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Author: Michel Loreau Publisher: Princeton University Press ISBN: 1400834163 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 317
Book Description
The major subdisciplines of ecology--population ecology, community ecology, ecosystem ecology, and evolutionary ecology--have diverged increasingly in recent decades. What is critically needed today is an integrated, real-world approach to ecology that reflects the interdependency of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. From Populations to Ecosystems proposes an innovative theoretical synthesis that will enable us to advance our fundamental understanding of ecological systems and help us to respond to today's emerging global ecological crisis. Michel Loreau begins by explaining how the principles of population dynamics and ecosystem functioning can be merged. He then addresses key issues in the study of biodiversity and ecosystems, such as functional complementarity, food webs, stability and complexity, material cycling, and metacommunities. Loreau describes the most recent theoretical advances that link the properties of individual populations to the aggregate properties of communities, and the properties of functional groups or trophic levels to the functioning of whole ecosystems, placing special emphasis on the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Finally, he turns his attention to the controversial issue of the evolution of entire ecosystems and their properties, laying the theoretical foundations for a genuine evolutionary ecosystem ecology. From Populations to Ecosystems points the way to a much-needed synthesis in ecology, one that offers a fuller understanding of ecosystem processes in the natural world.
Author: Michel Loreau Publisher: Princeton University Press ISBN: 1400834163 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 317
Book Description
The major subdisciplines of ecology--population ecology, community ecology, ecosystem ecology, and evolutionary ecology--have diverged increasingly in recent decades. What is critically needed today is an integrated, real-world approach to ecology that reflects the interdependency of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. From Populations to Ecosystems proposes an innovative theoretical synthesis that will enable us to advance our fundamental understanding of ecological systems and help us to respond to today's emerging global ecological crisis. Michel Loreau begins by explaining how the principles of population dynamics and ecosystem functioning can be merged. He then addresses key issues in the study of biodiversity and ecosystems, such as functional complementarity, food webs, stability and complexity, material cycling, and metacommunities. Loreau describes the most recent theoretical advances that link the properties of individual populations to the aggregate properties of communities, and the properties of functional groups or trophic levels to the functioning of whole ecosystems, placing special emphasis on the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Finally, he turns his attention to the controversial issue of the evolution of entire ecosystems and their properties, laying the theoretical foundations for a genuine evolutionary ecosystem ecology. From Populations to Ecosystems points the way to a much-needed synthesis in ecology, one that offers a fuller understanding of ecosystem processes in the natural world.
Author: John Pastor Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 1444358456 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 358
Book Description
MATHEMATICAL ECOLOGY Population ecologists study how births and deaths affect the dynamics of populations and communities, while ecosystem ecologists study how species control the flux of energy and materials through food webs and ecosystems. Although all these processes occur simultaneously in nature, the mathematical frameworks bridging the two disciplines have developed independently. Consequently, this independent development of theory has impeded the cross-fertilization of population and ecosystem ecology. Using recent developments from dynamical systems theory, this advanced undergraduate/graduate level textbook shows how to bridge the two disciplines seamlessly. The book shows how bifurcations between the solutions of models can help understand regime shifts in natural populations and ecosystems once thresholds in rates of births, deaths, consumption, competition, nutrient inputs, and decay are crossed. Mathematical Ecology is essential reading for students of ecology who have had a first course in calculus and linear algebra or students in mathematics wishing to learn how dynamical systems theory can be applied to ecological problems.
Author: Clive G. Jones Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 1461517737 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 403
Book Description
I was asked to introduce this volume by examining "why a knowledge of ecosys tem functioning can contribute to understanding species activities, dynamics, and assemblages." I have found it surprisingly difficult to address this topic. On the one hand, the answer is very simple and general: because all species live in ecosystems, they are part of and dependent on ecosystem processes. It is impossible to understand the abundance and distribution of populations and the species diversity and composition of communities without a knowledge of their abiotic and biotic environments and of the fluxes of energy and mat ter through the ecosystems of which they are a part. But everyone knows this. It is what ecology is all about (e.g., Likens, 1992). It is why the discipline has retained its integrity and thrived, despite a sometimes distressing degree of bickering and chauvinism among its various subdisciplines: physiological, be havioral, population, community, and ecosystem ecology.
Author: D. L. DeAngelis Publisher: CRC Press ISBN: 1351090364 Category : Mathematics Languages : en Pages : 545
Book Description
Until fairly recently, populations were handled as homogenized averages, which made modeling feasible but which ignored the essential fact that in any population there is a great variety of individuals of different ages, sizes, and degrees of fitness. Recently, because of the increased availability of affordable computer power, approaches have been developed which are able to recognize individual differences. Individual-based models are of great use in the areas of aquatic ecology, terrestrial ecology, landscape or physiological ecology, terrestrial ecology, landscape or physiological ecology, and agriculture. This book discusses which biological problems individual-based models can solve, as well as the models' inherent limitations. It explores likely future directions of theoretical development in these models, as well as currently feasible management applications and the best mathematical approaches and computer languages to use. The book also details specific applications to theory and management.
Author: Michael Begon Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 1119279372 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 864
Book Description
A definitive guide to the depth and breadth of the ecological sciences, revised and updated The revised and updated fifth edition of Ecology: From Individuals to Ecosystems – now in full colour – offers students and practitioners a review of the ecological sciences. The previous editions of this book earned the authors the prestigious ‘Exceptional Life-time Achievement Award’ of the British Ecological Society – the aim for the fifth edition is not only to maintain standards but indeed to enhance its coverage of Ecology. In the first edition, 34 years ago, it seemed acceptable for ecologists to hold a comfortable, objective, not to say aloof position, from which the ecological communities around us were simply material for which we sought a scientific understanding. Now, we must accept the immediacy of the many environmental problems that threaten us and the responsibility of ecologists to play their full part in addressing these problems. This fifth edition addresses this challenge, with several chapters devoted entirely to applied topics, and examples of how ecological principles have been applied to problems facing us highlighted throughout the remaining nineteen chapters. Nonetheless, the authors remain wedded to the belief that environmental action can only ever be as sound as the ecological principles on which it is based. Hence, while trying harder than ever to help improve preparedness for addressing the environmental problems of the years ahead, the book remains, in its essence, an exposition of the science of ecology. This new edition incorporates the results from more than a thousand recent studies into a fully up-to-date text. Written for students of ecology, researchers and practitioners, the fifth edition of Ecology: From Individuals to Ecosystems is anessential reference to all aspects of ecology and addresses environmental problems of the future.
Author: Oswald J. Schmitz Publisher: Island Press ISBN: 9781597265980 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 184
Book Description
Meeting today’s environmental challenges requires a new way of thinking about the intricate dependencies between humans and nature. Ecology and Ecosystem Conservation provides students and other readers with a basic understanding of the fundamental principles of ecological science and their applications, offering an essential overview of the way ecology can be used to devise strategies to conserve the health and functioning of ecosystems. The book begins by exploring the need for ecological science in understanding current environmental issues and briefly discussing what ecology is and isn’t. Subsequent chapters address critical issues in conservation and show how ecological science can be applied to them. The book explores questions such as: • What is the role of ecological science in decision making? • What factors govern the assembly of ecosystems and determine their response to various stressors? • How does Earth’s climate system function and determine the distribution of life on Earth? • What factors control the size of populations? • How does fragmentation of the landscape affect the persistence of species on the landscape? • How does biological diversity influence ecosystem processes? The book closes with a final chapter that addresses the need not only to understand ecological science, but to put that science into an ecosystem conservation ethics perspective.
Author: National Research Council Publisher: National Academies ISBN: 0309039274 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 471
Book Description
Biology has entered an era in which interdisciplinary cooperation is at an all-time high, practical applications follow basic discoveries more quickly than ever before, and new technologiesâ€"recombinant DNA, scanning tunneling microscopes, and moreâ€"are revolutionizing the way science is conducted. The potential for scientific breakthroughs with significant implications for society has never been greater. Opportunities in Biology reports on the state of the new biology, taking a detailed look at the disciplines of biology; examining the advances made in medicine, agriculture, and other fields; and pointing out promising research opportunities. Authored by an expert panel representing a variety of viewpoints, this volume also offers recommendations on how to meet the infrastructure needsâ€"for funding, effective information systems, and other supportâ€"of future biology research. Exploring what has been accomplished and what is on the horizon, Opportunities in Biology is an indispensable resource for students, teachers, and researchers in all subdisciplines of biology as well as for research administrators and those in funding agencies.
Author: Publisher: Princeton University Press ISBN: 0691088616 Category : Mathematics Languages : en Pages : 300
Book Description
What makes populations stabilize? What makes them fluctuate? Are populations in complex ecosystems more stable than populations in simple ecosystems? In 1973, Robert May addressed these questions in this classic book. May investigated the mathematical roots of population dynamics and argued-counter to most current biological thinking-that complex ecosystems in themselves do not lead to population stability. Stability and Complexity in Model Ecosystems played a key role in introducing nonlinear mathematical models and the study of deterministic chaos into ecology, a role chronicled in James Gleick's book Chaos. In the quarter century since its first publication, the book's message has grown in power. Nonlinear models are now at the center of ecological thinking, and current threats to biodiversity have made questions about the role of ecosystem complexity more crucial than ever. In a new introduction, the author addresses some of the changes that have swept biology and the biological world since the book's first publication.
Author: Robert A. Pastorok Publisher: CRC Press ISBN: 1420032321 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 328
Book Description
Toxic chemicals can exert effects on all levels of the biological hierarchy, from cells to organs to organisms to populations to entire ecosystems. However, most risk assessment models express their results in terms of effects on individual organisms, without corresponding information on how populations, groups of species, or whole ecosystems may respond to chemical stressors. Ecological Modeling in Risk Assessment: Chemical Effects on Populations, Ecosystems, and Landscapes takes a new approach by compiling and evaluating models that can be used in assessing risk at the population, ecosystem, and landscape levels. The authors give an overview of the current process of ecological risk assessment for toxic chemicals and of how modeling of populations, ecosystems, and landscapes could improve the status quo. They present a classification of ecological models and explain the differences between population, ecosystem, landscape, and toxicity-extrapolation models. The authors describe the model evaluation process and define evaluation criteria. Finally, the results of the model evaluations are presented in a concise format with recommendations on modeling approaches to use now and develop further. The authors present and evaluate various models on the basis of their realism and complexity, prediction of relevant assessment endpoints, treatment of uncertainty, regulatory acceptance, resource efficiency, and other criteria. They provide models that will improve the ecological relevance of risk assessments and make data collection more cost-effective. Ecological Modeling in Risk Assessment serves as a reference for selecting and applying the best models when performing a risk assessment.
Author: Michel Loreau
Author: Michel Loreau
Author: John Pastor
Author: Clive G. Jones
Author: D. L. DeAngelis
Author: Robert M. May
Author: Michael Begon
Author: Oswald J. Schmitz
Author: National Research Council
Author: 
Author: Robert A. Pastorok