Biofuel is a renewable energy source produced from natural materials. The benefits of biofuels over traditional petroleum fuels include greater energy... security, reduced environmental impact, foreign exchange savings, and socioeconomic issues related to the rural sector. The most common biofuels are produced from classic food crops that require high-quality agricultural land for growth. However, bioethanol can be produced from plentiful, domestic, cellulosic biomass resources such as herbaceous and woody plants, agricultural and forestry residues, and a large portion of municipal and industrial solid waste streams. There is also a growing interest in the use of vegetable oils for making biodiesel. “Biofuels: Securing the Planet’s Future Energy Needs” discusses the production of transportation fuels from biomass (such as wood, straw and even household waste) by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The book is an important text for students and researchers in energy engineering, as well as professional fuel engineers.

Based on the classic ecosystem studies at Hubbard Brook in New Hampshire, this book presents an in-depth analysis of the biogeochemistry of a... terrestrial ecosystem. It synthesizes long-term data on precipitation and streamwater chemistry, hydrology and weathering, and also considers the dynamics of atmospheric gases and water as they flow through the system. Hailed as "ÄaÜ standard for ecological teaching and research for years to come", the book "bristles with unsettled questions, intriguing problems, and technical challenges". This new edition brings the 1977 volume up to date and presents the ongoing Hubbard Brook study to a new generation of ecologists. The authors have international reputations: they won the $150,000 Tyler Prize in Environmental Science in 1993, and Likens also won the $250,000 Australia Prize in 1994.

Biogeochemistry of Estuaries offers a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to understanding biogeochemical cycling in estuaries. Designed as a... text for intermediate to advanced students, this book utilizes numerous illustrations and an extensive literature base to impart the current state-of-the-art knowledge in this field. While many of the existing books in estuarine science are comprised of edited volumes, typically focused on highly specific topics in estuaries,Biogeochemistry of Estuaries provides, for the first time, a unique foundation in the areas of geomorphology, geochemistry, biochemistry, aqueous chemistry, and ecology, while making strong linkages (trhoughout the text) to ecosystem-based processes in estuarine sciences. Estuaries, located at the interface between land and the coastal ocean are dynamic, highly productive systems that, in many cases, have been historically associated with development of many of the great centers of early human civilization. Consequentially, these systems have and continue to be highly impacted by anthropogenic inputs. This timely book takes the foundational basis of elemental cycling in estuarine and applies it to estuarine management issues. Biogeochemistry of Estuaries will be welcomed by estuarine/marine scientists, ecologists, biogeochemists, and environmentalists around the world.

Wetland ecosystems maintain a fragile balance of soil, water, plant, and atmospheric components in order to regulate water flow, flooding, and water... quality. Marginally covered in traditional texts on biogeochemistry or on wetland soils, Biogeochemistry of Wetlands is the first to focus entirely on the biological, geological, physical, and chemical processes that affect these critical habitats. This book offers an in-depth look at the chemical and biological cycling of nutrients, trace elements, and toxic organic compounds in wetland soil and water column as related to water quality, carbon sequestration, and greenhouse gases. It details the electrochemistry, biochemical processes, and transformation mechanisms for the elemental cycling of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur. Additional chapters examine the fate and chemistry of heavy metals and toxic organic compounds in wetland environments. The authors emphasize the role of redox-pH conditions, organic matter, microbial-mediated processes that drive transformation in wetlands, plant responses and adaptation to wetland soil conditions. They also analyze how excess water, sediment water, and atmospheric change relate to elemental biogeochemical cycling. Delivering an in-depth scientific examination of the natural processes that occur in wetland ecosystems, Biogeochemistry of Wetlands comprises a key perspective on the environmental impact of pollutants and the role freshwater and coastal wetlands play in global climate change.

Biologists searching for a resource that explores all of the exciting changes that have occurred recently in the field will turn to this eighth edition.... It offers insight into the multidisciplinary nature of the field, presenting a sound historical base, up-to-date coverage, and a look at the latest controversies. The authors evaluate conflicting theories and provide a reasoned judgment as to which is preferable. In a new chapter the authors examine marine biogeography, so that biologists can compare and analyse the data, patterns and problems arising from continental, marine and island biogeography.

Biogeography, first published in 1983, is one of the most comprehensive text and general reference books in the field. The Fourth Edition builds on the... strengths of previous editions, combining evolutionary and ecological perspectives to show how Earth history, contemporary environments, and evolutionary and ecological processes have shaped species distributions and nearly all patterns of biodiversity. It is an empirically and conceptually rich text that illustrates general patterns and processes using examples from a diversity of plants and animals across the Earth s aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Biogeography, Fourth Edition is written as a primary text for undergraduate and graduate courses, and is also an invaluable reference for biogeographers, ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and conservation biologists. Starting from simple facts and principles and assuming only a rudimentary knowledge of biology, geography, and Earth history, the text explains the relationships between geographic variation in biodiversity and the geological, ecological, and evolutionary processes that have produced them. Written in an engaging style, Biogeography emphasizes the interplay between unifying concepts and presents evidence that supports or challenges these concepts. The use of color illustrations (new to this edition), evaluated and optimized for colorblind readers as well, has transformed our abilities to illustrate key concepts and empirical patterns in the geography of nature. The addition of the distinguished plant ecologist and biogeographer Robert J. Whittaker to our team of authors has substantially enhanced the balance and depth of coverage of classical foundations, empirical case studies, and frontiers of biogeography.

Illustrative examples from recent research publications and "classic" studies are prominently featured throughout the book.Research techniques are... highlighted in "special interest" boxes. Illustrations and descriptions of research techniques are provided with examples such as fire-scars from trees used to reconstruct disturbance, fossil pollen used to reconstruct vegetation change and plant migration, transect and quadrate sampling.Includes key biogeographical theories that link space and time to the distribution of life. Some of these theories include: 1. Ranges, Reflicts, Refuges, Corridors, Barriers, 2. Centers of Origins, 3. Cladistics, 4. Variance, 5. Island BioGeography, 6. Diversity Theory, 7. Gap Analysis for Conservation.

This biography of a runaway slave is arguably the best-known book to have been written and published in revolutionary Cuba. It is the testimonial... narrative of Esteban Montejo, a former slave, runaway, and soldier in the Cuban wars of independence. The text is the collaboration between ethnographer Miguel Barnet and Montejo, the result of three years of tape-recorded interviews, transcribed, edited and annotated by Barnet. Montejo provides a first-hand account of slavery in nineteenth-century Cuba -- the language, religion, music, and customs -- and describes life in the sugar plantations and mills and as a runaway slave. Montejo’s text also covers key historical moments, from slavery to Abolition, the Ten Years War, the Spanish American War, and US intervention in the new republic. Reflecting the growing interest in Latin American and Cuban Studies, this student edition includes the complete text in Spanish, notes in English, a time-line of Cuban history and themes for debate and discussion. The extensive introduction focuses on three main areas: an overview of Cuban history featuring slavery, wars of independence and the new republic; an overview of the genre of the testimonial narrative as it emerged as an important literary style in revolutionary Cuba; and an analysis of the relationship between the Cuban Revolution and the publication of the text. There is also an extensive bibliography.

In this innovative study, six women and men from Eastern Indonesia narrate their own lives by talking about their possessions--domestic objects used to... construct a coherent identity through a process of identification and "self-historicizing." Janet Hoskins explores how things are given biographical significance and entangled in sexual politics, expressed in dualistic metaphors where the familiar distinctions between person and object and female and male are drawn in unfamiliar ways. Biographical Objects is an ethnography of persons which takes the form of a study of things, showing how the object is not only a metaphor for the self but a pivot for reflexivity and introspection, a tool for autobiographic elaboration, a way of knowing oneself through things.

"Roberts is certainly successful in conveying a sense of the rich diversity of biographical research. This is a book based upon a formidably... wide-ranging bibliography together with his own, by no means insignificant, contributions to the field![the]!reader will be left in no doubt as to the central importance of biographical research and of its legitimate position within the social sciences" - David Morgan, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Manchester University (former President, British Sociological Association), Auto/Biography, a BSA Study Group journal, 2002. "Brian Roberts' book is a highly accessible introduction to biographical method!The author deftly and confidently addresses the available work in a variety of disciplines ranging from education through oral history, feminism to memory! I warmly recommend this book to any historian interested in biography and what its study can tell them about what they do'. - Alun Munslow, Professor of History, Staffordshire University (Editor, Rethinking History), Rethinking History, 7:3, pp. 451-5, October, 2003 * What is biographical research? * Why has it attracted so much interest? * How can biographical research be carried out? Biographical Research reflects a rapid expansion of interest in the study of lives taking place within the social sciences. Life story, oral history, narrative, autobiography, biography and other approaches are being used more and more to explore how individuals interpret experiences and social relationships. This book examines the methodological and theoretical developments associated with research on lives in sociology, oral history, ethnography, biography, and narrative analysis. The author includes numerous examples of biographical research from his own work and other studies, and addresses important areas such as the collection and interpretation of materials, uses of biographical research, oral and written accounts, the interview relationship, the construction of the story, memory, audience, and the researcher's own biography. In conclusion it draws out common themes and emerging concerns. Biographical Research is a comprehensive guide to major issues in the study of lives for students and researchers in the social sciences and related fields.