Plants And Human Conflict

Perhaps the least appreciated dramatis personae in human history are plants. Humans, like all other animals, cannot produce their own food as plants do through photosynthesis, and must therefore acquire organic material for survival and growth by eating plants or by eating other animals that eat plants. Humans depend on plants not only as a food source, but also as building and clothing materials and as sources of medicines, psychoactive substances, spices, pigments, and more. With plants being such valuable resources, it is therefore not surprising that plants have been involved in practically all violent conflicts among different human societies. Ironically, plants have also been the source of materials to construct weapons or weapon parts. Wars have always constituted a large part of human history, and the overall theme of this book is that to understand the history of violent human conflict, we need to understand what specific materials plants make that people find so useful and worth fighting over, and what roles such plant products have played in specific conflicts. To do so, Plants and Human Conflict begins with a chapter explaining the basic biological facts of the interdependence between plants and humans, and the subsequent seven chapters describe the physical and chemical properties of specific plant products demonstrating how the human need for these products has led to wars as well as contributed to the prosecution of wars. These chapters recount some well-known (and some lesser known) historical events in which plants have played a central role. This book uniquely combines the modern scientific knowledge of plants with the human history of war, introducing readers to a new paradigm that will make them reconsider their understanding of human history, as well as to bring about a greater appreciation of plant biology.

The latest edition of this classic guide details how to understand and resolve a broad array of human-wildlife conflicts. This new edition of Human-Wildlife Conflict Management updates our understanding of the human dimensions, as well as biological and ecological concepts, underlying human-wildlife conflicts. While it provides wildlife professionals and students with the knowledge and adaptive management strategies to resolve such conflicts, it uniquely explores negative interactions with a wide range of wildlife taxa beyond those typically covered in traditional wildlife damage management, including invasive plants, invertebrates, and fish. Designed to help students and natural resource practitioners gain a deeper understanding of how to successfully avoid and resolve conflict between humans and wildlife, it is informed by author Russell F. Reidinger's decades of teaching students and professionals how to anticipate and manage human-wildlife conflicts, as well as his experience leading a national research program devoted to this work. The book covers important human-wildlife topics such as: • individual-, population-, and ecosystem-level effects • survey techniques • management methods • human dimensions • economic issues • legal and political aspects • damage management strategies Featuring explanations of important terminology and pertinent biological and ecological concepts, Reidinger also shares the latest research, provides a plethora of real-world examples, and includes suggestions for additional resources.

Although human beings are technically part of the ecosystem, there still remains a conceptual conflict between technology and nature. These concerns highlight the idea of human superiority in which the priority is given to technology versus living in synchronization with nature. Technology versus Ecology: Human Superiority and the Ongoing Conflict with Nature explores the issues revolving around the conflict between technology versus human beings, the concern for the separation of human beings in the ecosystem, and the negative consequences that may follow as ecosystems are being damaged. This book is a significant reference source for researchers, instructors, and students interested in the constant evolution of technology and ecology.

If human burials were our only window onto the past, what story would they tell? Skeletal injuries constitute the most direct and unambiguous evidence for violence in the past. Whereas weapons or defenses may simply be statements of prestige or status and written sources are characteristically biased and incomplete, human remains offer clear and unequivocal evidence of physical aggression reaching as far back as we have burials to examine. Warfare is often described as ‘senseless’ and as having no place in society. Consequently, its place in social relations and societal change remains obscure. The studies in The Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Human Conflict present an overview of the nature and development of human conflict from prehistory to recent times as evidenced by the remains of past people themselves in order to explore the social contexts in which such injuries were inflicted. A broadly chronological approach is taken from prehistory through to recent conflicts, however this book is not simply a catalogue of injuries illustrating weapon development or a narrative detailing ‘progress’ in warfare but rather provides a framework in which to explore both continuity and change based on a range of important themes which hold continuing relevance throughout human development.

Dystopian States of America is a crucial resource that studies the impact of dystopian works on American society-including ways in which they reflect our deep and persistent fears about environmental calamities, authoritarian governments, invasive technologies, and human weakness. Dystopian States of America provides students and researchers with an illuminating resource for understanding the impact and relevance of dystopian and apocalyptic works in contemporary American culture. Through its wide survey of dystopian works in numerous forms and genres, the book encourages readers to connect with these works of fiction and understand how the catastrophically grim or disquieting worlds they portray offer insights into our own current situation. In addition to providing more than 150 encyclopedia articles on a large and representative sample of dystopian/apocalyptic narratives in fiction, film, television, and video games (including popular works that often escape critical inquiry), Dystopian States of America features a suite of critical essays on five themes-war, pandemics, totalitarianism, environmental calamity, and technological overreach-that serve as the foundation for most dystopian worlds of the imagination. These offerings complement one another, enabling readers to explore dystopian conceptions of America and the world from multiple perspectives and vantage points.

Urban wildlife management is a town planning subject. It is logical and important to relate the animal and human conflict seen all over the world, as a phenomenon which is applicable to all types of human settlements, despite the diversities and complexities of cultures, societal structures, laws, value systems, religions and so on. A universal principle or theory governs and applies to all cities which define these conditions and phenomena creating the conflict or coexistence. This book investigates the niches of one of the key urban animals from a syntactic, semantic and pragmatic perspective and explores how these niches are naturally synonymous to similar patterns, structures and compositions within human settlements. It explores and defines the demographic patterns, thresholds and phenomenon, which leads to formation of the different levels and extremes of interaction between the species. This forms a paradigm which classifies this conflict within the various disciplines and frameworks of urban ecology. The focus is primarily on urban dogs, it being a keystone species, but is later related with other urban animals as well. The premise for this approach is that history has shown how certain species have persuasively coexisted with humans for so many millennia, yet a conflict happens between animals and humans and within humans over animals. It is thus logical to believe that the forces which create this conflict cannot solely be natural to the species in question and have to come from outside – from the settlement patterns of both species and the “net resultant force and dynamics”. The book looks at these dichotomies in four distinct but interrelated ways. It delves deep inside four niches which form the dynamics of any settlement – spatial, cultural, ecological and economic and explores all scales at which the “succession” and evolution of animals take place in highly urbanized settlements.