Landscape and Land Capacity

Authored by world-class scientists and scholars, The Handbook of Natural Resources, Second Edition, is an excellent reference for understanding the consequences of changing natural resources to the degradation of ecological integrity and the sustainability of life. Based on the content of the bestselling and CHOICE-awarded Encyclopedia of Natural Resources, this new edition demonstrates the major challenges that the society is facing for the sustainability of all well-being on the planet Earth. The experience, evidence, methods, and models used in studying natural resources are presented in six stand-alone volumes, arranged along the main systems of land, water, and air. It reviews state-of-the-art knowledge, highlights advances made in different areas, and provides guidance for the appropriate use of remote sensing and geospatial data with field-based measurements in the study of natural resources.

Volume 2, Landscape and Land Capacity, covers soils and landscape issues, their diversity and importance, and how soils are related to the landscapes in which they form. It includes discussions on land conservation, land-use and land-cover changes, and urban environments and unravels the complex bond between humans and soils. New in this edition are discussions on habitat conservation and planning, landscape epidemiology and vector-borne disease, and landscape patterns and changes. This volume demonstrates the key processes, methods, and models used through several practical case studies from around the world.

Written in an easy-to-reference manner, The Handbook of Natural Resources, Second Edition, as individual volumes or as a complete set, is an essential reading for anyone looking for a deeper understanding of the science and management of natural resources. Public and private libraries, educational and research institutions, scientists, scholars, and resource managers will benefit enormously from this set. Individual volumes and chapters can also be used in a wide variety of both graduate and undergraduate courses in environmental science and natural science at different levels and disciplines, such as biology, geography, earth system science, and ecology.

Dr. Yeqiao Wang is a professor at the Department of Natural Resources Science, College of the Environment and Life Sciences, University of Rhode Island. He earned an MS and a PhD in natural resources management & engineering from the University of Connecticut. From 1995 to 1999, he was an assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Chicago. He has been on the faculty of the University of Rhode Island since 1999. In addition to his tenured position, he held an adjunct research associate position at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. He has also served as a guest professor and an adjunct professor at universities in the U.S. and China. Among his awards and recognitions, Dr. Wang was awarded the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) by former U.S. President Clinton in 2000. His research projects have been funded by multiple agencies such as NASA, USDA, USDI, USAID, among others, which supported his scientific studies in various regions of the U.S., in East and West Africa, and in various regions in China. Besides peer-reviewed journal publications, Dr. Wang edited Remote Sensing of Coastal Environments and Remote Sensing of Protected Lands published by CRC Press in 2009 and 2010, respectively. He has also authored and edited over 10 scientific books in Chinese.