Community Ecology: Processes, Models, and Applications - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199228973 ISBN 13: 9780199228973

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2009

Synopsis

Community ecology is the study of the interactions between populations of co-existing species. This book provides a survey of the state-of-the-art in theory and applications of community ecology, with special attention to topology, dynamics, the importance of spatial and temporal scale, as well as applications to emerging problems in human-dominated ecosystems (including the restoration and reconstruction of viable communities). It adopts a mainly theoretical approach and focuses on the use of network-based theory which remains little explored in standard community ecology textbooks. The book includes discussion of the effects of biotic invasions on natural communities, the linking of ecological network structure to empirically measured community properties and dynamics, the effects of evolution on community patterns and processes, and the integration of fundamental interactions into ecological networks. A final chapter indicates future research directions for the discipline. This book provides ideal graduate seminar course material.

About this title

Review:

"It would provide a stimulating backdrop for a graduate seminar on selected topics in community ecology...The puzzle-metaphor artwork on the book's cover by Janine Marie]n effectively illustrates the bidirectional nature of community assembly
(pieces may be added) and disassembly (pieces may be removed). This simple metaphor highlights an additional purpose of the volume: to remind us of the utility of analytical tools, concepts, and other products from the discipline of community ecology for making a positive difference as environmental stewards." -- The Quarterly Review of Biology

About the Author:

Herman Verhoef obtained his PhD at the Faculty of Biology of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. After having been involved in the ecophysiology of soil animals, he has turned his attention to Community Ecology. He is a Professor of Soil Ecology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, focussing on soil-plant interactions and the relations between spatial heterogeneity and biodiversity. Peter Morin obtained his PhD in Zoology from Duke University in Durham, NC, USA. He is a Professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, & Natural Resources at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, USA. He is a community ecologist, and is interested in a number of topics, including biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, ecological networks, interactions between competition and predation, and microbial ecology.

About this edition

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0199228973
• ISBN 13: 9780199228973
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 262
• Editor: Verhoef Herman A., Morin Peter J.