Levin S.A. (ed.) The Princeton Guide to Ecology

Princeton University Press, 2009. — 842 p.
One can argue about when ecology was born as a science, although surely the writings of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace created the essential context for the emergence of a new study of the interrelationships of species with each other and with their environments. The term ‘‘oekologie,’’ combining the Greek words for ‘‘household’’ and ‘‘knowledge,’’ was coined in 1866 by the remarkable German scientist, philosopher, and physician Ernst Haeckel and first was developed in scientific depth in the 1895 textbook by the Danish botanist Johannes Eugenius Buelow Warming, Plantesamfund—Grundtræk af den økologiske Plantegeografi [Plant Communities: An Introduction to Ecological Plant Geography]. Ecology has come a long way as a subject, from Eugen Warming to global warming.
Ecology has its roots in natural history and, indeed, in evolutionary thinking. But ecology itself has evolved considerably since its birth, building bridges to mathematics, to the physical sciences and engineering, to molecular biology, and, increasingly, to the social sciences. Just as we are beginning to appreciate not only the beauty of natural systems but also their essential role in providing an infinite range of goods and services on which humanity depends, we are reluctantly also learning that we are destroying those life-support systems and threatening the sustainability of the biosphere as we know it. Ecology, the unifying science in integrating knowledge of life on our planet, has become the essential science in learning how to preserve it.
This volume is an effort to present, in one readable collection, the diversity of ecology, from the basic to the applied. It is meant to serve both as a reader for anyone interested in learning more about the subject and as an essential reference for college and university courses on ecology and sustainability as well as for advanced high school students and the interested lay public. As such, it builds on the basic principles of autecology, population biology, and community and ecosystems science, which form the foundation for discussions regarding current threats to sustainability and how we can manage the biosphere responsibly. The Princeton Guide to Ecology is organized into seven sections tightly integrated with one another. The core textual material is supplemented by suggestions for further reading at the end of each article, by a glossary of key terms, and by a chronology that traces landmark events in ecology.
Ecology views biological systems as wholes, not as independent parts, while seeking to elucidate how these wholes emerge from and affect the parts. Increasingly, this holistic perspective, rechristened as the theory of complex adaptive systems, has informed understanding and improved management of economic and financial systems, social systems, complex materials, and even physiology and medicine—but essentially this means little more than taking an ecological approach to such systems, investigating the interplay among processes at diverse scales and the interaction between systems and their environments.
n many colleges and universities where ecology has flourished, botany and zoology have vanished as separate departments and been replaced by more integrative ones. Ecologists tend to organize their thinking across scales, from cells to organisms, from organisms to populations, from populations to communities, ecosystems, landscapes, and the biosphere. This view also dictates the organization of this volume, which begins with autecology, the study of the physiology, behavior, and life history of the primary integrative unit of ecology, the organism. From the organismal level, the next natural levels of organization are the population, then the community and ecosystem, and then finally landscapes and the biosphere.
With this basic foundation, the Guide then turns to more applied issues: understanding what biodiversity and the ecological systems in which they reside mean to us, as captured in the concept of ‘‘ecosystem services’’; exploring the scientific basis for managing our natural systems and the resources we extract from them; and developing the theoretical principles underlying the conservation of natural resources. These chapters naturally reach out to other disciplines, including economics and the social sciences, for the partnerships that are essential in achieving a sustainable future for humanity.
Autecology
Ecological Niche
Physiological Ecology: Animals
Physiological Ecology: Plants
Functional Morphology: Muscles, Elastic Mechanisms, and Animal Performance
Habitat Selection
Dispersal
Foraging Behavior
Social Behavior
Phenotypic Plasticity
Life History
Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems
Geographic Range
Adaptation
Phenotypic Selection
Population Genetics and Ecology
Phylogenetics and Comparative Methods
Microevolution
Ecological Speciation: Natural Selection and the Formation of New Species
Adaptive Radiation
Population Ecology
Age-Structured and Stage-Structured Population Dynamics
Density Dependence and Single-Species Population Dynamics
Biological Chaos and Complex Dynamics
Metapopulations and Spatial Population Processes
Competition and Coexistence in Plant Communities
Competition and Coexistence in Animal Communities
Predator–Prey Interactions
Host–Parasitoid Interactions
Ecological Epidemiology
Interactions between Plants and Herbivores
Mutualism and Symbiosis
Ecology of Microbial Populations
Coevolution
Communities and Ecosystems
Biodiversity: Concepts, Patterns, and Measurement
Competition, Neutrality, and Community Organization
Predation and Community Organization
Facilitation and the Organization of Plant Communities
Indirect Effects in Communities and Ecosystems: The Role of Trophic and Nontrophic Interactions
Top-Down and Bottom-Up Regulation of Communities
The Structure and Stability of Food Webs
Spatial and Metacommunity Dynamics in Biodiversity
Ecosystem Productivity and Carbon Flows: Patterns across Ecosystems
Nutrient Cycling and Biogeochemistry
Terrestrial Carbon and Biogeochemical Cycles
Freshwater Carbon and Biogeochemical Cycles
The Marine Carbon Cycle
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning
Ecological Stoichiometry
Macroecological Perspectives on Communities and Ecosystems
Alternative Stable States and Regime Shifts in Ecosystems
Responses of Communities and Ecosystems to Global Changes
Evolution of Communities and Ecosystems
Landscapes and the Biosphere
Landscape Dynamics
Landscape Pattern and Biodiversity
Ecological Dynamics in Fragmented Landscapes
Biodiversity Patterns in Managed and Natural Landscapes
Boundary Dynamics in Landscapes
Spatial Patterns of Species Diversity in Terrestrial Environments
Biosphere–Atmosphere Interactions in Landscapes
Seascape Patterns and Dynamics of Coral Reefs
Seascape Microbial Ecology: Habitat Structure, Biodiversity, and Ecosystem Function
Spatial Dynamics of Marine Fisheries
Conservation Biology
Causes and Consequences of Species Extinctions
Population Viability Analysis
Principles of Reserve Design
Building and Implementing Systems of Conservation Areas
Marine Conservation
Conservation and Global Climate Change
Restoration Ecology
Ecosystem Services
Ecosystem Services: Issues of Scale and Trade-Offs
Biodiversity, Ecosystem Functioning, and Ecosystem Services
Beyond Biodiversity: Other Aspects of Ecological Organization
Human-Dominated Systems: Agroecosystems
Forests
Grasslands
Marine Ecosystem Services
Provisioning Services: A Focus on Fresh Water
Regulating Services: A Focus on Disease Regulation
Support Services: A Focus on Genetic Diversity
The Economics of Ecosystem Services
Technological Substitution and Augmentation of Ecosystem Services
Conservation of Ecosystem Services
Managing the Biosphere
Biological Control: Theory and Practice
Fisheries Management
Wildlife Management
Managing the Global Water System
Managing Nutrient Mobilization and Eutrophication
Managing Infectious Diseases
Agriculture, Land Use, and the Transformation of Planet Earth
The Ecology, Economics, and Management of Alien Invasive Species
Ecological Economics: Principles of Economic Policy Design for Ecosystem Management
Governance and Institutions
Assessments: Linking Ecology to Policy
Milestones in Ecology