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Paleocommunities: A Case Study from the Silurian and Lower Devonian (World and Regional Geology)
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0521363985 |
Book Description
Fossil communities, chiefly benthic, from Silurian and Devonian rocks are looked at in detail within this book. Discussion of their environmental and evolutionary significance provides a unique ecological view of this intensively studied part of the stratigraphic column. It is hoped that this case-study will illustrate a new trend for palaeontological research and synthesis that could be applied to other time intervals. Forty contributions from all parts of the world discuss and exemplify the general principles of this massive compilation and provide descriptions of many of the shelly mid-Silurian and early Devonian benthic communities in encyclopaedic form. Biostratigraphers and palaeontologists, as well as evolutionists and ecologists, concerned with fossil communities and their evolution will find this volume of interest. This book forms the final report of IGCP Project 53.
Book Description
Individual-based models are an exciting and widely used new tool for ecology. These computational models allow scientists to explore the mechanisms through which population and ecosystem ecology arises from how individuals interact with each other and their environment. This book provides the first in-depth treatment of individual-based modeling and its use to develop theoretical understanding of how ecological systems work, an approach the authors call "individual-based ecology."
Grimm and Railsback start with a general primer on modeling: how to design models that are as simple as possible while still allowing specific problems to be solved, and how to move efficiently through a cycle of pattern-oriented model design, implementation, and analysis. Next, they address the problems of theory and conceptual framework for individual-based ecology: What is "theory"? That is, how do we develop reusable models of how system dynamics arise from characteristics of individuals? What conceptual framework do we use when the classical differential equation framework no longer applies? An extensive review illustrates the ecological problems that have been addressed with individual-based models. The authors then identify how the mechanics of building and using individual-based models differ from those of traditional science, and provide guidance on formulating, programming, and analyzing models. This book will be helpful to ecologists interested in modeling, and to other scientists interested in agent-based modeling.
Customer Reviews:
Thorough.......2007-09-10
I haven't finished the book, but so far it's been very thorough on the subject and has given me lots of ideas for how to proceed on the project I'm working on. Would definitely recommend it.
Book Description
Nowhere on Earth is the challenge for ecological understanding greater, and yet more urgent, than in those parts of the globe where human activity is most intense - cities. People need to understand how cities work as ecological systems so they can take control of the vital links between human actions and environmental quality, and work for an ecologically and economically sustainable future. An ecosystem approach integrates biological, physical and social factors and embraces historical and geographical dimensions, providing our best hope for coping with the complexity of cities. This book is the first of its kind to bring together leaders in the biological, physical and social dimensions of urban ecosystem research with leading education researchers, administrators and practitioners, to show how an understanding of urban ecosystems is vital for urban dwellers to grasp the fundamentals of ecological and environmental science, and to understand their own environment.
Customer Reviews:
understanding urban ecosutem.......2007-09-17
I bought these books for my son who goes to college. I only looked at the books briefly. I was very happy with the books.
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The Nature of Massachusetts
Christopher W. Leahy ,
John Hanson Mitchell , and
Thomas Conuel
Manufacturer: Perseus Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0201409690 |
Book Description
Humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively in the last 50 years than in any comparable period of human history. We have done this to meet the growing demands for food, fresh water, timber, fiber, and fuel. While changes to ecosystems have enhanced the well-being of billions of people, they have also caused a substantial and largely irreversible loss in diversity of life on Earth, and have strained the capacity of ecosystems to continue providing critical services.
Among the findings:
Approximately 60% of the services that support life on Earth are being degraded or used unsustainably. The harmful consequences of this degradation could grow significantly worse in the next 50 years.
Only four ecosystem services have been enhanced in the last 50 years: crops, livestock, aquaculture, and the sequestration of carbon.
The capacity of ecosystems to neutralize pollutants, protect us from natural disasters, and control the outbreaks of pests and diseases is declining significantly.
Terrestrial and freshwater systems are reaching the limits of their ability to absorb nitrogen.
Harvesting of fish and other resources from coastal and marine systems is compromising their ability to deliver food in the future.
Richly illustrated with maps and graphs, Current State and Trends presents an assessment of Earth's ability to provide twenty-four distinct services essential to human well-being. These include food, fiber, and other materials; the regulation of the climate and fresh water systems; underlying support systems such as nutrient cycling; and the fulfillment of cultural, spiritual, and aesthetic values. The volume pays particular attention to the current health of key ecosystems, including inland waters, forests, oceans, croplands, and dryland systems, among others. It will be an indispensable reference for scientists, environmentalists, agency professionals, and students.
Book Description
Ecologists need to analyze their field data to interpret relationships within plant and animal communities and with their environments. The purpose of this book is to show ecologists and environmental scientists what numerical and statistical methods are most useful, how to use them and interpret the results from them, and what pitfalls to avoid. Subjects treated include data requirements, regression analysis, calibration (or inverse regression), ordination techniques, cluster analysis, and spatial analysis of ecological data. The authors take pains to use only elementary mathematics and explain the ecological models behind the techniques. Exercises and solution are provided for practice. This is the only book written specifically for ecologists that explains such techniques as logistic regression, canonical correspondence analysis, and kriging (statistical manipulation of data). This is a reissue of a book first published in 1987 by Pudoc (The Netherlands).
Customer Reviews:
Data Analysis in Community and Landscape Ecology.......2006-07-25
A easy reading and comprehensive book about data analysis in community and landscape ecology. This is the book that every young ecologist should have in his/her bookshelf
A standard work in vegetation ecology.......2001-02-12
This is a standard in the discipline of vegetation ecology and probably the best introductiion to the field. This is a thoroughly revised new edition of the original book from 1986. It is a good introduction to the various methods available for analysis of vegetation data, like correspondence analysis, principle components analysis and regression analysis. A good point about this book is that consistently works with the same example dataset for explaining all different analysis methods. This clearly shows the differences in outcome of the different methods. A bad point is that its not always written very clearly and includes some very theoretical parts.
Book Description
Until recently community ecology—a science devoted to understanding the patterns and processes of species distribution and abundance—focused mainly on specific and often limited scales of a single community. Since the 1970s, for example, metapopulation dynamics—studies of interacting groups of populations connected through movement—concentrated on the processes of population turnover, extinction, and establishment of new populations.
Metacommunities 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. In examining communities open to dispersal, the book unites a broad range of ecological theories, presenting some of the first empirical investigations and revealing the value of the metacommunity approach.
The collection of empirical, theoretical, and synthetic chapters in Metacommunities seeks to understand how communities work in fragmented landscapes. Encouraging community ecologists to rethink some of the leading theories of population and community dynamics, Metacommunities urges ecologists to expand the spatiotemporal scales of their research.
Customer Reviews:
Metacommunities .......2007-03-11
All ecologists should have this book. It does a great job of introducing the concept of metacommunities and also provides numerous empirical and theoretical perspecitives.
Book Description
The new edition of this widely respected text provides comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of the effects of biological -physical interactions in the oceans from the microscopic to the global scale. Dynamics of Marine Ecosystems considers the influence of physical forcing on biological processes in a wide range of marine habitats including coastal estuaries, shelf-break fronts, major ocean gyres, coral reefs, coastal upwelling areas, and the equatorial upwelling system.The third edition of Dynamics of Marine Ecosystems fully considers recent significant developments in this rapidly advancing field. Of particular note is new research suggesting that long-term variability in the global atmospheric circulation affects the circulation of ocean basins, which in turn brings about major changes in fish stocks. This discovery opens up the exciting possibility of being able to predict major changes in global fish stocks.Written in an accessible, lucid style, Dynamics of Marine Ecosystems is essential reading for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students studying marine ecology and biological oceanography.
Customer Reviews:
Very good book!.......2006-08-28
This books deals shows some features in oceanic dynamics and ecology in different scales, from millimetres to thousand of kilometres. Maybe not the easiest reading book, because is deep and sound, but it's essential for oceanographers and marine biologists and ecologists, researchers and graduate students.
Mann & Lazier review.......2006-07-03
I am a graduate student in oceanography, and I have extensively used Dynamics of Marine Ecosystems by Mann and Lazier to study for exams. Mann & Lazier take the time to explain the concepts of physical oceanography in simple terms and are careful to relate all of the physical processes to biological systems. There is, of course, some math, but advanced calculus is not required. The authors are from Nova Scotia, and my only criticism is that they mostly cite examples from the North Atlantic and neglect other oceans. I have used two companion books with this volume: Introduction to Physical Oceanography by John Knauss, which is more physics and less biology, and Biological Oceanography by Charles Miller, which is more biology and less physics.
"BELOW SURFACE CHANGES!".......2006-02-10
Are you studying and working in the area of marine ecology and biological oceanography? If you are, this book is for you! Authors K. H. Mann and J. R. N. Lazier, have written an outstanding 3rd edition of a book about the ecology of open-ocean communities.
Mann and Lazier, begin with an overview of marine ecology and how it has come of age. Then, they explore the intimate relationships between the small-scale processes in sea water and the lives of plants and animals. The authors continue by discussing the physical processes that affect the vertical distributions of light, heat, and nutrients, so as to better understand the dynamics of phytoplankton production. In addition, they also discuss the vertical structure in coastal waters--freshwater run-off and tidal mixing. The authors also examine the special places where wind-induced upwelling is the dominant mechanism for bringing new nutrients to the surface. Then, the authors investigate the distinctive physical and biological properties found in each type of coastal waters fronts. Next, they explore some of the interesting consequences of tidally induced water movement. Then, the authors begin to consider the ocean basins in their entirety. Next, they review some of the most exciting developments of the decade (1995-2005). The authors continue by describing the mechanism of global warming and the present-day global carbon cycle. Finally, the authors discuss questions for the future.
This excellent book also includes discussions of the physical-biological interactions and how they provide plausible mechanisms by which the atmospheric changes might be linked to the food webs and the fish-stock changes. Furthermore, the book has clearly met a need and found a very receptive audience, in the authors' review of the developments in marine ecology, as an integrated physical, chemical, and biological discipline.
Customer Reviews:
Super book!.......2003-11-22
This is such an incredible book. I came across it after going through the National Wildlife Federation's Habitat Steward program (which was enlightening!). This is an incredible book. It covers all sorts of different habitats - each type of habitat is profiled (e.g. Sandy beach, salt marsh, lake and pond, river and stream, cattail marsh, sedge meadow, bog and bog forest, northern floodplain forest, southern floodplain forest, grassy field, transition forest, appalachian forest etc etc.) In each ofthese chapters it talks about howthis particular habitat was formed, characteristic plants, what types of wildlife you're likely to see there and why that habitat is beneficial to them, signs to look for to see if that wildlife has been there, and where to see that habitat. There are great drawings and handdrawn tables throughout. Its just packed with interesting facts - its hard to write a review of so much variety ind interesting info. If you're looking for a book that will give you a great understanding and appeciation for the different types of habitat and how hte web of life weaves together then this book is a good one for you! Highly recommended. Lots to learn about from justthis one source.
an amazing find for the naturalist in all of us.......2000-06-15
This book is a useful tool for all people who love the outdoors. This book has insightful discriptions and lovely drawings that make you crave an outdoor adventure. It is very easy to follow and the tables are useful as well. I would reccomen this book to any teacher or person willing to gain more knowledge about the world around them
Book Description
The study of ecosystems, fundamental to ecology, has been complemented by the growing field of landscape ecology.
Ecosystem Function in Heterogeneous Landscapes addresses how interactions among ecosystems affect the functioning of individual ecosystems and the larger landscape. This groundbreaking synthesis unites ecosystem ecology's knowledge of system function with landscape ecology's knowledge of spatial structure.
Practical concerns about scaling up from individual ecosystems to larger landscapes require an understanding of how networks of interacting ecosystems function together. The book elucidates the challenges faced by ecosystem scientists working in spatially heterogeneous systems, relevant conceptual approaches used in other disciplines and in different ecosystem types, and the importance of spatial heterogeneity in conservation resource management. The distinguished authors discuss how how much heterogeneity needs to be taken into account for specific types of scientific and management issues. Their chapters cover the spectrum from proposing novel conceptual approaches to detailing the practical implications of heterogeneous landscapes for fire management, water management and conservation planning.
Books:
- Paradise for Sale: A Parable of Nature
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- Pole to Pole With Michael Palin: North to South by Camel, River Raft, and Balloon (Companion to the Pbs Series)
- Randy Wayne White's Gulf Coast Cookbook: With Memories and Photos of Sanibel Island
- Reworking Success: New Communities at the Millennium
- Safari Style
- SAS Survival Handbook: How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea
- Secrets of Dripping Fang, Book Six: Attack of the Giant Octopus (Secrets of Dripping Fang)
- Spirit of Animals
- Steam Power Engineering: Thermal and Hydraulic Design Principles
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