New essays from foodways archaeology related to cuisine in social, cultural, and environmental contexts.This collection of original essays is the first to cover recent trends in foodways archaeology in the Midwest using the concept of cuisine: the selection of food ingredients and methods of food preparation, cooking, and serving/consumption in relation to their social, cultural, and environmental contexts. This work span the Early Archaic (9000 B...

Many archaeologists, as primarily social scientists, do not have a background in the natural sciences. This can pose a problem because they need to obtain chemical and physical analyses on samples to perform their research. This manual is an essential source of information for those students without a background in science, but also a comprehensive overview that those with some understanding of archaeological science will find useful. The manual provides readers with the knowledge to use a...

In 1936 a German chemist identified certain organic molecules that he had extracted from ancient rocks and oils as the fossil remains of chlorophyll--presumably from plants that had lived and died millions of years in the past. It was another twenty-five years before this insight was developed and the term "biomarker" coined to describe fossil molecules whose molecular structures could reveal the presence of otherwise elusive organisms and processes. Echoes of Life is the story of...

This is a thoroughly revised, updated, and expanded edition of a classic illustrated introduction to the structural materials in natural organisms and what we can learn from them to improve man-made technology--from nanotechnology to textiles to architecture. Julian Vincent's book has long been recognized as a standard work on the engineering design of biomaterials and is used by undergraduates, graduates, researchers, and professionals studying biology, zoology, engineering, and biologica...

The second edition of The Biomarker Guide is a fully updated and expanded version of this essential reference. Now in two volumes, it provides a comprehensive account of the role that biomarker technology plays both in petroleum exploration and in understanding Earth history and processes. Biomarkers and Isotopes in the Environment and Human History details the origins of biomarkers and introduces basic chemical principles relevant to their study. It discusses analytical techniques, and ap...

Environmental Soil Physics is a completely updated and modified edition of the Daniel Hillels previous, successful books, Introduction to Soil Physics and Fundamentals of Soil Physics. Hillel is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, one of the true leaders in the field of environmental sciences. The new version includes a chapter and problems on computational techniques, addresses current environmental concerns and trends. - Updates and expands the scope of Hillel's prior works, Fundamentals of...

The book offers a modern, comprehensive, and holistic view of natural gas seepage, defined as the visible or invisible flow of gaseous hydrocarbons from subsurface sources to Earth’s surface. Beginning with definitions, classifications for onshore and offshore seepage, and fundamentals on gas migration mechanisms, the book reports the latest findings for the global distribution of gas seepage and describes detection methods. Seepage implications are discussed in relation to petroleum explo...

Interest in biochar among soil and environment researchers has increased dramatically over the past decade. Biochar initially attracted attention for its potential to improve soil fertility and to uncouple the carbon cycle, by storing carbon from the atmosphere in a form that can remain stable for hundreds to thousands of years. Later it was found that biochar had applications in environmental and water science, mining, microbial ecology and other fields. Beneficial effects of biochar and its...

The third edition of Gordon Bonan's comprehensive textbook introduces an interdisciplinary framework to understand the interaction between terrestrial ecosystems and climate change. Ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate students studying ecology, environmental science, atmospheric science, and geography, it reviews basic meteorological, hydrological, and ecological concepts to examine the physical, chemical, and biological processes by which terrestrial ecosystems affect and are af...

Bioluminescence is everywhere on earth—most of all in the ocean, from angler fish in the depths to the flashing of dinoflagellates at the surface. Here, Thérèse Wilson and Woody Hastings explore the natural history, evolution, and biochemistry of the diverse array of organisms that emit light.While some bacteria, mushrooms, and invertebrates, as well as fish, are bioluminescent, other vertebrates and plants are not. The sporadic distribution and paucity of luminous forms calls for ...

This rigorous yet accessible text introduces the key physical and biochemical processes involved in plant interactions with the aerial environment. It is designed to make the more numerical aspects of the subject accessible to plant and environmental science students, and will also provide a valuable reference source to practitioners and researchers in the field. The third edition of this widely recognised text has been completely revised and updated to take account of key developments in ...

Introduction to Marine Biogeochemistry focuses on the ocean's role in the biogeochemical cycling of selected elements and the impact of humans on the cycling of these elements. Among the topics covered are the chemical composition of seawater from the perspectives of elemental speciation and the impacts of solutes on water's physical behavior; biogeochemical phenomena which control accumulation and preservation of marine sediments; marine chemistry of radioactive and stable isotopes; and s...