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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Human impact: man's role in environmental change

Book ·
OSTI ID:5491056
Drawing upon worldwide examples, the author traces mankind's interaction with nature and examines human interference with environmental systems at various stages of social development. Succeeding chapters take up man's specific impact on vegetation, animals, the soil, the waters, landforms, climate, and the atmosphere. With the aid of maps, diagrams, and graphs, the book analyzes the causes and consequences of environmental changes associated with such large-scale events as agricultural expansion, domestication, deforestation, and urbanization, including the spread of salination, extinction, erosion, and pollution. Interrelations, often dynamic and unpredictable, between these phenomena make it difficult to isolate the causes of changes and to determine the resiliency of natural systems to change. 505 references, 82 figures, 97 tables.
OSTI ID:
5491056
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English