TY - GEN T1 - The silver lining : the benefits of natural disasters A1 - Reice, Seth Robert, 1947-2014 LA - English PP - Princeton, N.J. PB - Princeton University Press YR - 2001 UL - https://ebooks.jgu.edu.in/Record/ebsco_acadsubs_on1036941859 AB - Floods, fires, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, hurricanes--we are quick to call them "natural disasters." But are they? Did the great fires that swept Yellowstone in 1988 devastate the park, or did they just ravage our image of the park as a fixed, unchanging national treasure? This lucid, lively book reveals the shortsightedness behind conceiving of such events as disastrous to nature. Indeed, Seth Reice contends, such thinking has led to policies that have done the environment more harm than good--the U.S. Forest Service's campaign against natural forest fires and the Army Corps of Engineers' flood prevention program are examples. He points out ways in which we can better address the wide range of environmental problems humanity faces at the dawn of the new millennium. Reice argues that the traditional, equilibrium paradigm--according to which "stability" produces healthier ecosystems than does sudden, sweeping change--is fundamentally flawed. He describes a radically different model of how nature operates, one that many ecologists and population biologists have come to understand in recent years: a concept founded on the premise that disturbances help create and maintain the biodiversity that benefits both the ecosystem and ourselves. Reice demonstrates that ecosystems need disturbances to accomplish indispensable tasks such as the production of clean air and water. He recommends changes in environmental management to incorporate the essential role of natural disturbances. OP - 218 CN - QH545.N3 R45 2001 SN - 9780691225678 SN - 0691225672 SN - 0691059020 KW - Ecological disturbances. KW - Natural disasters : Environmental aspects. KW - Perturbations écologiques. KW - Catastrophes naturelles : Aspect de l'environnement. KW - SCIENCE / Earth Sciences / General KW - Ecological disturbances KW - Natural disasters : Environmental aspects KW - Kaufman, Wallace. KW - Kissimmee River restoration. KW - Lake Mead. KW - National Park Service. KW - Nile River floods. KW - adaptation. KW - agriculture and water pollution. KW - aquatic insects. KW - benthic invertebrates. KW - biodiversity. KW - blackflies (Simuliidae). KW - building codes. KW - catchments. KW - chaparral. KW - climax community. KW - coastal development. KW - colonization hypothesis. KW - colonizing species. KW - competition. KW - decomposition. KW - discharge. KW - dynamic equilibrium model. KW - ecological worldview. KW - endemic species. KW - eutrophication. KW - extinction. KW - fire suppression. KW - flood management. KW - food chain. KW - fragmentation. KW - global warming. KW - greenhouse effect. KW - hurricanes. KW - insurance, rates of fire. KW - jungles. KW - limited membership. KW - limiting similarity. KW - marshes. KW - migration. KW - mutualism. KW - patches. KW - patchiness. KW - photosynthesis. KW - pollution. KW - rain forests. KW - redundancy. KW - reforestation. KW - reinitialization. KW - restoration. KW - schistosomiasis. KW - serotinous pines. KW - stability. ER -