William J. Lacy - Böcker

The 25 years up to 1999 have seen a tremendous growth in the application of statistical and modelling techniques to ecological problems. This expansion has been accelerated by the increasing availability of software, books and computing power. However, the suitability of some of these approaches to data analysis, in a relatively knowledge-poor discipline such as ecology, can be questioned on grounds of appropriateness and robustness. One reason for these concerns is that many ecological problems are at best poorly defined and most lack algorithmic solutions. Machine learning methods offer the potential for a different approach to these difficult problems. One definition of machine learning is that it is concerned with inducing knowledge from data, where the data could be patterns in a game of chess or patterns in the species composition of natural communities. Unfortunately ecologists have little experience of these relatively recent and novel approaches to understanding data.This is a problem that is made more complex because there is no simple taxonomy of machine learning methods and there are relatively few examples in the mainstream ecological literature to encourage exploration. This text is aimed at introducing machine learning methods to a readership of professional ecologists. All but one of the chapters have been written by ecologists and biologists who highlight the application of a particular method to a particular class of problem. Examples include the identification of species, optimal mate choice, predicting species distributions and modelling landscape features. A group of experienced machine learning workers, who have become interested in environmental problems, have written a chapter that demonstrates how machine learning methods can be used to discover equations that describe the dynamic behaviour of ecological systems. The final chapter reviews "real learning", offering the potential for greater dialogue between the biological and machine learning communities.

Over the last decade and a half, an environmental conference series has emerged to become one of the major international forums on the chemical aspects of environmental protection. The forum is called Chemistry for the Protection of the Environment CCPE). The sponsors of this CPE series have included the Chemical Societies of Poland, France, Belgium, Italy, and the U.S.A., the European Federation of Chemical Societies, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Society of Testing and Materials, the International Ozone Association, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the Ministries of the Environment of Poland, France, Belgium, and Italy, US Environmental Protection Agency, more than twenty universities and institutes of higher learning, and five academies of sciences. The first meeting in this series was organized in 1976 at the Marie Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin, Poland. The conference dealt with various physicochemical methodologies for water and wastewater treatment research projects that were jointly sponsored by US EPA and Poland.

Over the past two decades, this environmental conference series has emerged to be­ come one of the major international forums on the chemical aspects of environmental pro­ tection. The forum is called Chemistry for the Protection of the Environment (CPE). The sponsors of this CPE series have included the Chemical Societies of Poland, France, Bel­ gium, Italy, Egypt, and the U.S.A., the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Society of Testing and Materials, the International Ozone Association, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the Ministries of the Environment of Poland, France, Belgium, and Italy, U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, more than twenty universities and institutes of higher learning, and five national academies of sciences. The first meeting in this series was organized by Prof. Pawlowski and Dr. Lacy in 1976 at the Marie Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin, Poland. The conference dealt with various physicochemical methodologies for water and wastewater treatment research projects that were jointly sponsored by U.S. EPA and Poland.