Plant Functional Diversity

Plant Functional Diversity PDF Author: Eric Garnier
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198757379
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
Biological diversity, the variety of living organisms on Earth, is traditionally viewed as the diversity of taxa, and species in particular. However, other facets of diversity also need to be considered for a comprehensive understanding of evolutionary and ecological processes. This novel book demonstrates the advantages of adopting a functional approach to diversity in order to improve our understanding of the functioning of ecological systems and theircomponents. The focus is on plants, which are major components of these systems, and for which the functional approach has led to major scientific advances over the last 20 years. PlantFunctional Diversity presents the rationale for a trait-based approach to functional diversity in the context of comparative plant ecology and agroecology. It demonstrates how this approach can be used to address a number of highly debated questions in plant ecology pertaining to plant responses to their environment, controls on plant community structure, ecosystem properties, and the services these deliver to human societies. This research level text will be of particular relevance and use tograduate students and professional researchers in plant ecology, agricultural sciences and conservation biology.

Plant Functional Diversity

Plant Functional Diversity PDF Author: Eric Garnier
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198757379
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 255

Get Book Here

Book Description
Biological diversity, the variety of living organisms on Earth, is traditionally viewed as the diversity of taxa, and species in particular. However, other facets of diversity also need to be considered for a comprehensive understanding of evolutionary and ecological processes. This novel book demonstrates the advantages of adopting a functional approach to diversity in order to improve our understanding of the functioning of ecological systems and theircomponents. The focus is on plants, which are major components of these systems, and for which the functional approach has led to major scientific advances over the last 20 years. PlantFunctional Diversity presents the rationale for a trait-based approach to functional diversity in the context of comparative plant ecology and agroecology. It demonstrates how this approach can be used to address a number of highly debated questions in plant ecology pertaining to plant responses to their environment, controls on plant community structure, ecosystem properties, and the services these deliver to human societies. This research level text will be of particular relevance and use tograduate students and professional researchers in plant ecology, agricultural sciences and conservation biology.

Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems

Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems PDF Author: Brian Harrison Walker
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521578103
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 654

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Book Description
This major new book presents a collection of essays by leading authorities who address the current state of knowledge. The chapters bring together the early results of an international scientific research program designed to address what will happen to our ability to produce food and fiber, and what effects there will be on biological diversity under rapid environmental change. This book addresses how these changes to terrestrial ecosystems will feed back to further environmental change. International in scope, this state-of-the-art assessment will interest policymakers, students and scientists interested in global change, climate change and biodiversity. Special features include descriptions of a dynamic global vegetation model, developing generic crop models and a special section on the emerging discipline of global ecology.

Quantifying Functional Biodiversity

Quantifying Functional Biodiversity PDF Author: Laura Pla
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400726481
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 103

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Book Description
This book synthesizes current methods used to quantify functional diversity, providing step-by-step examples for defining functional groups and estimating functional indices. The authors show how to compare communities, and how to analyze changes of diversity along environmental gradients, using real-life examples throughout. One section of the book demonstrates the selection of traits, and the standardization and characterization of ecosystem data. Another section presents methods used to quantify functional diversity, shows how to relate functional diversity with environmental variables and how to connect these to ecosystem services. The concluding section introduces FDiversity, a free program developed by the authors. The reader is guided through every step from software installation and basic functions, to sample and database design, to graphical projection methods, employing case study data to illustrate key concepts.

Functional Roles of Biodiversity

Functional Roles of Biodiversity PDF Author: Harold A. Mooney
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 530

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Book Description
Biodiversity refers to the three attributes of living environments: the variety of distinct ecosystems they contain; the number of species within them; and the range of genetic diversity within the populations of each of these species. This book presents a synthesis of ideas emerging from 15 biome-specific workshops exploring our current knowledge of the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem processes. The contributions offer an assessment of the consequences of human activities at the ecosystem level and provide an appropriate framework for making future policy decisions.

Environmental Monitoring and Characterization

Environmental Monitoring and Characterization PDF Author: Janick Artiola
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080491278
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 425

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Book Description
Environmental Monitoring and Characterization is an integrated, hands-on resource for monitoring all aspects of the environment. Sample collection methods and relevant physical, chemical and biological processes necessary to characterize the environment are brought together in twenty chapters which cover: sample collection methods, monitoring terrestrial, aquatic and air environments, and relevant chemical, physical and biological processes and contaminants. This book will serve as an authoritative reference for advanced students and environmental professionals. - Examines the integration of physical, chemical, and biological processes - Emphasizes field methods and real-time data acquisition, made more accessible with case studies, problems, calculations, and questions - Includes four color illustrations throughout the text - Brings together the concepts of environmental monitoring and site characterization

Handbook of Trait-Based Ecology

Handbook of Trait-Based Ecology PDF Author: Francesco de Bello
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108472915
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 311

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Book Description
Trait-based ecology is rapidly expanding. This comprehensive and accessible guide covers the main concepts and tools in functional ecology.

Terrestrial Ecosystems in a Changing World

Terrestrial Ecosystems in a Changing World PDF Author: Josep G. Canadell
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540327304
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
This book examines the impacts of global change on terrestrial ecosystems. Emphasis is placed on impacts of atmospheric, climate and land use change, and the book discusses the future challenges and the scientific frameworks to address them. Finally, the book explores fundamental new research developments and the need for stronger integration of natural and human dimensions in addressing the challenge of global change.

Resource Strategies of Wild Plants

Resource Strategies of Wild Plants PDF Author: Joseph M. Craine
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400830648
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Over millions of years, terrestrial plants have competed for limited resources, defended themselves against herbivores, and resisted a myriad of environmental stresses. These struggles have helped generate more than a quarter million terrestrial plant species, each possessing a unique strategy for success. Yet, as Resource Strategies of Wild Plants demonstrates, the constraints on plant growth are universal enough that a few survival strategies hold true for all seed-producing plants. This book describes the five major strategies of growth for terrestrial plants, details how plants succeed when resources are scarce, delves into the history of research into plant strategies, and resets the foundational understanding of ecological processes. Drawing from recent findings in plant-herbivore interactions, ecosystem ecology, and evolutionary ecology, Joseph Craine explains how plants attain available nutrients, withstand the immense stresses of drying soils, and flourish in the race for light. He shows that the competition for resources has shaped plant evolution in newly discovered ways, while the scarcity of such resources has affected how plants interact with herbivores, wind, fire, and frost. An understanding of the major resource strategies of wild plants remains central to learning about the ecology of plant communities, global changes in the biosphere, methods for species conservation, and the evolution of life on earth.

Root Ecology

Root Ecology PDF Author: Hans de Kroon
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9783540001850
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 424

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Book Description
In the course of evolution, a great variety of root systems have learned to overcome the many physical, biochemical and biological problems brought about by soil. This development has made them a fascinating object of scientific study. This volume gives an overview of how roots have adapted to the soil environment and which roles they play in the soil ecosystem. The text describes the form and function of roots, their temporal and spatial distribution, and their turnover rate in various ecosystems. Subsequently, a physiological background is provided for basic functions, such as carbon acquisition, water and solute movement, and for their responses to three major abiotic stresses, i.e. hard soil structure, drought and flooding. The volume concludes with the interactions of roots with other organisms of the complex soil ecosystem, including symbiosis, competition, and the function of roots as a food source.

Community Ecology

Community Ecology PDF Author: Gary G. Mittelbach
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192572865
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
Community ecology has undergone a transformation in recent years, from a discipline largely focused on processes occurring within a local area to a discipline encompassing a much richer domain of study, including the linkages between communities separated in space (metacommunity dynamics), niche and neutral theory, the interplay between ecology and evolution (eco-evolutionary dynamics), and the influence of historical and regional processes in shaping patterns of biodiversity. To fully understand these new developments, however, students continue to need a strong foundation in the study of species interactions and how these interactions are assembled into food webs and other ecological networks. This new edition fulfils the book's original aims, both as a much-needed up-to-date and accessible introduction to modern community ecology, and in identifying the important questions that are yet to be answered. This research-driven textbook introduces state-of-the-art community ecology to a new generation of students, adopting reasoned and balanced perspectives on as-yet-unresolved issues. Community Ecology is suitable for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers seeking a broad, up-to-date coverage of ecological concepts at the community level.