Forest fires (prediction, prevention and suppression)
Essay - 7 pages - Ecology & environment
The problems and negative impacts associated with large-scale uncontrolled forest ?res have increased worldwide over the past two decades. Globally an estimated 300-400 million hectares of forests and woodlands burn annually, emitting an estimated 9.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases; however,...
Soil erosion control
Essay - 6 pages - Ecology & environment
Soil erosion control in managed forests is undertaken, and best achieved, for two main reasons. The ?rst relates to soil protection for the sustainable productivity of the forest resource. The second relates to the protection of valuable water resources located in forested catchments. The...
Propagation technology for forest trees
Essay - 8 pages - Ecology & environment
There are six major kinds of propagules now available for the reproduction of forest trees: seeds, sprouts, grafts, cuttings, tissue-culture plantlets, and somatic embryos. Each has two or more subclasses, and each has increasingly understood advantages, disadvantages, and uses. For several of...
Genetic aspects of air pollution and climate change
Essay - 6 pages - Ecology & environment
The ?rst incidences of air pollution impacts on the genetic constitution of forest tree populations were those documented near point sources of sulfur dioxide (SO2), particulates, and heavy metals. Localized extinction of forests around these point sources was documented by ecologists in the past...
Genecology and the adaptations of forest trees
Essay - 8 pages - Ecology & environment
Genecology is the study of intraspeci?c genetic variation in relation to environmental conditions. It reveals patterns of adaptation of populations to their environments that result from differences in natural selection among locations. Genecological studies are conducted for the practical...
Cytogenetics of forest tree species
Essay - 9 pages - Ecology & environment
The discipline of cytogenetics was ?rst de?ned by Sutton in 1903, as a ?eld of investigation which developed from the separate sciences of genetics and cytology. It is concerned with studies on the correlation of genetic and cytological (especially chromosomal) features characterizing a...
The global and forest environment carbon cycle
Essay - 5 pages - Ecology & environment
The forest environment carbon cycle can be viewed at a number of scales. Measurements can be made at the scale of an individual leaf or tree, stand-scale measurements can be made, and models can be developed that examine forest-level, regional, and global carbon cycles. The role of the forest in...
Diagnosis, monitoring and evaluation of forest health and protection
Essay - 9 pages - Ecology & environment
Over the last 30 years forest health became a popular issue together with the concern about acid rain, air pollution, and climate change. Terms like forest decline, and the German ‘Waldsterben' (forest death) and ‘Neuartigen Waldscha ¨den' (new type of forest damage) became frequent in...
Environmental impacts on forests
Essay - 7 pages - Ecology & environment
There is considerable debate over de?nitions for the word ‘forest' and even for ‘tree.' Most vegetation types fall clearly into the categories of forest or nonforest, but there is dispute at the margins. A similar debate rages over the classi?cation of forests into natural and arti?cial...
Impacts of air pollution on forest ecosystems
Essay - 10 pages - Ecology & environment
Air pollution problems are international in scale. All forests worldwide experience some degree of air pollution exposure above preindustrial levels. Atmospheric transport processes do not recognize geographic borders, but sources of pollutants, the pollutants of concern, and the speci?c effects...
Natural disturbances in forest environments
Essay - 7 pages - Ecology & environment
Disturbance in plant communities has been de?ned as consisting of ‘the mechanisms which limit the plant biomass by causing its partial or total destruction.' In forests, disturbance arises from the agencies of tree damage or death. At small spatial scales, individual trees die standing or...
Plant-animal interactions in forest ecosystems
Essay - 7 pages - Ecology & environment
Flowering plants, being sedentary, have co-opted animal partners for purposes of gene exchange and propagule dispersal, through pollination and seed dispersal. To secure these services plants provide a variety of flower or fruit rewards creating some of the most common and obvious mutualistic...
Human influences on the tropical forest wildlife
Essay - 7 pages - Ecology & environment
Different patterns of anthropogenic forest disturbance can affect forest wildlife in both tropical and temperate regions in many ways. The overall impact of different sources of structural and nonstructural disturbance may depend on: (1) the groups of organisms considered; (2) the evolutionary...
Aquatic habitats in forest ecosystems
Essay - 8 pages - Ecology & environment
There is a wide variety of aquatic habitats found in forested areas ranging from water-?lled tree holes through to large rivers, lakes, and inundated forests. This article initially reviews the classi?cation of aquatic habitats and some of their important geomorphological, physicochemical, and...
Ground preparation in afforestation
Essay - 9 pages - Ecology & environment
Ground preparation is de?ned as the set of preliminary operations on soil that are required for effective establishment of tree seedlings. The main objective of ground preparation is to assure access to nutrients, air, and water for the seedlings to be planted. Ground preparation is more focused...
Endangered species of trees
Essay - 7 pages - Ecology & environment
Unfortunately the topic of endangered species of trees is a vast one because of the extensive loss of their habitat in most parts of the world and in many cases because of overexploitation. The World Conservation Union's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Plants, published in 1997, lists almost 34000...
Population dynamics of forest insects
Essay - 5 pages - Ecology & environment
Population dynamics is the study of changes in the number of organisms in populations and the factors in?uencing these changes. It thus, by necessity, includes the study of the rates of loss and replacement of individuals and of those regulatory processes that can prevent excessive changes in...
Total and its corporate social responsibility
Case study - 7 pages - Ecology & environment
TOTAL, the international group known worldwide, works above all, in the energy industries and also a little bit in the chemical industry. TOTAL group was created in 2003, after several mergers but it has some origin from 1923. It is a limited company. Today TOTAL is not only a multinational...
Primate seed dispersal: Implications for conservation tactics
Essay - 5 pages - Ecology & environment
Many frugivorous primates act in an important ecosystem role as seed dispersers for local flora. The importance of this relationship is apparent through the realization that there is variation in the species of plant seeds dispersed by primates and non-primates, with primates often serving as the...
Cultural Landscapes and Biodiversity de Devon G. Peña
Book review - 2 pages - Ecology & environment
This article is a basic but global study of a specific ethno-ecological case in northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado by Devon G. Peña. The main concern of Peña is the importance of the irrigation system of the Chicano communities that have been living in the Culebra micro-basin for around...
Great Britain and the Kyoto protocol: why is Britain so keen on the Kyoto protocol?
Essay - 4 pages - Ecology & environment
The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol related to the international Framework Convention on Climate Change with the objective of reducing the greenhouse gases that cause climate change. It was agreed upon, on 11 December 1997at the 3rd Conference of the Parties to the treaty, when they met in Kyoto,...
Alternative energy
Essay - 6 pages - Ecology & environment
This article explains the importance of the alternate energy. The traditional energy which we are using is not going to be adequate for our future needs and that too it reached its peak. Apart from its inadequate supply it is also producing enormous amount of pollution which is questioning the...
Effects of environmental enrichment on the consumption of a palatable food reward
Case study - 13 pages - Ecology & environment
Environmental enrichment (EE) is the study of organisms reared in complex, varied environments and the subsequent influences on behavior. Studies have shown many mechanisms for how EE elicits changes in behavior, mental and physical processes, and neurophysiology. EE has been shown to work as a...
The development of Biofuels
Essay - 9 pages - Ecology & environment
Most of the energy we consume comes from fossil fuels such as oil, gas, coal and uranium. Yet, these sources of energy present several problems. They are non renewable and their demand keeps growing on a daily basis. Besides, the fields, mainly located in specific geographic areas can generate...
Advantages and limitations of using tourism as a rationale for nature conservation and protected area establishment
Essay - 5 pages - Ecology & environment
Nearly everyone on the planet would love to see animals and wildlife in their natural habitat with plenty of the space and the resources they need to survive on their own. The problem is that this level of nature conservation is expensive. Leaving land free from development comes at a price. One...
Auto pollution: No solution?
Essay - 5 pages - Ecology & environment
For the sake of natural resources and the welfare and prosperity of the population, motor vehicle fuel economy and emission standards must be raised. The dangerous and complicated problems that we face both today and tomorrow with motor vehicles should not be ignored and cast aside, but solved as...
Long term effects of an oil spill on the environment and the economy
Essay - 5 pages - Ecology & environment
Despite these effects, however, the response of most people to oil spills is one of passing curiosity. The media may provide extensive coverage of the disaster, but few people would react to an oil spill the same way they would react to news of a hurricane. Certainly, the fact that oil spills...
On-site waste water treatment in Sydingosby
Case study - 24 pages - Ecology & environment
The project site is a farm located in Sydingösby. The Gunnarsson family is living here. Carina and Stefan have two children. Stefan works at the farm while Carina works at SLU. This site has already a system for waste treatment, but it is not satisfying and not sustainable. Actually it does not...
Prospects for green energy sources
Essay - 6 pages - Ecology & environment
Global warming has increasingly become an all-encompassing issue in both the media's and public opinion. It is only logical then that more and more attention is being paid to alternative energy sources which may have the capacity to not only provide a more environmentally friendly way of...
New approaches to decisions on global warming
Essay - 16 pages - Ecology & environment
Former Vice President Al Gore generated tremendous global awareness and concern for the issue of global warming through his movie, “An Inconvenient Truth”. His activism won him a Nobel Peace Prize, and the issue has become a central topic of discussion for many of the world's leaders....
