Resolving Ecosystem Complexity
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Resolving Ecosystem Complexity
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Author : Oswald J. Schmitz
language : en
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Release Date : 2010-07-01
Resolving Ecosystem Complexity written by Oswald J. Schmitz and has been published by Princeton University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2010-07-01 with Nature categories.
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.
Resolving Ecosystem Complexity Mpb 47
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Author : Oswald J. Schmitz
language : en
Publisher:
Release Date : 2013
Resolving Ecosystem Complexity Mpb 47 written by Oswald J. Schmitz and has been published by this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2013 with categories.
Ecology And Ecosystem Conservation
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Author : Oswald J. Schmitz
language : en
Publisher: Island Press
Release Date : 2013-03-19
Ecology And Ecosystem Conservation written by Oswald J. Schmitz and has been published by Island Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2013-03-19 with Science categories.
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.
The Theory Of Ecological Communities
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Author : Mark Vellend
language : en
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Release Date : 2020-09-15
The Theory Of Ecological Communities written by Mark Vellend and has been published by Princeton University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2020-09-15 with Science categories.
A plethora of different theories, models, and concepts make up the field of community ecology. Amid this vast body of work, is it possible to build one general theory of ecological communities? What other scientific areas might serve as a guiding framework? As it turns out, the core focus of community ecology—understanding patterns of diversity and composition of biological variants across space and time—is shared by evolutionary biology and its very coherent conceptual framework, population genetics theory. The Theory of Ecological Communities takes this as a starting point to pull together community ecology's various perspectives into a more unified whole. Mark Vellend builds a theory of ecological communities based on four overarching processes: selection among species, drift, dispersal, and speciation. These are analogues of the four central processes in population genetics theory—selection within species, drift, gene flow, and mutation—and together they subsume almost all of the many dozens of more specific models built to describe the dynamics of communities of interacting species. The result is a theory that allows the effects of many low-level processes, such as competition, facilitation, predation, disturbance, stress, succession, colonization, and local extinction to be understood as the underpinnings of high-level processes with widely applicable consequences for ecological communities. Reframing the numerous existing ideas in community ecology, The Theory of Ecological Communities provides a new way for thinking about biological composition and diversity.
Environmental Problem Solving
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Author : Alan Miller
language : en
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Release Date : 2013-12-01
Environmental Problem Solving written by Alan Miller and has been published by Springer Science & Business Media this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2013-12-01 with Science categories.
Human influences create both environmental problems and barriers to effective policy aimed at addressing those problems. In effect, environmental managers manage people as much as they manage the environment. Therefore, they must gain an understanding of the psychological and sociopolitical dimensions of environmental problems that they are attempting to resolve. In Environmental Problem Solving, Alan Miller reappraises conventional analyses of environmental problems using lessons from the psychosocial disciplines. He combines the disciplines of ecology, political sociology and psychology to produce a more adaptive approach to problem-solving that is specifically geared toward the environmetal field. Numerous case studies demonstrate the practical application of theory in a way that is useful to technical and scientific professionals as well as to policy makers and planners. Alan Miller is Professor of Psychology at the University of New Brunswick.
Relentless Evolution
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Author : John N. Thompson
language : en
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Release Date : 2013-04-15
Relentless Evolution written by John N. Thompson and has been published by University of Chicago Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2013-04-15 with Science categories.
At a glance, most species seem adapted to the environment in which they live. Yet species relentlessly evolve, and populations within species evolve in different ways. Evolution, as it turns out, is much more dynamic than biologists realized just a few decades ago. In Relentless Evolution, John N. Thompson explores why adaptive evolution never ceases and why natural selection acts on species in so many different ways. Thompson presents a view of life in which ongoing evolution is essential and inevitable. Each chapter focuses on one of the major problems in adaptive evolution: How fast is evolution? How strong is natural selection? How do species co-opt the genomes of other species as they adapt? Why does adaptive evolution sometimes lead to more, rather than less, genetic variation within populations? How does the process of adaptation drive the evolution of new species? How does coevolution among species continually reshape the web of life? And, more generally, how are our views of adaptive evolution changing? Relentless Evolution draws on studies of all the major forms of life—from microbes that evolve in microcosms within a few weeks to plants and animals that sometimes evolve in detectable ways within a few decades. It shows evolution not as a slow and stately process, but rather as a continual and sometimes frenetic process that favors yet more evolutionary change.
State Of Knowledge Of Soil Biodiversity Status Challenges And Potentialities
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Author : Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
language : en
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
Release Date : 2020-12-04
State Of Knowledge Of Soil Biodiversity Status Challenges And Potentialities written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and has been published by Food & Agriculture Org. this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2020-12-04 with Technology & Engineering categories.
There is increasing attention to the importance of biodiversity for food security and nutrition, especially above-ground biodiversity such as plants and animals. However, less attention is being paid to the biodiversity beneath our feet, soil biodiversity, which drives many processes that produce food or purify soil and water. This report is the result of an inclusive process involving more than 300 scientists from around the world under the auspices of the FAO’s Global Soil Partnership and its Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative, and the European Commission. It presents concisely the state of knowledge on soil biodiversity, the threats to it, and the solutions that soil biodiversity can provide to problems in different fields. It also represents a valuable contribution to raising awareness of the importance of soil biodiversity and highlighting its role in finding solutions to today's global threats.
Global Resources And The Environment
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Author : Chadwick Dearing Oliver
language : en
Publisher:
Release Date : 2018-06-21
Global Resources And The Environment written by Chadwick Dearing Oliver and has been published by this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2018-06-21 with Business & Economics categories.
An illustrated overview of the sustainability of natural resources and the social and environmental issues surrounding their distribution and demand.
Diversity Of Functional Traits And Interactions
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Author : Akihiko Mougi
language : en
Publisher: Springer Nature
Release Date : 2020-10-30
Diversity Of Functional Traits And Interactions written by Akihiko Mougi and has been published by Springer Nature this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2020-10-30 with Science categories.
This book presents new theoretical perspectives on ecological community dynamics and in so doing casts fresh light on the enduring complexity–stability debate. Real ecological communities do not simply comprise diverse species and interactions, which respectively represented the nodes and links of the classic network theory. Rather, they are characterized by different types of complexity, and this book explains how this diversity of complexity is key to understanding the dynamics of ecological communities. It is shown how various properties in natural communities, such as life history, adaptation, density dependence, sex, interaction types, space, functional traits, and microbial processes, can dramatically increase the complexity in ecological communities. Furthermore, innovative methods are introduced that may be applied to cast light on very complex communities. With each chapter presenting the latest advances and approaches, the book sets the direction for future research on ecological community dynamics. It will be a “must read” for researchers and students in the field of ecology.
The Future Of Ethics
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Author : Willis Jenkins
language : en
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
Release Date : 2013-10-24
The Future Of Ethics written by Willis Jenkins and has been published by Georgetown University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2013-10-24 with Religion categories.
The Future of Ethics interprets the big questions of sustainability and social justice through the practical problems arising from humanity’s increasing power over basic systems of life. What does climate change mean for our obligations to future generations? How can the sciences work with pluralist cultures in ways that will help societies learn from ecological change? Traditional religious ethics examines texts and traditions and highlights principles and virtuous behaviors that can apply to particular issues. Willis Jenkins develops lines of practical inquiry through "prophetic pragmatism," an approach to ethics that begins with concrete problems and adapts to changing circumstances. This brand of pragmatism takes its cues from liberationist theology, with its emphasis on how individuals and communities actually cope with overwhelming problems. Can religious communities make a difference when dealing with these issues? By integrating environmental sciences and theological ethics into problem-based engagements with philosophy, economics, and other disciplines, Jenkins illustrates the wide understanding and moral creativity needed to live well in the new conditions of human power. He shows the significance of religious thought to the development of interdisciplinary responses to sustainability issues and how this calls for a new style of religious ethics.