Nutrient Cycling and Limitation: Hawai'i As A Model System (Princeton Environmental Institute Series) - Softcover

Vitousek, Peter M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 069111580X ISBN 13: 9780691115801

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2004

Synopsis

The availability or lack of nutrients shapes ecosystems in fundamental ways. From forest productivity to soil fertility, from the diversity of animals to the composition of microbial communities, nutrient cycling and limitation are the basic mechanisms underlying ecosystem ecology. In this book, Peter Vitousek builds on over twenty years of research in Hawai'i to evaluate the controls and consequences of variation in nutrient availability and limitation.


Integrating research from geochemistry, pedology, atmospheric chemistry, ecophysiology, and ecology, Vitousek addresses fundamental questions: How do the cycles of different elements interact? How do biological processes operating in minutes or hours interact with geochemical processes operating over millions of years? How does biological diversity interact with nutrient cycling and limitation in ecosystems? The Hawaiian Islands provide the author with an excellent model system for answering these questions as he integrates across levels of biological organization. He evaluates the connections between plant nutrient use efficiency, nutrient cycling and limitation within ecosystems, and nutrient input-output budgets of ecosystems.


This book makes use of the Hawaiian ecosystems to explore the mechanisms that shape productivity and diversity in ecosystems throughout the world. It will be essential reading for all ecologists and environmental scientists.

About this title

About the Author

Peter M. Vitousek is Clifford G. Morrison Professor of Population and Resource Studies at Stanford University.

From the Back Cover

"Peter Vitousek is tied closely to the 'āina--the land--of Hawaii, both by birth and by the successful scientific career he has nurtured over the past two decades. His personal, and sometimes passionate, presentation sweeps across habitats, across phyla and across disciplines. It is an authoritative account of his research and his vision."--David M. Karl, University of Hawaii

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 069111580X
• ISBN 13: 9780691115801
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 246