Contents

#### **Preface XIII**

**Part 1 Climate Change 1** 

	- **Part 2 Historical Environmental Change 105**

Contents VII

**Part 5 Indicators of Change 295** 

Viia Lepane

Giri Kattel and Peter Gell

Chapter 19 **Linking Sea Level Rise Damage and** 

Chapter 21 **Using Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping in**

Ingrid Muenstermann

Chapter 15 **Heavy Metals Contamination of a Mediterranean** 

Chapter 16 **HPLC Fingerprints of Porewater Organic Compounds**

Chapter 17 **Management Strategies for Large River Floodplain** 

Chapter 18 **Satellite-Based Monitoring of Ecosystem Functioning** 

M.A. Dionisio, D. Alcaraz-Segura and J. Cabello

Areti Kontogianni, Christos Tourkolias, Michalis Skourtos and Maria Papanikolaou

Chapter 20 **Strengthening Regional Capacities for Providing** 

**Coastal Ecosystem, Eastern Nile Delta, Egypt 297** M. F. Kaiser, H.A. Aboulela, H. El-Sereh and H. Ezz El-Din

**as Markers for Environmental Conditions 311** 

**Part 6 Management and Policy for Environmental Change 353**

**in Protected Areas: Recent Trends in the Oak Forests (***Quercus pyrenaica* **Willd.) of Sierra Nevada (Spain) 355** 

**Vulnerability Assessment: The Case of Greece 375** 

**Remote Sensing Decision Support in Drylands in the Context of Climate Variability and Change 399** 

**Environmental Decision Making and Management: A Methodological Primer and an Application 427** 

**A Literature Review Regarding Australia's Challenge in Relation to Climate Change and CO2 Emissions 451** 

Humberto A. Barbosa and T. V. Lakshmi Kumar

Elpiniki Papageorgiou and Areti Kontogianni

Chapter 22 **Wind Farming and the Not-in-My-Backyard Syndrome:** 

**Lakes Undergoing Rapid Environmental Changes 329** 

Chapter 8 **Continental Erosion/Weathering Changes in Central Asia Recorded in the Holocene Sediment from Lake Hovsgol, Northwest Mongolia, by Synchrotron μ-XRF Mapping Analyses 137**  Nagayoshi Katsuta, Takuma Murakami, Yuko Wada, Masao Takano, Masayuki Kunugi and Takayoshi Kawai

	- **Part 4 Land Use and Land Cover Change 231**

#### **Part 5 Indicators of Change 295**

VI Contents

Chapter 7 **Response of Biogenic Silica Production in**

Chapter 8 **Continental Erosion/Weathering Changes** 

Chapter 9 **Primary Succession in Glacier Forelands:** 

Sigmund Hågvar

Takashi Osono

**Around Melting Glaciers 151** 

Chapter 10 **Excess Supply of Nutrients, Fungal Community,** 

Chapter 11 **Effect of Environmental Change on Secondary** 

Christopher Deduke, Brinda Timsina and Michele D. Piercey-Normore

**Part 4 Land Use and Land Cover Change 231** 

Chapter 12 **Investigating Soils, Vegetation and Land Use in a Lunette Dune-Pan Environment: The Case of Sekoma Lunette Dune-Pan** 

S. Mosweu, J.R. Atlhopheng and M.P. Setshogo

**Wenyu River Watershed (Beijing, China) 275** 

**and Human Interference in Africa 253**

**Complex, Botswana 233** 

Chapter 13 **Late Quaternary Environmental Changes**

Chapter 14 **Assessment of the Impact of Land-Use Types on the Change of Water Quality in** 

Yuanzhi Zhang and Yufei Wang

Wolfgang Römer

and Takayoshi Kawai

**Lake Baikal and Uranium Weathering Intensity in the Catchment Area to Global Climate Changes 121**  Takuma Murakami, Nagayoshi Katsuta, Takejiro Takamatsu, Masao Takano, Koshi Yamamoto, Toshio Nakamura

**in Central Asia Recorded in the Holocene Sediment from Lake Hovsgol, Northwest Mongolia, by Synchrotron μ-XRF Mapping Analyses 137**  Nagayoshi Katsuta, Takuma Murakami, Yuko Wada, Masao Takano, Masayuki Kunugi and Takayoshi Kawai

**and Plant Litter Decomposition: A Case Study of Avian-Derived Excreta Deposition in Conifer Plantations 173** 

**Metabolite Production in Lichen-Forming Fungi 197** 

**Part 3 Biological Responses to Environmental Change 149** 

**How Small Animals Conquer New Land** 

	- **Part 6 Management and Policy for Environmental Change 353**

Preface

ecosystems.

to predict future environmental change.

Almost 150 years ago George Perkins Marsh, in *Man and Nature or the Earth as Modified by Human Action* (1864), took notice on the impact of human activity on the natural environment. Since then, human activities have become a dominant force affecting the functioning of the Earth's biological, hydrological and climatological systems. The use of land, water, air and other natural resources have increased exponentially over the years. With future increases in population, continued technological change and economic development, the demands on the biosphere will continue to grow. With such extensive use, we are now experiencing large scale of transformations that disrupt the functioning of the biosphere and the larger flow of energy and materials on a global scale. We are witnessing significant human-induced impacts on the environment, such as the extensive melting of Arctic sea ice and glaciers around the world, to the depletion of global fish stocks, and the disruption of fresh water

Since Marsh first studied the negative changes associated with agriculture and the development of urban-industrial society, natural and social scientists have continued to explore the local, regional and global dimensions of human-induced environmental change. We now have a much clearer understanding of such adverse human impacts on the environment. Science is increasingly becoming more sophisticated and developing conceptual frameworks and techniques to measure and model environmental changes at all spatial scales. Techniques have emerged such as sediment sampling, ice-core analysis and dendrochronology that help us understand past environmental changes. Geoinformatics with the use of remote sensing, geographic information systems, global positioning systems and information communication technologies enable us to study current and recent changes. Computers and sophisticated modeling techniques are being developed and employed

Our growing scientific knowledge and understanding of the causes and consequences of human activity on the environment is increasingly influential and necessary for humanity's ability to adapt to such changes. Planners, policy-makers and key decisionmakers require objective scientific information in order to develop appropriate mitigation plans and policies. For example, computer models of global warming and rising sea levels are being employed to develop plans to protect coastal cities and
