ALBERT

Description / Table of Contents: The importance of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can hardly be overemphasized in today’s academic and professional arena. More professionals and academics have been using GIS than ever – urban & regional planners, civil engineers, geographers, spatial economists, sociologists, environmental scientists, criminal justice professionals, political scientists, and alike. As such, it is extremely important to understand the theories and applications of GIS in our teaching, professional work, and research. “The Application of Geographic Information Systems” presents research findings that explain GIS’s applications in different subfields of social sciences. With several case studies conducted in different parts of the world, the book blends together the theories of GIS and their practical implementations in different conditions. It deals with GIS’s application in the broad spectrum of geospatial analysis and modeling, water resources analysis, land use analysis, infrastructure network analysis like transportation and water distribution network, and such. The book is expected to be a useful source of knowledge to the users of GIS who envision its applications in their teaching and research. This easy-to-understand book is surely not the end in itself but a little contribution to toward our understanding of the rich and wonderful subject of GIS.

Description / Table of Contents: The Carbiocial Project investigates viable carbon-optimized land management strategies for maintaining tropical ecosystem services under land use change and changing climate conditions in Southern Amazonia – a hotspot of global change. The project aims at understanding the vital natural processes and socio-economic driving forces in the region and develops strategies to enhance and protect carbon stocks in the recently deforested agroscapes of Central/Northern Mato Grosso and South Pará. That is why Carbiocial analyzes and models soil, water and climate as well as agro-economics, social and political transformations. Based on detailed storylines, the project aims at identifying possible entry-points for a necessary change in local and regional production patterns, considering local livelihoods as well as the present national and global economic, legal and political situation. This book gives an overview of the first results of the multi-disciplinary Carbiocial Project by publishing the main presentations, held on the Carbiocial Status Conference, on October 7-8, 2013, in Cuiabá. In sixteen chapters the authors elucidate the project‘s current state of knowledge, illustrating adapted methods for regional modeling and promising strategies for the Amazon development. | Contents --- Stefan Hohnwald & Gerhard Gerold: Carbon-Optimized Land Management Research for the Southern Amazon-Geographical and Organizational Settings of the Carbiocial-Carbioma Project Consortium --- Philip M. Fearnside, Aurora M. Yanai & Claudia S. M. N. Vitel: Modeling Baselines for REDD Projects in Amazonia: Is the Carbon Real? --- Jens Boy, Charlotte Schumann, Simone Strey, Robert Strey, Georg Guggenberger & Regine Schönenberg: Digging Deeper – Biographic Interviews as a Promising Tool for the Joint Dissemination of Natural- and Social Science Results in REDD Contexts --- Carlos E. P. Cerri, Thalita F. Abbruzzini, Carolina B. Brandani, Mariana R. Durigan & Denise Signor: Soil Carbon Stocks and Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Agrosystems in Brazil --- Karl M. Wantzen, Malte Unger, Eduardo G. Couto, Ricardo S. S. Amorim, Karina P. Peña & Ulrich Irmler: Carbon Farming: Enriching Tropical Farm Soils with Organic Matter --- Alphonce C. Guzha, Ricardo S. S. Amorim, Rodolfo Nóbrega, Gabriele Lamparter, Kristof Kovacs, Norma Bertão & Gerhard Gerold: Impacts of Land Cover and Climate Change on Hydrology and Hydrochemistry in Selected Catchments in Southern Amazonia: Preliminary Analysis and Results --- Marcus Schindewolf, Daniela Schönke, Ricardo S. S. Amorim & Jürgen Schmidt: Effects of Contour Banks and No-Till Measures on Run-Off and Sediment Yield in Campo Verde Region, Mato Grosso --- Alessandra R. Gomes, César G. Diniz & Cláudio A. Almeida: Amazon Regional Center (INPE/CRA) Actions for Brazilian Amazon Forest: TerraClass and Capacity Building Projects --- Patrick Hostert, Tobia Lakes, Hannes Müller, Florian Gollnow & Letícia B. V. Hissa: Land-Use Monitoring and Change Detection --- Jürgen Böhner, Helge Dietrich, Klaus Fraedrich, Tobias Kawohl, Markus Kilian, Valerio Lucarini & Frank Lunkeit: Development and Implementation of a Hierarchical Model Chain for Modelling Regional Climate Variability and Climate Change Over Southern Amazonia --- Claas Nendel, Hermann Jungkunst & Adriano M. R. Figueiredo: Intercol and Steps Towards a Simplified DSS --- Neli A. de Mello-Théry & Paulo R. Cunha: Environmental Policies and Forest Code: Changes and Repercussions on the Agriculture in Mato Grosso --- Regine Schönenberg, Korbinian Hartberger & Charlotte Schumann: Challenges and Chances of Social Transformation for GHG-Optimized Land- and Natural Resource Management Strategies: Stakeholder-Dialogues as Prerequisite for the Elaboration of Applicable Results --- José H. Benatti & Luly R. da Cunha Fischer: Land Use Regulations in the State of Pará: An Introductory Approach of Its Guidelines --- Martin Coy, Michael Klingler, Matthias Siebold & Thomas Berger: Socio-Economic Regional Change and Agro-Economic Development Along the BR-163 --- Edna Castro: Deforestation Along the BR-163: Socio-Environmental Conflicts and Ignored Governmental Politics

Description / Table of Contents: This impressive collection celebrates the work of Peter Kershaw, a key figure in the field of Australian palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Over almost half a century his research helped reconceptualize ecology in Australia, creating a detailed understanding of environmental change in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Within a biogeographic framework one of his exceptional contributions was to explore the ways that Aboriginal people may have modified the landscape through the effects of anthropogenic burning. These ideas have had significant impacts on thinking within the fields of geomorphology, biogeography, archaeology, anthropology and history. Papers presented here continue to explore the dynamism of landscape change in Australia and the contribution of humans to those transformations. The volume is structured in two sections. The first examines evidence for human engagement with landscape, focusing on Australia and Papua New Guinea but also dealing with the human/environmental histories of Europe and Asia. The second section contains papers that examine palaeoecology and present some of the latest research into environmental change in Australia and New Zealand. Individually these papers, written by many of Australia’s prominent researchers in these fields, are significant contributions to our knowledge of Quaternary landscapes and human land use. But Peopled Landscapes also signifies the disciplinary entanglement that is archaeological and biogeographic research in this region, with archaeologists and environmental scientists contributing to both studies of human land use and palaeoecology. Peopled Landscapes reveals the interdisciplinary richness of Quaternary research in the Australasian region as well as the complexity and richness of the entangled environmental and human pasts of these lands.

Description / Table of Contents: Im vorliegenden Band werden ausgewählte Facetten der Landschaftsinterpretation und des Tourismus beleuchtet. Die angeführten Fallbeispiele fokussieren dabei nicht nur verschiedenartige Räume (z. B. Mittel- und Hochgebirge, pazifische Inselwelt), sondern sie entstammen auch mannigfaltigen Themenfeldern (z. B. Kultur- und Naturtourismus, Inszenierungsstrategien, Reiseerziehung). In ihrer Gesamtheit spiegeln die Beiträge der einzelnen Autorinnen und Autoren das breite Interesse tourismusassoziierter Forschung und Praxis wider. Trotz der inhaltlichen Vielfalt implizieren die Ausarbeitungen die Aspekte „Bildung“ und „Wissensvermittlung“ als Leitgedanken im Rahmen der nachhaltigen Inwertsetzung natur- und kulturräumlicher Ressourcen.