Discontinuities in ecosystems and other complex systems / Craig R. Allen and C.S. Holling, editors.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Allen, Craig R.

Holling, C. S.

Series:

Complexity in ecological systems series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ecology--Statistical methods.

Ecology.

Discontinuous groups.

Physical Description:

xii, 272 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, [2008]

Summary:

Following the publication of C. S. Holling's seminal work on the relationship between animal body mass patterns and scale-specific landscape structure, ecologists began to explore the theoretical and applied consequences of discontinuities in ecosystems and other complex systems. Are ecosystems and their components continuously distributed and do they adhere to scaling laws, or are they discontinuous and more complex than early models would have us believe?

This volume takes the view that ecosystems and other complex systems are inherently discontinuous and that such fields as ecology, economics, and urban studies greatly benefit from this paradigm shift. Contributors present evidence of the ubiquity of discontinuous distributions in ecological and social systems and how their analysis provides insight into complex phenomena. The book first focuses on background material and contrasting views concerning the discontinuous organization of complex systems. The second section discusses discontinuous patterns detected in a number of different systems and methods for detecting them, and the third section touches on the potential significance of discontinuities in complex systems. Science is still dominated by a focus on power laws, but the contributors to this volume are convinced power laws often mask the interesting dynamics of systems and that those dynamics are best revealed by investigating deviations from assumed power law distributions.

Contents:

1 Panarchies and Discontinuities / Crawford S. Holling, Garry D. Peterson, Craig R. Allen 3

2 Self-organization and Discontinuities in Ecosystems / Garry D. Peterson 20

3 Discontinuity, Multimodality, and the Evolution of Pattern / Graeme S. Cumming, Tanya D. Havlicek 31

4 Discontinuities in Body-Size Distributions: A View from the Top / Pablo A. Marquet, Sebastian Abades, Juan E. Keymer, Horacio Zeballos 45

5 Patterns of Landscape Structure, Discontinuity, Mammal Phylogeny, and Body Size / Jan P. Sendzimir 61

6 Biophysical Discontinuities in the Everglades Ecosystem / Lance H. Gunderson 83

7 Discontinuities in the Geographical Range Size of North American Birds and Butterflies / Carla Restrepo, Natalia Arango 101

8 Discontinuities in Urban Systems: Comparison of Regional City-Size Structure in the United States / Ahjond S. Garmestani, Craig R. Allen, K. Michael Bessey 136

9 Evaluating the Textural Discontinuity Hypothesis: A Case for Adaptive Inference / Craig A. Stow, Jan P. Sendzimir, Crawford S. Holling 165

Part 3 Consequences

10 Dynamic Discontinuities in Ecologic-Economic Systems / J. Barkley Rosser Jr. 179

11 The Ecological Significance of Discontinuities in Body-Mass Distributions / Jennifer J. Skillen, Brian A. Maurer 193

12 Cross-Scale Structure and the Generation of Innovation and Novelty in Discontinuous Complex Systems / Craig R. Allen, Crawford S. Holling 219

Synthesis / Donald Ludwig 234.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [241]-263) and index.

ISBN:

9780231144445

023114444X

9780231144452

0231144458

9780231516822

0231516827

OCLC:

184821814