Fundamentals of Ecology

by Odum, Eugene; Barrett, Gary W.

• ISBN13: 9780534420666
• ISBN10: 0534420664
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-07-27
• Publisher: Cengage Learning

Summary

The late Eugene Odum was a pioneer in systems ecology and is credited with bringing ecosystems into the mainstream public consciousness as well as into introductory college instruction. FUNDAMENTALS OF ECOLOGY was first published in 1953 and was the vehicle Odum used to educate a wide audience about ecological science.This Fifth Edition of FUNDAMENTALS OF ECOLOGY is co-authored by Odum's protege Gary Barrett and represents the last academic text Odum produced. The text retains its classic holistic approach to ecosystem science, but incorporates and integrates an evolutionary approach as well. In keeping with a greater temporal/spatial approach to ecology, new chapters in landscape ecology, regional ecology, and global ecology have been added building on the levels-of-organization hierarchy. Also, a final chapter entitled Statistical Thinking for Students of Ecology provides a quantitative synthesis to the field of statistics. Contemporary and engaging, this text brings clarity and specificity to the study of ecology in the twenty-first century.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xiii
Preface	xv
Acknowledgments	xvii
The Scope of Ecology	1	(16)
Ecology: History and Relevance to Humankind	2	(2)
Levels-of-Organization Hierarchy	4	(3)
The Emergent Property Principle	7	(2)
Transcending Functions and Control Processes	9	(1)
Ecological Interfacing	10	(1)
About Models	10	(5)
Disciplinary Reductionism to Transdisciplinary Holism	15	(2)
The Ecosystem	17	(60)
Concept of the Ecosystem and Ecosystem Management	18	(3)
Trophic Structure of the Ecosystem	21	(3)
Gradients and Ecotones	24	(2)
Examples of Ecosystems	26	(11)
Ecosystem Diversity	37	(5)
Study of Ecosystems	42	(1)
Biological Control of the Geochemical Environment: The Gaia Hypothesis	43	(3)
Global Production and Decomposition	46	(14)
Microcosms, Mesocosms, and Macrocosms	60	(7)
Ecosystem Cybernetics	67	(4)
Technoecosystems	71	(3)
Concept of the Ecological Footprint	74	(1)
Classification of Ecosystems	75	(2)
Energy in Ecological Systems	77	(63)
Fundamental Concepts Related to Energy: The Laws of Thermodynamics	78	(4)
Solar Radiation and the Energy Environment	82	(4)
Concept of Productivity	86	(22)
Energy Partitioning in Food Chains and Food Webs	108	(13)
Energy Quality: eMergy	121	(3)
Metabolism and Size of Individuals: The 3/4 Power Principle	124	(2)
Complexity Theory, Energetics of Scale, and the Law of Diminishing Returns	126	(1)
Concepts of Carrying Capacity and Sustainability	127	(5)
Net Energy Concept	132	(1)
An Energy-Based Classification of Ecosystems	132	(3)
Energy Futures	135	(2)
Energy and Money	137	(3)
Biogeochemical Cycles	140	(37)
Basic Types of Biogeochemical Cycles	141	(2)
Cycling of Nitrogen	143	(6)
Cycling of Phosphorus	149	(2)
Cycling of Sulfur	151	(2)
Cycling of Carbon	153	(3)
The Hydrologic Cycle	156	(6)
Turnover and Residence Times	162	(1)
Watershed Biogeochemistry	163	(5)
Cycling of Nonessential Elements	168	(2)
Nutrient Cycling in the Tropics	170	(2)
Recycling Pathways: The Cycling Index	172	(3)
Global Climate Change	175	(2)
Limiting and Regulatory Factors	177	(47)
Concept of Limiting Factors: The Liebig Law of the Minimum	178	(5)
Factor Compensation and Ecotypes	183	(2)
Conditions of Existence as Regulatory Factors	185	(2)
Soil: Organizing Component for Terrestrial Ecosystems	187	(7)
Fire Ecology	194	(5)
Review of Other Physical Limiting Factors	199	(16)
Biological Magnification of Toxic Substances	215	(4)
Anthropogenic Stress as a Limiting Factor for Industrial Societies	219	(5)
Population Ecology	224	(58)
Properties of the Population	225	(11)
Basic Concepts of Rate	236	(2)
Intrinsic Rate of Natural Increase	238	(3)
Concept of Carrying Capacity	241	(5)
Population Fluctuations and Cyclic Oscillations	246	(9)
Density-Independent and Density-Dependent Mechanisms of Population Regulation	255	(3)
Patterns of Dispersion	258	(2)
The Allee Principle of Aggregation and Refuging	260	(3)
Home Range and Territoriality	263	(4)
Metapopulation Dynamics	267	(1)
Energy Partitioning and Optimization: r- and K-Selection	268	(7)
Population Genetics	275	(5)
Life History Traits and Tactics	280	(2)
Community Ecology	282	(54)
Types of Interaction Between Two Species	283	(3)
Coevolution	286	(2)
Evolution of Cooperation: Group Selection	288	(1)
Interspecific Competition and Coexistence	289	(7)
Positive/Negative Interactions: Predation, Herbivory, Parasitism, and Allelopathy	296	(8)
Positive Interactions: Commensalism, Cooperation, and Mutualism	304	(7)
Concepts of Habitat, Ecological Niche, and Guild	311	(5)
Biodiversity	316	(11)
Paleoecology: Community Structure in Past Ages	327	(2)
From Populations and Communities to Ecosystems and Landscapes	329	(7)
Ecosystem Development	336	(38)
Strategy of Ecosystem Development	337	(19)
Concept of the Climax	356	(4)
Evolution of the Biosphere	360	(4)
Microevolution Compared with Macroevolution, Artificial Selection, and Genetic Engineering	364	(4)
Relevance of Ecosystem Development to Human Ecology	368	(6)
Landscape Ecology	374	(38)
Landscape Ecology: Definition and Relation to Levels-of-Organization Concept	375	(2)
Landscape Elements	377	(9)
Biodiversity at the Community and Landscape Levels	386	(3)
Island Biogeography	389	(3)
Neutral Theory	392	(4)
Temporal and Spatial Scale	396	(3)
Landscape Geometry	399	(5)
Concept of Landscape Sustainability	404	(1)
Domesticated Landscapes	404	(8)
Regional Ecology: Major Ecosystem Types and Biomes	412	(47)
Marine Ecosystems	414	(10)
Freshwater Ecosystems	424	(8)
Terrestrial Biomes	432	(25)
Human-Designed and Managed Systems	457	(2)
Global Ecology	459	(20)
The Transition from Youth to Maturity: Toward Sustainable Civilizations	460	(5)
Ecological-Societal Gaps	465	(2)
Global Sustainability	467	(5)
Scenarios	472	(5)
Long-Term Transitions	477	(2)
Statistical Thinking for Students of Ecology	479	(32)
R. Cary Tuckfield
Ecosystems and Scale	480	(2)
Theory, Knowledge, and Research Design	482	(2)
The Ecological Study Unit	484	(2)
Inference Methods and Reliability	486	(3)
Experimental versus Observational Method in Ecology	489	(1)
Statistical Thinking in Ecology	490	(2)
The Nature of Evidence	492	(2)
Evidence and Hypothesis Testing	494	(2)
Formulating the Right Problem	496	(1)
Publish or ``Parish''?	496	(2)
The Evidence-Oriented Alternative	498	(8)
The Two Ways of Discovery	506	(2)
The Weight of Evidence Paradigm	508	(3)
Glossary	511	(24)
References	535	(48)
Credits	583	(2)
Index	585