Agriculture and farming

The idea of this book started at approximately 33.

This volume summarises the result of an interdisciplinary research programme entitled `Rehabilitation of the Atmosphere of the New States of Germany - Effects on Terrestrial Ecosystems'.

Large areas of the warm, humid tropics in Southeast Asia, the Pacific, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa are hilly or mountainous.

The `Global Biodiversity Strategy' signed in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, and the resolutions at the Ministerial Conferences on the Protection of Forests in Europe in Strasbourg, 1990, and Helsinki, 1993, commit the signatory states to monitor nationally the state of biodiversity and to sustain the characteristic natural variation in the country.

These proceedings fonn the outcome of an International Conference on "e;Impacts of Global change on Tree Physiology and Forest Ecosystems "e;, held from 26-29 November 1996, at Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Plant Production in Closed Ecosystems provides overviews of the current trends and concepts in plant production in closed or semi-closed environments.

One of the first priority areas among joint East/West research programs is the rational use of natural resources and sustainable development of regions.

Geomechanics is the basic science for many engineering fields, including oil and gas recovery, mining, civil engineering, water supply, etc.

Irrigated agriculture and the use of water resources in agriculture face the challenges of sustainable development.

SCOPE, the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment, was established by the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) in 1969 as an international, non- to governmental, non-profit organisation with the mandate - advance knowledge of the influence of humans on their environment, as well as the effects of these environmental changes upon people, their health and their welfare- with particular attention to those influences and effects which are either global or shared by several nations; - to serve as a non-governmental, interdisciplinary and international council of scien- tists and as a source of advice for the benefit of governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental bodies with respect to environmental problems.

Wetlands could be described as land and water at Tropical wetlands: one and the same time, and as such are very specific on the brink ecosystems.

In the course of almost 40 years various researchers, at what used to be TNO's Forest Products Research Institute, currently the TNO Centre for Timber Research, conducted studies into the physical properties of wood.

In April 1992 the Foundation Eni Enrico Mattei organized a workshop on the regulation of nonpoint source pollution.

The purpose of this book is to develop a general economic model which integrates the quantity and quality issues of water resource management and to provide, along with a detailed criticism of the policy instruments now in use, alternative proposals concerning the efficient allocation and distribution of water.

The series Tasks for Vegetation Science is devoted to a variety of research aspects in vegetation science, pure as wellas applied.

This book is an attempt to compile and integrate the information documented by many botanists, both Egyptians and others, about the vegetation of Egypt.

Woody plants provide many challenges to the tissue culturist.

Much of the world's forested land is dominated by mixed-species stands.

Reliability-based design (RBD) procedures for engineered structures are being developed and quickly gaining acceptance by cade agencies throughout the world.

This handbook was designed as a reference tool for forest geneticists, tree breeders and other tree improvement personnel, as well as a textbook for university courses and short-courses at the graduate level in quantitative genetics.

It is a great honor and indeed a privilege for me to write the Foreword to this book, the first of its kind from the Forest Products Research Institute The study of forest insects is now becoming a matter of great concern to many people all over the world because insects damage the already depleted forests and forest resources.

This book is a review and description of the state-of-the-art methods of tree-ring analy~is with specific emphasis on applications in the environmental sciences.

In most breeding programs of plant and animal species, genetic data (such as data from field progeny tests) are used to rank parents and help choose candidates for selection.

For about 40 years 1 have been engaged in timberline research.

The past two decades have seen rapid advances in the technology used to produce pot plants.

When approached by Warren Samuels, the series editor, about organizing a volume on natural resource economics, I was at a loss as to how one might possibly capture in "e;several major essays plus several shorter comments thereon"e; all of the diverse activities that fall within this exciting discipline.

The study of plant development in recent years has often been concerned with the effects of the environment and the possible involvement of growth substances.

Economic plants have been defined by SEPASAT as those plants that are utilised either directly or indirectly for the benefit of Man.

It would have been very easy to expand on all the sections of the first edition but I decided to try to retain the relatively short, introductory nature of the book.

A fast-growing interest in the concepts and application of systems research has spawned a wide and general literature over the past decade.

The economics of forestry has always fascinated me as one of the most brain-taxing cases in economics.

There are many recent works on the topic of light and plant growth.

I first became interested in the methods of planning the sequence and timing of jobs on large-scale development projects, as a field officer involved in planning and implementing mechanised farming schemes in Uganda in the mid-sixties.

In the 100 years since the legume-Rhizobium symbiotic nitrogen fixation interaction was first described, interest in this field has grown rapidly.

Biodegradation is the dominant pathway for the environmental transformation of most chemicals and information on a chemical's biodegradability is essential for proper risk assessment.

Bioremediation - the use of microorganisms for environmental clean-up - is a technology that is experiencing a rapid phase of development.

In situ remediation techniques have experienced a boom over the last few years, thereby producing a wide range of valuable experiences.

The economic significance of boron (B) in agriculture, horticulture, and forestry has been beyond dispute for several decades.

Acknowledgements Conference Summary R.

In the conflict between logging as a material resource and preservation the forests are becoming depleted throughout the world and this depletion is aggravated by the effects of air pollution.

On behalf of the Russian Federation Committee on Water Economy, I would like to welcome the participants of the NATO-sponsored Workshop on the Problems of the Caspian Sea and the Circum-Caspian States.

During the last decade, research on Pseudomonas syringae pathovars and related pathogens has progressed rapidly, opening up many new avenues.

This book contains the proceedings of the `8th Nitrogen Workshop' which was held at the University of Ghent, Belgium, from 5 to 8 September 1994.