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Zusatztext This is a broad and wide ranging yet scrupulously scientific book on ecology. It is just what is needed for the understanding of the fast unfolding disaster of global climate change. I unhesitatingly recommend it to all concerned biologists and climate scientists. Informationen zum Autor David M Wilkinson is Reader in Environmental Science in the School of Biological and Earth Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University. He has wide interests within the environmental and biological sciences, where much of his research is on theoretical topics within evolutionary ecology, biogeography and Earth systems science. In addition he is involved in more empirical research on soil protozoa, environmental archaeology and the history of science. His teaching covers a diverse range of topics from the history of geology to forensic archaeology, but centres on various aspects of ecology. Klappentext The book presents a way to study ecosystems that is not yet available in current textbooks but is resonant with current thinking in the emerging fields of geobiology and Earth System Science. It asks and endeavours to answer the question, "what are the really fundamental characteristics of living systems that might allow them to sustain life?" The author goes on to show how the idea of fundamental ecological processes can be developed at the systems level, specifically their involvement in control and feedback mechanisms. This is not a popular science book about Gaian theory, instead it is written as a text and is directed at a predominantly scientific audience. Zusammenfassung Drawing on contemporary thinking in the fields of geobiology and Earth System Science, this book presents a different way to study ecosystems. Talking about Gaian theory, it shows how the idea of fundamental ecological processes can be developed at the systems level, specifically their involvement in control and feedback mechanisms. Inhaltsverzeichnis Preface Part I. Introduction 1: Introducing the thought experiment Part II. The Fundamental processes 2: Energy Flow 3: Multiple guilds 4: Tradeoffs and biodiversity 5: Ecological hypercycles - covering a planet with life 6: Merging of organismal and ecological physiology 7: Photosynthesis 8: Carbon sequestration Part III. Emerging systems 9: Nutrient cycling as an emergent property 10: Historical contingency and the development of planetary ecosystems 11: From processes to systems Glossary References ...
