Ecosystem Organization of a Complex Landscape

Ecosystem Organization of a Complex Landscape PDF Author: Otto Fränzle
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540758119
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 399

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Book Description
This volume is an essential text for scientists from a huge variety of disciplines, from ecologists to geographers and soil scientists. It provides a synthesis of long-term ecological analyses in the Bornhöved Lake District of northern Germany. The emphasis is on the comprehensive assessment of matter and energy fluxes. These operate in and between the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems on the one hand, and on transdisciplinary landscape planning approaches on the other.

Ecosystem Organization of a Complex Landscape

Ecosystem Organization of a Complex Landscape PDF Author: Otto Fränzle
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540758119
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 399

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume is an essential text for scientists from a huge variety of disciplines, from ecologists to geographers and soil scientists. It provides a synthesis of long-term ecological analyses in the Bornhöved Lake District of northern Germany. The emphasis is on the comprehensive assessment of matter and energy fluxes. These operate in and between the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems on the one hand, and on transdisciplinary landscape planning approaches on the other.

Discontinuities in Ecosystems and Other Complex Systems

Discontinuities in Ecosystems and Other Complex Systems PDF Author: Craig R. Allen
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231516827
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
Following the publication of C. S. Holling's seminal work on the relationship between animal body mass patterns and scale-specific landscape structure, ecologists began to explore the theoretical and applied consequences of discontinuities in ecosystems and other complex systems. Are ecosystems and their components continuously distributed and do they adhere to scaling laws, or are they discontinuous and more complex than early models would have us believe? The resulting propositions over the structure of complex systems sparked an ongoing debate regarding the mechanisms generating discontinuities and the statistical methods used for their detection. This volume takes the view that ecosystems and other complex systems are inherently discontinuous and that such fields as ecology, economics, and urban studies greatly benefit from this paradigm shift. Contributors present evidence of the ubiquity of discontinuous distributions in ecological and social systems and how their analysis provides insight into complex phenomena. The book is divided into three sections. The first focuses on background material and contrasting views concerning the discontinuous organization of complex systems. The second discusses discontinuous patterns detected in a number of different systems and methods for detecting them, and the third touches on the potential significance of discontinuities in complex systems. Science is still dominated by a focus on power laws, but the contributors to this volume are convinced power laws often mask the interesting dynamics of systems and that those dynamics are best revealed by investigating deviations from assumed power law distributions. In 2008, a grand conference on resilience was held in Stockholm, hosting 600 participants from around the world. There are now three big centers established with resilience, the most recent one being the Stockholm Resilience Center, with others in Australia (an international coral reef center), Arizona State University's new sustainability center focusing on anthropology, and Canada's emerging social sciences and resilience center. Activity continues to flourish in Alaska, South Africa, and the Untied Kingdom, and a new center is forming in Uruguay.

Development and Perspectives of Landscape Ecology

Development and Perspectives of Landscape Ecology PDF Author: O. Bastian
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402009194
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 534

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Book Description
The book gives a fundamental representation of landscape ecology, which proves to be a young, but an interesting and very important trans-disciplinary science for the solution of environmental problems. Both the theoretical basis and practical application of landscape ecology are considered. Great value is attached to describe approaches and experiences from Germany and Central Europe, and to discuss them in an international context. The book is addressed to landscape planners, managers, conservationists and architects, to biologists and geographers, to colleges, universities, authorities, and to the general public being interested in ecological issues. Among the themes are e. g. the roots and the position of landscape ecology, problems of scale and dimension, landscape analysis, diagnosis, potentials, evaluation, change, prognosis, tools like remote sensing and information systems, spatial planning and nature conservation.

Complex Ecology

Complex Ecology PDF Author: Charles G. Curtin
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108244335
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 595

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Book Description
From climate change to species extinction, humanity is confronted with an increasing array of societal and environmental challenges that defy simple quantifiable solutions. Complexity-based ecology provides a new paradigm for ecologists and conservationists keen to embrace the uncertainty that is pressed upon us. This book presents key research papers chosen by some sixty scholars from various continents, across a diverse span of sub-disciplines. The papers are set alongside first person commentary from many of the seminal voices involved, offering unprecedented access to experts' viewpoints. The works assembled also shed light on the process of science in general, showing how the shifting of wider perspectives allows for new ideas to take hold. Ideal for undergraduate and advanced students of ecology and conservation, their educators and those working across allied fields, this is the first book of its kind to focus on complexity-based approaches and provides a benchmark for future collected volumes.

Long-Term Ecological Research

Long-Term Ecological Research PDF Author: Felix Müller
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9048187826
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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Book Description
Ecosystems change on a multitude of spatial and temporal scales. While analyses of ecosystem dynamics in short timespans have received much attention, the impacts of changes in the long term have, to a great extent, been neglected, provoking a lack of information and methodological know-how in this area. This book fills this gap by focusing on studies dealing with the investigation of complex, long-term ecological processes with regard to global change, the development of early warning systems, and the acquisition of a scientific basis for strategic conservation management and the sustainable use of ecosystems. Within this book, theoretical ecological questions of long-term processes, as well as an international dimension of long-term monitoring, observations and research are brought together. The outcome is an overview on different aspects of long-term ecological research. Aquatic, as well as terrestrial ecosystems are represented.

Self-Organization in Complex Ecosystems

Self-Organization in Complex Ecosystems PDF Author: Ricard Solé
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 140084293X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
Can physics be an appropriate framework for the understanding of ecological science? Most ecologists would probably agree that there is little relation between the complexity of natural ecosystems and the simplicity of any example derived from Newtonian physics. Though ecologists have long been interested in concepts originally developed by statistical physicists and later applied to explain everything from why stock markets crash to why rivers develop particular branching patterns, applying such concepts to ecosystems has remained a challenge. Self-Organization in Complex Ecosystems is the first book to clearly synthesize what we have learned about the usefulness of tools from statistical physics in ecology. Ricard Solé and Jordi Bascompte provide a comprehensive introduction to complex systems theory, and ask: do universal laws shape the structure of ecosystems, at least at some scales? They offer the most compelling array of theoretical evidence to date of the potential of nonlinear ecological interactions to generate nonrandom, self-organized patterns at all levels. Tackling classic ecological questions--from population dynamics to biodiversity to macroevolution--the book's novel presentation of theories and data shows the power of statistical physics and complexity in ecology. Self-Organization in Complex Ecosystems will be a staple resource for years to come for ecologists interested in complex systems theory as well as mathematicians and physicists interested in ecology.

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.

Multifunctional Land Use

Multifunctional Land Use PDF Author: Ülo Mander
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540367632
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description
This book is a major contribution to the debate on future land development strategies, as well as helping to supporting land use decision making at all levels. Scientists from across Europe installed the Landscape Tomorrow network to prepare for upcoming challenges in research on sustainable land development. The book’s interdisciplinary perspective analyses, among other things, the general principles of land use multifunctionality and reports on a variety of success stories.

Handbook of Ecological Indicators for Assessment of Ecosystem Health

Handbook of Ecological Indicators for Assessment of Ecosystem Health PDF Author: Sven Jørgensen
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1439858519
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
Continuing in the tradition of its bestselling predecessor, the Handbook of Ecological Indicators for Assessment of Ecosystem Health, Second Edition brings together world-class editors and contributors who have been at the forefront of ecosystem health assessment research for decades, to provide a sound approach to environmental management and sust

Principles and Methods in Landscape Ecology

Principles and Methods in Landscape Ecology PDF Author: Almo Farina
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402055358
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 412

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Book Description
Landscape ecology is an integrative and multi-disciplinary science and Principles and Methods in Landscape Ecology reconciles the geological, botanical, zoological and human perspectives. In particular ,new paradigms and theories such as percolation, metapopulation, hierarchies, source-sink models have been integrated in this last edition with the recent theories on bio-complexity, information and cognitive sciences. Methods for studying landscape ecology are covered including spatial geometry models and remote sensing in order to create confidence toward techniques and approaches that require a high experience and long-time dedication. Principles and Methods in Landscape Ecology is a textbook useful to present the landscape in a multi-vision perspective for undergraduate and graduate students of biology, ecology, geography, forestry, agronomy, landscape architecture and planning. Sociology, economics, history, archaeology, anthropology, ecological psychology are some sciences that can benefit of the holistic vision offered by this texbook.