Science : Ecology

Large volumes of produced water are generated and discharged to the coastal and ocean waters worldwide from offshore oil and gas production facilities. There is concern that the chemicals in the produced water may harm marine ecosystems. This book summarizes the bioavailability and marine ecotoxicology of metal and organic contaminants that may occur in oil well produced water at concentrations significantly higher than those in ambient seawater. The contaminants of concern include arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, mercury, radium isotopes, zinc, monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, phenols, and bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate. The first part of the book is a detailed discussion of the chemical composition of produced water from offshore oil wells worldwide and its fates following discharge to the ocean. The remaining chapters of the book summarize the current scientific literature on the sources and distributions in the ocean of each of the contaminants of concern and their bioaccumulation and toxicity to marine organisms. This book will be of value to: environmental scientists in the oil and gas industry; marine toxicologists and ecological risk assessors in academia, government, and industry; government regulatory agencies concerned with marine environmental protection. The book advances the concept that bioavailability evaluation must be included in all ecological risk assessments and other environmental assessments of chemical contaminants in marine and freshwater ecosystems. more...

Price: $191.00

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ARTWORK. This concise introductory text provides a complete overview of biodiversity - what it is, how it arose, its distribution, why it is important, human impact upon it, and what should be done to maintain it.:.; Timely overview of the serious attempts made to quantify and describe biodiversity in a scientific way.; Acts as an easy entry point into the primary literature.; Provides real-world examples of key issues, including illustrations of major temporal and spatial patterns in biodiversity.; Designed primarily with undergraduate students and course lecturers in mind, it will also be of interest to anyone who requires an overview of, and entry to, the vast literature on these topics.; All the figures included in the book are downloadable from the Blackwell Publishing website more...

Price: $65.00

Updated to reflect new research and developments, and with original international case studies, this introductory text brings together the theory and practice that make up 'biodiversity' and 'conservation'. more...

Price: $44.95

Focusing on the biodiversity and ecology of West African forests, this volume analyses the facts that give rise to biodiversity and structure tropical plant communities, and includes an atlas with ecological profiles of 280 rare plant species and 56 large timber species. more...

Price: $175.00

Biological invasions are one of the strongest drivers of global environmental change, and invasive species are now often in the public discourse. At the same time, economists have begun to take a real interest in determining how invasive species interact with economic systems, and how invaders should be controlled to optimize societal wealth. Although the work from ecologists and economists have both greatly expanded our understanding of the drivers and impacts of invasions, little integration between the fields has occurred that would allow managers and policy-makers to identify the optical expenditures on, for example, prevention and control of invasive species. Because the level of effort expended on invasive species management is intricately linked to the costs and projected benefits of that management, there is an urgent need for greater synthesis between ecology and economics. This book brings ecology and economics together in new ways to address how we deal with the dynamics and impacts of invasive species, and is the outcome fo many years of collaborative research between a small group of economists and ecologists. The outcome is clear demonstration of the utility of combining ecological and economic models for addressing critical questions in the management of invasive species. more...

Price: $49.95