Tectonic-erosion interactions:insights from the paleo-drainage of the Brahmaputra River

This thesis investigates the interactions between tectonics and erosion in the eastern Himalaya through the study of paleo-Brahmaputra deposits in the foreland basin. Sediment depositional dating of two sedimentary sections is performed using magnetostratigraphy, apatite fission-track and luminescence dating. Provenance analysis using zircon and apatite U-Pb dating allows the reconstruction of the Miocene-Quaternary paleo-drainage of the Brahmaputra River and the documentation of the tectonic evolution of two poorly understood Himalayan features: the Shillong Plateau and the Namche Barwa Syntaxis. The Shillong Plateau is the only elevated topography in the Himalayan foreland and the timing of its surface uplift is debated. Decoupling between of the time of rock exhumation and surface uplift has been explained by differences in rock erodibilities of the plateau between the Shillong Precambrian basement and the overlying Cenozoic sedimentary rock. New detrital zircon U-Pb data and lithospheric stress field modelling presented here date the rise of the Plateau between 5.2 Ma and 4.4 Ma leading to the redirection of the Brahmaputra River at that time, and the role of tectonics in the rise of the plateau is invoked. The Namche Barwa syntaxis is located at the eastern Himalayan termination and its development is widely debated. It has been subjected to anomalously young (10 Ma) of rapid exhumation, and at high but not extreme rates (<5 mm/yr)

Wildlife Population Monitoring

Wildlife management is about finding the balance between conservation of endangered species and mitigating the impacts of overabundant wildlife on humans and the environment. This book deals with the monitoring of fauna, related diseases, and interactions with humans. It is intended to assist and support the professional worker in wildlife management

Urbanization, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: Challenges and Opportunities

Urbanization is a global phenomenon and the book emphasizes that this is not just a social-technological process. It is also a social-ecological process where cities are places for nature, and where cities also are dependent on, and have impacts on, the biosphere at different scales from local to global. The book is a global assessment and delivers four main conclusions: Urban areas are expanding faster than urban populations. Half the increase in urban land across the world over the next 20 years will occur in Asia, with the most extensive change expected to take place in India and China Urban areas modify their local and regional climate through the urban heat island effect and by altering precipitation patterns, which together will have significant impacts on net primary production, ecosystem health, and biodiversity Urban expansion will heavily draw on natural resources, including water, on a global scale, and will often consume prime agricultural land, with knock-on effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services elsewhere Future urban expansion will often occur in areas where the capacity for formal governance is restricted, which will constrain the protection of biodiversity and management of ecosystem service

Urbanization, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: Challenges and Opportunities: A Global Assessment

Urban Ecology; Urbanism; Sustainable Development; Complex Systems; Science, general; International Environmental La