Resolving Ecosystem Complexity (MPB-47).

Resolving Ecosystem Complexity (MPB-47). PDF Author: Oswald J. Schmitz
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Resolving Ecosystem Complexity (MPB-47).

Resolving Ecosystem Complexity (MPB-47). PDF Author: Oswald J. Schmitz
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description


Resolving Ecosystem Complexity

Resolving Ecosystem Complexity PDF Author: Oswald J. Schmitz
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400834171
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
An ecosystem's complexity develops from the vast numbers of species interacting in ecological communities. The nature of these interactions, in turn, depends on environmental context. How do these components together influence an ecosystem's behavior as a whole? Can ecologists resolve an ecosystem's complexity in order to predict its response to disturbances? Resolving Ecosystem Complexity develops a framework for anticipating the ways environmental context determines the functioning of ecosystems. Oswald Schmitz addresses the critical questions of contemporary ecology: How should an ecosystem be conceptualized to blend its biotic and biophysical components? How should evolutionary ecological principles be used to derive an operational understanding of complex, adaptive ecosystems? How should the relationship between the functional biotic diversity of ecosystems and their properties be understood? Schmitz begins with the universal concept that ecosystems are comprised of species that consume resources and which are then resources for other consumers. From this, he deduces a fundamental rule or evolutionary ecological mechanism for explaining context dependency: individuals within a species trade off foraging gains against the risk of being consumed by predators. Through empirical examples, Schmitz illustrates how species use evolutionary ecological strategies to negotiate a predator-eat-predator world, and he suggests that the implications of species trade-offs are critical to making ecology a predictive science. Bridging the traditional divides between individuals, populations, and communities in ecology, Resolving Ecosystem Complexity builds a systematic foundation for thinking about natural systems.

Global Resources and the Environment

Global Resources and the Environment PDF Author: Chadwick Dearing Oliver
Publisher:
ISBN: 1107172934
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 547

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Book Description
An illustrated overview of the sustainability of natural resources and the social and environmental issues surrounding their distribution and demand.

Ecological Niches and Geographic Distributions (MPB-49)

Ecological Niches and Geographic Distributions (MPB-49) PDF Author: A. Townsend Peterson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691136882
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
Terminology, conceptual overview, biogeography, modeling.

Food Webs (MPB-50)

Food Webs (MPB-50) PDF Author: Kevin S. McCann
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691134189
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
This book synthesizes and reconciles modern and classical perspectives into a general unified theory.

Self-Organization in Complex Ecosystems. (MPB-42)

Self-Organization in Complex Ecosystems. (MPB-42) PDF Author: Ricard V. Solé
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691070407
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 391

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Book Description
Describing a theoretical view of ecosystems based on how they self-organise to produce complex patterns, this book focuses on very simple models that despite their simplicity encapsulate fundamental properties of how ecosystems work.

A Theory of Global Biodiversity (MPB-60)

A Theory of Global Biodiversity (MPB-60) PDF Author: Boris Worm
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 069115483X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
The number of species found at a given point on the planet varies by orders of magnitude, yet large-scale gradients in biodiversity appear to follow some very general patterns. Little mechanistic theory has been formulated to explain the emergence of observed gradients of biodiversity both on land and in the oceans. Based on a comprehensive empirical synthesis of global patterns of species diversity and their drivers, A Theory of Global Biodiversity develops and applies a new theory that can predict such patterns from few underlying processes. The authors show that global patterns of biodiversity fall into four consistent categories, according to where species live: on land or in coastal, pelagic, and deep ocean habitats. The fact that most species groups, from bacteria to whales, appear to follow similar biogeographic patterns of richness within these habitats points toward some underlying structuring principles. Based on empirical analyses of environmental correlates across these habitats, the authors combine aspects of neutral, metabolic, and niche theory into one unifying framework. Applying it to model terrestrial and marine realms, the authors demonstrate that a relatively simple theory that incorporates temperature and community size as driving variables is able to explain divergent patterns of species richness at a global scale. Integrating ecological and evolutionary perspectives, A Theory of Global Biodiversity yields surprising insights into the fundamental mechanisms that shape the distribution of life on our planet.

The Ecosystem Approach

The Ecosystem Approach PDF Author: David Waltner-Toews
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231507208
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 674

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Book Description
Is sustainable development a workable solution for today's environmental problems? Is it scientifically defensible? Best known for applying ecological theory to the engineering problems of everyday life, the late scholar James J. Kay was a leader in the study of social and ecological complexity and the thermodynamics of ecosystems. Drawing from his immensely important work, as well as the research of his students and colleagues, The Ecosystem Approach is a guide to the aspects of complex systems theories relevant to social-ecological management. Advancing a methodology that is rooted in good theory and practice, this book features case studies conducted in the Arctic and Africa, in Canada and Kathmandu, and in the Peruvian Amazon, Chesapeake Bay, and Chennai, India. Applying a systems approach to concrete environmental issues, this volume is geared toward scientists, engineers, and sustainable development scholars and practitioners who are attuned to the ideas of the Resilience Alliance-an international group of scientists who take a more holistic view of ecology and environmental problem-solving. Chapters cover the origins and rebirth of the ecosystem approach in ecology; the bridging of science and values; the challenge of governance in complex systems; systemic and participatory approaches to management; and the place for cultural diversity in the quest for global sustainability.

Time in Ecology

Time in Ecology PDF Author: Eric Post
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691182353
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
Ecologists traditionally regard time as part of the background against which ecological interactions play out. In this book, Eric Post argues that time should be treated as a resource used by organisms for growth, maintenance, and offspring production. Post uses insights from phenology—the study of the timing of life-cycle events—to present a theoretical framework of time in ecology that casts long-standing observations in the field in an entirely new light. Combining conceptual models with field data, he demonstrates how phenological advances, delays, and stasis, documented in an array of taxa, can all be viewed as adaptive components of an organism’s strategic use of time. Post shows how the allocation of time by individual organisms to critical life history stages is not only a response to environmental cues but also an important driver of interactions at the population, species, and community levels. To demonstrate the applications of this exciting new conceptual framework, Time in Ecology uses meta-analyses of previous studies as well as Post’s original data on the phenological dynamics of plants, caribou, and muskoxen in Greenland.

Routledge Handbook of Forest Ecology

Routledge Handbook of Forest Ecology PDF Author: Kelvin S.-H. Peh
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040130313
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 721

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Book Description
The Routledge Handbook of Forest Ecology is an essential resource covering all aspects of forest ecology from a global perspective. This new edition has been fully revised and updated throughout to reflect the profound and unprecedented changes in both forests and climates since the publication of the first edition in 2015. The handbook reflects key developments in the field of forest dynamics and large-scale processes, as well as the changes that are now manifesting in different types of forests across the globe as a result of climate change. It covers both natural and managed forests, from boreal, temperate, sub-tropical and tropical regions of the world. In this second edition, the breadth of the handbook has been expanded with new chapters on mountain forests, monodominance, pathogens and invertebrate pests and amphibians and reptiles in forest ecosystems. Original author teams are complemented by the addition of new authors to offer fresh perspectives, and the second edition places greater emphasis on the applicability of each topic at a global level. The handbook is divided into seven parts: • Part I: The forest • Part II: Forest dynamics • Part III: Forest flora and fauna • Part IV: Energy and nutrients • Part V: Forest conservation and management • Part VI: Forest and climate change • Part VII: Human ecology The Routledge Handbook of Forest Ecology is an essential reference text for a wide range of students and scholars of ecology, environmental science, forestry, geography and natural resource management.