Food Webs - Softcover

Pimm, Stuart L. L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226668320 ISBN 13: 9780226668321

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2002

Synopsis

Food webs are diagrams depicting which species interact or in other words, who eats whom. An understanding of the structure and function of food webs is crucial for any study of how an ecosystem works, including attempts to predict which communities might be more vulnerable to disturbance and therefore in more immediate need of conservation.

Although it was first published twenty years ago, Stuart Pimm's Food Webs remains the clearest introduction to the study of food webs. Reviewing various hypotheses in the light of theoretical and empirical evidence, Pimm shows that even the most complex food webs follow certain patterns and that those patterns are shaped by a limited number of biological processes, such as population dynamics and energy flow. Pimm provides a variety of mathematical tools for unravelling these patterns and processes, and demonstrates their application through concrete examples. For this edition, he has written a new foreword covering recent developments in the study of food webs and demonstrates their continuing importance to conservation biology.

About this title

Review:

"This is a very nice repackaged book at a modest price. . . . I recommend it to any ecologist interested in the evolution of our views on a pertinent metric of community interaction."--Peter G. Fairweather "Austral Ecology "

"The main body of the book stands the test of time well. Pimm writes well, and is able to convey complex ideas in a clear accessible way. . . . For many of the topics covered, for example compartmentalization and predator-prey ratios, Pimm's text is still the most authoritative treatment available. This book remains an essential reference volume for anyone working in the field of foodweb biology."--Owen T. Lewis "Ecoscience "

The main body of the book stands the test of time well. Pimm writes well, and is able to convey complex ideas in a clear accessible way. . . . For many of the topics covered, for example compartmentalization and predator-prey ratios, Pimm s text is still the most authoritative treatment available. This book remains an essential reference volume for anyone working in the field of foodweb biology. --Owen T. Lewis "Ecoscience ""

This is a very nice repackaged book at a modest price. . . . I recommend it to any ecologist interested in the evolution of our views on a pertinent metric of community interaction. --Peter G. Fairweather "Austral Ecology ""

Synopsis:

Although it was first published twenty years ago, Stuart Pimm's Food Webs remains the clearest introduction yet to the study of food webs, diagrams depicting which species interact - in other words, who eats whom. Reviewing various hypotheses in light of theoretical and empirical evidence, Pimm shows that even the most complex food webs follow certain patterns, and that those patterns are shaped by a limited number of biological processes - processes he provides mathematical tools for unraveling (and concrete examples of those tools' application). This edition adds a new foreword covering recent developments in the study of food webs and demonstrating their continuing importance to conservation biology, particularly attempts to predict which communities are most vulnerable to disturbance.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0226668320
• ISBN 13: 9780226668321
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 260