many small-scale farmers, has been the aim of significant national and international efforts in recent decades. It has proved to be one of the most critical challenges facing humankind. This book grew out of a two-year exploration conducted by the food security theme of the Rockefeller Foundation, focusing on the potential for crop genetic improvement to contribute to food security among rural populations in Africa. It provides a critical assessment of the ways in which recent breakthroughs in biotechnology, participatory plant breeding and seed systems can be broadly employed in developing and delivering more productive crop varieties in Africa s diverse agricultural environments. It also presents an analysis of current plant breeding and biotechnology strategies for seven key crops in Africa: maize, sorghum, millet, cowpea, rice, cassava and banana.
Price: GBP 27.50.
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Nitrate and Man: Toxic, Harmless or Beneficial? J. l Hirondel and J.L. l Hirondel. CABI Publishing, Wallingford and New York, 2001, 184 p. ISBN 0-85199-566-7. Hardcover.
Nitrate is ubiquitous. It is present in Water, soil, plants and food, and it is also a normal human metabolite. The main external sources of nitrate are vegetables and drinking water. This book examines the relationship between nitrates and human health. Nitrate has been feared as the source of some serious diseases. This book sets out research results to disprove these assumptions, and goes on to explore the beneficial effects of nitrate in preventing infections, cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
Price: GBP 35.00; USD 65.00
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The Sustainable Management of Vertisols. IBSRAM Proceedings No. 20. J.K. Syers, F.W.T. Penning de Vries and P. Nyamudeza, editors. CABI Publishing, Wallingford and New York, in association with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Bangkok, 2001, xiv + 304 p. ISBN 0-85199-450-4. Hardcover.
Black cracking clay soils, classified as Vertisols, are an important an important resource in the subtropics and tropics. In Africa, Vertisols occupy an area of over 100 million ha, or 6% of the arable land area. These soils also feature significantly in Australia, India and the USA. The physical properties make them difficult to cultivate and present inherent problems of low infiltration rates, waterlogging and erodibility. In combination with widespread chemical fertility decline, the physical problems represent a major constraint to their sustainable management. Nevertheless, research shows that careful management of the soil surface can control and improve the soil regime, significantly boosting crop yields. Despite a number of success stories, the benefits of new technologies are bypassing many millions of farmers cultivating Vertisols. In May 1999, the International Board for Soil Research and Management (IBSRAM, which merged with IWMI in April 2001) organized a forum for Vertisol researchers from all over the world to review their progress, and develop plans for collaborative research to fill any gaps identified. A key element in the choice of the papers was the need for social and economic aspects of research to be considered alongside the biological and physical aspects. A series of working groups identified research needs, and the output is included in the book. All papers have undergone a process of peer review, editing, updating and revision. The book provides up-to-date information on Vertisols research and guide readers to important reference material.
After four keynote and overview papers, the publication contains eight country papers. In five papers attention is given to international perspectives on the management of Vertisols.
Price: GBP 55.00; USD 100.00.
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Nitrogen Fixation in Tropical Cropping Systems. Second edition. K. Giller. CABI Publishing, Wallingford and New York, 2001, 448 p. ISBN 0-85199-417-2. Hardcover.
This second edition of the highly successful book, first published in 1991, contains thoroughly updated and revised material on the theory and practice of nitrogen fixation in tropical cropping systems. Nitrogen fixation is especially important when farmers are trying to minimize fertilizer use for cost or environmental reasons. The significant research advances in the last decade on both the fundamental and applied level are covered, including those relating to the classification and description of N2-fixing bacteria and symbioses and the processes of N2-fixation.
Price: GBP 60.00; USD 110.00.
Planning Agricultural Research: A Sourcebook. G. Gijsbers, H. Hambly Odame, W. Janssen, and G. Meijerink, editors. CABI Publishing, Wallingford and New York, 2001, 363 p. ISBN 0-85199-401-6. Agricultural research is an investment in future production, productivity, and food security. But it is an uncertain business, because the investments required are large and the benefits are unknown and far away. Planning in agricultural research aims to guide the investments towards the most relevant outputs, in the most cost-effective manner. New approaches to planning are emerging that emphasize
the use of plans to identify strategic issues and to help organizations adjust to rapidly changing conditions in the external environment. These ideas are important for agricultural research organizations, which must balance the need to adjust to changing circumstances with the long-term nature of agricultural research. The book provides a variety of perspectives on agricultural research planning, grouped into four sections dealing with the context of planning, planning content, planning processes, and planning tools. A glossary provides an overview of concepts and definitions.
Price: GBP 29.50; USD 55.00.
Some sections are available free of charge in html and pdf formats. See at internet: www.isnar.cgiar.org/publications/planningbook.htm.
Orders to: CABI Publishing, CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon OX10 8DE, UK. Fax: +44-1491-829292. E-mail: orders@cabi.org. Or: CABI Publishing, CAB International, 10 East 40th Street, Suite 3203, New York, NY 10016, USA. Fax: +1-212-686-7993. E-mail: cabi-nao@cabi.org. Homepage: www.cabi.org/bookshop.
Note: 10% discount is granted to IUSS members, when ordering online at orders@cabi.org, mentioning reference code AVT. This applies to all CABI books mentioned above.
Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa. S. Devereux and S. Maxwell, editors. ITDG Publishing, London, 2001, xviii + 350 p. ISBN 1-85339-523-4. Softcover.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region in the world currently facing both widespread chronic food insecurity and threats of famine. Why is this so and what can be done? In seeking to answer these questions, the authors have brought together eleven different perspectives on critical food security issues, from the causes of food insecurity to planning and policy interventions. The have drawn on a variety of disciplines, from agricultural economics to nutrition. An evolution of thinking would appear to have taken place over the last ten years. Food insecurity is no longer seen simply as a failure of agriculture to produce sufficient food at the national level, but instead as a failure of livelihoods to guarantee access to sufficient food to people at the household level. This conceptual shift and related arguments are presented for the non-specialist reader as well as the development specialist. The contributors illustrate their arguments with empirical data and case studies from across the sub-continent.
Price: GBP 15.95.
Orders to: ITDG Publishing, 103-105 Southampton Row, London WC1B 4HL, UK. Fax: +44-20-7436-2013. E-mail: orders@itpubs.org.uk. Homepage: www.developmentbookshop.com.
Organic Recycling & Biofertilisation in South Asia. H.L.S. Tandon, editor. Fertiliser Development and Consultation Organisation (FDCO), New Delhi, 2001, vi + 167 p. ISBN 81-85116-46-6. Hardcover.
This book is published in the FDCO s series of reference and practical publications on various aspects of mineral, organic and biofertilisers; nutrition of food grains, other field crops and plantation crops through major and micronutrients from diverse sources; analytical methods, non-traditional sectors of fertiliser use and volumes on individual nutrients. The present volume has been prepared largely to put in one place some of the current information on biofertilisers and organic recycling in South Asia, covering Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Most of the 550 abstracts appearing in this publication have been taken from the FAO-RAPA series Organic Recycling in Asia and the Pacific , volumes 1 to 13. The dominant share of information is from India. It has a subject and an author index.
Price: Rs. 350 in India, elsewhere USD 60.00, including airmail charges.
Orders to: FDCO, 204-204A Bhanot Corner, 1-2 Pamposh Enclave, New Delhi 110 048, India. Fax: +91-11-6417801. E-mail: fdco@vsnl.net. Homepage: www.tandontech.8k.com
Land Use and Cover Change. R.B. Singh, J. Fox and Y. Himiyama, editors. Science Publishers, Enfield and Plymouth, 2001, xi + 299 p. ISBN 1-57808-147-5. Hardcover.
Land-use and land-cover change is a focal theme and emerging issue in the study of global environmental change. Human modifications and alterations of the environment cause impacts on the surface of the earth, threaten global sustainability and livelihood systems, and contribute to changes in the biogeochemical cycles on the earth, which in turn affect atmospheric levels of greenhouse and other trace gases. Scientists working in this area of research have recently drawn attention to the need to integrate research on monitoring land-use and land-cover change from space with research on the socio-economic causes of these changes. Remote sensing observations alone cannot explain the socio-economic and institutional factors that cause land-use and land-cover change, nor can they identify the factors that influence regional trends or local dynamics. These issues can only be addresses by using population and other social science data in a comparative framework. Geographic information systems are used to merge social science variables spatially and temporally with physical science data. This analysis must then be supplemented by field research in order to understand the individual-level decision processes that produce the land-use and land-cover change. At a meeting held in Honolulu in July 1999, the papers presented focused on land-use and land-cover change in relation to information bases, historical assessment, modeling, and predication, remote sensing and GIS application, and environmental impact assessment. This book is a compilation of 24 papers presented and discussed, and have been edited and updated. A few invited papers have also been included in order to bridge the gaps in research knowledge.
Price: USD 88.00; GBP 61.00.
Orders to: Science Publishers, P.O. Box 699, Enfield, NH 03748, USA. E-mail: sales@scipub.net. Homepage: www.scipub.net. Or: Plymbridge Distributors, Estover, Plymouth, PL6 7PY, UK. Orders: +44-1752-202331. E-mail: cservs@plymbridge.com.
Knowing Where You re Going. Information Systems for Agricultural Research Management. R. Vernon. International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR), The Hague, 2001, xxxi + 345 p. ISBN 92-9118-054-8. Softcover.
Agricultural researchers, especially in developing countries, are facing serious problems in accessing information. Scientific journals are becoming less and less affordable to most institutions. Research is often inefficient: scientists pursue lines of research unaware that the topic has already been covered in the past, because they have no access to records of former research, even in their own country. Research managers supervise programs and make decisions with insufficient information from within their own research programs, and little or no information on external factors that should have a crucial bearing on research priorities. But there is also good news! Never before has there been such rapid development of information and communication technologies. Capacities and speeds are increasing, while prices are falling. The Internet has opened a vast range of information to millions of users. CD-ROMs provide enormous capacity for cheap storage and distribution of information, even to those without Internet access. Most of the benefit of the information management revolution, however, accrues to the developed countries, and the North-South gap in information access is increasing. It is the target of this book to help reverse that trend. The objective of this book is to provide agricultural research managers at all levels, and information specialists within agricultural research organizations, with a source of ideas, concepts, methodologies, explanations, and guidance in information management within their respective roles. Part 1, covering about one-third of the text, is aimed particularly at research managers and part 2 at information managers. The complete text is also available free of charge from the internet. See: www.isnar.cgiar.org/publications/mis_book.htm.
Orders to: ISNAR, P.O. Box 93375, 2509 AJ The Hague, The Netherlands. Fax: +31-70-3819677. E-mail: isnar@cgiar.org. Homepage: www.cgiar.org/isnar
Heavy Metals Release in Soils. H.M. Selim and D.L. Sparks, editors. Lewis Publishers, CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, London, 2001, viii + 249 p. ISBN 1-56670-531-2. Hardcover.
Characterizing the nature of heavy metal release reactions, sorption mechanisms, and movement in the soil is the main topic of this book. Because soils are heterogeneous, heavy metals in soils can be involved in a series of complex chemical and biological interactions including oxidation-reduction, precipitation and dissolution, volatilization, and surface and solution phase complexation. The heterogeneous nature of the different soil constituents adds to the complexity of interactions of heavy metal species with the soil environment. In the first four chapters, the primary focus in on transport processes and parameters which control the mobility of heavy metals in contaminated and uncontaminated soils, assessment of their potential for migration, and the impact on the soil environment. Models that are often used to describe the reactivity and transport of heavy metals in the soil system are described. The subsequent two chapters are devoted to the kinetics of sorption-release processes in the soil environment. Theoretical and experimental analyses of kinetic and reversible processes are presented. The next two chapters deal with the identification of the major soil parameters affecting metal lability in soils, a requisite to the prediction of metal behavior and establishment of appropriate soil screening levels. The next chapter discusses the sorption and release processes of selenate in various soils typical of the Mediterranean area. In the last chapters, complexation and speciation processes and their influence on heavy metal mobility are discussed in detail.
Price: USD 99.95.
Orders to: In USA, Canada, Asia, India and Australia: CRC Press LLC, Attn: Order Entry, 2000 N.W. Corporate Blvd., Boca Raton, FL 33431-9868, USA. Fax: 1-800-374-3401, or +1-561-989-8732. E-mail: orders@crcpress.com. Elsewhere: CRC Press, ITPS, Cheriton House, North Way, Andover, Hants. SP10 5BE, UK. Fax: +44-1264-342788. E-mail: crcpress@itps.co.uk. Homepage: www.crcpress.com.
Sustaining Soil Fertility in West Africa. SSSA Special Publication Number 58. G. Tian, F. Ishida and D. Keatinge, editors. Soil Science Society of America and American Society of Agronomy, Madison, 2001, xxi + 321 p. ISBN 0-89118-838-X. Softcover.
The rapid growth of the population of West Africa and the exploitative use of non-renewable resources in the region have seriously undermined food security. Local production of food is becoming increasingly challenged. Though the reasons for this low productivity are complex, one of the causes is poor levels of soil fertility, resulting from a combination of low activity clay (LAC) soils and a lack of external inputs. Based on research carried out by national and international agricultural research institutions better-integrated practices in soil and nutrient management have been developed. Progress has been made in understanding how best to manage the LAC soils, through minimizing soil degradation and maximizing the use of local organic nutrient sources in combination with inorganic fertilizers. This publication is the outcome of a symposium, held in Minneapolis in November 2000. The topics in this volume address the principles, practices, and opportunities for enhancing soil fertility, presenting the current knowledge of the understanding and management of soil fertility in West Africa. The book has 14 chapters arranged in three sections. The first section (5 chapters) highlights information on the storage, turnover, and loss of soil nutrients and organic matter in LAC soils following agricultural intensification. The second section (5 chapters) presents a range of fallow management systems including the use of cover crops and trees. The third section (4 chapters) demonstrates opportunities that exist in the region to achieve substantial levels of additional food production.
Price: USD 30.00.
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Humic Substances and Chemical Contaminants. C.E. Clapp, M.H.B. Hayes, N. Senesi, P.R. Bloom and P.M. Jardine, editors. Soil Science Society of America, Madison, 2001, 502 p. ISBN 0-89118-837-1. Hardcover. With CD-ROM.
There have been numerous publications that deal with humic-anthropogenic and humic-metal interactions, but there has not been a single treatise with all aspects of these interactions. The lack of such a book provided the inspiration for this publication. It is divided into four sections. The first section covers composition and structure of humic substances. The theme for the second section is the interaction with xenobiotics. The chapters take account of adsorption-desorption phenomena involving organic chemicals and humic fractions. The focus the third section in on interaction with metals. Emphasis here is on modeling metal-humic complexation, and due attention is given also to modern spectroscopic analytical procedures, and to applications of nuclear magnetic resonance for investigations of the metal/humic binding mechanisms. The final section examines transport and modeling. This section is of prime environmental importance, especially with regard to the tracing of a contaminant to its source. The CD-ROM combines computational chemistry, scanning probe microscopy and animated virtual reality to allow readers to visualize the chemical reactivity of humic substances in ways we ve never been able to before.
Price: USD 54.00.
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Sustainability of Agricultural Systems in Transition. ASA Special Publication Number 64. W.A. Payne, D.R. Keeney and S.C. Rao, editors. American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and Soil Science Society of America, Madison, 2001, 272 p. ISBN 0-89118-149-0. Softcover.
Agriculture has changes during the last few decades, and will change even more during the next few. Modern agriculture faces several daunting challenges, including global food security, persistent poverty, low commodity prices, dwindling land and water resources, environmental protection, and meeting the demand of diverse social, commercial and political movements. Because of the changing demands placed upon agriculture, and the many technological advances in feed, food and fiber production, agricultural systems of the world are ever in transition. To become sustainable, agricultural systems ought to transition towards ones that are characterized by favorable economics, conservation of resources, preservation of ecology, and promotion of social justice. These issues, with case studies from various countries, are addressed in this publication. Added in the publication are relevant papers presented at a concurrent symposium entitled Food Security and Sustainable Development for the 21st Century in India. Perhaps no country has witnessed greater change in agriculture during the last few decades than India. This nation was threatened by hunger and mass starvation in the 1960 s, has become self-sufficient in staple foods, while her population more than doubled. India s agricultural systems face many familiar problems, including flooding, deforestation, soil erosion, overgrazing, air and water pollution and desertification. These important issues related to ensuring food security in India are presented in 7 papers.
Price: USD 48.00.
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Estimating Uncertainty in Soil Models (Pedometrics 99) I.O.A. Odeh and A.B. McBratney, editors. Special Issue of Geoderma, volume 103, nos. 1-2. September 2001, 229 p. Elsevier, Amsterdam, London. ISSN 0016-7061.
This issue of Geoderma contains some of the papers presented at the Third Conference of the Working Group on Pedometrics (WG-PM) of the IUSS, held on September 27-29, 1999, at the University of Sydney. The theme of the conference, Estimating Uncertainty in Soil Models, is retained. Uncertainty is inherent in all estimation models of natural phenomena, whether they are stochastic or deterministic, mechanistic or empirical. The 11 papers deal with uncertainty in all these categories in a search for adequate models for describing and explaining soil phenomena quantitatively. Incorporating and evaluating uncertainty remains a huge challenge for pedometrics for the first decade of the 21st century.
Orders to: Customer Support Department at the Regional Sales Office in New York, Amsterdam, Tokyo and Singapore. See www.elsevier.nl for details.
Predicting Land-use Change. A. Veldkamp and E. Lambin, guest editors. Special Issue of Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment, vol. 85, nos. 1-3, June 2001, 292 p. Elsevier, Amsterdam, London. ISSN 0167-8809.
Land-use change modeling, especially if done in a spatially-explicit, integrated and multi-scale manner, is an important technique for the projection of alternative pathways into the future, for conducting experiments that test our understanding of key processes in land use changes. Land-use change models should represent part of the complexity of land-use systems. They offer the possibility to test the sensitivity of land-use patterns to changes in selected variables. They also allow testing of the stability of linked social and ecological systems, through scenario building. To assess current progress in this field, a workshop on spatially explicit land-use/land-cover models was organized within the scope of the Land-Use and Land Cover Change project (LUCC). The main developments presented in this special issue concern progress in: (1) modeling and drivers of land use change; (2) modeling of scale dependency of drivers of land use change; (3) modeling progress in predicting location versus quantity of land use change; and (5) the incorporation of biophysical feedbacks in land-use change models.
Orders to: Customer Support Department at the Regional Sales Office in New York, Amsterdam, Tokyo and Singapore. See www.elsevier.nl for details.
XVth ISTRO Conference on Tillage at the Threshold of the 21st Century: Looking Ahead. W.B. Voorhees, guest editor. Special Issue of Soil & Tillage Research, volume 61, issues 1-2, August 2001, 123 p. Elsevier, Amsterdam, London. ISSN 0167-1987. Published in collaboration with the Inter\national Soil Tillage Research Organization.
This special issue contains the keynote papers of the 15th ISTRO Conference, which took place in Forth North, from 2-7 July 2001. It contains an overview paper about ISTRO s important history since 1955 and eight keynote addresses, grouped into four general themes: (1) tillage and soil structure; (2) tillage and erosion; (3) tillage and biology; and (4) tillage and sustainable systems.
Orders to: Customer Support Department at the Regional Sales Office in New York, Amsterdam, Tokyo and Singapore. See www.elsevier.nl for details.
The Sustainability of Long-term Growth. Socioeconomic and Ecological Perspectives. M. Munasinghe, O. Sunkel and C. de Miguel, editors. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham and Northampton, 2001, xvii + 463 p. ISBN 1-84064-515-6. Hardcover.
This is a comprehensive review of the links between sustainable development and long-term growth. This state-of-the-art book develops our understanding of the complex issues that will shape sustainable development strategies in the 21st century economic growth, poverty eradication, environmental protection, social inclusion and good governance. Sustainability is analysed in terms of its economic, social and environmental dimensions. The authors argue that material-intensive conventional economic growth is unsustainable in the long term, unless environmental and social elements are given equal priority. Important issues are critically discussed, including durability versus optimality of development globalization, dematerialization of production and consumption, alternative lifestyles, green national income accounting and environmental valuation, ecodevelopment, the growing North-South development gap, environmental and trade policy and the equitable distribution of assets and among nations. The coverage ranges from comprehensive analytical models to practical case studies applications, ensuring this will be essential reading for policy analysts and researchers as well as academics involved in economic growth, environmental economics and sustainable development.
Price: GBP 75.00.
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Biodiversity in the Balance. Land Use, National Development and Global Welfare. R. Cervigni. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham and Northampton, 2001, xix + 271 p. ISBN 1-84064-345-5. Hardcover.
Biodiversity has become over the last couple of decades the subject of world-wide debate, due to mounting concerns about the negative consequences of its accelerating decline. The contribution of biological resources both to sustainable national development and to the well being of the international community has been underestimated in the past. Ecological and biological research is increasingly pointing to the possibility that low diversity of life forms may threaten the satisfaction of material needs, imperil the life support functions of natural systems, and in general deprive present, and more likely future generations of material and spiritual benefits related to a biologically diverse planet. At the same time, biodiversity is a concept that encompasses multiple scientific dimensions (genetic, species and ecosystem levels), multiple scales (local, national and international), and multiple justifications (materialistic, ethical, religious) for concern and action. As a result, there seems to be little clarity on what should constitute the objectives of public policies for biodiversity conservation and management. One set of issues appears of particular interest, and is addressed in this book. These revolve around the broad question of whether there are options to conserve the benefits of biodiversity without compromising the benefits of development. Specific questions that stem from this are: how much land may be allocated to productive uses without compromising the ability of biodiversity to contribute to human welfare? Will the development process continue to exert pressure on biodiversity, or will it generate incentives for its sustainable use? Does the international community have a role in facilitating the transition towards sustainability? This book contains a collection of writings, drafted between 1993 and 1998. The introductory chapter summarizes the main terms of the scientific and policy debate. Chapter 2 proposes a framework to analyse the sequence of land use changes typically observed in a number of tropical countries; and discusses different policy interventions which could alter the incentives for land conversion. A model that addresses the allocative and incentive implications of the incremental cost mechanism is proposed in Chapter 3. The actual process of land use change is presented in a case study made in the region of Sierra de Santa Marta, Mexico. The social and economic factors are presented, and an economic model is then proposed for simulating further impacts at the farm level over the next decade in Chapters 4 and 5. Chapter 6 considers the problem of the appropriate mix of conservation and sustainable use management options in the study area. It further formulates tentative policy conclusions and sketches line of possible future research.
Price: GBP 59.95.
Orders to: Marston Book Services, P.O. Box 269, Abington OX14 4YN, UK. Fax: +44-1235-465555. E-mail: direct.order@marston.co.uk. Homepage: www.e-elgar.co.uk.
Encyclopedia of Global Change. Environmental Change and Human Society. A. Goudie, editor-in-chief. D.J. Cuff, associate editor. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2001, 1440 p. ISBN 0-19-510825-6. Hardcover.
This comprehensive and interdisciplinary guide to the Earth s environment includes 320 entries, 300 graphs, photographs and maps. It describes the current knowledge of natural and anthropogenic changes in the physical, chemical and biological systems and resources, and explores the effects of those on changes in human society. The articles cover concepts of global change, earth and earth systems, human factors, resources, responses to global change, agreements and associations, institutions, policies, biographies and case studies. Enhanced by 1500 charts, diagrams, and other illustrations, extensive cross-references, bibliographies and an index, the encyclopedia links essential knowledge across many fields, including geography, geology, geophysics, atmospheric science, political science, economics, technology, and others.
Price: GBP 185.00.
Orders to: Direct Sales Department, OUP, Saxon Way West, Corby, Northamptonshire NN18 9ES, UK. Fax: +44-1536-454-518. E-mail: book.orders@oup.co.uk. Homepage: www.oup.co.uk. Or: Order Department, OUP, 2001 Evans Road, Cary, NC 27513, USA. Homepage: www.oup-usa.org.
Remote Sensing for Tropical Ecosystem Management. United Nations.
Monitoring the Earth s environment by remote sensing provides an opportunity for greater information sharing and predicting changes in the Earth s environment. These conference proceedings spread an awareness among managers and planners concerned with natural resources and environmental management about the usefulness of remote sensing and geographic information system techniques in aping, monitoring and managing the land and its resources in tropical environments. Recently have been published: Proceedings of the Sixth Regional Seminar on Earth Observation for Tropical Ecosystem Management, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam, 3-7 November 1997, 116 p. Sales number E.99.II.F.32. USD 40.00. Proceedings of the Seventh Regional Seminar on Earth Observation for Tropical Ecosystem Management, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 7-11 December 1998, 112 p. Sales number E.99.II.F.68. USD 40.00.Proceedings of the Eighth Regional Seminar on Earth Observation for Tropical Ecosystem Management, Yangon, Myanmar, 25-29 October 1999, 148 p. Sales number E.00.II.F.52. USD 50.00.
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Monitoring Nutrient Flows and Economic Performance in Tropical Farming Systems (NUTMON). Part 1: Manual for the NUTMON-toolbox. And Annex. J. Vlaming, H. Van den Bosch. M.S. van Wijk, A. De Jager, A. Bannink and H. van Keulen. Alterra, Wageningen and Agricultural Economics Research Institute, The Hague, 2001, 180 p. and 137 p. ISBN 90-327-0303-X. Ringbinder. With CD-ROM.
Soil fertility is a dynamic entity. While parts of Western Europe and North America face surpluses of nutrients and related pollution problems, large parts of the tropics see their soil fertility gradually decrease. Many tropical soils are very old, and such soils are already deprived from soil nutrients by weathering and leaching. Soil fertility decline is a largely invisible, gradual process, which does not get enough attention. Although it is hard to quantify rates of soil fertility decline, the picture for Africa and presumably large parts of other tropical continents, is one of slow to rapid decline. Each year farmers derive part of their income from soil nutrients. The NUTMON (NUTrient MONitoring) programme was developed to study the relation between soil fertility decline (or nutrient mining) and household income. The present NUTMON-toolbox enables a full-fledged nutrient and monetary analysis of (a group of) farm households and their constituents. After describing the momentary picture by a farm inventory, a farm monitoring can be performed, showing where and how fast soil fertility changes, and how this relates to farm economic performance indicators. Several modules have been built-in, such as relating fodder production to feed intake by number of livestock units and their production of milk, meat and manure. After this diagnosis, the Toolbox allows comparison of development options by bringing in better farming systems based on integrated nutrient management (INM) technologies. The Toolbox can assist in showing farmers how different INM technologies change both the soil fertility level as well as their farm income. The Toolbox includes four modules and two databases that together facilitate nutrient monitoring at the level of individual farmers fields and farms as a whole. The following modules are included: (1) a set of Questionnaires that collects the required farm-specific information on management, the farm environment, the farms household, soils and climate; (2) a Data Entry Module that facilitates entry of the data from the questionnaires into the computer; (3) a Background Data Module, storing non-farm-specific information on crops, crop residues, animals, inputs and outputs; and (4) a Data Processing Module that calculates nutrient flows, nutrient balances and economic indicators, based on the farm-specific data from the questionnaires and general data from the Background Database, using calculation rules and assumptions. The included databases are: (1) a Background Database containing non-farm-specific information on, for instance, nutrient content of crop and animal products, crop and livestock parameters; and (2) a Farm Database storing farm-specific information. The set is nicely produced with clear figures, forms, and photographs. For more information see: www.nutmon.org.
Price: EUR 250, plus VAT when applicable. Free for Universities, National Research Institutions and relevant NGO s in developing countries. See for details the homepage mentioned above.
Orders to: Alterra, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands. Fax: +31-317-419000. E-mail:nutmon-support@alterra.wag-ur.nl. Homepage: www.nutmon.org.
Conservation Agriculture, A Worldwide Challenge. Volume I: Keynote Contributions. Volume II: Offered Contributions. L. Garc a-Torres, J. Benites and A. Mart nez-Vilela, editors. ECAF, C rdoba. Volume I, xii + 391 p. ISBN 84-932237-1-9. Volume II, xxxi + 815 p. ISBN 84-932237-2-7. Set of two volumes: ISBN 84-932237-0-0. Hardcover.
These volumes contain the proceedings of the First World Congress on Conservation Agriculture (Madrid, 1-5 October 2001), which was organized by the FAO and the European Conservation Agriculture Federation (ECAF). Serious problems of land degradation, desertification, declining soil fertility and agricultural production levels are occurring in large parts of the world. These are for a part caused by the effects of plough-based or hoe-based agriculture on the soil as a rooting environment. Inappropriate land management practices cause the soil to become more compact, the organic matter content to be reduced and water runoff and soil erosion to increase. They also lead to the effects of droughts becoming more severe and the soil becoming less fertile and less responsive to fertilizer. There is now a wealth of evidence from examples throughout the world of sustainable production systems that can be achieved when the basic principles of good farming practice is applied. The term being adopted for such systems is Conservation Agriculture (CA). This implies conformity with three general principles: no mechanical soil disturbance, direct seeding and planting; permanent soil cover, making particular use of crop residues and cover crops; judicious choice of crop rotations. CA has demonstrated that high production levels can be combined with enhancing the natural resource base and conserving the environment. Globally, CA is being practiced on about 60 million hectares, and the rate of adoption is growing. To promote the dissemination of information through workshops and meetings, the 2001 Madrid Conference was organized as a high-profile example.
Volume I of the Proceedings contains 40 keynote papers, Volume II the 153 contributions presented at this well-attended first international congress on Conservation Agriculture.
Price: EUR 60.00 plus postal charges.
Orders to: European Conservation Agriculture Federation (ECAF), CIFA Alameda del Obispo, Avda Men ndez Pidal, s/n, Apdo 3092, E-14080 C rdoba, Spain. Fax: +34-957-760797. E-mail: ecaf@arrakis.es. Homepage: www.ecaf.org/congress/latest_news.htm.
World in Transition: Conservation and Sustainable Use of the Biosphere. H.-J. Schellnhuber, J. Kokot, F.O. Beese, at al. German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU). Published by Earthscan, London and Sterling, 2001, xxvi + 451 p. ISBN 1-85383-802-0. Hardcover.
Biodiversity the planet s natural capital is undergoing a dramatic collapse: its Sixth Extinction . The losses, which are due to human activities and overexploitation of the biosphere, are irreversible. They are undermining the basis of future well-being and prosperity – including genetic resources, food production, climate stability, and coastal and soil protection. This volume presents an analysis of the state of the biosphere. In it, the scientists of the German Advisory Council on Global Change show that the time remaining for remedial action is fast disappearing and they set out a range of initiatives to be undertaken at different levels. Among their main urgent recommendations are: (1) protect 10 to 20 per cent of the global land area; (2) establish an International Panel on Biodiversity to provide scientific advice; (3) conservation of the diversity of cultivated as well as wild plant species; (4) extend bioregional management and nature sponsorship; and (5) a greater multilateral cooperation and implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity. It is a thorough, interdisciplinary view of the biosphere, covering both science aspects as well as policy issues.
Price: GBP 50.00. If ordered online from Earthscan directly: GBP 40.00.
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World in Transition 2. New Structures for Global Environmental Policy. H.-J. Schellnhuber, J. Kokot, F.O. Beese, et al. German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU). Published by Earthscan, London and Sterling, 2001, 242 p. ISBN 1-85383-852-7. Hardcover.
International institutions and structures are crucial to the management of the global environment. Today, more than 900 bilateral and multilateral environmental treaties are in force. Nevertheless, the most pressing problems of global environmental change remain unresolved some, indeed, are intensifying and alternative institutional responses are urgently needed. In this volume the current problems are analysed and comprehensive and persuasive policies for a successful future regime are set out. The authors offer a vision of reforming the United Nations in the environmental arena that they term the Earth Alliance , comprising three interlocking realms: (1) Earth Assessment: the establishment of an independent body to provide advance warning of the risks of particular environmental changes. (2) Earth Organization: the radical redesign of the organizational core of the international policy, centered on the establishment of an International Environmental Organization, with the existing United Nations Environment Programme as its initial nucleus. (3) Earth Funding: the exploration of new avenues for financing global environmental policy.
Price: GBP 50.00. If ordered online from Earthscan directly: GBP 42.50.
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Farmer Innovation in Africa. A Source of Inspiration for Agricultural Development. C. Reij and A. Waters-Bayer, editors. Earthscan, London and Sterling, 2001, xxii + 362 p. ISBN 1-85383-816-0. Softcover.
One of Africa s major untapped resources is the creativity of its farmers. This book presents a series of clear and detailed studies that demonstrate how small-scale farmers experiment and innovate in order to improve their livelihoods, despite the adverse conditions and lack of appropriate external support with which they have to contend. The studies are based on fieldwork in a wide variety of farming systems throughout Africa, and have been written primarily by African researchers and extension specialists. Examples show how a participatory approach to agricultural research and development that builds on local knowledge and innovation can stimulate the creativity of all involved – not only the farmers. This approach, which recognizes the farmers as the crucial component of success, provides a much-needed alternative to the conventional transfer of technology paradigm.
This book is a rich source of case studies and analyses of how agricultural research and development policy can and should be changed. It presents evidence of the resilience and resolution of rural communities in Africa and will be an inspiration for development workers, researchers and policy makers, as well as for students and teachers of agriculture, environment and sustainable development.
Price: GBP 18.95. Special Reader Offer if ordered online from Earthscan directly: 15% discount.
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Handbook of the Field Assessment of Land Degradation. M.A. Stocking and N. Murnaghan. Earthscan, London and Sterling, 2001, xiii + 169 p. ISBN 1-85383-831-4. Softcover.
With the increasing concern over rural livelihoods and the food security of poor communities in developing countries, it is vital that the land quality is maintained. Yet land degradation is widespread and is lowering the productive capacity of the land in these countries. This practical guidebook presents simple, non-technical indicators for assessing land degradation in the field. Based on the perspective of the farmer, the methods selected lend meaning to real farming situations, helping the field professional to understand not only the impact of degradation but also the benefits to be gained from reversing it.
The handbook shows how to calculate indicators such as those of soil loss and explains the interpretation of results and, in particular, how combinations of different indicators can give conclusive evidence of the severity of land degradation. The focus of the book in on understanding the farmer s interaction with the land, and how environmental protection, food security and the well being of rural land users may be assured. With many figures, colour photographs, worked examples and sample forms based on assessment techniques validated by field professionals in Africa, Asia and Latin America, this will be an essential training manual for field-workers, researchers in educational institutions and students. An outline for a two-week training workshop in land degradation field assessment is also given, as well as an annotated bibliography for further reading, and a listing of websites.
Price: GBP 25.00. Special Reader Offer if ordered online from Earthscan directly: 15% discount.
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Dynamics & Diversity. Soil Fertility and Farming Livelihoods in Africa. Case studies from Ethiopia, Mali and Zimbabwe. I. Scoones, editor. Earthscan, London and Sterling, 2001, xii + 244 p. ISBN 1-85383-820-9, Softcover. ISBN 1-85383-819-5, Hardcover.
The management of Africa s soils is one of the major challenges facing agriculture and livelihoods in the 21st century. Policies to address this tend to assume that soils are being degraded on a large scale, and that farmers practices often contribute to a downward spiral of degradation and poverty a familiar narrative of negative environmental change. But have policies been attuned to local-level understandings of soils and their change? What can we learn from a detailed understanding of the way farmers actually manage their soils and the social and environmental processes that result in their transformation? Is the story of environmental change always so gloomy? What factors encourage more positive trends? These are just some of the critical questions addressed in this book. Based on a series of detailed case studies from Ethiopia, Mali and Zimbabwe, it explores the complex dynamics of soil fertility change from an interdisciplinary perspective, looking at the way farmers actually manage their soils and the social and environmental processes that determine their transformation. Through this analysis, new ways of thinking about agricultural development policy and practice are presented.
Price: GBP 16.95, softcover; GBP 45.00, hardcover. Special Reader Offer if ordered online from Earthscan directly: 15% discount.
Orders to: Earthscan, 120 Pentonville Road, London N1 9BR, UK. Fax: +44-1903-828-800. E-mail: earthinfo@earthscan.co.uk. Homepage: www.earthscan.co.uk.
Trace Elements in Terrestrial Environments. Biogeochemistry, Bioavailability, and Risks of Metals. Second edition. D.C. Adriano. Springer-Verlag, New York, Berlin, 2001, xii + 866 p. ISBN 0-387-98678-2. Hardcover.
The first edition of this book appeared in 1986 under the title Trace Elements in the Terrestrial Environment. The primary objective was to provide students and professionals with a comprehensive book about many important aspects of trace elements in the environment. The present edition follows a similar format, but includes new chapters on biogeochemistry, bioavailability, environmental pollution and regulation, ecological and human health effects, and risk and risk management and expanding the coverage to include freshwater systems and groundwater where appropriate. In addition to plants, which were the main biota of emphasis in the first edition, fish and wildlife and invertebrates are discussed as necessary. The ecological and human health effects of major environmental contaminants, such as As, Cd, Cr, Pb and Hg are also highlighted, along with relevant information on potential risks to the ecology and human health. The chapters are organized by element, which are grouped into the big five environmental metals, the essential elements, and other trace elements. For all elements are given: the general properties; the production and uses; the element in nature; the element is soils; the element in plants; factors affecting mobility and bioavailability of the element; the element in animal and human nutrition; the sources of the element in the environment; and an extensive listing of references. As with the first edition, the book contains many tables and figures.
Price: USD 198.00; GBP 161.50; SFR 403.39.
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Treatment of Contaminated Soil. Fundamentals, Analysis, Applications. R. Stegmann, G. Brunner, W. Calmano and G. Matz, editors. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2001, xvi + 658 p. ISBN 3-540-41736-2. Hardcover.
Anthropogenic activities have resulted in contaminated soils covering significant areas of land. In the 1980s people recognized the size and the consequences of this problem. The developed treatment and remediation processes were often very pragmatic. There was a lack of a scientific basis and a need for further development. There are four main alternatives for the treatment of contaminated soils: (1) leave the contamination as it is, but restrict the utilization of the land; (2) complete or partial encapsulation of the contamination; (3) excavation of the contaminated soil and land filling; and (4) treatment of the contaminated soil in-situ, either at an onsite or central plan. In the long term, the only alternative that makes sense is the decontamination of the polluted soil. Only by this means the problem can be solved without transferring it to the future; the soil needs to be used without any restrictions. This optimum solution cannot always be achieved, and compromises have to be made. In the actual remediation, mechanical, thermal and biological processes are usually practices. The state of the art is characterized by a multitude of procedures. This situation has been achieved by intensive worldwide research where processes have been optimized and further developed. It was essential to adapt and further develop the chemical analytical methods and the monitoring processes for contaminated soil. In addition, the treatment goals have been elaborated and defined, as toxicological and ecotoxicological target values are now available on a scientific basis. Technical soil protection has been developed into a newly acknowledged scientific discipline, where an integrated cooperation among scientists from different disciplines of engineering, chemistry, biology, soils, geology and environmental planning is essential. The book contains the following main parts: (1) fundamental aspects (3 papers); (2) chemical analysis of contaminated soils (6 papers); (3) ecotoxicological assessment of soils (2 papers); (4) bioremediation (14 papers); (5) physical treatment (8 papers); and (6) natural attenuation (3 papers). The appendix offers a survey of materials, test methods and apparatus, as well as a description of analytical directions and processes.
Price: EUR 125.19; GBP 86.50; USD 129.00.
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Understanding the Earth System. Compartments, Processes and Interactions. E. Ehlers and T. Krafft, editors, in collaboration with C. Moss. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2001. xvi + 290 p. ISBN 3-540-67515-9. Hardcover.
This volume includes revised versions of most of the presentations made at an international conference under the same title as this book, which was held in Bonn in November 1999.
There is no doubt that Global Change and its scientific analysis and interpretation are on the forefront of international research efforts. Since the detection of global warming, first signs of world-wide melting of ice-masses and glaciers, indications of sea-level rises and/or depletion of the atmospheric ozone-layers, increasing number of scientists have devoted their research to the solution of these and related problems. Global change research and its development over the last 20 or 30 years are testimony not only to the almost unbelievable broadening and deepening of themes, but also to a shift of scientific disciplines. As a matter of fact: the title of the conference and the publication of its proceedings are part of this development. The book has four parts: (1) Panorama: the Earth system: analysis from science and the humanities (5 papers); (2) Focus: Water in the Earth system: availability, quality and allocation in cross-disciplinary perspectives (3 papers); (3) Perspective: advancing our understanding: reductionist and/or integrationist approaches to Earth system analysis (5 papers), and (4) Appendix: Working Group reports (6 papers).
Price: EUR 106.95; GBP 68.50; USD 99.00.
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Plant Nutrient Acquisition. New Perspectives. N. Ae, J. Arihara, K. Okada and A. Srinivasan, editors. Springer-Verlag, Tokyo, Berlin, 2001, xvi + 520 p. ISBN 4-431-70281-4. Hardcover.
This book is a compilation of research papers presented at an international workshop, held in Tsukuba, Japan, in 1998. The objectives of this workshop were to discuss newly emerging concepts of the mechanisms that plants use to acquire soil nutrients, and to relate those concepts in the context of applied agriculture. New research reveals that plants actively acquire nutrients; the acquisition process is not a passive one in which plants simply wait for dissolved nutrients to come closer to their roots. In fact, plants play a far more active role than once understood to be possible in nutrient acquisition and in adaptation to problem soils. This book presents an overview and summary of concepts of plant nutrient acquisition mechanisms, and sets forth their practical implications in crop production. The scope is wide-ranging, from biochemical, molecular, and genetic analysis of nutrient acquisition to global nutritional problems. Part I is a historical review, part II has 4 papers on root exudates in nutrient acquisition and metal tolerance. Part III, entitled Cell apoplast in nutrient acquisition and metal tolerance, contains 6 papers. Part IV, Contribution of soil microorganisms and soil fauna, has 3 papers. Part V, Direct incorporation of soil micro and macro organic molecules, contains 4 papers, while in Part VI, 3 papers deal with the practical implications. In the Epilogue, the organizers of the workshop make a plea for reducing dependence upon mineral fertilizers to increase food crop production through greater use of natural soil components and processes. The book is well produced and has 230 figures.
Price: EUR 164.00.
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Food Security for Papua New Guinea. Proceedings of the Papua New Guinea Food and Nutrition Conference, PNG University of Technology, Lae, 26-30 June 2000. ACIAR Proceedings No. 99. R.M. Bourke, M.G. Allen and J.G. Salisbury, editors. ACIAR, Canberra, xviii + 892 p. ISBN 1-86320-308-7 (printed), 1-86320-309-5 (electronic). Softcover.
Between 1970 and 1999 nearly 30 conferences devoted to food production or human nutrition in Papua New Guinea (PNG) were held. An important meeting took place in June 2000, of which the proceedings are recorded in this publication. Part 1: Food Security and Nutrition, has six sections: Food Security, Policy Issues (7 papers) Food Security, General (12 papers), Food Shortages and the 1997 Drought and Frosts (17 papers), Renewable Resource Management (14 papers), Human Nutrition (7 papers), Information and Extension (9 papers). Part 2: Food Production in PNG, has five sections: Food Production, General (13 papers), Animal Production (10 papers), Crop Production, Sweet Potato (9 Papers), Crop Production, Other Root Crops (9 papers), and Crop Production, Non-root Crops (8 papers). The last part of the book has a conference summary and recommendations for policy and programs. The book is available online at:
www.aciar.gov.au/publications/proceedings/99/index.html.
Price of hard copy: AUD 52.00.
Orders to: CSIRO Publications, P.O. Box 1139, Collingwood, Victoria 3066, Australia. Fax: +61-3-9662-7555. E-mail: sales@publish.csiro.au. Homepage: www.publish@csiro.au. Homepage of ACIAR: www.aciar.gov.au.
Soils Magic. Geotechnical Special Publication 114. D.J. Elton. American Society of Civil Engineers, 2001, 60 p. ISBN 0-7844-0568-9. Softcover. With CD-ROM.
This book consists of a fascinating collection of simple and inexpensive experiments focusing on the principles of soil mechanics. The experiments are suitable for students from elementary school to college, while teaching them about science and the behavior of soil. From turning soil into fluid to making water flow uphill, each experiment conveys a principle of science through a mysterious and captivating magic trick . The CD-ROM provides video footage of actual experiments and their results. Very suitable for science teachers, or anyone who wants to make science and engineering fun and easily accessible.
Price: GBP 29.00, EUR 50.75.
Orders to: American Technical Publishers, 27-29 Knowl Piece, Wilbury Way, Hitchin, Herts. SG4 0SX, UK. Fax: +44-1462-433678. E-mail: atp@ameritech.co.uk. Homepage: www.ameritech.co.uk.
Strunz Mineralogical Tables, Chemical Structural Mineralogical Classification System, 9th edition. H. Strunz and E.H. Nickel. E. Schweitzerbart sche Verlagsbuchhandlung (N gele u. Obermiller), Stuttgart, 2001, x + 870 p. ISBN 3-510-65188-X. Hardcover.
This book was first published in 1941, in German. The present ninth edition, the first in the English language, is completely revised and updated, incorporating a large number of data on new minerals and new data on previously described minerals. The book uses a chemical-structural mineral classification system. All minerals are apportioned into one of ten classes according to their principle anionic constituents. Each of these ten classes is broken down into divisions, subdivisions and groups, based on chemical composition and crystal structure. A simple alphanumeric coding system is applied to the various categories. The data are presented in tabular form, with minerals grouped by structure type, and include the chemical formula and crystallographic parameters for each mineral, as well as the authors of the original mineral description. Literature references to reports of crystal structure determinations and to the more recent descriptive papers are also provided. Each group is accompanied by a brief description of the crystal structures of the minerals comprising the group, and crystal-structure drawings are given for many of the important structure types.
Price: EUR 148.00, USD 142.00.
Orders to: E. Schweizerbart sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Johannesstrasse 3A, D-70176 Stuttgart, Germany. Fax: +49-711-625005. E-mail: order@schweizerbart.de. Homepage: www.schweizerbart.de. In the USA: Balogh International, 1911 North Duncan Road, Champaign, Illinois 61822, USA. Fax: +1-217-355-9413. E-mail: balogh@balogh.com.
Humic Substances: Chemistry and Function. Special issue of Soil Science, volume 166, number 11, November 2001, pages 721 to 871.
This special issue of the journal Soil Science contains 10 papers on several issues related to humic substances. It is the primary objective of this collection of papers to provide the readers of Soil Science with a current analysis of the status of the research and with a foundation for future quests into the nuances of the structure and function of a keystone in the function of our environment soil humic acid. According to the editor-in-chief of Soil Science, Robert L. Tate III, it is the hope of all involved in the production of this issue that the data presented, the theories postulated, and the debate revealed herein will stimulate renewed quests into the complexities of the enigmatic, elusive humic acid molecule and the importance of this complex organic substance to ecosystem function, behavior of toxicants, and sustainability and resilience of land-based systems in general.
Price: USD 30.00.
Orders to: Customer Service, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 16522 Hunters Green Parkway, Hagerstown, MD 21740-2166, USA. Fax: 1-301-223-2400. Homepage: www.soilsci.com.
Soil Science Simplified. Fourth edition. M.I. Harpstead, Th.J. Sauer and W.F. Benneth. Illustrated by M.C. Bratz. Iowa State University Press, Ames, 2001, vii + 225 p. ISBN 0-8138-2942-9. Hardcover.
The third edition of this book appeared in 1997. As with the former editions, this book explains soil science in an easily understandable manner for persons wishing to have a working knowledge of the many aspects of soil science and be able to apply the information to their endeavors. It covers soil formation, soil components, chemistry, fertility, classification and conservation. At one time, soil science was largely directed toward agriculture. Farming remains at the forefront of food production and is, more than ever, concerned with soils; but the properties of soils affect everyone who works with soils. Horticulturists, foresters, landscape architects and home gardeners frequently seek an in-depth understanding of soils, so do persons engaged in waste disposal, and engineers who need to understand how the physical and chemical properties of soils react to human installations and manipulations. This fourth edition expands and updates each topic. New approaches to content have been incorporated to increase the reader s ease in understanding explanations. The illustrations demonstrate the principles described in the text and enhance comprehension. The book ends with a useful glossary and index.
Price: USD 42.95, GBP 27.50.
Orders to: Iowa State University Press, 2121 S. State Avenue, Ames, Iowa 50014-8300, USA. Fax: 1-515-292-3348. Order: 1-800-862-6657. Homepage: www.isupress.com. Or: Sabrina Righi, Blackwell Publishing Ltd., Osney Mead, Oxford, OX2 0EL, UK. Fax: +44-1865-721205. E-mail: Sabrina.Righi@blacksci.co.uk. Homepage: www.blackwell-science.com.
The Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Environmental Change. J.A. Matthews, co-ordinating editor, E.M. Bridges, C.J. Caseldine, A.J. Luckman, G. Owen, A.H. Perry, R.A. Shakesby, R.P.D. Walsh, R.J. Whittaker and K.J. Willis, editors. Arnold, Lond