Download or read book Spatial Ecology written by David Tilman and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-05 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spatial Ecology addresses the fundamental effects of space on the dynamics of individual species and on the structure, dynamics, diversity, and stability of multispecies communities. Although the ecological world is unavoidably spatial, there have been few attempts to determine how explicit considerations of space may alter the predictions of ecological models, or what insights it may give into the causes of broad-scale ecological patterns. As this book demonstrates, the spatial structure of a habitat can fundamentally alter both the qualitative and quantitative dynamics and outcomes of ecological processes. Spatial Ecology highlights the importance of space to five topical areas: stability, patterns of diversity, invasions, coexistence, and pattern generation. It illustrates both the diversity of approaches used to study spatial ecology and the underlying similarities of these approaches. Over twenty contributors address issues ranging from the persistence of endangered species, to the maintenance of biodiversity, to the dynamics of hosts and their parasitoids, to disease dynamics, multispecies competition, population genetics, and fundamental processes relevant to all these cases. There have been many recent advances in our understanding of the influence of spatially explicit processes on individual species and on multispecies communities. This book synthesizes these advances, shows the limitations of traditional, non-spatial approaches, and offers a variety of new approaches to spatial ecology that should stimulate ecological research.
Download or read book U S Health in International Perspective written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2013-04-12 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest. Although life expectancy and survival rates in the United States have improved dramatically over the past century, Americans live shorter lives and experience more injuries and illnesses than people in other high-income countries. The U.S. health disadvantage cannot be attributed solely to the adverse health status of racial or ethnic minorities or poor people: even highly advantaged Americans are in worse health than their counterparts in other, "peer" countries. In light of the new and growing evidence about the U.S. health disadvantage, the National Institutes of Health asked the National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to convene a panel of experts to study the issue. The Panel on Understanding Cross-National Health Differences Among High-Income Countries examined whether the U.S. health disadvantage exists across the life span, considered potential explanations, and assessed the larger implications of the findings. U.S. Health in International Perspective presents detailed evidence on the issue, explores the possible explanations for the shorter and less healthy lives of Americans than those of people in comparable countries, and recommends actions by both government and nongovernment agencies and organizations to address the U.S. health disadvantage.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Ethics written by Stephen Mark Gardiner and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 617 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note that the online publication date for this handbook is the date that the first article in the title was published online.
Download or read book Multivariate Analysis of Ecological Data using CANOCO 5 written by Petr Šmilauer and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-17 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An accessible introduction to the theory and practice of multivariate analysis for graduates, researchers and professionals dealing with ecological problems.
Download or read book The Theory of Ecological Communities MPB 57 written by Mark Vellend and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Eco evolutionary Dynamics written by Andrew P. Hendry and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-06-09 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, scientists have realized that evolution can occur on timescales much shorter than the 'long lapse of ages' emphasized by Darwin - in fact, evolutionary change is occurring all around us all the time. This work provides an authoritative and accessible introduction to eco-evolutionary dynamics, a cutting-edge new field that seeks to unify evolution and ecology into a common conceptual framework focusing on rapid and dynamic environmental and evolutionary change.
Download or read book Nature Based Solutions to Climate Change Adaptation in Urban Areas written by Nadja Kabisch and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-09-01 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book brings together research findings and experiences from science, policy and practice to highlight and debate the importance of nature-based solutions to climate change adaptation in urban areas. Emphasis is given to the potential of nature-based approaches to create multiple-benefits for society. The expert contributions present recommendations for creating synergies between ongoing policy processes, scientific programmes and practical implementation of climate change and nature conservation measures in global urban areas. Except where otherwise noted, this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Download or read book Food Webs written by Gary A. Polis and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-04-17 with total page 475 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reflecting the recent surge of activity in food web research fueled by new empirical data, this authoritative volume successfully spans and integrates the areas of theory, basic empirical research, applications, and resource problems. Written by recognized leaders from various branches of ecological research, this work provides an in-depth treatment of the most recent advances in the field and examines the complexity and variability of food webs through reviews, new research, and syntheses of the major issues in food web research. Food Webs features material on the role of nutrients, detritus and microbes in food webs, indirect effects in food webs, the interaction of productivity and consumption, linking cause and effect in food webs, temporal and spatial scales of food web dynamics, applications of food webs to pest management, fisheries, and ecosystem stress. Three comprehensive chapters synthesize important information on the role of indirect effects, productivity and consumer regulation, and temporal, spatial and life history influences on food webs. In addition, numerous tables, figures, and mathematical equations found nowhere else in related literature are presented in this outstanding work. Food Webs offers researchers and graduate students in various branches of ecology an extensive examination of the subject. Ecologists interested in food webs or community ecology will also find this book an invaluable tool for understanding the current state of knowledge of food web research.
Download or read book Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change written by Melissa R. Marselle and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-06-11 with total page 494 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book identifies and discusses biodiversity’s contribution to physical, mental and spiritual health and wellbeing. Furthermore, the book identifies the implications of this relationship for nature conservation, public health, landscape architecture and urban planning – and considers the opportunities of nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation. This transdisciplinary book will attract a wide audience interested in biodiversity, ecology, resource management, public health, psychology, urban planning, and landscape architecture. The emphasis is on multiple human health benefits from biodiversity - in particular with respect to the increasing challenge of climate change. This makes the book unique to other books that focus either on biodiversity and physical health or natural environments and mental wellbeing. The book is written as a definitive ‘go-to’ book for those who are new to the field of biodiversity and health.
Download or read book Scale Heterogeneity and the Structure and Diversity of Ecological Communities written by Mark E. Ritchie and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2009-09-28 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Understanding and predicting species diversity in ecological communities is one of the great challenges in community ecology. Popular recent theory contends that the traits of species are "neutral" or unimportant to coexistence, yet abundant experimental evidence suggests that multiple species are able to coexist on the same limiting resource precisely because they differ in key traits, such as body size, diet, and resource demand. This book presents a new theory of coexistence that incorporates two important aspects of biodiversity in nature--scale and spatial variation in the supply of limiting resources. Introducing an innovative model that uses fractal geometry to describe the complex physical structure of nature, Mark Ritchie shows how species traits, particularly body size, lead to spatial patterns of resource use that allow species to coexist. He explains how this criterion for coexistence can be converted into a "rule" for how many species can be "packed" into an environment given the supply of resources and their spatial variability. He then demonstrates how this rule can be used to predict a range of patterns in ecological communities, such as body-size distributions, species-abundance distributions, and species-area relations. Ritchie illustrates how the predictions closely match data from many real communities, including those of mammalian herbivores, grasshoppers, dung beetles, and birds. This book offers a compelling alternative to "neutral" theory in community ecology, one that helps us better understand patterns of biodiversity across the Earth.
Download or read book Mangrove Ecosystems A Global Biogeographic Perspective written by Victor H. Rivera-Monroy and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-11-03 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a comprehensive overview and analysis of mangrove ecological processes, structure, and function at the local, biogeographic, and global scales and how these properties interact to provide key ecosystem services to society. The analysis is based on an international collaborative effort that focuses on regions and countries holding the largest mangrove resources and encompasses the major biogeographic and socio-economic settings of mangrove distribution. Given the economic and ecological importance of mangrove wetlands at the global scale, the chapters aim to integrate ecological and socio-economic perspectives on mangrove function and management using a system-level hierarchical analysis framework. The book explores the nexus between mangrove ecology and the capacity for ecosystem services, with an emphasis on thresholds, multiple stressors, and local conditions that determine this capacity. The interdisciplinary approach and illustrative study cases included in the book will provide valuable resources in data, information, and knowledge about the current status of one of the most productive coastal ecosystem in the world.
Download or read book Spatial Complexity Informatics and Wildlife Conservation written by Samuel A. Cushman and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-12-21 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As Earth faces the greatest mass extinction in 65 million years, the present is a moment of tremendous foment and emergence in ecological science. With leaps in advances in ecological research and the technical tools available, scientists face the critical task of challenging policymakers and the public to recognize the urgency of our global crisis. This book focuses directly on the interplay between theory, data, and analytical methodology in the rapidly evolving fields of animal ecology, conservation, and management. The mixture of topics of particular current relevance includes landscape ecology, remote sensing, spatial modeling, geostatistics, genomics, and ecological informatics. The greatest interest to the practicing scientist and graduate student will be the synthesis and integration of these topics to provide a composite view of the emerging field of spatial ecological informatics and its applications in research and management.
Download or read book Insect Ecology written by Peter W. Price and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-08-18 with total page 829 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Combining breadth of coverage with detail, this logical and cohesive introduction to insect ecology couples concepts with a broad range of examples and practical applications. It explores cutting-edge topics in the field, drawing on and highlighting the links between theory and the latest empirical studies. The sections are structured around a series of key topics, including behavioral ecology; species interactions; population ecology; food webs, communities and ecosystems; and broad patterns in nature. Chapters progress logically from the small scale to the large; from individual species through to species interactions, populations and communities. Application sections at the end of each chapter outline the practicality of ecological concepts and show how ecological information and concepts can be useful in agriculture, horticulture and forestry. Each chapter ends with a summary, providing a brief recap, followed by a set of questions and discussion topics designed to encourage independent and creative thinking.
Download or read book Metacommunities written by Marcel Holyoak and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2005-10 with total page 527 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Takes the hallmarks of metapopulation theory to the next level by considering a group of communities, each of which may contain numerous populations, connected by species interactions within communities and the movement of individuals between communities. This book seeks to understand how communities work in fragmented landscapes.
Download or read book Ecological Communities written by Takayuki Ohgushi and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2007-01-04 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Food webs examine the interactions between organisms to explain ecosystem community structure. This book argues how food webs alone cannot depict a true picture of a community. It shows that examining other indirect interactions between organisms can help us to better understand the structure and organisation of communities and ecosystems.
Download or read book Handbook of Research on Smart Territories and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems for Social Innovation and Sustainable Growth written by Palma-Ruiz, Jesús Manuel and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2019-12-27 with total page 490 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the rise of information and communication technologies in today’s world, many regions have begun to adapt into more resource-efficient communities. Integrating technology into a region’s use of resources, also known as smart territories, is becoming a trending topic of research. Understanding the relationship between these innovative techniques and how they impact social innovation is vital when analyzing the sustainable growth of highly populated regions. The Handbook of Research on Smart Territories and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems for Social Innovation and Sustainable Growth is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on the global practices and initiatives of smart territories as well as their impact on sustainable development in different communities. While highlighting topics such as waste management, social innovation, and digital optimization, this publication is ideally designed for civil engineers, urban planners, policymakers, economists, administrators, social scientists, business executives, researchers, educators, and students seeking current research on the development of smart territories and entrepreneurship in various environments.
Download or read book Urban Ecology written by Pedro Barbose and published by CABI. This book was released on 2020-11-04 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today, 55% of the world's human population lives in urban areas. By 2030, up to 90% of the global human population will live in cities and the global population is expected to increase by 68% by 2050. Although land cover categorized as "urban" is a relatively small fraction of the total surface of the Earth, urban areas are major driving forces in global environmental change, habitat loss, threats to biodiversity, and the loss of terrestrial carbon stored in vegetation biomass. These and many other factors highlight the need to understand the broad-scale impacts of urban expansion as it effects the ecological interactions between humans, wildlife and plant communities. The book stresses the importance of understanding ecological forces and ecosystem services in urban areas and the integration of ecological concepts in urban planning and design. The creation of urban green spaces is critical to the future of urban areas, enhancing human social organization, human health and quality of life.