Marine Ecological Processes

ISBN-13: 9781493979097 / Angielski / Miękka / 2018 / 702 str.

Ivan Valiela

Opis

The oceans represent a vast, complex and poorly understood ecosystem. Marine Ecological Processes is a modern review and synthesis of marine ecology that provides the reader with a lucid introduction to the intellectual concepts, approaches, and methods of this evolving discipline. Comprehensive in its coverage, this book focuses on the processes controlling marine ecosystems, communities, and populations and demonstrates how general ecological principles--derived from terrestrial and freshwater systems as well--apply to marine ecosystems.Global warming and increased eutrophication and wetland destruction in recent years has made the study of ecological processes even more important for the preservation of marine environments. This thoroughly updated and expanded edition will provide students of marine ecology, marine biology, and oceanography with numerous illustrations, examples, and references which clearly impart to the reader the current state of research in this field: its achievements as well as unresolved controversies.

Spis treści

Contents

Preface to the Third Edition

Preface to the Second Edition

Preface to the First Edition

Part I        Primary production in marine environments

Chapter 1       Primary producers in the sea

      1.1       Phytoplankton

      1.2       Benthic producers

Chapter 2      Production: the formation of organic matter

      2.1       Photosynthesis

      2.2       Chemosynthesis

      2.3       Measurement of producer biomass and primary production

      2.4       Contributions by different marine primary producers

Chapter 3       Factors affecting primary production

      2.1       Light

      2.2       The Uptake and Availability of Nutrients

      2.3       Temperature and Interactions with Other Factors

      2.4       Distribution of Phytoplankton Production Over the World Ocean

Part II       Consumers in Marine Environments

Chapter 3       Dynamics of Populations of Consumers

      3.1       Elements of the Mathematical Description of Growth of Populations

      3.2       Survival Life Tables

      3.3       Fecundity Life Tables

      3.4       Some Properties of Life Table Variables

      3.5       Reproductive Tactics

Chapter 4       Competition for Resources Among Consumers

      4.1       Population Growth in Environments with Finite Resources

      4.2       The Nature of Competition

      4.3       Density-Dependent Control of Abundance

      4.4       Density-Dependent Versus Density-Independent Effects on Abundance

      4.5       Resource Partitioning

      4.6       Niche Breadth and Species Packing

Chapter 5       Feeding and Responses to Food Abundance

      5.1       Introduction

      5.2       Functional Response to Prey Density

<      5.3       Numerical Responses by the Predator to Density of Prey

      5.4       Developmental Response to Prey Density

Chapter 6       Food Selection by Consumers

      6.1       Introduction

      6.2       Behavioral Mechanisms Involved in Finding and Choosing Food

      6.3       Factors Affecting Food Selection by Consumers

      6.4       Examples of Feeding Mechanisms at Work: Suspension Feeding

      6.5       Optimization in Food Selection by Consumers

      6.6       Vulnerability and Accessibility of Food Items

      6.7       The Importance of Alternate Prey

      6.8       Interaction of Mechanisms of Predation

      6.9       Predation and Stability of Prey Populations

Chapter 7       Processing of Consumed Energy

      7.1       Flow of Energy Through Consumers

      7.2       Assimilation

      7.3       Respiration

      7.4       Growth

    7.5       Production

      7.6       Energy Budgets for Populations

Part III     Structure and Dynamics of Marine Communities

Chapter 8       Trophic Structure 1: Controls in Benthic Food Webs

      8.1       Defining Food Webs

      8.2       Controls of Community Structure

      8.3       Control Mechanisms in Benthic Communities

Chapter 9       Trophic Structure 2: Components and Controls in Water Column Food Webs

      9.1       Food Webs in Marine Water Columns

      9.2       Microbial Food Webs

      9.3       The Classic Microplankton Food Web

      9.4       Speculations as to Control of Prey Populations by Larger Predators in the Marine Water Column

Chapter 10     Taxonomic Structure: Species Diversity

      10.1     Introduction

      10.2     Measurement of Diversity

      10.3     Factors Affecting Diversity

      10.4     Integration of Factors Affecting Diversity and Some Consequences

Chapter 11     Spatial Structure: Patchiness

      11.1     Scales of Patchiness

      11.2     Description of Spatial Distributions

      11.3     Sources of Patchiness

      11.4     Ecological Consequences of Patchiness

      11.5     The Problem of Upscaling

Chapter 12     Development of Structure in Marine Communities: Colonization and Succession

      12.1     Introduction

      12.2     Colonization Processes

      12.3     Case Histories of Colonization and Succession

      12.4     Interaction Among Communities at Different Stages of Succession

      12.5     Generalized Properties of Succession in Marine Environments

Part IV     Functioning of Marine Ecosystems

Chapter 13     The Carbon Cycle: Production and Transformations of Organic Matter         

      13.1     Inorganic Carbon

      13.2     The Carbon Cycle in Aerobic Environments

      13.3     The Carbon Cycle in Anoxic Environments

Chapter 14     Nutrient Cycles and Ecosystem Stoichiometry

      14.1     Phosphorus

      14.2     Nitrogen

      14.3     Sulfur

      14.4     Ecosystem Energetics and Stoichiometry

Chapter 15     Seasonal Changes in Marine Ecosystems

      15.1     Introduction

      15.2     Water Column Seasonal Cycles

      15.3     Benthic Seasonal Cycles

      15.4     Control of Seasonal Cycles

Chapter 16     Long-Term and Large-Scale Change in Marine Ecosystems

      16.1     Introduction

      16.2     Large-Scale Effects of Long-Term Atmospheric Changes

      16.3     Depletion of Fishery Stocks

      16.4     Eutrophication

      16.5     Toxic Contamination

      16.6     Spread of Exotic Species

      16.7     Harmful Algal Blooms

      16.8     Interception of Freshwater Inputs and Sediment Loads

      16.9     Multiple Factors in Concert: The Case of Black Sea

      16.10   Implications of Long-Term, Large-Scale Changes

References

Index

O autorze

Dr. Ivan Valiela serves as Senior Research Scientist for The Ecosystems Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory. His research includes analysis structure and controls on coastal ecosystems, land-sea couplings, impacts of urbanization and deforestation on coastal ecosystems, management of coastal environments, and international environmental policy.

Blurb

This book includes a comprehensive review of the processes controlling marine ecosystems, communities, and populations, as well as introduces concepts, approaches, and methods in the fast-changing fields of marine ecology and oceanography. This third edition maintains the structure of previous editions, introducing marine environments, dwelling on population, community, and ecosystem levels of organization, and emphasizing relevant biogeochemical and hydrodynamic mechanisms. The content is updated to include major features that new research has revealed in recent decades, but still highlights links to originators of critical ideas in the history of marine sciences. The greatest change in this edition is an expansion of each chapter to capture new awareness, and implications, of the rapid change affecting all aspects marine environments, driven by anthropogenic forces operating through climate and oceanographic mechanisms.