Synopses & Reviews
A comprehensive survey of modern ecology, covering such essential topics as ecosystem processes, species strategies, social systems, community building, ecosystem stability, population ecology, individual adaption, and species diversity. Also includes extensive treatments of physical and chemical systems--from geochemistry to soil science and climate. Ecosystems are defined by climate, energy flux, substrate, and periodicity in environment. This book shows how these physical facts of life influence the choices made by natural selection and how they determine much of ecosystem function.
Table of Contents
ENERGY AND THE INDIVIDUAL.
Overview: The Ecological Inquiry.
First Principles: Energy Flow; Pyramids; Niche; Limiting Factors.
The Transformation of Energy by Plants.
The Transfer of Energy by Animals.
POPULATION AND SPECIES.
The Equilibrium Model and the Logistic Hypothesis.
The Ecology of Speciation.
Density-Dependent and Density-Independent Factors in Population Control.
Life Tables.
ECOSYSTEMS.
Climate and Biogeography.
Vegetation, Community, and Ecosystem.
Ecosystem Energetics.
COMMUNITY BUILDING.
Paleoecology: The Fossil Record of Ecological Process.
Ecological Succession: Community Building in Ecological Time.
Author Index.
Subject Index.