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Author: Walter Clay Lowdermilk Publisher: ISBN: Category : Agriculture Languages : en Pages : 18
Book Description
The history of civilizations is a record of struggles against the progressive dessication of civilized lands. The more ancient the civilization, the drier and more wasted, usually, is the supporting country.
Author: Walter Clay Lowdermilk Publisher: ISBN: Category : Agriculture Languages : en Pages : 18
Book Description
The history of civilizations is a record of struggles against the progressive dessication of civilized lands. The more ancient the civilization, the drier and more wasted, usually, is the supporting country.
Author: Siegmar-W. Breckle Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 3642211178 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 499
Book Description
Having been the fourth largest lake on the globe roughly 50 years ago, today the Aral Sea no longer exists. Human activities caused its desiccation and the formation of a huge new desert, the Aralkum, which can be regarded as one of the greatest ecological catastrophes and - at the same time - the largest primary succession experiment of mankind. This volume brings together the results of international and interdisciplinary long-term studies on the new desert ecosystem and is divided into four main sections. The first section provides an overview of the physical characteristics of the area and covers geological, pedological, geomorphological and climatological aspects and their dynamics, especially dust-storm dynamics. The second focuses on the biotic aspects and highlights the spatial and temporal patterns of the flora and fauna. In the third section studies and projects aiming to combat desertification by phytomelioration and to develop strategies for the conservation of biodiversity are presented. The book is rounded off with a section providing a synthesis and conclusions.
Author: Siegmar-W. Breckle Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 364259560X Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 473
Book Description
Changing desert areas for land use implies a lot of ecological problems. These and related ones are dealt with in this book covering various interdisciplinary and international aspects. Large areas in arid and semi-arid regions are already polluted in various ways. One of the biggest problems is the anthropogenic salinization by inadequate means of agriculture and irrigation. Additionally, most arid areas in the world are dramatically overgrazed. Methods and practices of a sustainable land use in deserts are urgently needed in many arid regions. This book gives a broad survey on some of the affected regions of the world as well as some case studies from elsewhere (Aral Sea, Negev desert, Namib desert etc.). Thus, basic and applied sciences are brought together. Water management in deserts, grazing systems or reclamation of desertified areas are among the topics of this book, as well as social and economic aspects.
Author: Daniel Hillel Publisher: Univ of California Press ISBN: 9780520080805 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 358
Book Description
A moving tribute to the physical and spiritual properties of nature's richestelement by one of the world's leading soil conservationists.
Author: Philipp Lehmann Publisher: Princeton University Press ISBN: 0691239347 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 256
Book Description
How technological advances and colonial fears inspired utopian geoengineering projects during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries From the 1870s to the mid-twentieth century, European explorers, climatologists, colonial officials, and planners were avidly interested in large-scale projects that might actively alter the climate. Uncovering this history, Desert Edens looks at how arid environments and an increasing anxiety about climate in the colonial world shaped this upsurge in ideas about climate engineering. From notions about the transformation of deserts into forests to Nazi plans to influence the climates of war-torn areas, Philipp Lehmann puts the early climate change debate in its environmental, intellectual, and political context, and considers the ways this legacy reverberates in the present climate crisis. Lehmann examines some of the most ambitious climate-engineering projects to emerge in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Confronted with the Sahara in the 1870s, the French developed concepts for a flooding project that would lead to the creation of a man-made Sahara Sea. In the 1920s, German architect Herman Sörgel proposed damming the Mediterranean in order to geoengineer an Afro-European continent called “Atlantropa,” which would fit the needs of European settlers. Nazi designs were formulated to counteract the desertification of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Despite ideological and technical differences, these projects all incorporated and developed climate change theories and vocabulary. They also combined expressions of an extreme environmental pessimism with a powerful technological optimism that continue to shape the contemporary moment. Focusing on the intellectual roots, intended effects, and impact of early measures to modify the climate, Desert Edens investigates how the technological imagination can be inspired by pressing fears about the environment and civilization.
Author: William Atkins Publisher: Anchor ISBN: 0385539894 Category : Travel Languages : en Pages : 368
Book Description
Winner of the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year (UK) "William Atkins is an erudite writer with a wonderful wit and gaze and this is a new and exciting beast of a travel book."—Joy Williams In the classic literary tradition of Bruce Chatwin and Geoff Dyer, a rich and exquisitely written account of travels in eight deserts on five continents that evokes the timeless allure of these remote and forbidding places. One-third of the earth's surface is classified as desert. Restless, unhappy in love, and intrigued by the Desert Fathers who forged Christian monasticism in the Egyptian desert, William Atkins decided to travel in eight of the world's driest, hottest places: the Empty Quarter of Oman, the Gobi Desert and Taklamakan deserts of northwest China, the Great Victoria Desert of Australia, the man-made desert of the Aral Sea in Kazkahstan, the Black Rock and Sonoran Deserts of the American Southwest, and Egypt's Eastern Desert. Each of his travel narratives effortlessly weaves aspects of natural history, historical background, and present-day reportage into a compelling tapestry that reveals the human appeal of these often inhuman landscapes.
Author: Barry Lovegrove Publisher: ISBN: 9781775847045 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 296
Book Description
Divided into ten chapters, The Living Deserts of Southern Africa details the biology of desert plants (biggest desert biodiversity hotspot in the world) and animals and discusses their conservation and future threats.
Author: M.A. Zahran Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 9048185955 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 344
Book Description
Deserts are unique ecosystems with their own biotic and abiotic components, and are often rich in renewable natural resources, the appropriate management of which can contribute significantly to the sustainable management of desert regions for the welfare of the people. Yet while there are many books on the flora of the countries fringing the important desert countries of the Mediterranean and Red Seas, there or few books reporting on their ecophysiology and vegetation ecology. This book presents the vegetation types of the African and Asian countries of the Mediterranean and Red Sea coastal regions, and discusses the ecological threats and economic applications of these critical resources. In particular, it examines the relationships between climate and vegetation, and discusses these within the context of desertification, agro-industrial applications, ecotourism and sustainable development. The book will provide a valuable reference for researchers and graduate students involved in plant ecology, biogeography, economic botany and environmental management in the Afro-Asian Mediterranean and Red Sea coastal regions, as well as other desert regions around the world.
Author: Walter Clay Lowdermilk
Author: Walter Clay Lowdermilk
Author: Siegmar-W. Breckle
Author: Siegmar-W. Breckle
Author: Martin Williams
Author: Daniel Hillel
Author: Philipp Lehmann
Author: William Atkins
Author: Barry Lovegrove
Author: Exequiel Ezcurra
Author: M.A. Zahran