Chapin, F. Stuart; Matson, Pamela A.; Vitousek, Peter M.
The ecosystem approach to ecology treats organisms and the physical elements of their environment as components of a single, integrated system. This comprehensive textbook outlines the central processes that characterize terrestrial ecosystems, tracing the flow of water, carbon, and nutrients from their abiotic origins to their cycles through plants, animals, and decomposer organisms. As human activity becomes an increasingly dominant factor in natural processes around the globe, landscape dynamics over time and space have become the focus of recent attention. This book synthesizes current...
The ecosystem approach to ecology treats organisms and the physical elements of their environment as components of a single, integrated system. This c...
Oceanic islands represent a set of systems in which biological diversity varies as a consequence of remoteness or size, not environment; they are also generally simpler than continental ecosystems. Islands therefore provide an opportunity to determine the direct effects of biological diversity on ecosystem function. The volume addresses the components of biological diversity on islands and their patterns of variation; the modern threats to the maintenance of biological diversity on islands; the consequences of island biology and its modification by humanity regarding aspects of ecosystem...
Oceanic islands represent a set of systems in which biological diversity varies as a consequence of remoteness or size, not environment; they are also...