Food webs and container habitats : the natural history and ecology of phytotelmata / R.L. Kitching.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kitching, R. L. (Roger Laurence), 1945- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Aquatic ecology.

Aquatic habitats.

Food chains (Ecology).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 431 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Food Webs & Container Habitats

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The animal communities in plant-held water bodies, such as tree holes and pitcher plants, have become models for food-web studies. In this book, Professor Kitching introduces us to these fascinating miniature worlds and demonstrates how they can be used to tackle some of the major questions in community ecology. Based on thirty years' research in many parts of the world, this work presents much previously unpublished information, in addition to summarising over a hundred years of natural history observations by others. The book covers many aspects of the theory of food-web formation and maintenance presented with field-collected information on tree holes, bromeliads, pitcher plants, bamboo containers and the axils of fleshy plants. It is a unique introduction for the field naturalist and a stimulating source treatment for graduate students and professionals working in the fields of tropical and other forest ecology, as well as entomology.

Contents:

1. Introduction

Pt. I. The container flora, fauna and environment

2. The container flora

3. The container fauna

4. The phytotelm environment

Pt. II. Methods and theories

5. The construction and quantification of food webs

6. Processes structuring food webs

Pt. III. Patterns in phytotelm food webs

7. Food-web variation across geographical regions

8. Food-web variation within a continent: the communities of tree holes from Tasmania to Cape Tribulation

9. Food-web variation at smaller spatial scales: regional and local variation in tree-hole and Nepenthes webs

10. The role of the host plant

11. Variation through time: seasonality, invasion and reassembly, succession

Pt. IV. Processes structuring food webs

12. Competition and predation

basic forces structuring the community?

13. Stochasticism and determinism: processes structuring food webs in phytotelmata

Pt. V. Synthesis

14. A food-web templet

Annexe: The phytotelm bestiary.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-107-11979-0

1-280-42953-4

9786610429530

0-511-17386-5

0-511-01770-7

0-511-15312-0

0-511-30336-X

0-511-54210-0

0-511-04985-4

OCLC:

559407230