Ecosystems and Sustainable Development

Containing papers presented at the Ninth International Conference in the well-established conference series on Ecosystems and Sustainable Development, this book originates from the work of the late Nobel laureate, Ilya Prigogine, and challenges us to develop the new science of "ecodynamics," integrating thermodynamics, ecology and economics. It covers not only novel research related to ecological problems from all over the world, but also new emergent ideas arising from the cross fertilisation of different disciplines, including evolutionary thermodynamics and biodiversity, structures in ecosystems modelling and landscapes, mathematical models and eco-informatics, to mention but a few. The papers in the book cover such topics as: Modelling; Ecosystems and Change; Sustainable Development and Planning; Energy and the Environment; Environmental Economics; Biomimetics; Water Resources Issues.