The ecology of parthenium weed (Parthenium hysterophorus), particularly its persistent soil seed bank, the multiple dispersal mechanisms and the ability to reach reproductive maturity quickly, allows it to persist in areas following initial control activities. To attain the desired level of...

The disturbance hypothesis posits that the invasion success of non-native species is higher in highly disturbed than in relatively undisturbed ecosystems. A synonymous formulation is that highly disturbed ecosystems show lower resistance against nonnative species than relatively undisturbed...

This chapter describes the severe impact of the sequential multiple disasters (earthquake, tsunami, fires and nuclear disaster) that occurred in Japan in March 2011, and their physical/psychological impact, interventions practiced and lessons learnt to develop resilience among the community.

This chapter describes the biological characteristics of invasive species (i.e. in terms of fitness homeostasis and phenotypic plasticity, interaction with animals, geographical range, vegetative reproduction, fire tolerance, competitive ability and allelopathy), the invasion process, and the...

This chapter chronologically explores in some detail where agrobiodiversity came from. It considers the wild progenitors of crops; the ecological settings of wild crop relatives; pre-domestication management; the impact of the Pleistocene to the Holocene transition, including the important Younger...

This chapter describes various options that use energy to cause thermal injury to plants for weed control. These include the use of fire, flaming, infrared radiation, hot water, steam, electrical energy, microwave radiation, ultraviolet radiation, lasers and freezing temperatures. Some of these...

This paper describes the forest-savanna boundary in West Africa at different spatial scales, and how its location has shifted in the past as influenced by palaeoclimatic changes. The main environmental factors, such as climate, substrate, fire, animals (e.g. pollinators, herbivores and soil fauna)...

The basic taxonomy of nematodes and resources for nematode identification in Brazil are briefly discussed. Their communities were assessed based on: (i) abundance (population density and relative abundance); (ii) diversity (generic richness, Shannon-Weaver's and Simpson's diversity indices and...

This chapter discusses the role of fire in seed regeneration, particularly: postfire environments; direct effects of fire on germination; indirect effects of fire on seed regeneration.

This chapter describes the competitive relationships using the temperate grasslands and woodlands of south-east Australia as an example.