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Summaries Contents Chapter 1 Shrinking worlds: islands and environmental change Introducing The Environmental Web Connected planet, divided world Troubled waters: the predicament of islands Global environmental change: substantiating the charges Sustainability in a dynamic world Chapter 2 Island life: adventures in isolation and openness Introduction Tropical island Edens Threats to island life Lessons from small islands Environmentalism and the idea of 'Eden' Islands and the origin of species The vulnerability of island life Island ecosystems and island social systems Coevolutikon of ecosystems and social systems Chapter 3 Weathering extremes: the challenge of dynamic systems Steering through stormy weather Reef wars: catastrophe and the coral-seaweed competition Sustainability and ecosystem dynamics Heavy weather: agriculture and climatic variability Global governance: obligations in a connected world Chapter 4 Island Antarctica Introduction Early 'discoveries' of Antarctica The discovery of 'real' Antarctica Antarctic geography A short interlude - using the Internet for research Antarctic climate How Antarctica became ice covered Conclusions Chapter 5 Perception and reality - the 'invisible' ecosystem Introduction The Southern Ocean Antarctic habitats Ecosystems from top to bottom: leopards and leopard seals The 'grass of the sea' Krill - an 'invisible' herbivore The blue whale - a marine anteater? Production and biomass - putting some numbers into the ecosystem The ice-ocean ecosystem Planet engineering with plankton Chapter 6 Exploitation to the endgame: Antarctic governance Introduction Exploitation continues apace Understanding the impacts of unsustainable developments: The Discovery Investigations The International Whaling Commission A modern land rush: territorial conflicts in Antarctica The post-war human invasion Antarctic tempers rise Peace breaks out: The International Geophysical Year of 1957-58 The Antarctic Treaty The failure of the Convention on the Regulation of Antractic Mineral Resource Activities (CRAMRA) Antarctica today Links The World Factbook 2004 The World Factbook 2004 (Antarctica) Alliance of Small Island States Small Island Developing States US Department of State: Handbook of the Antarctic Treaty System The Antarctic Treaty Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research IUCN Red List of Threatened Species British Antarctic Survey CCAMLR (Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources) CDIAC (Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center) Greenpeace International International Whaling Commission Round Earth: Flat Maps UNEP Islands Web Site: Biodiversity resources in small island developing states World Wildlife Fund All Routes Block 1 Links Back to OU |
16th January Decided to do a BLOG. 15th January 2005 It is impossible to get 'ahead' with this course, as the student website doesn't open until 27th - therefore, we cannot do the 'Activities'. However, until the website is 'unlocked' for students, there is a 'taster version' available to all - and it's possible to do the first Activity from there. Activity 1.1 Part A Task 1 (1) Find: the population of the Maldives the total length of the coastline We are told that we could first take a look at the OU ROUTES page and do a search for "island". OK. (This is kind of babying - but perhaps there are some students who aren't all that familiar with surfing the web and using search engines). Alright. As forecast, the search results include: the United Nations Sustainable Development site the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) site, which provides basic data on islands, including the Maldives and the World Factbook site, published by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as a reference source for the US Government, which provides fairly detailed statistics and information about every nation in the world Choose the most promising. Mmm - I'll try the SIDS site first. OK, Population = 244,989 Total length of coastline = 644 km Now, I should tap these figures into the boxes - but as this is a 'taster', perhaps I'll wait until the 'actual' website opens - maybe you get points or something. (Of course, it's not all going to be as easy as this! :)) Task 2 (Now using a search engine)
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