This book offers an interdisciplinary view of the biophysical issues related to climate change. Climate change is a phenomenon by which the long-term averages of weather events (i.e. temperature, precipitation, wind speed, etc.) that define the climate of a region are not constant but change over time. There have been a series of past periods of climatic change, registered in historical or paleoecological records. In the first section of this book, a series of state-of-the-art research projects explore the biophysical causes for climate change and the techniques currently being used and developed for its detection in several regions of the world. The second section of the book explores the effects that have been reported already on the flora and fauna in different ecosystems around the globe. Among them, the ecosystems and landscapes in arctic and alpine regions are expected to be among the most affected by the change in climate, as they will suffer the more intense changes. The final section of this book explores in detail those issues.

During the past twentieth century, plant pathology has witnessed a dramatic advancement in management of plant diseases through in-depth investigations of host parasite interactions, integration of new concepts, principles and approaches. Our effort in brining out this book is to compile the achievements of modern times with regards to disease management of fruits which otherwise is widely dispersed in various scientific journals, books and government reports and to develop future strategies for the millennium. The chapters on individual crops are contributed by leading plant pathologists having authority in the respective field at international level. Each chapter includes the diseases of economic importance describing their history, distribution, symptoms, epidemiology, and integrated management approaches being adopted worldwide. Each chapter is vividly illustrated to make it more understandable to students, research and extension workers, planners, administrators and other end users citing pertinent references.

Nature Monitoring Scheme

This book provides recent contributions of current strategies to control insect pests written by experts in their respective fields. Topics include semiochemicals based insect management techniques, assessment of lethal dose/concentrations, strategies for efficient biological control practices, bioinsecticidal formulations and mechanisms of action involving RNAi technology, light-trap collection of insects, the use of sex pheromonal components and attractants for pest insect capture, measures to increase plant resistance in forest plantations, the use of various baculoviruses as biopesticides, and effect of a pathogenic bacterium against an endangered butterfly species. There are several other chapters that focus on insect vectors, including biting midges as livestock vectors in Tunisia, mosquitoes as vectors in Brazil, human disease vectors in Tanzania, pathogenic livestock and human vectors in Africa, insect vectors of Chagas disease, and transgenic and paratransgenic biotechnologies against dipteran pests and vectors. This book targets general biologists, entomologists, ecologists, zoologists, virologists, and epidemiologists, including both teachers and students.