Biological and Environmental Hazards, Risks, and Disasters

1st Edition - November 24, 2015
Editors: Ramesh Sivanpillai, John F. Shroder
Language: English
Hardback ISBN:
9 7 8 - 0 - 1 2 - 3 9 4 8 4 7 - 2
eBook ISBN:
9 7 8 - 0 - 1 2 - 3 9 6 4 7 1 - 7

Biological and Environmental Hazards, Risks, and Disasters provides an integrated look at major impacts to the Earth’s biosphere. Many of these are caused by diseases, algal blo… Read more

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Biological and Environmental Hazards, Risks, and Disasters provides an integrated look at major impacts to the Earth’s biosphere. Many of these are caused by diseases, algal blooms, insects, animals, species extinction, deforestation, land degradation, and comet and asteroid strikes that have important implications for humans.

This volume, from Elsevier’s Hazards and Disasters Series, provides an in-depth view of threats, ranging from microscopic organisms to celestial objects. Perspectives from both natural and social sciences provide an in-depth understanding of potential impacts.

Dedication
Title and Description of the Cover Image
Contributors
Editorial Foreword
Acknowledgments
List of Reviewers
Chapter 1. Introduction to Biological and Environmental Hazards, Risks, and Disasters
Chapter 2. Algal Blooms
- 2.1. Introduction
- 2.2. Historic Examples of HAB Incidents
- 2.3. HAB Incidents in Recent Decades
- 2.4. Economic Impacts of HABs
- 2.5. How Do Blooms Form?
- 2.6. Vulnerability
- 2.7. Mitigation
- 2.8. Preparedness
- 2.9. Response
- 2.10. (4f) Recovery
Chapter 3. Large-Scale Grasshopper Infestations on North American Rangeland and Crops
- 3.1. Introduction
- 3.2. Taxonomy
- 3.3. Basic Biology
- 3.4. Ecology
- 3.5. Grasshopper-Outbreak Damage
- 3.6. Long-term Damage
- 3.7. Past Grasshopper—Outbreak Management
- 3.8. Early Pesticide Control Efforts
- 3.9. Recent Outbreaks
Chapter 4. Locusts: An Introduction
Chapter 4.1. The Australian Plague Locust—Risk and Response
- 4.1.1. Introduction
- 4.1.2. Ecology of the Australian Plague Locust
- 4.1.3. Population Outbreaks
- 4.1.4. History of Locust Outbreaks and Control in Australia
- 4.1.5. Economic and Social Impacts
- 4.1.6. The Australian Plague Locust Commission and Current Approaches to Locust Management in Australia
- 4.1.7. The Risks and Hazards of Locust Control in Australia
- 4.1.8. Future Considerations
- 4.1.9. Conclusions
Chapter 4.2. Desert Locust
- 4.2.1. Monitoring and Forecasting
- 4.2.2. Technological Advances
- 4.2.3. Early Warning
- 4.2.4. Challenges
- 4.2.5. Conclusion
Chapter 4.3. Other Locusts
Chapter 5. Decline of Bees and Other Pollinators
- 5.1. Introduction
- 5.2. Land-Use Changes
- 5.3. Weather
- 5.4. Pest and Diseases
- 5.5. Climate Change
- 5.6. Pesticides
- 5.7. Other Causes
- 5.8. What Can Be Done?
Chapter 6. Bark Beetle-Induced Forest Mortality in the North American Rocky Mountains
- 6.1. Introduction
- 6.2. Effects of Bark Beetle Impacts
- 6.3. Summary
Chapter 7. Novel Approaches for Reversible Field Releases of Candidate Weed Biological Control Agents: Putting the Genie Back into the Bottle
- 7.1. Introduction
- 7.2. Brazilian Peppertree Case Study
- 7.3. Conclusion
Chapter 8. Animal Hazards—Their Nature and Distribution
- 8.1. Introduction
- 8.2. Animal Attacks
- 8.3. Animal Accidents
- 8.4. Diseases Contracted from Animals
- 8.5. Property Damage and Losses Caused by Animals
- 8.6. Summary
Chapter 9. Loss of Biodiversity: Concerns and Threats
- 9.1. Introduction
- 9.2. How Many Species?
- 9.3. Extinction Rates
- 9.4. Reasons for Concern
Chapter 10. Chronic Environmental Diseases: Burdens, Causes, and Response
- 10.1. What Is a Chronic Environmental Disease?
- 10.2. The Global Burden of Chronic Environmental Diseases
- 10.3. Causes of Chronic Environmental Diseases
- 10.4. Public Health Response
- 10.5. Conclusions
Chapter 11. Land Degradation and Environmental Change
- 11.a. Introduction
- 11.b. Indicators of Land Degradation
- 11.c. The Global Significance
- 11.d. Drivers
- 11.e. Conclusions
Chapter 11.1. Desertification
- 11.1.1. Historical Roots, Evolving Definitions, and Critiques of Desertification
- 11.1.2. Drylands and Their Variability
- 11.1.3. Physical, Climatic, and Anthropogenic Drivers of Desertification and Their Impacts
- 11.1.4. Approaches to Identifying Desertification
- 11.1.5. Discussion
- 11.1.6. Conclusions
Chapter 11.2. Grassland Degradation
- 11.2.1. Introduction
- 11.2.2. Benefits and Ecological Services
- 11.2.3. Grassland Degradation
- 11.2.4. Conclusions
Chapter 11.3. Land Degradation in Rangeland Ecosystems
- 11.3.1. Introduction
- 11.3.2. Definition and Extent of Rangeland Degradation
- 11.3.3. Causes of Rangeland Degradation
- 11.3.4. Indicators of Rangeland Degradation
- 11.3.5. Monitoring Rangeland Degradation
- 11.3.6. Restoration and the Degradation Spiral
- 11.3.7. Conclusions and Future Directions
Chapter 12. Deforestation
- 12.a. Definitions
- 12.b. Rates and Extent of Deforestation
- 12.c. Effects of Deforestation
Chapter 12.1. Deforestation in Southeast Asia
- 12.1.1. Long-Term Changes in Land Use in Southeast Asia
- 12.1.2. Impacts of Logging on the Environment
- 12.1.3. Impacts of Forest Fragmentation on the Environment
- 12.1.4. Impacts of Habitat Conversion on the Environment
- 12.1.5. Conservation Options
- 12.1.6. Conclusion
Chapter 12.2. Deforestation in Nepal: Causes, Consequences, and Responses
- 12.2.1. Introduction
- 12.2.2. Nepal
- 12.2.3. Forest Types in Nepal
- 12.2.4. Forest Status and Rate of Deforestation in Nepal
- 12.2.5. Causes of Deforestation in Nepal
- 12.2.6. Consequences of Deforestation in Nepal
- 12.2.7. Responses to Deforestation
- 12.2.8. Conclusions and Recommendations
Chapter 12.3. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon
- 12.3.1. Introduction
- 12.3.2. Theoretical Perspectives and Methods
- 12.3.3. The context of Chico Mendes' Murder
- 12.3.4. Amazonian Deforestation on the International Agenda
- 12.3.5. Deforestation Drivers and Mechanisms
- 12.3.6. Amazonian (Deforestation) Scales and Trends
Chapter 13. Ecological Impacts of Climate Change
- 13.1. Introduction
- 13.2. Observed Effects of Climate Change
- 13.3. Ecosystem Services
- 13.4. The Past and the Future
Chapter 14. Meteor Impact Hazard
- 14.1. Introduction
- 14.2. Planetary Evidence
- 14.3. Historical Record
- 14.4. Geologic Record
- 14.5. Surviving Meteor Craters
- 14.6. Origins and Properties of Asteroids, Meteoroids, and Comets
- 14.7. Hypervelocity Impact
- 14.8. Ocean Impact
- 14.9. New Earth Asteroids
- 14.10. Evaluation of Impact Hazard and Mitigation
Index

Ramesh Sivanpillai

Ramesh Sivanpillai is a remote sensing scientist with the University of Wyoming where he teaches remote sensing and environmental sciences courses and directs the WyomingView program. Ramesh received his B. Sc in physics (PSG College of Arts & Science, India); M. Sc in environmental studies (Cochin University of Science & Technology, India); M. Phil in environmental sciences (Bharathiar University, India); M.S in environmental sciences (University of Wisconsin – Green Bay, USA), and PhD in forestry (Texas A&M University, USA). Since 1992, he has been working with remotely sensed data for applications in forestry, rangeland, agriculture, water bodies, disaster monitoring, and land cover/land use mapping. He has worked with national and international agencies, and academic institutions in India, United States of America, Mexico, Mali, Nicaragua, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Kenya, and Australia. Ramesh has published papers and book chapters in remote sensing applications in agriculture, forestry, environmental and habitat mapping, water and floods. He has served on the Board of Directors of AmericaView and is a member in the board of the ASPRS-RMR chapter. He serves as the associate editor for the Journal of Applied Remote Sensing and Frontiers of Earth Science. Ramesh has received the Project Manager training from the International Charter on Space Disasters and managed two of its activations in 2011 (flooding) and 2018 (wildfires). Ramesh was elected as the Fellow of the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing in 2021 for his contributions to remote sensing education and applied research.

Affiliations and expertise

Senior Research Scientist, Wyoming GIS Center, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA

John F. Shroder

Dr. John (Jack) F. Shroder received his bachelor’s degree in geology from Union College in 1961; his masters in geology from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst in 1963, and his Ph.D. in geology at the University of Utah in 1967. He has been actively pursuing research on landforms and natural resources in the high mountain environments of the Rocky Mountains, the Afghanistan Hindu Kush, and the Karakoram Himalaya of Pakistan for over a half century. His teaching specialties have been primarily geomorphology, but also physical and historical geology and several other courses at the University of Nebraska at Omaha where he was the founding professor of the Geology major. While there he was instrumental in founding the Center for Afghanistan Studies in 1972, and he was the lead geologist for the Bethsaida Archaeological Project in Israel in the 1990s. He taught geology as an NSF-, USAID, and Fulbright-sponsored professor at Kabul University in 1977-78, as well as a Fulbright award to Peshawar University in 1983-84. He has some 63 written or edited books to his credit and more than 200 professional papers, with emphases on landslides, glaciers, flooding, and mineral resources in Afghanistan. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has received Distinguished Career awards from both the Mountain and the Geomorphology Specialty Groups of the Association of American Geographers. In the recent decade as an Emeritus Professor, he served as a Trustee of the Geological Society of America Foundation where he set up a research scholarship, the Shroder Mass Movement award for masters and doctoral candidates. For the past two decades, he has been the Editor-in-Chief for the Developments in Earth Surface Processes book series of Elsevier Publishing, as well as the 10-volumes of the Treatise on Geomorphology, and the Hazards, Risks, and Disasters book series, both in second editions. Recently, Dr. Shroder was ranked among the top 2 percent of researchers worldwide by the October study conducted by Stanford University.

Affiliations and expertise

Senior Research Scholar, Center for Afghanistan Studies, Emeritus Professor of Geography and Geology, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE, USA

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Biological and Environmental Hazards, Risks, and Disasters

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