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Elsevier

Books in Agricultural and biological sciences

The Agricultural and Biological Sciences collection advances science-based knowledge for the improvement of animal and plant life and for secure food systems that produce nutritious, novel, sustainable foods with minimal environmental impact. Food Science titles include not only those products from agriculture but all other aspects from food production to nutrition, health and safety, chemistry to security, policy, law and regulation. Biological Sciences address animal behaviour and biodiversity, organismal and evolutionary biology, entomology, marine biology and aquaculture, plant science and forestry.

  • Physical surfaces

    • 1st Edition
    • J.J. Bikerman
    • English
    Physical Surfaces deals with the basic concepts of the physics of surfaces, including the nature of the surface pressure of unimolecular films and the equilibrium pressure of these films. The effect of particle size on capillary pressure, the surface energy and the cuticular energy of solids, and the fundamentals of wetting are also examined. This book is comprised of nine chapters and begins with a discussion on the mechanics and physical chemistry of liquid surfaces, with emphasis on capillarity and surface tension. The following chapters focus on liquid-liquid interfaces, foams and emulsions, and solid surfaces. Interfacial tension is analyzed in relation to miscibility and surface tension, along with contact angles in gas-liquid-liquid systems. The chapter on wetting looks at theories of contact angle, its measurement, and hysteresis. Adsorption and electric surface phenomena are also explored, together with adhesion and friction. This monograph will be a valuable resource for physical chemists and physicists.

  • Pine Barrens

    Ecosystem and Landscape
    • 1st Edition
    • Richard Forman
    • English
    Pine Barrens: Ecosystem and Landscape focuses on the relationship between the ecological and landscape aspects of Pine Barrens of New Jersey. The idea in this book is based from the discussions of Rutgers University botanists and ecologists at the 1975 American Institute of Biological Science meetings, and from the interest generated by the 1976 annual New Jersey Academy of Science meeting, which focuses on the Pine Barrens. This seven-part book starts with a short discussion on location and boundaries of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Part I covers human activities, from Indian activities and initial European perceptions of the land, including settlement, lumbering, fuel wood and charcoal, iron and glassworks, farming and livestock, and real estate development. The next part of the book describes sandy deposits, geographic distribution of geologic formations, and soil types with their ecologically important characteristics. Topics on hydrology, aquatic ecosystems, and climatic and microclimatic conditions are presented in the third part of this reference. Part IV traces the history of vegetation starting before the Ice Age and analyzes vegetation using different approaches, such as community types, community classification according to a European method, and gradient analysis. Plants of the Pine Barrens are briefly described and listed in Part V. The final part illustrates community relationships of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, arthropods, and soil microcommunities. The book is ideal for ecologists, botanists, geologists, soil scientists, zoologists, hydrologists, limnologists, engineers, and scientists, as well as planners, decision-makers, and managers who may largely determine the future of a region.

  • Laboratory primate handbook

    • 1st Edition
    • Robert A. Jr. Whitey
    • English
    Laboratory Primate Handbook deals with the proper care and handling, treatment, and transportation of nonhuman primates to be used as research subjects in a laboratory environment. It considers the protection of human and animal health, identification, procurement, and husbandry, as well as compliance with federal regulations. Organized into 10 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of living primates and their classification, followed by procurement and production for biomedical research purposes. It then discusses housing and care of primates; preventive medicine and public health programs aimed at minimizing the hazards that may arise from diseases transmissible between nonhuman primates and man; and restraint and special techniques, including anesthetics and pre-anesthetics. The book also covers nutrition for primates and prevention of nutritional diseases, as well as generalized infectious diseases; parasites that cause disease in primates; and collection of physiological data on primates. Finally, the book looks at federal regulations and policies governing the humane care and treatment of nonhuman primates used in research. This book will benefit biomedical researchers involved in laboratory studies of nonhuman primates.

  • Trace Elements in Soil-Plant-Animal Systems

    • 1st Edition
    • D Nicholas
    • English
    Trace Elements in Soil–Plant–Animal Systems discusses the adverse effects or the essentiality of trace elements in soil, plants, and animals under field and laboratory conditions. The book explores the chemistry, biochemistry, and physics of the availability of trace elements to several organisms, as well as their functions in cell metabolism. Organized into six parts encompassing 24 chapters, the book starts with an overview of the chain of events whereby trace elements are released from different soil and rock sources. The trace elements are then taken up by living organisms, transferred to their sites of action, and function in different metabolic events. The text explores how the trace elements occur in various chemical compounds with varying solubilities. Other chapters explore the principles governing the distribution of elements in minerals and igneous rocks. The final chapter deals with trace element disorders in living organisms. The book is a valuable resource to physicists, chemists, biochemists, geochemists, mineralogists, agriculturists, pedologists, scientists, researchers, and students.

  • Problems in Management of Locally Abundant Wild Mammals

    • 1st Edition
    • P.A. Jewell
    • English
    Problems in Management of Locally Abundant Wild Mammals contains the proceedings of the Management of Locally Abundant Wild Mammals: A Workshop to Examine the Need for and Alternatives to the Culling of Wild Animals, held in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts from September 29 to October 3, 1980. Contributors reexamine the scientific basis for possible management aimed at restraining local increase in numbers of locally abundant wild mammals, with emphasis on the issue of culling. This text is organized into six sections encompassing 19 chapters and begins with an overview of the dilemma of local overabundance or overpopulation of threatened mammals. In particular, it considers the extent to which past predictions have been fulfilled in practice, and whether understanding of the dynamics of living systems is adequate for useful prediction. This book also discusses the circumstances that allow a species to become so abundant and the adverse effects that arise. The chapters that follow present case studies that reflect experiences around the world concerning management of locally abundant mammals, including the white rhino in South Africa and deer in North America. This book also explores proposed solutions for problems involving the management of polar bear, the Northwest Atlantic humpback whale, and the British grey seal. This reference material is a valuable resource for zoologists, conservation biologists, and those with interest in the protection of wild mammals.

  • Mineral Nitrogen In The Plant-Soil System

    • 1st Edition
    • R Haynes
    • English
    Mineral Nitrogen in the Plant-Soil System provides integrated accounts of the transformations and fate of mineral nitrogen in the plant-soil system. This book emphasizes the understanding of various processes and the factors that affect these processes. It also focuses on the role of biological nitrogen fixation in nitrogen cycling in natural and agricultural systems. The book is divided into seven major chapters and each chapter is further subdivided into various subtopics. The first chapter introduces and outlines the origin, distribution, and cycling of nitrogen in natural and agricultural terrestrial ecosystems. Chapter 2 focuses on the processes of decomposition and mineralization-immob... turnover. The processes of nitrification are discussed in detail in Chapter 3. The following four chapters discuss topics of retention and movement of nitrogen in soils; gaseous losses of nitrogen; uptake and assimilation of mineral nitrogen by plants; and lastly, the use of nitrogen in agronomic practice. The book will be invaluable to graduate students and researchers in the field of agriculture. This will also cater other parties interested, such as agronomists, soil scientists, plant physiologists, horticulturists, and foresters.

  • Chromatin and Chromosome Structure

    • 1st Edition
    • Hsueh Jei Li
    • English
    Chromatin and Chromosome Structure consists of chapters that reflect a 1975 seminar course and the reported observations after the session. The seminar is organized for the benefit of both faculty and students in the Biology Ph.D. Program of the City University of New York. This book begins with a presentation of the conformational studies of histones. It then describes the histone-DNA interactions and the subunits isolated either from chromatin or from nuclei. It also explains the post-synthetic modifications of histone structure. Furthermore, the book talks about the chemistry and function of nuclear nonhistone proteins, low molecular weight nuclear RNA, and polytene chromosome structure. The regulation of gene expression in chick oviduct model system and the main features of lampbrush chromosomes are shown as well. Aside from the students and faculty of the above-mentioned university, this compilation will be invaluable as well to other undergraduate and graduate students; professors; and researchers. It will also be a good reference to those who are specializing in chromatin and chromosome studies.

  • Control Mechanisms in Developmental Processes

    • 1st Edition
    • Michael Locke
    • English
    Control Mechanisms in Developmental Processes covers the proceedings of the 1967 26th Symposium of The Society for Developmental Biology, held in La Jolla, California. This book is divided into three parts encompassing 10 chapters that summarize the role of cytoplasmic units and the nucleus in developmental processes and the regulatory mechanisms. The opening part of the book describes the chemical changes during the development of plastids in leaves of higher plants. The book goes on discussing the nuclear and cytoplasmic controls in Neurospora morphology. This compilation also examines the aspects of development, growth, and control in the basal bodies and flagella of Chlamydomonas reinhardii. The second part describes genetic systems in plants that serve to initiate or program the sequence in plant development and the life cycle of hybrids between somatic cells of different species. A chapter discusses the genetic basis of higher plant morphogenesis by analysis of the differences between genotypes that differ from each other with respect to a single gene having a pronounced and highly specific effect upon form. A discussion on the activation of protein synthesis upon fertilization and early development of animal eggs to the biochemical basis of the determination process is also included. The concluding part deals with the differentiation of erythroid cells; the induction of hemoglobin synthesis; the regulation of heme and globin synthesis; and the role of heme in the synthesis and assembly of hemoglobin. This part also describes the differentiation of cells to the point where they can perform the various types of immunological reactions. This book is an invaluable source for developmental biologists and researchers.

  • Carbohydrates

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 2
    • English
    The series, Methods in Plant Biochemistry, provides an authoritative reference on current techniques in the various fields of plant biochemical research. Each volume in the series will, under the expert guidance of a guest editor, deal with a particular group of plant compounds. Each will describe the historical background and current, most useful methods of analysis. The volumes include detailed discussions of the protocols and suitability of each technique. Case treatments, diagrams, chemical structures, reference data, and properties will be featured along with a full list of references to the specialist literature.Conceived as a practical companion to The Biochemistry of Plants, edited by P.K. Stumpf and E.E. Conn, no plant biochemical laboratory can afford to be without this comprehensive and up-to-date reference source.

  • Shrub-Steppe

    Balance and Change in a Semi-Arid Terrestrial Ecosystem
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 20
    • Alec Rickard + 3 more
    • English
    Owing to man-made intervention, the shrub-steppe now represents a rapidly disappearing landscape in the arid regions of North America. This book represents a systems-level study of ecological variables affecting water balance, and responses to perturbation. The study focused on a very large, protected, landscape unit, comprising a natural ``watershed'' area located in the semi-arid western United States. Long-term and concurrent data sets were established with a view towards establishing system-level responses to manipulative interventions, and natural perturbations like wildfire. These data sets were established for micrometeorology, climatology, mineral cycling in soils, nutrient and mineral pathways in springs and streams, vegetational dynamics, and population changes on the site. In synthesizing nearly twenty years of data, the more interesting ecosystem level responses concerned vegetational recovery and water balance. For instance, the synthesis uniquely demonstrates the interaction of biotic and non-biotic factors and their integrated effect on regional water balance. However, special attention was also paid to species diversity and the genetic resource pool represented at this site.This book will be of primary interest as a reference resource to land managers and wildlife specialists, and as a research study for scientists interested in systems-level ecology. Conservation-minded citizens who take more than a cursory interest in ecology will also find it interesting.

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