Geography studies the world—the land and its features and the people who live here. Geography has many branches, each focusing on a different aspect. Biogeography looks at the biodiversity of species, where and when different species have lived, and why. Geomorphology studies landforms and how they are shaped. Human geography examines the interactions of people and cultures in various ways. The study of geography is useful in many ways, including the predicting of earthquakes or landslides, extrapolating the effects of events such as natural disasters or climate change on landscapes and human populations, and determining the changes occurring in the world's cultural landscapes.

CONTENTS: Bacteriological Assessment of Urban Water Sources; Microbial Sulfate Reduction and Metal Attenuation; Association Between Drinking Water Turbidity and Gastrointestinal Illness; Evaluation of The Webler-Brown Model for Estimating Tetrachloroethylene Exposure from Vinyl-Lined Asbestos-Cement Pipes; Mass Stranding of Marine Birds; Measuring Variability in Trophic Status; Contamination of Rural Surface and Ground Water; Prospective Study of Rural Drinking Water Quality and Acute Gastrointestinal Illness; Environmental Sanitation Crisis...

Biogeography is the study of the distribution of biodiversity over space and time. It aims to reveal where organisms live, and at what abundanceand why? Meanwhile, geomorphology is the scientific study of landforms and the processes that shape them. Geomorphologists seek to understand why landscapes look the way they do. This book introduces readers to some of the latest research in these fields, as well as the practical applications, such as measuring the effects of climate change, hazard assessments including landslide prediction and mitigation, river control and restoration, coastal protection, and assessing the presence of water on Mars.

CONTENTS: Endemicity, Biogeography, Composition, and Community Structure; Phylogeny and Biogeography of Hawkmoths; Mitochondrial Phylogeography of Baboons; Pleistocene Glacial Refugia Across the Appalachian Mountains and Coastal Plain in the Millipede Genus Narceus; Phylogeography and Historical Demography of the Lusitanian Snail Elona Quimperiana Reveal Survival in Unexpected Separate Glacial Refugia; Molecular Biogeography; Biogeography of Photosynthetic Light-Harvesting Genes...

In development geography, geographers study spatial patterns in development. They try to find by what characteristics they can measure development by looking at economic, political, and social factors. They seek to understand both the geographical causes and consequences of varying development. This book provides readers with the latest research in developmental geography. The chapters deal with the study of the standard and quality of living of the Earth's human inhabitants.

CONTENTS: Global Influences on Milk Purchasing in New Zealand – Implications for Health and Inequalities; The POETICs of Industrial Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Japan:An Urban and Institutional Extension of the IPAT Identity; The Traditional Commons of England and Wales in the Twenty-First Century:Meeting New and Old Challenges; Carbon Fluxes Resulting From Land-Use Changes in the Tamaulipan Thornscrub of Northeastern Mexico; Potential of Wind Power Projects Under the Clean Development Mechanism in India; Can the Ubiquitous Power of Mobile Phones be Used to Improve Health Outcomes in Developing Countries?; Rural Land Use Change during 1986–2002 in Lijiang, China, Based on Remote Sensing and GIS Data; Globalization, Migration Health, and Educational Preparation for Transnational Medical Encounters; Modelling Carbon Dynamics from Urban Land Conversion:Fundamental Model of City in Relation to a Local Carbon Cycle; Evolutionary Geomorphology:Thresholds and Nonlinearity in Landform Response to Environmental Change; National Forests on the Edge:Developmental Pressures on America's National Forests and Grasslands; Index