Homozygous (PiZZ phenotype1) α1-antitrypsin (α1-AT) deficiency is a relatively common autosomal codominant genetic disorder, affecting 1 in 1,600–3,000 live births in most populations of Northern European ancestry [1, 2]. Although α1-AT deficiency liver disease develops in only a subset of PiZZ individuals, this condition represents the most common metabolic cause of liver disease and liver transplantation in children [3]. It can also cause chronic liver disease, hepatocellular carcinoma, and premature pulmonary emphysema in adults [3, 4].

Ecosystem modeling, a pillar of the systems ecology paradigm (SEP), addresses questions such as, how much carbon and nitrogen are cycled within ecological sites, landscapes, or indeed the earth system? Or how are human activities modifying these flows? Modeling, when coupled with field and laboratory studies, represents the essence of the SEP in that they embody accumulated knowledge and generate hypotheses to test understanding of ecosystem processes and behavior. Initially, ecosystem models were primarily used to improve our understanding about how biophysical aspects of ecosystems operate. However, current ecosystem models are widely used to make accurate predictions about how large-scale phenomena such as climate change and management practices impact ecosystem dynamics and assess potential effects of these changes on economic activity and policy making. In sum, ecosystem models embedded in the SEP remain our best mechanism to integrate diverse types of knowledge regarding how the earth system functions and to make quantitative predictions that can be confronted with observations of reality. Modeling efforts discussed are the Century ecosystem model, DayCent ecosystem model, Grassland Ecosystem Model ELM, food web models, Savanna model, agent-based and coupled systems modeling, and Bayesian modeling.

Parental depression is associated with maladaptive cognitive, academic, socio-emotional and psychological outcomes in offspring. Children with a depressed parent are three to four times more likely to be diagnosed with depression than children with non-depressed parents, making parental depression a significant risk factor in the onset of childhood depression. Preventive interventions aim to reduce the likelihood that depressive symptoms will onset by decreasing risk factors and increasing protective factors. In family-based preventive interventions for children who are at risk for depression due to parental depressive symptoms, clinicians aim to build resilience in children by addressing risk and protective factors. Such intervention programs have been shown to effectively reduce depressive symptoms in children. This chapter summarizes the effects of parental depression on children, risk and protective factors associated with resilience and the family-based preventive interventions used to mitigate the effects of parental depression on children and presents an example case study highlighting one of these preventive interventions. Finally, the chapter reviews essential clinical competencies for productive work in family-based depression preventive interventions.

The systems ecology paradigm (SEP) emerged in the late 1960s at a time when societies throughout the world were beginning to recognize that our environment and natural resources were being threatened by their activities. Management practices in rangelands, forests, agricultural lands, wetlands, and waterways were inadequate to meet the challenges of deteriorating environments, many of which were caused by the practices themselves. Scientists recognized an immediate need was developing a knowledge base about how ecosystems function. That effort took nearly two decades (1980s) and concluded with the acceptance that humans were components of ecosystems, not just controllers and manipulators of lands and waters. While ecosystem science was being developed, management options based on ecosystem science were shifting dramatically toward practices supporting sustainability, resilience, ecosystem services, biodiversity, and local to global interconnections of ecosystems. Emerging from the new knowledge about how ecosystems function and the application of the systems ecology approach was the collaboration of scientists, managers, decision-makers, and stakeholders locally and globally. Today’s concepts of ecosystem management and related ideas, such as sustainable agriculture, ecosystem health and restoration, consequences of and adaptation to climate change, and many other important local to global challenges are a direct result of the SEP.