Third-year and postgraduate courses in physical geography, environmental studies and environmental science, particularly course units in geomorphology, climatology, pedology, biogeography, ecology; landscape ecology, GIS and remote sensing, and environmental modelling.  This is the first book of its kind, focusing on topographic influences on environmental components. As a comprehensive introduction to the subject, Topography and the environment discusses the main facets of topography, including new and old ideas, models, methods, and theories, and identifies four different approaches to topography as an environmental factor: the physical ground surface; all the features of the Earth's surface, including the human-made; topographically based modelling, developed in association with geographical information systems (GIS); and the idea of place as a human construct. The authors then explore individual topographic influences on environmental elements such as climate, water, soils and plants. Accessible and wide ranging, it helps students understand the intrinsic links and the crossdisciplinary nature of physical systems and processes.