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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.

    • The International Spirits Industry

      • 1st Edition
      • May 25, 2001
      • John Wakely
      • English
      • Hardback
        9 7 8 1 8 5 5 7 3 5 1 1 8
      • eBook
        9 7 8 1 8 5 5 7 3 8 7 9 9
      Although consumption of spirits on a global scale is vast, the spirits industry derives its profits from a relatively small number of countries and product lines. This valuable book provides an overview of all aspects of the industry, covering all major categories of spirits, and contains a wealth of information on trading statistics, regulations and consumption patterns. It discusses the challenges facing the giant companies, profiling the leading companies in detail, and assesses whether their structure is appropriate to long-term success in the industry.The international spirits industry offers the most comprehensive picture currently available of the dynamics and structure of this fascinating business and shows:How spirits fit into the global business in alcoholic beveragesWhy the image and popular perception of the alcohol business is so importantHow health concerns are likely to affect the future of the businessHow spirits are produced, regulated, distributed and taxedHow consumption patterns are changing and why women are becoming more important to the industryWhat strategies companies can adopt for building brandsHow profitable the industry is and how the major players are adapting themselves to new challenges such as the InternetDespite the age of alcohol production, the business is in a state of flux with little agreement as to its future. This book provides a valuable insight into this changeable situation and is a unique resource for analysts and economists and all those involved in the production, distribution and sales of spirits worldwide.
    • Auditing in the Food Industry

      • 1st Edition
      • July 12, 2001
      • M Dillon + 1 more
      • English
      • Hardback
        9 7 8 1 8 5 5 7 3 4 5 0 0
      • eBook
        9 7 8 1 8 5 5 7 3 6 1 7 7
      The food industry faces an unprecedented level of scrutiny. Consumers are not only concerned with the safety and quality of food products but also the way in which they are produced. At the same time the food industry has developed new ways of assuring appropriate standards for its products and their methods of production, developing systems such as TQM and HACCP to identify and manage key steps in production. These new methods require new skills in auditing. Auditing in the food industry provides an authoritative guide to the range of standards and the auditing skills they demand.Part one sets the scene with an introductory chapter reviewing developments in standards affecting the food industry. There then follows chapters on how retailers audit their suppliers and how governments have moved from a traditional inspection role to one of 'regulatory verification' with its emphasis on auditing the robustness of a business's own systems for managing safety and quality.Part two examines the key aspects of safety and quality. A first chapter reviews the ways retailers assess supplier HACCP systems. There is then a chapter reviewing TQM systems that provides a context for a discussion of auditing techniques for HACCP-based quality systems. A final chapter looks at standards governing the analytical methods used in safety and quality control.Part three considers newer standards that are becoming increasingly important in the food industry. There are chapters on benchmarking an organisation against others as a way of improving performance, auditing the impact of food processing operations on the environment and auditing organic food processing.Auditing in the food industry is a valuable guide to the range of standards facing the food industry and the ways it can audit, and thus improve the quality of its performance.
    • Edible Sea Urchins: Biology and Ecology

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 32
      • May 21, 2001
      • John M. Lawrence
      • English
      • Hardback
        9 7 8 0 4 4 4 5 0 3 9 0 9
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 0 8 0 5 3 0 7 0 3
      Sea urchins are a major component of marine environments found throughout the world's oceans. A major model for research in developmental biology, they are also of major economic importance in many regions and interest in their management and aquaculture has increased greatly in recent years. This book provides a synthesis of biological and ecological characteristics of sea urchins that are of basic scientific interest and also essential for effective fisheries management and aquaculture. General chapters consider characteristics of sea urchins as a whole. In addition, specific chapters are devoted to the ecology of 17 species that are of major commercial interest and ecological importance.Features include: • A synthesis of what is known about the basic biological characteristics of the sea urchin, useful for the direction of future research. • Case histories of 17 species that illustrate their ecological role in a variety of environments. • With the catastrophic decline in fisheries resulting primarily from over-fishing, it is essential that the populations be managed effectively and that aquaculture be developed. This book provides knowledge of the biology and ecology of the commercially important sea urchins that will contribute to these goals. • The only book available in present literature devoted to sea urchins.With this new title experts provide a broad synthetic treatment and in depth analysis of the biology and ecology of sea urchins from around the world, designed to provide an understanding of the group and the basis for fisheries management and aquaculture.
    • Radio Tracking and Animal Populations

      • 1st Edition
      • July 23, 2001
      • Joshua Millspaugh + 1 more
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 1 4 9 3 3 0 1 6 0 7
      • Hardback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 4 9 7 7 8 1 5
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 0 8 0 5 4 0 2 2 1
      Radio Tracking and Animal Populations is a succinct synthesis of emerging technologies and their applications to the empirical and theoretical problems of population assessment. The book is divided into sections designed to encompass the various aspects of animal ecology that may be evaluated using radiotelemetry technology - experimental design, equipment and technology, animal movement, resource selection, and demographics. Wildlife biologists at the leading edge of new developments in the technology and its application have joined forces.
    • Forest Fires

      • 1st Edition
      • January 29, 2001
      • Edward A. Johnson
      • English
      • Hardback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 3 8 6 6 6 0 8
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 0 8 0 5 0 6 7 4 6
      Even before the myth of Prometheus, fire played a crucial ecological role around the world. Numerous plant communities depend on fire to generate species diversity in both time and space. Without fire such ecosystems would become sterile monocultures. Recent efforts to prohibit fire in fire dependent communities have contributed to more intense and more damaging fires. For these reasons, foresters, ecologists, land managers, geographers, and environmental scientists are interested in the behavior and ecological effects of fires. This book will be the first to focus on the chemistry and physics of fire as it relates to the ways in which fire behaves and the impacts it has on ecosystem function. Leading international contributors have been recruited by the editors to prepare a didactic text/reference that will appeal to both advanced students and practicing professionals.
    • Virus-Insect-Plant Interactions

      • 1st Edition
      • September 17, 2001
      • Kerry F. Harris + 2 more
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 4 1 1 3 3 8 1
      • Hardback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 3 2 7 6 8 1 0
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 0 8 0 5 4 3 5 9 8
      In Virus-Insect-Plant Interactions, the world's leading scientists discuss the latest breakthroughs in understanding the biological and ecological factors that define these complex transmission systems and how this knowledge might be used to our advantage in producing innovative, user and environmentally friendly approaches to controlling the spread of plant pathogens by insects. This is an invaluable reference work for researchers, teachers, and students. There are many quick-reference figures and tables, the contents pages include individual chapter abstracts, and each chapter ends with its own bibliography.
    • Terrestrial Global Productivity

      • 1st Edition
      • May 15, 2001
      • Jacques Roy + 2 more
      • English
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 0 8 0 5 1 8 7 2 5
      As the global climate changes, there are concomitant changes in global biological productivity. This book is devoted to the assessment of terrestrial Net Primary Productivity ("the total amount of energy acquired by green plants during photosynthesis, minus the energy lost through respiration"--APDS&a... pp. 1457). The book is comprised of three major sections. The first section is a review of the processes that operate globally to influence productivity--these are the initial conditions of any model of primary productivity. The second section is comprised of chapters that assess the contribution of particular ecosystems to global productivity. The final major section contains chapters of a synthetic nature that describe attempts to model global productivity. This book should appeal to both ecologists and environmental scientists.
    • Extrusion Cooking

      • 1st Edition
      • June 25, 2001
      • R Guy
      • English
      • Hardback
        9 7 8 1 8 5 5 7 3 5 5 9 0
      • eBook
        9 7 8 1 8 5 5 7 3 6 3 1 3
      Extrusion cooking is an ideal method for manufacturing a number of food products from snacks and breakfast cereals to baby foods. However, as a complex multivariate process it requires careful control if product quality is to be maintained. Edited by a leading authority in the field, and with an international team of contributors, this important collection reviews the key factors affecting quality and how they can be controlled in manufacturing a range of extruded products.The first part of Extrusion Cooking</> looks at general influences on quality. There are chapters on the selection of raw materials, criteria for selecting the right extruder, analysing and optimising thermal performance in extrusion cooking, and effective process control. There is also an important chapter on maintaining nutritional quality in extruded products.The second part of the book looks at the application of extrusion in particular product groups. Each chapter examines the range of extruded products within the product group, the specific production issues and future trends. It also includes chapters on key products such as breakfast cereals, snack foods and baby foods.Extrusion cooking will be widely welcomed as a major reference in maximising the quality of extruded products.
    • Nitrogen in the Environment: Sources, Problems and Management

      • 1st Edition
      • December 3, 2001
      • R.F. Follett + 1 more
      • English
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 0 8 0 5 3 7 5 6 6
      Nitrogen in the Environment: Sources, Problems, and Management is the first volume to provide a holistic perspective and comprehensive treatment of nitrogen from field, to ecosystem, to treatment of urban and rural drinking water supplies, while also including a historical overview, human health impacts and policy considerations. It provides a worldwide perspective on nitrogen and agriculture.Nitrogen is one of the most critical elements required in agricultural systems for the production of crops for feed, food and fiber. The ever-increasing world population requires increasing use of nitrogen in agriculture to supply human needs for dietary protein. Worldwide demand for nitrogen will increase as a direct response to increasing population. Strategies and perspectives are considered to improve nitrogen-use efficiency. Issues of nitrogen in crop and human nutrition, and transport and transformations along the continuum from farm field to ground water, watersheds, streams, rivers, and coastal marine environments are discussed. Described are aerial transport of nitrogen from livestock and agricultural systems and the potential for deposition and impacts. The current status of nitrogen in the environment in selected terrestrial and coastal environments and crop and forest ecosystems and development of emerging technologies to minimize nitrogen impacts on the environment are addressed. The nitrogen cycle provides a framework for assessing broad scale or even global strategies to improve nitrogen use efficiency. Growing human populations are the driving force that requires increased nitrogen inputs. These increasing inputs into the food-production system directly result in increased livestock and human-excretory nitrogen contribution into the environment.The scope of this book is diverse, covering a range of topics and issues from furthering our understanding of nitrogen in the environment to policy considerations at both farm and national scales.
    • Food Chemical Safety

      • 1st Edition
      • May 2, 2001
      • David Watson
      • English
      • Hardback
        9 7 8 1 8 5 5 7 3 4 6 2 3
      • eBook
        9 7 8 1 8 5 5 7 3 6 3 2 0
      Chemical contaminants in food, from pesticides and veterinary drug residues to contamination from food packaging, are a major concern for the food industry. Written by a distinguished international team of contributors, this authoritative collection describes the main chemical contaminants, their health implications, how they contaminate food products, methods of detection and how such contaminants can be controlled.