Ecology and ecosystem conservation / Oswald J. Schmitz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schmitz, Oswald J.

Series:

Foundations of contemporary environmental studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ecology.

Biodiversity conservation.

Physical Description:

x, 166 p. : ill., maps.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Washington, DC : Island Press, c2007.

Summary:

Meeting today's environmental challenges requires a new way of thinking about the intricate dependencies between humans and nature. Ecology and Ecosystem Conservation provides students and other readers with a basic understanding of the fundamental principles of ecological science and their applications, offering an essential overview of the way ecology can be used to devise strategies to conserve the health and functioning of ecosystems.The book begins by exploring the need for ecological science in understanding current environmental issues and briefly discussing what ecology is and isn't. Subsequent chapters address critical issues in conservation and show how ecological science can be applied to them. The book explores questions such as: • What is the role of ecological science in decision making? • What factors govern the assembly of ecosystems and determinetheir response to various stressors? • How does Earth's climate system function and determine thedistribution of life on Earth? • What factors control the size of populations? • How does fragmentation of the landscape affect the persistenceof species on the landscape? • How does biological diversity influence ecosystem processes? The book closes with a final chapter that addresses the need not only to understand ecological science, but to put that science into an ecosystem conservation ethics perspective.

Contents:

Intro

Title Page

Copyright Page

Table of Contents

Preface

Ch. 1: Ecosystem Conservation: The Need for Ecological Science

Ch. 2: The Science of Ecology

What is Ecology?

Resolving Ecological Complexity

Life as a Game

Ecological Science: Gaining Reliable Knowledge about Ecosystems

Ch. 3: Climate: Template for Global Biodiversity

The Physics Underlying Life on Earth

Ecosystem Types

Coping with Climate

Climate-Space

Effects of Global Climate Change

Ch. 4: Ecological Limits and the Size of Populations

Simple Population Growth

Ecological Balance and Carrying Capacity

Competitors and Predators

Weather

Carrying Capacity and Population Overabundance

Ch. 5: Viability of Threatened Species

Life Cycles and Population Dynamics

Modeling Age-Structured Population Dynamics

Viability of Loggerhead Sea Turtles

Ch. 6: Biodiversity and Habitat Fragmentation

Diversity Indices

Habitat Fragmentation and the Species-Area Relationship

Habitat Fragmentation and the Population and Community Processes

Ch. 7: The Web of Life: Connections in Space and Time

Ecosystems in Time

Ecosystems in Space: Linkages across Geographic Boundaries

Ch. 8: Ecosystem Services of Biodiversity

Diversity Begets Ecosystem Stability

Diversity-Productivity Relations

Crop Pollination

Pest Control

Invasion Resistance

Ch. 9: Protecting Biological Diversity and Ecosystem Function

Conservation Tools

Dynamic Landscapes

Global Climate Change and Reshuffling of Faunas

Ch. 10: The Good of a Species: Toward a Science-Based Ecosystem Conservation Ethic

Tinkering within Economics

Ecological Science, Uncertainty, and Precaution

Policy and Management as a Scientific Enterprise

Questions for Discussion

References

Further Reading

Glossary

About the Author.

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 143-151) and index.

ISBN:

9781597265980

1597265985

9781435628670

1435628675

OCLC:

192063436