Balance of Nature and Human Impact (eBook, ePUB)

Redaktion: Rohde, Klaus

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

It is clear that nature is undergoing rapid changes as a result of human activities such as industry, agriculture, travel, fisheries and urbanisation. What effects do these activities have? Are they disturbing equilibria in ecological populations and communities, thus upsetting the balance of nature, or are they enhancing naturally occurring disequilibria, perhaps with even worse consequences? It is often argued that large-scale fluctuations in climate and sea-levels have occurred over and over again in the geological past, long before human activities could possibly have had any impact, and that human effects are very small compared to those that occur naturally. Should we conclude that human activity cannot significantly affect the environment, or are these naturally occurring fluctuations actually being dangerously enhanced by humans? This book examines these questions, first by providing evidence for equilibrium and non-equilibrium conditions in relatively undisturbed ecosystems, and second by examining human-induced effects.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Cambridge University Press
• Erscheinungstermin: 14. Februar 2013
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781107301412
• Artikelnr.: 52863194

Inhaltsangabe

Preface; Introduction Klaus Rohde; Part I. Nonequilibrium and Equilibrium
in Populations and Metapopulations: 1. Reef fishes: density dependence and
equilibrium in populations? Graham Forrester and Mark Steele; 2. Population
dynamics of ectoparasites of terrestrial hosts Boris Krasnov and Annapaola
Rizzoli; 3. Metapopulation dynamics in marine parasites Ana Perez del Omo,
Aneta Kostadinova and Serge Morand; Part II. Nonequilibrium and Equilibrium
in Communities: 4. The paradox of the plankton Klaus Rohde; 5. A burning
issue: community stability and alternative stable states in relation to
fire Peter J. Clarke and Mike J. Lawes; 6. Community stability and
instability in ectoparasites of marine and freshwater fish Andrea Simkova
and Klaus Rohde; 7. Ectoparasites of small mammals: interactive saturated
and unsaturated communities Boris Krasnov; 8. A macroecological approach to
the equilibrial vs. nonequilibrial debate using bird populations and
communities Brian McGill; Part III. Equilibrium and Nonequilibrium on
Geographical Scales: 9. Island flora and fauna: equilibrium and
nonequilibrium Lloyd Morrison; 10. The turbulent past and future of arctic
vascular plants: climate change, spatial variation, and genetic diversity
Christian Brochmann, Mary E. Edwards and Inger G. Alsos; Part IV.
Latitudinal Gradients: 11. Latitudinal diversity gradients: equilibrium and
nonequilibrium explanations Klaus Rohde; 12. Effective evolutionary time
and the latitudinal diversity gradient Len Gillman and Shane Wright; Part
V. Effects Due to Invading Species, Habitat Loss and Climate Change: 13.
The physics of climate: equilibrium, disequilibrium and chaos Michael Box;
14. Episodic processes, invasion and faunal mosaics in evolutionary and
ecological time Eric Hoberg and Daniel R. Brooks; 15. The emerging
infectious diseases crisis and pathogen pollution Daniel R. Brooks and Eric
Hoberg; 16. Establishment or vanishing: fate of an invasive species based
on mathematical models Yihong Du; 17. Anthropogenic footprints on
biodiversity Camilo Mora and Fernando Zapata; 18. Worldwide decline and
extinction of amphibians Harold Heatwole; 19. Climatic change and reptiles
Harvey B. Lillywhite; 20. Equilibrium and non-equilibrium in Australian
bird communities - the impact of natural and anthropogenic effects Hugh
Ford; 21. Population dynamics of insects: impacts of a changing climate
Nigel Andrew; 22. The futures of coral reefs Peter Sale; Part VI.
Autecological Studies: 23. Autecology and the balance of nature-ecological
laws and human induced invasions Gimme Walter; 24. The intricacy of
structural and ecological adaptations: micromorphology and ecology of some
Aspidogastrea Klaus Rohde; Part VII. An Overall View: 25. The importance of
interspecific competition in regulating communities, equilibrium vs.
nonequilibrium Klaus Rohde; 26. Evolutionarily stable strategies: how
common are they? Klaus Rohde; 27. How to conserve biodiversity in a
nonequilibrium world Klaus Rohde, Hugh Ford, Nigel R. Andrew and Harold
Heatwole; Index.