Download or read book Stability and Complexity in Model Ecosystems written by and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2001-03-18 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Stability and Complexity in Model Ecosystems written by Robert M. May and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Description for this book, Stability and Complexity in Model Ecosystems. (MPB-6), will be forthcoming.
Download or read book Stability and Complexity in Model Ecosystems written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Stability and Complexity in Model Ecosystems written by and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2001-03-18 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Stability and Complexity in Model Ecosystems written by Robert M May and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2019-12-31 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Food Webs written by John C. Moore and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 445 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents new approaches to studying food webs, using practical and policy examples to demonstrate the theory behind ecosystem management decisions.
Download or read book Unifying Concepts in Ecology written by W.H. van Dobben and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The complexity of ecosystems forms perhaps the greatest challenge for natural science. Even the first step to comprehensive analysis, namely a survey of the participating species, often forms a major obstacle. This makes it understandable that ecologists try to abstract general principles from the interrelationships of the multitude of species for use in their efforts to investigate ecosystem dynamics. Such 'unifying concepts' were the main theme of the 'First International Congress of Ecology' organized in The Hague in September 1974 by the International Association of Ecology (INTECOL), under the auspices of the Division of Environmental Biology of the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS). This book contains the papers presented at the plenary sessions of the Congress and a summary of the discussions engendered by them. At the Congress over 800 ecologists from many countries, representing diverse disciplines such as limnology, botany, zoology, microbiology, agriculture, met together for a week. The study of ecosystem dynamics depends on mutual understanding and close cooperation, and to stimulate an integrated approach a number of main speakers were invited to contribute papers on notions such as energy flow, productivity, diversity, stability and maturity from different points of view. These invited papers were presented at the morning plenary sessions, followed by discussions.
Download or read book From Populations to Ecosystems written by Michel Loreau and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2010-07-01 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Ecosystem Collapse and Recovery written by Adrian C. Newton and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-22 with total page 493 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines how ecosystems can collapse as a result of human activity, and the ecological processes underlying their subsequent recovery.
Download or read book Ecology a Very Short Introduction written by Jaboury Ghazoul and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020-07-09 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Understanding how our living environment works is essentially a study of ecological systems. Ecology is the science of how organisms interact with each other and with their environment, and how such interactions create self-organising communities and ecosystems. This science touches us all. The food we eat, the water we drink, the natural resources we use, our physical and mental health, and much of our cultural heritage are to a large degree products of ecological interactions of organisms and their environment. This Very Short Introduction celebrates the centrality of ecology in our lives. Jaboury Ghazoul explores how ecology has evolved rapidly from natural history to become a predictive science that explains how the natural world works, and which guides environmental policy and management decisions. Drawing on a range of examples, he shows how ecological science can be applied to management and conservation, including the extent to which theory has shaped practice. Ecological science has also shaped social and cultural perspectives on the environment, a process that influences politics of the environment. Ghazoul concludes by considering the future of ecology, particularly in the light of current and future environmental challenges. 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 Community Food Webs written by Joel E. Cohen and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Food webs hold a central place in ecology. They describe which organisms feed on which others in natural habitats. This book describes recently discovered empirical regularities in real food webs: it proposes a novel theory unifying many of these regularities, as well as extensive empirical data. After a general introduction, reviewing the empirical and theoretical discoveries about food webs, the second portion of the book shows that community food webs obey several striking phenomenological regularities. Some of these unify, regardless of habitat. Others differentiate, showing that habitat significantly influences structure. The third portion of the book presents a theoretical analysis of some of the unifying empirical regularities. The fourth portion of the book presents 113 community food webs. Collected from scattered sources and carefully edited, they are the empirical basis for the results in the volume. The largest available set of data on community food webs provides a valuable foundation for future studies of community food webs. The book is intended for graduate students, teachers and researchers primarily in ecology. The theoretical portions of the book provide materials useful to teachers of applied combinatorics, in particular, random graphs. Researchers in random graphs will find here unsolved mathematical problems.
Download or read book Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function written by Ernst-Detlef Schulze and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 527 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The biota of the earth is being altered at an unprecedented rate. We are witnessing wholesale exchanges of organisms among geographic areas that were once totally biologically isolated. We are seeing massive changes in landscape use that are creating even more abundant succes sional patches, reductions in population sizes, and in the worst cases, losses of species. There are many reasons for concern about these trends. One is that we unfortunately do not know in detail the conse quences of these massive alterations in terms of how the biosphere as a whole operates or even, for that matter, the functioning of localized ecosystems. We do know that the biosphere interacts strongly with the atmospheric composition, contributing to potential climate change. We also know that changes in vegetative cover greatly influence the hydrology and biochemistry ofa site or region. Our knowledge is weak in important details, however. How are the many services that ecosystems provide to humanity altered by modifications of ecosystem composition? Stated in another way, what is the role of individual species in ecosystem function? We are observing the selective as well as wholesale alteration in the composition of ecosystems. Do these alterations matter in respect to how ecosystems operate and provide services? This book represents the initial probing of this central ques tion. It will be followed by other volumes in this series examining in depth the functional role of biodiversity in various ecosystems of the world.
Download or read book Perspectives in Ecological Theory written by Ramón Margalef and published by . This book was released on 1968 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ecosystem as a cybernetic system. Ecological succession and exploitation by man. The study of pelagic ecosystems. Evolution in the frame of ecosystem organization.
Download or read book Regime Shifts in Lake Ecosystems written by Stephen R. Carpenter and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ever-changing nature of ecosystems is richly illustrated by long-term ecological research. In many cases, long-term change is interpreted as a shift from one dynamic regime to another: oligotrophic to eutrophic, grassland to woodland, before versus after the top predator was lost. This book is about such ecological regime shifts.
Download or read book Complex Ecology written by Charles G. Curtin and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-05-31 with total page 595 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From climate change to species extinction, humanity is confronted with an increasing array of societal and environmental challenges that defy simple quantifiable solutions. Complexity-based ecology provides a new paradigm for ecologists and conservationists keen to embrace the uncertainty that is pressed upon us. This book presents key research papers chosen by some sixty scholars from various continents, across a diverse span of sub-disciplines. The papers are set alongside first person commentary from many of the seminal voices involved, offering unprecedented access to experts' viewpoints. The works assembled also shed light on the process of science in general, showing how the shifting of wider perspectives allows for new ideas to take hold. Ideal for undergraduate and advanced students of ecology and conservation, their educators and those working across allied fields, this is the first book of its kind to focus on complexity-based approaches and provides a benchmark for future collected volumes.
Download or read book Systems and Models written by Hartmut Bossel and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2007 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A multitude of complex systems and actors pursuing their own agenda shape the dynamics of our world. Better understanding of their actions and interactions is crucial, and can be achieved by a profound knowledge of systems and their properties, and their representation in models allowing simulation of probable behavior. Drawing on his extensive research and teaching experience in modeling and simulation of a wide range of systems - from engineering to social systems and ecosystems - the author presents the fundamental concepts and approaches for understanding and modeling the complex systems shaping the dynamics of our world. The book applies state space analysis and system dynamics to deal with the dynamic processes of "causal systems," discusses information processing approaches for modeling decision processes of "actors" and "agents," and uses aspects of the coevolutionary development of systems in their environment to deal with normative orientation, ethics, and evaluation of policies and long-term development. The concepts are applied in particular to the issue of sustainable development of human society in an evolving world. The book is complemented by a survey of system topics and of models from many fields, and by an extensive bibliography on the many systems-related subjects covered. Hartmut Bossel is Professor Emeritus of environmental systems analysis. He taught for many years at the University of California in Santa Barbara and the University of Kassel, Germany, where he was director of the Center for Environmental Systems Research until his retirement. He holds an engineering degree from the Technical University of Darmstadt, and a Ph.D. degree from the University of California at Berkeley. With a background in engineering, systems science, and mathematical modeling, he has led many research projects and future studies in different countries, developing computer simulation models and decision support systems in the areas of energy supply policy, global dynamics, orientation of behavior, agricultural policy, and forest dynamics and management. He has written numerous books on modeling and simulation of dynamic systems, social change and future paths, and has published widely in the scientific literature in several fields. Bossel is author of a System Zoo containing over one hundred simulation models of diverse systems.
Download or read book Perspectives in Ecological Theory written by Jonathan Roughgarden and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-14 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents an overview of current accomplishments and future directions in ecological theory. The twenty-three chapters cover a broad range of important topics, from the physiology and behavior of individuals or groups of organisms, through population dynamics and community structure, to the ecology of ecosystems and the geochemical cycles of the entire biosphere. The authors focus on ways in which theory, whether expressed mathematically or verbally, can contribute to defining and solving fundamental problems in ecology. A second aim is to highlight areas where dialogue between theorists and empiricists is likely to be especially rewarding. The authors are R. M. Anderson, C. W. Clark, M. L. Cody, J. E. Cohen, P. R. Ehrlich, M. W. Feldman, M. E. Gilpin, L. J. Gross, M. P. Hassell, H. S. Horn, P. Kareiva, M.A.R. Koehl, S. A. Levin, R. M. May, L. D. Mueller, R. V. O'Neill, S. W. Pacala, S. L. Pimm, T. M. Powell, H. R. Pulliam, J. Roughgarden, W. H. Schlesinger, H. H. Shugart, S. M. Stanley, J. H. Steele, D. Tilman, J. Travis, and D. L. Urban. Originally published in 1989. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
