Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning PDF Author: Michel Loreau
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780198515715
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
Increasing domination of ecosystems by humans is steadily transforming them into depauperate systems. How will this loss of biodiversity affect the functioning and stability of natural and managed ecosystems? This work provides comprehensive coverage of empirical and theoretical research.

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning PDF Author: Michel Loreau
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780198515715
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
Increasing domination of ecosystems by humans is steadily transforming them into depauperate systems. How will this loss of biodiversity affect the functioning and stability of natural and managed ecosystems? This work provides comprehensive coverage of empirical and theoretical research.

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function PDF Author: Ernst-Detlef Schulze
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642580017
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 527

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Book Description
The biota of the earth is being altered at an unprecedented rate. We are witnessing wholesale exchanges of organisms among geographic areas that were once totally biologically isolated. We are seeing massive changes in landscape use that are creating even more abundant succes sional patches, reductions in population sizes, and in the worst cases, losses of species. There are many reasons for concern about these trends. One is that we unfortunately do not know in detail the conse quences of these massive alterations in terms of how the biosphere as a whole operates or even, for that matter, the functioning of localized ecosystems. We do know that the biosphere interacts strongly with the atmospheric composition, contributing to potential climate change. We also know that changes in vegetative cover greatly influence the hydrology and biochemistry ofa site or region. Our knowledge is weak in important details, however. How are the many services that ecosystems provide to humanity altered by modifications of ecosystem composition? Stated in another way, what is the role of individual species in ecosystem function? We are observing the selective as well as wholesale alteration in the composition of ecosystems. Do these alterations matter in respect to how ecosystems operate and provide services? This book represents the initial probing of this central ques tion. It will be followed by other volumes in this series examining in depth the functional role of biodiversity in various ecosystems of the world.

Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning

Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning PDF Author: Martin Solan
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191637394
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
The biological composition and richness of most of the Earth's major ecosystems are being dramatically and irreversibly transformed by anthropogenic activity. Yet, despite the vast areal extent of our oceans, the mainstay of research to-date in the biodiversity-ecosystem functioning arena has been weighted towards ecological observations and experimentation in terrestrial plant and soil systems. This book provides a framework for extending these concepts to a variety of marine systems. Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning is the first book to address the latest advances in biodiversity-function science using marine examples. It brings together contributions from the leading scientists in the field to provide an in-depth evaluation of the science, before offering a perspective on future research directions for some of the most pressing environmental issues facing society today and in the future.

Ecosystem Functioning

Ecosystem Functioning PDF Author: Kurt Jax
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521879531
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
A new and integrative analysis of the concept of ecosystem functioning, providing guidance for its application in conservation practice.

The Functional Consequences of Biodiversity

The Functional Consequences of Biodiversity PDF Author: Ann P. Kinzig
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691088225
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
Does biodiversity influence how ecosystems function? Might diversity loss affect the ability of ecosystems to deliver services of benefit to humankind? Ecosystems provide food, fuel, fiber, and drinkable water, regulate local and regional climate, and recycle needed nutrients, among other things. An ecosyste's ability to sustain functioning may depend on the number of species residing in the ecosystem--its biological diversity--but this has been a controversial hypothesis. There are many unanswered questions about how and why changes in biodiversity could alter ecosystem functioning. This volume, written by top researchers, synthesizes empirical studies on the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and extends that knowledge using a novel and coordinated set of models and theoretical approaches. These experimental and theoretical analyses demonstrate that functioning usually increases with biodiversity, but also reveals when and under what circumstances other relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning might occur. It also accounts for apparent changes in diversity-functioning relationships that emerge over time in disturbed ecosystems, thereby addressing a major controversy in the field. The volume concludes with a blueprint for moving beyond small-scale studies to regional ones--a move of enormous significance for policy and conservation but one that will entail tackling some of the most fundamental challenges in ecology. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Juan Armesto, Claudia Neuhauser, Andy Hector, Clarence Lehman, Peter Kareiva, Sharon Lawler, Peter Chesson, Teri Balser, Mary K. Firestone, Robert Holt, Michel Loreau, Johannes Knops, David Wedin, Peter Reich, Shahid Naeem, Bernhard Schmid, Jasmin Joshi, and Felix Schläpfer.

Insects and Ecosystem Function

Insects and Ecosystem Function PDF Author: W.W. Weisser
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 354074004X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 419

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Book Description
Insects are a dominant component of biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems and play a key role in mediating the relationship between plants and ecosystem processes. This volume examines their effects on ecosystem functioning, focusing mainly, but not exclusively, on herbivorous insects. Renowned authors with extensive experience in the field of plant-insect interactions, contribute to the volume using examples from their own work.

Biodiversity, Ecosystem Functioning, and Human Wellbeing

Biodiversity, Ecosystem Functioning, and Human Wellbeing PDF Author: Shahid Naeem
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199547955
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 387

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Book Description
The book starts by summarizing the development of the basic science and provides a meta-analysis that quantitatively tests several biodiversity and ecosystem functioning hypotheses.

Mechanisms Underlying the Relationship Between Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function

Mechanisms Underlying the Relationship Between Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function PDF Author:
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0081029136
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
Advances in Ecological Research, Volume 61, the latest release in this ongoing series includes specific chapters on the Mechanistic links between biodiversity and ecosystem function, A multitrophic, eco-evolutionary perspective on biodiversity–ecosystem functioning research, Linking species coexistence to ecosystem functioning - a conceptual framework from ecological first principles, Species contributions to above and below ground biodiversity effects in the Trait-Based Experiment, Plant diversity effects on element cycling, Plant diversity effects on consumer community structure, stability, and ecosystem function, Plant community assembly and the consequences for ecosystem function, and more. - Provides information that relates to a thorough understanding of the field of ecology - Deals with topical and important reviews on the physiologies, populations and communities of plants and animals

Defending Biodiversity

Defending Biodiversity PDF Author: Jonathan A. Newman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521768861
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 457

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Book Description
This interdisciplinary and accessible book will help environmentalists to make stronger arguments in favor of conserving biodiversity.

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Processes in Tropical Forests

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Processes in Tropical Forests PDF Author: Gordon H. Orians
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642797555
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
Although biologists have directed much attention to estimating the extent and causes of species losses, the consequences for ecosystem functioning have been little studied. This book examines the impact of biodiversity on ecosystem processes in tropical forests - one of the most species-rich and at the same time most endangered ecosystems on earth. It covers the relationships between biodiversity and primary production, secondary production, biogeochemical cycles, soil processes, plant life forms, responses to disturbance, and resistance to invasion. The analyses focus on the key ecological interfaces where the loss of keystone species is most likely to influence the rate and stability of ecosystem processes.