Download or read book The Unified Neutral Theory of Biodiversity and Biogeography MPB 32 written by Stephen P. Hubbell and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2011-06-27 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite its supreme importance and the threat of its global crash, biodiversity remains poorly understood both empirically and theoretically. This ambitious book presents a new, general neutral theory to explain the origin, maintenance, and loss of biodiversity in a biogeographic context. Until now biogeography (the study of the geographic distribution of species) and biodiversity (the study of species richness and relative species abundance) have had largely disjunct intellectual histories. In this book, Stephen Hubbell develops a formal mathematical theory that unifies these two fields. When a speciation process is incorporated into Robert H. MacArthur and Edward O. Wilson's now classical theory of island biogeography, the generalized theory predicts the existence of a universal, dimensionless biodiversity number. In the theory, this fundamental biodiversity number, together with the migration or dispersal rate, completely determines the steady-state distribution of species richness and relative species abundance on local to large geographic spatial scales and short-term to evolutionary time scales. Although neutral, Hubbell's theory is nevertheless able to generate many nonobvious, testable, and remarkably accurate quantitative predictions about biodiversity and biogeography. In many ways Hubbell's theory is the ecological analog to the neutral theory of genetic drift in genetics. The unified neutral theory of biogeography and biodiversity should stimulate research in new theoretical and empirical directions by ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and biogeographers.
Download or read book Biogeography A Very Short Introduction written by Mark V. Lomolino and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-07-23 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biogeography is the study of geographic variation in all characteristics of life - ranging from genetic, morphological and behavioural variation among regional populations of a species, to geographic trends in diversity of entire communities across our planet's sufrace. From the ancient hunters and gatherers to the earliest naturalists, Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, and scientists today, the search for patterns in life has provided insights that proved invaluable for understanding the natural world. And many, if not most, of the compelling kaleidoscope of patterns in biological diversity make little sense unless placed in an explicit geographic context. The Very Short Introduction explains the historical development of the field of biogeography, its fundamental tenets, principles and tools, and the invaluable insights it provides for understanding the diversity of life in the natural world. As Mark Lomolino shows, key questions such as where species occur, how they vary from place to place, where their ancestors occurred, and how they spread across the globe, are essential for us to develop effective strategies for conserving the great menagerie of life across our planet. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Download or read book Biogeography and Biodiversity of Western Atlantic Mollusks written by Edward J. Petuch and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2013-04-02 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shallow water marine molluscan faunas are distributed in a pattern of distinct, geographically definable areas. This makes mollusks ideal for studying the distribution of organisms in the marine environment and the processes and patterns that control their evolution. Biogeography and Biodiversity of Western Atlantic Mollusks is the first book to us
Download or read book Biogeography written by C. Barry Cox and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2016-05-31 with total page 506 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through eight successful editions, and over nearly 40 years, Biogeography: An Ecological and Evolutionary Approach has provided a thorough and comprehensive exploration of the varied scientific disciplines and research that are essential to understanding the subject. The text has been praised for its solid background in historical biogeography and basic biology, that is enhanced and illuminated by discussions of current research. This new edition incorporates the exciting changes of the recent years, and presents a thoughtful exploration of the research and controversies that have transformed our understanding of the biogeography of the world. It also clearly identifies the three quite different arenas of biogeographical research: continental biogeography, island biogeography and marine biogeography. It is the only current textbook with full coverage of marine biogeography. It reveals how the patterns of life that we see today have been created by the two great Engines of the Planet - the Geological Engine, plate tectonics, which alters the conditions of life on the planet, and the Biological Engine, evolution, which responds to these changes by creating new forms and patterns of life.
Download or read book Conservation Biogeography written by Richard J. Ladle and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-01-11 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CONSERVATION BIOGEOGRAPHY The Earth’s ecosystems are in the midst of an unprecedented period of change as a result of human action. Many habitats have been completely destroyed or divided into tiny fragments, others have been transformed through the introduction of new species, or the extinction of native plants and animals, while anthropogenic climate change now threatens to completely redraw the geographic map of life on this planet. The urgent need to understand and prescribe solutions to this complicated and interlinked set of pressing conservation issues has lead to the transformation of the venerable academic discipline of biogeography – the study of the geographic distribution of animals and plants. The newly emerged sub-discipline of conservation biogeography uses the conceptual tools and methods of biogeography to address real world conservation problems and to provide predictions about the fate of key species and ecosystems over the next century. This book provides the first comprehensive review of the field in a series of closely interlinked chapters addressing the central issues within this exciting and important subject.
Download or read book An Introduction to Applied Biogeography written by Ian F. Spellerberg and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1999-02-28 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Species distribution, conservation management, landscape planning.
Download or read book Island Biogeography written by Robert J. Whittaker and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Isolation, extinction, conservation, biodiversity, hotspots.
Download or read book The Theory of Island Biogeography written by Robert H. MacArthur and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Population theory.
Download or read book Island Biogeography written by Robert J. Whittaker and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2006-11-30 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Island biogeography is the study of the distribution and dynamics of species in island environments. Due to their isolation from more widespread continental species, islands are ideal places for unique species to evolve, but they are also places of concentrated extinction. Not surprisingly, they are widely studied by ecologists, conservationists and evolutionary biologists alike. There is no other recent textbook devoted solely to island biogeography, and a synthesis of the many recent advances is now overdue. This second edition builds on the success and reputation of the first, documenting the recent advances in this exciting field and explaining how islands have been used as natural laboratories in developing and testing ecological and evolutionary theories. In addition, the book describes the main processes of island formation, development and eventual demise, and explains the relevance of island environmental history to island biogeography. The authors demonstrate the huge significance of islands as hotspots of biodiversity, and as places from which disproportionate numbers of species have been extinguished by human action in historical time. Many island species are today threatened with extinction, and this work examines both the chief threats to their persistence and some of the mitigation measures that can be put in play with conservation strategies tailored to islands.
Download or read book Conservation Biogeography written by Richard J. Ladle and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-06-09 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CONSERVATION BIOGEOGRAPHY The Earth’s ecosystems are in the midst of an unprecedented period of change as a result of human action. Many habitats have been completely destroyed or divided into tiny fragments, others have been transformed through the introduction of new species, or the extinction of native plants and animals, while anthropogenic climate change now threatens to completely redraw the geographic map of life on this planet. The urgent need to understand and prescribe solutions to this complicated and interlinked set of pressing conservation issues has lead to the transformation of the venerable academic discipline of biogeography – the study of the geographic distribution of animals and plants. The newly emerged sub-discipline of conservation biogeography uses the conceptual tools and methods of biogeography to address real world conservation problems and to provide predictions about the fate of key species and ecosystems over the next century. This book provides the first comprehensive review of the field in a series of closely interlinked chapters addressing the central issues within this exciting and important subject.
Download or read book Analytical Biogeography written by A.A. Myers and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-12-11 with total page 578 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biogeography may be defined simply as the study of the geographical distribution of organisms, but this simple defmition hides the great complexity of the subject. Biogeography transcends classical subject areas and involves a range of scientific disciplines that includes geogra phy, geology and biology. Not surprisingly, therefore, it means rather different things to different people. Historically, the study of biogeogra phy has been concentrated into compartments at separate points along a spatio-temporal gradient. At one end of the gradient, ecological biogeography is concerned with ecological processes occurring over short temporal and small spatial scales, whilst at the other end, historical biogeography is concerned with evolutionary processes over millions of years on a large, often global scale. Between these end points lies a third major compartment concerned with the profound effects of Pleistocene glaciations and how these have affected the distribution of recent organisms. Within each of these compartments along the scale gradient, a large number of theories, hypotheses and models have been proposed in an attempt to explain the present and past biotic distribution patterns. To a large extent, these compartments of the subject have been non-interactive, which is understandable from the different interests and backgrounds of the various researchers. Nevertheless, the distribu tions of organisms across the globe cannot be fully understood without a knowledge of the full spectrum of ecological and historical processes. There are no degrees in biogeography and today' s biogeographers are primarily born out of some other discipline.
Download or read book Quaternary Ecology Evolution and Biogeography written by Valenti Rull and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2020-03-06 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Quaternary Ecology, Evolution, and Biogeography is an introduction on the study of the ecological and evolutionary processes that have shaped our present biosphere under the influence of glacial-interglacial cycles. Written by a renowned ecologist with paleoecological expertise, the book reviews the climactic changes that have occurred during the last million years, along with the responses of organisms and ecosystems. The book offers an understanding of the evolutionary origin of extant biodiversity, its biogeographical patterns, and the composition of modern ecological communities. In addition, it explores human evolution and the influence of our activities on the biosphere, especially in the last millennia. The valuable resource is intended for a wide audience, including researchers and students in natural sciences. It offers the latest information on how studying the past can contribute to our understanding of present climate issues for a better future.
Download or read book Biogeography written by Mark Lomolino and published by Sinauer. This book was released on 2017-03-29 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biogeography, first published in 1983, is one of the most comprehensive text and general reference books in the natural sciences. The Fifth Edition builds on the strengths of previous editions to provide an insightful and integrative explanation of how geographic variation across terrestrial and marine environments has influenced the fundamental processes of immigration, extinction, and evolution to shape species distributions and nearly all patterns of biological diversity. It is an empirically and conceptually rich text that illustrates general patterns and processes using examples from a broad diversity of life forms, time periods and aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Its fundamental assertion is that patterns in biological diversity make little sense unless viewed within an explicit geographic context. Starting from principal patterns and fundamental principles, and assuming only a rudimentary knowledge of biology, geography, and Earth history, the text explains the relationships between geographic variation in biological diversity and the geological, ecological, and evolutionary processes that have produced them. The use of color illustrations, evaluated and optimized for colorblind readers, has transformed our abilities to illustrate key concepts and empirical patterns in the geography of nature. By providing a description of the historical development of biogeography, evolution and ecology, along with a comprehensive account of the principal patterns, fundamental principles and recent advances in each of these fields of science, our ultimate vision is for Biogeography to serve as the centerpiece of a one- or two-semester core course in biological diversity.
Download or read book Concepts of Biology written by Samantha Fowler and published by . This book was released on 2018-01-07 with total page 618 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Concepts of Biology is designed for the single-semester introduction to biology course for non-science majors, which for many students is their only college-level science course. As such, this course represents an important opportunity for students to develop the necessary knowledge, tools, and skills to make informed decisions as they continue with their lives. Rather than being mired down with facts and vocabulary, the typical non-science major student needs information presented in a way that is easy to read and understand. Even more importantly, the content should be meaningful. Students do much better when they understand why biology is relevant to their everyday lives. For these reasons, Concepts of Biology is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand.We also strive to show the interconnectedness of topics within this extremely broad discipline. In order to meet the needs of today's instructors and students, we maintain the overall organization and coverage found in most syllabi for this course. A strength of Concepts of Biology is that instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Concepts of Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand--and apply--key concepts.
Download or read book Historical Biogeography written by Jorge CRISCI and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though biogeography may be simply defined--the study of the geographic distributions of organisms--the subject itself is extraordinarily complex, involving a range of scientific disciplines and a bewildering diversity of approaches. For convenience, biogeographers have recognized two research traditions: ecological biogeography and historical biogeography. This book makes sense of the profound revolution that historical biogeography has undergone in the last two decades, and of the resulting confusion over its foundations, basic concepts, methods, and relationships to other disciplines of comparative biology. Using case studies, the authors explain and illustrate the fundamentals and the most frequently used methods of this discipline. They show the reader how to tell when a historical biogeographic approach is called for, how to decide what kind of data to collect, how to choose the best method for the problem at hand, how to perform the necessary calculations, how to choose and apply a computer program, and how to interpret results.
Download or read book Reinvention of Australasian Biogeography written by Malte Ebach and published by CSIRO PUBLISHING. This book was released on 2017-01-20 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biogeography, the study of the distribution of life on Earth, has undergone more conceptual changes, revolutions and turf wars than any other scientific field. Australasian biogeographers are responsible for several of these great upheavals, including debates on cladistics, panbiogeography and the drowning of New Zealand, some of which have significantly shaped present-day studies. Australasian biogeography has been caught in a cycle of reinvention that has lasted for over 150 years. The biogeographic research making headlines today is merely a shadow of past practices, having barely advanced scientifically. Fundamental biogeographic questions raised by naturalists a century ago remain unanswered, yet are as relevant today as they were then. Scientists still do not know whether Australia and New Zealand are natural biotic areas or if they are in fact artificial amalgamations of areas. The same question goes for all biotic areas in Australasia: are they real? Australasian biogeographers need to break this 150-year cycle, learn from their errors and build upon new ideas. Reinvention of Australasian Biogeography tells the story of the history of Australasian biogeography, enabling understanding of the cycle of reinvention and the means by which to break it, and paves the way for future biogeographical research. The book will be a valuable resource for biological and geographical scientists, especially those working in biogeography, biodiversity, ecology and conservation. It will also be of interest to historians of science.
Download or read book Biogeography an Ecological and Evolutionary Approach written by Christopher Barry Cox and published by . This book was released on 1973 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
