Science Literacy Week 2014

In Butterflies: Ecology and Evolution Taking Flight, the world's leading experts synthesize current knowledge of butterflies to show how the study of these fascinating creatures as model systems can lead to deeper understanding of ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes in general. The twenty-six chapters are organized into broad functional areas, covering the uses of butterflies in the study of behavior, ecology, genetics and evolution, systematics, and conservation biology. Especially in the context of the current biodiversity crisis, this book shows how results found with butterflies can help us understand large, rapid changes in the world we share with them—for example, geographic distributions of some butterflies have begun to shift in response to global warming, giving early evidence of climate change that scientists, politicians, and citizens alike should heed. The first international synthesis of butterfly biology in two decades, Butterflies: Ecology and Evolution Taking Flight offers students, scientists, and amateur naturalists a concise overview of the latest developments in the field. Furthermore, it articulates an exciting new perspective of the whole group of approximately 15,000 species of butterflies as a comprehensive model system for all the sciences concerned with biodiversity and its preservation.

Beautifully illustrated and clearly presented, The Butterflies of Canada is an indispensable guide to all aspects of butterfly study. Butterfly collecting has long been a popular summer activity, and as the growing popularity of butterfly watching and conservatories in Ontario and British Columbia shows, butterflies are a continuing source of delight and interest to Canadians. The Butterflies of Canada is the first comprehensive guide to all the butterflies found in Canada. Based on the national butterfly collection maintained by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, it contains descriptive individual accounts for the close to three hundred butterfly species recorded in Canada, including descriptions of early stages, subspecies, and key features that help distinguish similar species. Each species of butterfly has an individual distribution map, generated from a database of more than 90,000 location records. More than just a field guide to identifying Canadian butterflies, however, The Butterflies of Canada includes chapters on Canadian geography and butterfly distribution, conservation, gardening, photography, and the history of butterfly study in Canada. It also contains new and unpublished information on the classification of butterflies, their ranges, larval food plants, abundance, flight seasons, and noteworthy habits. Thirty two colour plates provide diagnostic details for each species, and also feature butterflies in their natural habitats. There is an extensive bibliography.

After chasing Bigfoot in his last book,Robert Pyle has shifted his attention to a smaller creature, but one that is just as remarkable. The monarch butterfly is our best-known and best-loved insect, and its annual migration over thousands of miles is an extraordinary natural phenomenon, though one that is poorly understood. Myths about the monarchs' travels abound, and to separate fact from fiction, Pyle set out late one summer to follow the wanderers south from their northernmost breeding grounds in British Columbia. He migrated with them down the Columbia, Snake, Bear, and Colorado Rivers, across the Bonneville Salt Flats, through Hell's Canyon and the Grand Canyon, to Mexico, then turned up the California coast to track another leg of their migration. CHASING MONARCHS is one of the most fascinating book ever written about butterflies. It's also a lively and compelling travel book about the American West, filled with unforgettable places and characters, both animal and human.

Insects such as cockroaches, mosquitoes and bed-bugs are usually not highly sought amongst travellers or recreationists, yet each year, collectors, butterfly enthusiasts, dragonfly-hunters and apiarists collect, visit, document and raise insects for recreational purposes. Illustrating a range of human-insect encounters from an interdisciplinary perspective, this book provides the first insight into the booming industry of insect recreation. Case studies and examples demonstrate the appeal of insects, ranging from the captivating beauty of butterflies to the curious fascination of locust swarms, and challenge the notion that animals lacking anthropomorphic features hold little or no interest for humans. Throughout the book, the emphasis is on the innovators, the educators, the dedicated researchers and activists who, through collaboration across fields ranging from entomology to sociology and anthropology, have brought insects from the recreational fringes to the forefront of many conservation and leisure initiatives.

Asked to name an insect society, most of us--whether casual or professional students of nature--quickly point to one of the so-called eusocial marvels: the ant colony, the beehive, the termite mound, the wasp nest. Each is awe-inspiring in its division of labor--collective defense, foraging, and nestbuilding. Yet E. O. Wilson cautioned back in 1971 that sociality should be defined more broadly, "in order to prevent the arbitrary exclusion of many interesting phenomena." Thirty-five years later, James T. Costa gives those interesting phenomena their due. He argues that, in trying to solve the puzzle of how highly eusocial behaviors evolved in a few insect orders, evolutionary biologists have neglected the more diverse social arrangements in the remaining twenty-eight orders--insect societies that don't fit the eusocial schema. Costa synthesizes here for the first time the scattered literature about social phenomena across the arthropod phylum: beetles and bugs, caterpillars and cockroaches, mantids and membracids, sawflies and spiders. This wide-ranging tour takes a rich narrative approach that interweaves theory and data analysis with the behavior and ecology of these remarkable groups. This comprehensive treatment is likely to inspire a new generation of naturalists to take a closer look.

The study of comets is a field that has seen tremendous advances in recent years, far surpassing the knowledge reflected in the original Comets volume published as part of the Space Science Series in 1982. This new volume, with more than seventy contributing authors, represents the first complete overview of comet science in more than a decade and contains the most extensive collection of knowledge yet assembled in the field. Comets II situates comet science in the global context of astrophysics for the first time by beginning with a series of chapters that describe the connection between stars and planets. It continues with a presentation of the formation and evolution of planetary systems, enabling the reader to clearly see the key role played in our own solar system by the icy planetesimals that were the seeds of the giant planets and transneptunian objects. The book presents the key results obtained during the 1990s, in particular those collected during the apparition of the exceptional comets C/Hyakutake and C/Hale-Bopp in 1996-1997. The latest results obtained from the in situ exploration of comets P/Borrelly and P/Wild 2 are also discussed in detail. Each topic of is designed to be accessible to students or young researchers looking for basic, yet detailed, complete and accurate, information on comet science. With its emphasis on the origin of theories and the future of research, Comets II will enable scientists to make connections across disciplinary boundaries and will set the stage for discovery and new understanding in the coming years.

From the beginning of the Space Age the United States, followed soon by other nations, began an impressive effort to learn about the planets of the solar system. The data collected and analyzed by scientists has revolutionized understanding of our neighbors. These efforts also captured the imagination of people from all backgrounds like nothing else except the Apollo lunar missions. Through a succession of analytical essays on major aspects of the history of robotic planetary exploration, this book opens new vistas in the understanding of the development of planetary science in the Space Age.

Compiled by a team of experts, this textbook has been designed for elementary university courses in astrobiology. It begins with an examination of how life may have arisen on Earth and then reviews the evidence for possible life on Mars, Europa and Titan. The potential for life in exoplanetary systems and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence are also discussed. The text contains numerous useful learning features such as boxed summaries, student exercises with full solutions, and a glossary of terms. It is also supported by a website hosting further teaching materials. Written in an accessible style that avoids complex mathematics, this book is suitable for self-study and will appeal to amateur enthusiasts as well as undergraduate students. It contains numerous helpful learning features such as boxed summaries, student exercises with full solutions, and a glossary of terms. The book is also supported by a webstite hosting further teaching materials.

Our knowledge of Mars has changed dramatically in the past 40 years due to the wealth of information provided by Earth-based and orbiting telescopes, and spacecraft investigations. Recent observations suggest that water has played a major role in the climatic and geologic history of the planet. This textbook, first published in 2008, covers our understanding of the planet's formation, geology, atmosphere, interior, surface properties, and potential for life. This interdisciplinary textbook encompasses the fields of geology, chemistry, atmospheric sciences, geophysics, and astronomy. Each chapter introduces the necessary background information to help the non-specialist understand the topics explored. It includes results from missions through 2006, including the latest insights from Mars Express and the Mars Exploration Rovers. Containing the most up-to-date information on Mars, this textbook is essential reading for graduate courses, and an important reference for researchers.

New Theory of the Earth is an interdisciplinary advanced textbook on the origin, composition, and evolution of the Earth's interior: geophysics, geochemistry, dynamics, convection, mineralogy, volcanism, energetics and thermal history. This is the only book on the whole landscape of deep Earth processes which ties together all the strands of the subdisciplines. It is a complete update of Anderson's Theory of the Earth (1989). It includes many new sections and dozens of new figures and tables. As with the original book, this new edition will prove to be a stimulating textbook on advanced courses in geophysics, geochemistry, and planetary science, and supplementary textbook on a wide range of other advanced Earth science courses. It will also be an essential reference and resource for all researchers in the solid Earth sciences.

This is the first book ever published to explain how and why solid planets and satellites develop crusts. Written by two leading authorities on the subject, it presents a geochemical and geological survey of the crusts of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, the asteroid Vesta, and several satellites such as Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. After describing how solar system bodies are formed, the authors compare the different planetary crusts and discuss current controversies on the subject. They introduce the theory of stochastic processes dominating crustal development, and debate the possibility of Earth-like planets existing elsewhere in the cosmos. Extensively referenced and annotated, this book presents an up-to-date survey of the scientific problems of crustal development, and is a key reference for researchers and students in geology, geochemistry, planetary science, astrobiology, and astronomy.

'Planetary Motions' introduces students to the impact of Copernicus, Newton and other great scientists on our understanding of the solar system. The text is non-technical and the concepts are explained in terms understandable to the non-scientist.

Including results from the Cassini space mission to Saturn, this summary of current knowledge of planetary rings covers all aspects of the subject with particular emphasis on ring history and evolution. Basic physical processes and simple mathematical approaches are supported by many images and diagrams that display the spectacular phenomena seen in these fascinating structures. Highlighted topics include Saturn's F ring, Neptune's rings, Jupiter's rings, stochastic models, ring age and evolution, and Cassini results. The text is supported by a glossary of terms and an extensive bibliography directs the reader to original references and resources.

Increasing discoveries of new planets beyond our solar system are invigorating the quest for new knowledge and understanding of the birth of stars and planets. This new volume in the Space Science Series, with 249 contributing authors, builds on the latest results from recent advances in ground and space-based astronomy and in numerical computing techniques to offer the most detailed and up-to-date picture of star and planet formation, including the formation of our own solar system. This book emphasizes the cross-disciplinary aspects of the field, with a particular focus on the early evolution of our solar system. Protostars and Planets V is the new foundation for further advancement in the fields of stellar and planetary formation, making it an indispensable resource for researchers and students in astronomy, planetary science, and the study of meteorites.

This book, the first in a series of forthcoming volumes, consists of topical and timely reviews of a number of carefully selected topics in solar systemn science. Contributions, in form of up-to-date reviews, are mainly aimed at professional astronomers and planetary scientists wishing to inform themselves about progress in fields closely related to their own field of expertise.

Reflecting the rapid progress in cleanup technology since the previous edition, this revised and expanded third edition of The Basics of Oil Spill Cleanup covers current cleanup techniques, how oil spills are measured and detected, and the properties of the oil and its long-term fate in the environment. It also deals with why, how often, and where oil spills occur as well as the chemical composition and physical properties of various oil types. The chapters describe surface and remote sensing technologies used to detect and track oil slicks, and methods to contain oil on water (booms and ancillary equipment) and recover oil from the water surface (skimmers, sorbents, and manual recovery). The author discusses the use of pumps, in-situ burning, and chemical agents, such as dispersants, for oil removal. He also addresses oil-contaminated shorelines and the effects and behavior of oil on different ecosystems and the various organisms within them. Written for the general public as well as those directly involved with oil spill cleanup, this edition provides broad, up-to-date knowledge of the cleanup and control of spills.

The second edition of this acclaimed text has been fully updated and substantially expanded to include the considerable developments (since publication of the first edition) in our understanding of the science of climate change, its impacts on biological and human systems, and developments in climate policy. Written in an accessible style, it provides a broad review of past, present and likely future climate change from the viewpoints of biology, ecology, human ecology and Earth system science. It will again prove to be invaluable to a wide range of readers, from students in the life sciences who need a brief overview of the basics of climate science, to atmospheric science, geography, geoscience and environmental science students who need to understand the biological and human ecological implications of climate change. It is also a valuable reference text for those involved in environmental monitoring, conservation and policy-making.

Earth's Evolving Systems: The History of Planet Earth is intended as an introductory text that examines the evolution of the Earth and its life from a systems point of view. The text covers major topics like the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere, and discusses how these systems interacted with each other and evolved through geologic time. The author takes care to integrate the current state of our Earth systems with those of the past in an effort to develop students' interests in Earth system in general. It begins by examining the basics of Earth systems, including discussions of sedimentation, evolution, stratigraphy, and plate tectonics. Part Two looks at the beginning of time with the origin of the Earth and discusses its early evolution, through the origin of life and its evolution to multiculluraity. The third section goes on to cover the Paleozoic through the Neogene eras, discussing topics such as tectonics, mountain building, sea level, climate, life, and mass extinctions in each era. The final part moves on to the modern world, discussing the interactions between humans and Earth systems, with an emphasis on the climatic system. Key Features of Earth's Evolving System:- Presents the Earth as a continuously evolving and dynamic planet whose history consists of a succession of vastly different worlds very much unlike our modern Earth.- Discusses the scientific method in Chapter 1, emphasizing how historical geology differs from the standard "scientific method" presented as the paradigm of experimental sciences and of all science.- Bridges traditional historical geology texts by discussing historical information in the context of the interaction and integration of Earth systems through geologic time by using the tectonic (Wilson) cycle as a unifying theme.- Concentrates on North America but offers a global perspective on Earth systems on processes such as orogenesis, seaways, and ocean circulation, the evolution of life, and mass extinction.- Discusses rapid climate change and anthropogenic impacts in the context of a continuously evolving Earth whose environments are now being altered by anthropogenic climate change.

Conventional wisdom about the environmental impact of cities holds that urbanizationand environmental quality are necessarily at odds. Cities are seen to be sites of ecologicaldisruption, consuming a disproportionate share of natural resources, producing high levels ofpollution, and concentrating harmful emissions precisely where the population is most concentrated.Cities appear to be particularly vulnerable to natural disasters, to be inherently at risk fromoutbreaks of infectious diseases, and even to offer dysfunctional and unnatural settings for humanlife. In this book, William Meyer tests these widely held beliefs against the evidence. Borrowingsome useful terminology from the public health literature, Meyer weighs instances of "urbanpenalty" against those of "urban advantage." He finds that many supposed urbanenvironmental penalties are illusory, based on commonsense preconceptions and not on solid evidence.In fact, greater degrees of "urbanness" often offer advantages rather than penalties. Thecharacteristic compactness of cities, for example, lessens the pressure on ecological systems andenables resource consumption to be more efficient. On the whole, Meyer reports, cities offer greatersafety from environmental hazards (geophysical, technological, and biological) than more dispersedsettlement does. In fact, the city-defining characteristics widely supposed to result inenvironmental penalties do much to account for cities' environmental advantages. As of 2008(according to U.N. statistics), more people live in cities than in rural areas. Meyer's analysisclarifies the effects of such a profound shift, covering a full range of environmental issues inurban settings.

Bringing together the research of 62 distinguished scientists in one volume, Environmental Contamination: Health Risks and Ecological Restoration offers a comprehensive view of the remediation of contaminated land. A one-stop resource, it covers historical and emerging contaminants, the issues of bioavailability of chemicals and their associated human health risks, and the latest remediation technologies. The book also contains numerous case studies, many of them drawn from the Asia-Pacific region, that look at the effects of rapid industrialization. The chapters are inspired by presentations and discussions held during the 2010 Croucher Advanced Study Institute workshop, entitled Remediation of Contaminated Land--Bioavailability and Health Risk. With the speed and scale of recent socioeconomic development, particularly in regions with less stringent environmental regulations, it is evident that various industrial activities have given rise to tremendous environmental degradation and severe health problems. The book begins with a description of current problems and future trends of pollutants, as well as their impact on the environment and human health. It then focuses on emerging contaminants, such as flame retardants and electronic waste. The book also examines research on environmentally friendly and sustainable solutions to remediate contaminated lands, exploring cutting-edge bioremediation and phytoremediation technologies. Chapters discuss arsenic biomethylation, copper homeostasis, microbial transformation of phthalate esters, the potential function of paddy fields in phytoremediation, the use of constructed wetlands for pollution control, phytostabilization of arsenic-contaminated sites, and more. This timely book provides readers with a highly focused reference on some of the most urgent environmental and health issues and research topics. These include e-waste recycling and arsenic and heavy metal contamination of rice--issues that are relevant for many countries around the world.

The Montreal Protocol has been cited as the most successful global environmental agreement, responsible for phasing out the use of ozone-depleting substances. But, says Brian Gareau in this provocative and engaging book, the Montreal Protocol has failed—largely because of neoliberal ideals involving economic protectionism but also due to the protection of the legitimacy of certain forms of scientific knowledge. Gareau traces the rise of a new form of disagreement among global powers, members of the scientific community, civil society, and agro-industry groups, leaving them relatively ineffective in their efforts to push for environmental protection.

Facing one of the most dangerous conservation crises in history--acid rain--lawmakers, industry leaders, and activists embraced an attitude of civil engagement that sought common ground and acceptance of compromise solutions on all sides. As a result, they achieved a spectacular outcome. This approach was also at work when another planet-threatening event--ozone depletion--was reversed. In Green in Gridlock, Paul Walden Hansen, the former head of the Izaak Walton League, takes stock of what has been accomplished and what has been squandered in the many environmental contests in which he was involved during his forty-year career as a conservationist. In seeking to identify the strategies that worked and to pinpoint why progress on so many important issues never materialized, Hansen realized that the most important predictor of success or failure was the willingness of opposing interests to find common ground and to compromise in order to attain mutually important goals. Polling demonstrates that, overwhelmingly, Americans care about the environment but are less enthusiastic about environmentalists. Accordingly, Hansen issues a pointed critique for activism of the "rather fight than win" variety. But he is also critical of conservative interests that oppose environmental legislation as a matter of principle while forgetting that a long string of cost-effective environmental legislation from the Clean Air Act to the Wilderness Act--was passed by overwhelming bipartisan margins and signed into law by Republican presidents in the 1970s. Hansen makes a convincing case that thinking and acting ideologically rather than strategically is ultimately bad for the environment. More than a simplistic call for civility or yet another admonition that we all "work together," this book offers practical lessons and a positive vision from a seasoned veteran on how to create support instead of opposition, how to recognize natural allies, and how to acknowledge common purpose in the name of progress.

We are all just a little bit plastic. Traces of bisphenol A or BPA, a chemical used in plastics production, are widely detected in our bodies and environment. Is this chemical, and its presence in the human body, safe? What is meant by safety? Who defines it, and according to what information? Is It Safe? narrates how the meaning of the safety of industrial chemicals has been historically produced by breakthroughs in environmental health research, which in turn trigger contests among trade associations, lawyers, politicians, and citizen activists to set new regulatory standards. Drawing on archival research and extensive interviews, author Sarah Vogel explores the roots of the contemporary debate over the safety of BPA, and the concerns presented by its estrogen-like effects even at low doses. Ultimately, she contends that science alone cannot resolve the political and economic conflicts at play in the definition of safety. To strike a sustainable balance between the interests of commerce and public health requires recognition that powerful interests will always try to shape the criteria for defining safety, and that the agenda for environmental health research should be protected from capture by any single interest group.

Source-sink theories provide a simple yet powerful framework for understanding how the patterns, processes and dynamics of ecological systems vary and interact over space and time. Integrating multiple research fields, including population biology and landscape ecology, this book presents the latest advances in source-sink theories, methods and applications in the conservation and management of natural resources and biodiversity. The interdisciplinary team of authors uses detailed case studies, innovative field experiments and modeling, and comprehensive syntheses to incorporate source-sink ideas into research and management, and explores how sustainability can be achieved in today's increasingly fragile human-dominated ecosystems. Providing a comprehensive picture of source-sink research as well as tangible applications to real world conservation issues, this book is ideal for graduate students, researchers, natural-resource managers and policy makers.

Human-induced climate change is emerging as one of the gravest threats to biodiversity in history, and while a vast amount of literature on the ecological impact of climate change exists, very little has been dedicated to the management of wildlife populations and communities in the wake of unprecedented habitat changes. Wildlife Conservation in a Changing Climate is an essential resource, bringing together leaders in the fields of climate change ecology, wildlife population dynamics, and environmental policy to examine the impacts of climate change on populations of terrestrial vertebrates. Chapters assess the details of climate change ecology, including demographic implications for individual populations, evolutionary responses, impacts on movement patterns, alterations of species interactions, and predicting impacts across regions. The contributors also present a number of strategies by which conservationists and wildlife managers can counter or mitigate the impacts of climate change as well as increase the resilience of wildlife populations to such changes. A seminal contribution to the fields of ecology and conservation biology, Wildlife Conservation in a Changing Climate will serve as the spark that ignites a new direction of discussions about and action on the ecology and conservation of wildlife in a changing climate.