Ecology and Sustainable Development, Vol. 1 (Hardbound - 2008)

Ecology is the study of organisms in relation to their surroundings called the environment of the organism. This environment is made up of different components, including other living organisms and their interrelationships, and purely physical features such as the type of climate and soil.

Rapid industrial development and urbanisation taking place in all parts of the globe are adversely impacting the environment. Human activities are drastically changing the ecological balance of practically every component of the environment, namely atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere. Efforts are underway on a global level for environmental management, identifying environmental concerns and planning strategies suitable for a particular nation.

This comprehensive textbook presents the significant concepts of modern ecology in an easy-to-understand manner. It exposes the reader to different frontiers of ecology and evolution through a critical analysis of different eco-compartments.

The first volume of the textbook Ecology and Sustainable Development is divided into four sections. Section I deals with basic concepts of ecosystems which can be defined as functional units of ecology where the biotic and abiotic factors interact with each other.

Section II focuses on community and ecology and covers pertinent topics like community dynamics/ecology succession; ecosystem ecology; energy flow in ecosystem and various atmospheric and nutrient cycles; biotic diversity and community stability; interface between climate and vegetation; and resource acquisition and allocation.

Section III deals with population and includes topics such as population ecology and population dynamics; interactions between population; and population growth and its consequences.

Section IV deals with biological diversity, a term encompassing a variety of organisms at all levels—from genetic variants belonging to the same species—to species diversity including the variety of ecosystems. The conservation of biodiversity includes the preservation of genetic variation, the diversity of species and population and also life support properties of ecosystem.

The book will be highly useful to the students of undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate courses in Ecology, Environmental Biology, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Botany, Zoology, Forestry, Agriculture, Toxicology and to those working in these fields.

S.C. Bhatia, a Chemical Engineer from BITS, Pilani, and also an MBA, is a consultant on Environmental and Pollution Control, Energy Conservation and Polymer Sciences. He has worked in various petrochemical plants in production planning, maintenance, quality control, etc. He has authored books on subjects ranging from chemical process industries, plastic and rubber technology to perfume, soaps and cosmetics. His areas of specialisation include air and water pollution, energy conservation, rubber, plastics and bio-sciences. He has contributed numerous papers on chemical and allied subjects in journals of repute. Among his published books, Textbook of Noise Pollution and Its Control, Textbook of Biotechnology, Managing Industrial Pollution, Industrial Chemistry, Perfume, Soap and Cosmetics and Chemical Process Industries have received overwhelming response.